When it came to getting the two of us in trouble, Soup was a regular genius….Soup was my best pal. His real and righteous name was Luther Wesley Vinson, but nobody called him Luther. He didn’t like it. I called him Luther just once, which promoted Soup to break me of a very bad habit before it really got formed. As soon as the swelling went out of my lip, I called him Soup instead of Thoop.

Here are the stories of that friendship, and of the troubles–stories from a boyhood filled with barrels to roll in, apples to whip, windows to break, ropes to bind prisoners, acorn pepes, and ten-cent Saturday movies.

But then as always nothing was quite as important as a best friend.