Bootleg

by Helen Dunn

"Bootleg" - (Set in 1925) Bullets, Booze, and Love!The story revolves around independent, tough, young mountain woman, Bailey Skinner, a bootlegger, who is falling for pretty widow, Minnie Givens, who doesn't approve of "the devil's brew". Bailey, her pit bull named Moonshine, and her partner, Little Jack - who may be small in size but big in courage - are also dealing with a crooked Sheriff, and shoot-outs with rival Simperton in charge of the still, with the hope he would stay there - a cot was provided for whoever was on night guard - Bailey climbed behind the wheel of the paneled truck. Her pit bull, Moonshine, at least could be counted on, she assured herself.Little Jack boosted himself up, using his free hand to clamber into the truck, a rifle in the other. Bailey had rigged him up a higher seat level and the little man was able to sit on the passenger side and easily see out the front windshield as well as the rolled down window opening to his right. "Ready?" Bailey asked glancing his way, as she slammed her door shut.Little Jack, as usual, gave her a big, toothy grin, hitting the butt of his rifle on the lower seat, level beside him, as he "Let's get a wiggle on." Bailey laughed as she started the motor and put the truck in gear.The road they were taking had previously been used by mules to drag logs out, back when lumbering had been a big industry in the area. It was rough and primitive, and it took some skill to maneuver down the steep, winding, narrow trail.The sun would most likely be down by the time they reached the end of the logging road and came onto the regular gravel road, so they needed to make as much time as they could. In addition to the deep ruts and unevenness of the old logging road, it was badly over-grown, limbs scraped against the fenders and running boards on each side of the truck, as she drove.""Game going on tonight, Little Jack?""I figure there will be later on." He said with another grin that betrayed his eagerness. He knew Bailey would give him his cut of the dough after the delivery - so he would have plenty of scratch with which to gamble. "I'd have a bigger stake if that dad-blasted Leroy Runnell didn't want such a big cut." He grumbled, referring to the Sheriff of Haverton and the surrounding area."Yeah, he's gotten greedier as time goes on." Bailey agreed.

72 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 26, 2011

About the author

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Helen Dunn is the author of “Untamed Women of Yesteryear” published by L-Books – which received honorable mention by the Golden Crown Literary Society. She has also been nominated for Favorite Lesbian Fiction Historical – by the Lesbian Fiction Readers Choice Awards group for 2011. She has written several anthologies and novels, as well as once writing a newspaper column. Helen Dunn grew up in an environment that was almost 19th century, living on dirt roads in houses that had no running water, and an ice box rather than a refrigerator with her mother cooking on a wood burning stove, while her father farmed with mules. Many of her writings have historical settings and paranormal elements in them.