Buying the Pig

"One time we went in that Maxwell up to Mr. Smith's place there in Buchanan to buy a pig. Daddy would always buy a pig early every spring. And this Mr. Smith, he lived up there on an incline. And when Dad drove up, you know, these old cars didn't have any emergency brake, except for a stick down here in the floorboard. And that long rod would go all the way to the back of the car to pull the cable, and the link line was outside - it wasn't inside of a drum. And that brake wouldn't hold. And when Dad took his foot off the clutch, that car started running backwards. He slapped it into first gear right quick. And when he did it broke the transmission, so he had to drive it back home in low gear. I'm talking about driving eight to 10 miles, with that thing in low gear. Talk about a long trip home. It was something.
"And when he got ready to fix it, he ordered new parts. The floorboard in the back was wood, so he just unscrewed the screws, went in there, and took the plate off the transmission. Here I was, my head right over his shoulder, watching everything he was doing. While he was telling me what he was going to do, those pieces fell down into the bottom of the transmission. Guess who got to fish them out?" -- T.J. Latham