Hughes, Arkansas.

It's just about dusk.

Two men are standing on the porch of a small grocery store, telling things to a stranger.

"You'll probably find lots around here who do such things as make their own hominy. But I wouldn't know just who"

"And there's some make wine for themselves," the other man put in.

"That's that scuppernong wine. They go out in a thicket and get these wild grapes and use them ... but those grapes don't come in season till next fall."

The other man nodded. "That's just the same as going out and picking these wild greens like watercress and poke salit." He turned to the stranger. "If you come back in the right time of year I could carry you out in the bottoms and show you how to find some of the best food you'd ever put in your mouth."

A third man joined them, adding what he could to answer the stranger's questions.

"You're looking for people who do things, is that what?"

One of the men snapped his fingers, saying, "That fellow that makes John boats -what was his name?"