He was just waiting for the right question

Mr. R. is 87 years old and doesn't say a whole lot these days.

When I arrived at his home his daughter let me know the same.

He pretty much answered every question I asked with a one or two word answer.

"You like you've been a hard working man your whole life," I said.

"Been working since I was about 8 years old," he answered.

A nine word answer, I thought; let me stay on this line of questioning.

"What kind of work did you do at that age?"

"After my parents died, my brother and I were raised by our Aunt and Uncle in Miley, South Carolina. It was a sawmill town. We had a still out back and my bother and I would sell the moonshine through our kitchen window to the men going to and from the sawmill. A 10 cent bumper was a 1/2 pint. A 20 cent bumper was a full pint. I was so small at the time I could barely lift the gallon jug so I would use a funnel and the edge of the table to act as a lever..."

I didn't need to ask any more questions for awhile.

It was a pretty cool history lesson.