Jaybird needed help maneuvering his way through the onslaught of capitalistic opportunities coming his way, so he turned to the man who always did his heavy thinking for him. Holding up a giant gar he just fought and landed, Junior had the answer: “Simple. Banks and other commercial lending institutions will jump at the chance to finance this enterprise, so we need to borrow whatever amount is necessary to build more ponds.
“And since sports anglers are interested in catching trophy fish like this one, we need to set aside a certain number of ponds in which the gar are fed several times daily so that they will grow quickly into trophies. Of course, the balance of the ponds will have to be reserved for raising fingerling gar and producing filleting-size market gar.” With this plan in mind, the two men began converting all of their farmland into a sprawling gar pond complex. Meanwhile, the opportunities for making big bucks hand-over-fist just kept coming their way.
Jimmy Reed's Jay's Gar Ponds:
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In no time at all, the restaurant was serving hundreds of salivating gar gourmands daily
For instance, Jaybird was an accomplished gourmet chef and, over the years, had perfected a number of secret gar recipes, including lemon-grilled gar, garlic gar, broiled gar, fried gar, gar au gratin, gar soup, blackened gar, gar shish kebab, and so on. Also, he cured gar meat during the cold winter months by hanging the skinned carcasses in cypress smoke sheds so that the meat could be canned in spring and eaten at any time with no preparation, in much the same way that sardine connoisseurs enjoy their favorite delicacy.
With such culinary talent readily at hand, the “gar men,” as they were called, were convinced that building a restaurant alongside the highway bordering the gar ponds would turn into yet another sound investment. Called “The Gourmet Gar,” a huge neon sign on its roof blinked twenty-four hours a day: “Gar … any way you want it … eat in, take out, drive through.”
In no time at all, the restaurant was serving hundreds of salivating gar gourmands daily, and quite naturally, the banker who put up the venture capital for the restaurant saw an opportunity for a nationwide franchise, and Gourmet Gar restaurants began popping up all over the country.
Even the United States Army wanted a piece of the action. Gar meat is known to be extremely high in gargoylealbumin, a rare nutrient that elevates testosterone levels and boosts aggressiveness in young males who consume gar flesh. Several high-ranking generals met with the gar men and secured a contract that would guarantee a steady supply of gar rations for troops preparing to enter combat.
The money kept rolling in. On any day, one could see hundreds of wealthy sports fishermen lining the ponds set aside for trophy fishing. On the other end of the gar pond complex, amongst a forest of windmills, a steady stream of trucks equipped with live tanks hauled gars to slaughtering plants built by the gar men to process daily catches from an entrepreneurial miracle: Jay’s gar ponds. —Continued—
Jimmy Reed is an Oxford, Mississippi resident, Ole Miss and Delta State University alumnus, Vietnam Era Army Veteran, former Mississippi Delta cotton farmer and ginner, author, and retired college teacher.
This story is a selection from Jimmy Reed’s latest book, entitled The Jaybird Tales.
Copies, including personalized autographs, can be reserved by notifying the author via email (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)).
