Hillbilly Elegy

don a hospital robe and smuggle me in. I
remember clinging to her underneath that
hospital robe, but I don’t remember
saying goodbye.
Uncle Pet came next. Uncle Pet was
a tall man with a biting wit and a
raunchy sense of humor. The most
economically successful of the Blanton
crew, Uncle Pet left home early and
started some timber and construction
businesses that made him enough money
to race horses in his spare time. He
seemed the nicest of the Blanton men,
with the smooth charm of a successful
businessman. But that charm masked a
fierce temper. Once, when a truck driver
delivered supplies to one of Uncle Pet’s