Friday Afternoons

I love Fridays. In years past when I worked in Birmingham and came home on Friday evenings, people would be lining up at beer joints on the county line to cash checks and buy beer.
That was when Walker County was dry and Jefferson County was wet. So if anyone who lived in Walker County, but worked in Jefferson County wanted beer for the weekend, the county line was the best place to stop.
There was a huge package store on the crest of Green Top Hill that had a lake out back. In the summer, men and women who had labored all week would back there cars up in a line next to the lake and go inside the package store, cash their checks and buy beer. They would then sit on the hoods of their cars and tailgates of their trucks and visit with their friends until dark.
I was too young to buy beer at that time but the people sitting next to the lake always looked like they were having the time of their lives. Kind of like a racetrack party without the racetrack.
Walker County voted to go wet in the city limits of Jasper and the block parties became a thing of the past.
Today I drove home by way of the 78 highway and I passed by the old package store with the lake out back. The store which had been open for as long as I remember is now closed, but the memory of those Friday evening tailgate parties put a smile on my face.