“Nope. I get by.”
I was silent for a while, and then Pete said, “Don’t cost me hardly anything to live. I get most of my stuff from rustling around the country. Get a sack of beans once in a while, and I got a little vegetable patch out here. Buy my smokin’ tobacco, a little sugar, an’ flour in town. Buy a little bacon an’ save the grease for cookin’. You’d be surprised how little it takes for a man to live.”
I did a little more thinking and said, “I didn’t realise I was going to have an evening in such a comfortable place. There’s only one thing lacking.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“A good shot of hooch. Suppose we take a run into town and pick up a bottle?”
He didn’t say anything for a long time, just kept looking at me. “What kinda hooch do you drink?” he asked.
“Anything, just so it’s good.”
“How much you generally pay for it?”
“Around three dollars a quart.”
He said, “Stick around here a minute. I’ll be back.”