Hillbilly Elegy

total. There was a medium-sized pond
stocked with fish, a couple of fields for
cows and horses, a barn, and a chicken
coop. Every morning the kids would run
to the chicken coop and grab the
morning’s haul of eggs—usually seven
or eight, a perfect number for a family of
five. During the day, we capered around
the property with a dog in tow, caught
frogs, and chased rabbits. It was exactly
what Dad had done as a child, and
exactly what I did with Mamaw in
Kentucky.
I remember running through a field
with Dad’s collie, Dannie, a beautiful,
bedraggled creature so gentle that he
once caught a baby rabbit and carried it