We were related to everybody in Hamilton County 
literally everybody 
judges and lawyers and county clerks
and barbers and druggists and soda jerks
and moonshiners and farmers and ferry boat captains 
and the rich people in the big white houses 
and the poor ones down by the slough

Total strangers would come up 
as soon as they saw you on the street
throw their arms around you and say 
my great-grandma is buried next to your great-grandma 
or I’m your cousin 17 times removed on your third uncle’s side 

or 
my   my   my   you look just like your daddy 
has he ever got out of prison?