Carroway Island Short Story 5 - Persimmons and Honey

On Carroway Island, an honest morning's work can leave a man with a boatload of oysters and barely enough money for supper. Fortunately, Silas Vane has another skill. It is 1931, and hidden among the Chesapeake marshes, Silas makes a persimmon-and-honey liquor so smooth that mainland customers call it Marsh Gold. His neighbors prefer Possum Sweat, chiefly because it annoys him. Whatever its name, the proceeds help settle grocery accounts, repair engines, and keep island families afloat. Silas would be content with a modest trade. His mainland buyer, Leonard Bell, has grander ambitions—and a talent for telling wealthy customers considerably more than the truth. Then federal agent Earl "Red" Tatum arrives with a sample bottle, a notebook, and the firm belief that two days should be sufficient to find its maker. Carroway receives him politely. Its residents answer his questions with exhausting precision and almost no useful information. Even the tide proves uncooperative. But Tatum is learning, Leonard is making promises, and Silas is discovering that a good reputation can be a dangerous thing to acquire. Filled with dry wit, stubborn watermen, and quiet acts of generosity, Persimmons & Honey is a Carroway Island short story about making a living, looking after your neighbors, and the trouble that follows when people cannot stop praising something they ought to keep quiet about.