Excerpt: Moonshine Dance

The woman smiled gleefully as the hatchet in her hand fell.

Thwack.

The sound reverberated between the brick buildings on either side of the alley. She sent it down again, then a third time. She was laughing now as she looked up at her husband who stood well away from her, afraid of getting stains on his Sunday best.

He noticed that she has already captured several small deep red droplets on the side of her skirt and opened his mouth to mention them. At the last moment he closed it again. She’s aware of them, he thought, and like as not she had planned their placement to maximize the effect she would get at church next Sunday. His wife did like an audience, and a sermon was always ready on her lips.

The bells of St. Paul’s Cathedral chimed the eleven o’clock hour and Gilbert realized that he had just lived through one of the longest hours of his life. After church let out at ten his wife has insisted they take the car down to the river. Of course she had called it the den of iniquity, but he knew what she meant. Then she had instructed him to drive from one location to the next in search of an open saloon or tavern. Of course, there were none.

Not only was it Sunday, but the police had actively shut down all establishments that served alcohol over the last two nights. Many had closed willingly, but a few hold outs had tried to make a statement and insisted on being forcibly closed. Finally, with no individuals to preach to Anna had given in and decided that she would simply destroy a few casks of liquor. She made him retrace their path and return to her favorite subject of ire, Sweet’s Saloon.

“Anna, dearest, don’t you think you’re getting a bit carried away?” He man said, “There are plenty of law officials that can destroy these casks. Perhaps you’re getting overworked, look at your face, you’re flush.”

“I’m sure there are plans to destroy this Devil’s Brew, Gilbert, but how long will it take? Weeks? Before they get to it all? By then it might have been hidden away, or worse, drunk.”

Several people had gathered at the end of the alley as Anna worked and now they greeted her statement with applause, some more enthusiastic than others. One man was not clapping at all, but instead, watched Anna with a look of fury. Michael ‘Sweets’ McCann was the owner of the casks of liquor that had become outlawed only two days prior. He watched in silence as a single woman with a hatchet destroyed his livelihood.

Trying to lessen the impact, at least to his wife, Gilbert said, “Well, now that you got the souvenir perhaps we should go home.”

The look on his wife’s face let him know immediately that he had said the wrong thing.

“I’m not here to pick up some silly souvenir and you know it!” I’ve worked for months to help get the Volstead Act passed and I am proud of my part, however small, in seeing that this vile liquid can ruin no more families.” She let the hatchet fall again in punctuation to her statements.

Again, applause followed her outburst, but this time it was more subdued as Sweets swept his glare over at the gathered people. A few of the men who met his eye soon prodded their wives into movement. Sweets never said a word to anyone as people stopped to watch Anna work, then continued on their way. One brave soul picked up a few pieces of a wine soaked cask before wandering off.

An almost elderly woman wielding a well-used kitchen cleaver stormed through the crowd. “Excuse me, excuse me…” she said in a high-pitched voice that Gilbert was all too familiar with. The woman was also in her church clothes, but she had added the precaution of a thick house apron and sturdy gloves where his wife had only her colon floral print to protect her. He knew he was in for a long day as the matron settled in and began working beside Anna.

“Good to see you Millie.”

“I wouldn’t miss it, Anna. We’ve been looking forward to this day for many a month. Are the others going to join us?”

“I don’t think so. Many of our sisters in this fight have their own demons to slay. We are all working where our hearts take us,” Anna said.

Millie smiled triumphantly at Sweets, “That we do.”

Snorting, Sweets lifted his chin to the women and turned his back on them. He walked a few feet to the door leading in to his tavern, looked once again at the crowd of onlookers before entering his business and slamming both the door and then the bolt shut.

“There is no need to antagonize him. You’ve won already, he’s out of business. Why rub salt in the wound?” Gilbert asked the two women as he continued to watch from the sidelines.

“Oh, Gil, don’t you see? That man is the mouthpiece of the devil. When he is run out of one sinful business he will likely try to start up another. Millie and I are letting him know that we will fight wickedness on all its forms.”

Millie nodded in agreement before letting her cleaver fall on a small cask of whiskey.

“Well, I don’t think you need to be so theatrical about it.” He said so quietly that no one heard him, at least no one responded.