The kudzu has covered several trees, which form spires, and has covered
the remains of some houses in an abandoned subdivision, the shape of
the rooftops barely discernable. Finegan and Joey are in awe, drifting
past the sight silently, with Joey on his usual place on the houseboat
roof and Finegan at the pedals.
As they round a curve in the shoreline, they see an even more amazing
sight – the remains of a car recycling junkyard where cars have been
piled high after being crushed. Atop the piles are cars, which are not
yet crushed. Kudzu vines have climbed up almost to the tops of the car
piles, so the roads between the crushed car piles have become kudzu
canyons.
People are living in the cars atop the piles, using the broken down
cars as a type of rainproof shelter. The trunks have been popped from
some of the cars, propped open as bedrooms for children. Some children
are leaning out of one trunk, waving at the houseboat as it drifts
past. Most of the cars have at least one door open, with an adult
sitting inside. The front seats of some cars have been pushed all the
way back to be used for sleeping, and have pillows and blankets tossed
about, an unmade bed. In others, the front seat has been removed but
the back seat is being used as a bed.
127
A Confederate flag is hoisted on a car radio antenna, but there are
other flags indicating independence. These flags look almost like tie-
dye, the paint and lettering faded, and are a variety of colors and
faded lettering. one flag that has “Kudzu Nation” painted in green
lettering. This flag lettering is fresh, not faded.
As the houseboat drifts toward the end of the car recycling plant,
there is a cleared area where a campfire is burning, a large pot hung
over the fire, burbling away. Several picnic benches are placed here
and there on a level spot nearby, with residents of the Kudzu Nation
lounging. Some wear baseball caps, cutoff jeans or pants, and t-shirts
with the sleeves torn off or rolled high. This is redneck country. The
men have beards. Several of the lounging residents wave and tip their
baseball caps toward the houseboat drifting by. Finegan says,
Finegan pedals toward shore, then backpedals to slow the houseboat,
then comes forward to help Joey moor the boat. Joey is already swinging
one of the grappling hooks. Children and adults are climbing down the
vines, hand over hand and putting their feet against the rusting
crushed cars underneath the vine cover. Some adults are climbing just
below their young children, so if the child falters they can catch the
child, blocking its fall. An old man is climbing down with his cane
slung over his back.
The piles of crushed cars, topped with cars as living quarters, and the
kudzu cascading down the sides of the piles, all now covered with
creeping and hobbling residents, look a bit like an anthill under an
evacuation. Finegan comes across the gangplank, followed by Joey.
128
Finegan extends his hand to the apparently leader, the Kudzu King, who
is approaching with an extended hand and broad grin. Finegan says,
The Kudzu King says,
The Kudzu King has a tanned face, a beard that has been crudely trimmed
to be only a few inches long, hair that looks just as butchered by
scissors, and is wearing well worn jeans, scuffed brown leather boots,
and an undershirt with a short-sleeved plaid shirt on top. His shirts
look grimy and sweaty, and are torn in several places. The Kudzu King
adjusts his baseball cap, and can hardly stop grinning. He slaps
Finegan on the shoulder, welcoming him, and walks alongside him as they
walk to the campfire. He says,
______________________________
Finegan is seated at a picnic bench, talking to several adults either
seated on the bench or on the ground in front of Finegan. They are all
telling tales. Joey is kicking a ball around on the ground with some
other boys his age in the background. In the foreground a woman is
preparing a picnic table, clearing dishes that have been washed and
dried from the last meal away and handing them to a girl to set them
aside on a rack.
Four men walk up with a kudzu tuber in a sling, one man on each corner
of the sling. An immense 100-pound kudzu tuber conglomeration is in the
middle of the sling, roots sticking out in every direction. The men
heave it onto the empty picnic table, while the woman and girl bring
buckets of water from the shore to slosh over the tuber mass, scrubbing
any dirt away with brushes. A man comes with a machete knife and begins
to hack at the tubers, breaking the mass into potato sized chunks.
Periodically they step back and let the woman and girl collect the
chunks in their hands and walk to the boiling pot, tossing the chunks
in.
