Micks, Krauts, and Bootleg Gin

"The little Irish vet who played the spoons yells, "He's probably one of Kaiser Bill's Krauts," which makes the women at the table start laughing, and sends the tough-guy right over the top. He hits the big Mick in the chest with a surprise short jab then draws back his right arm for the finishing blow. But this vet is as big as he is, and faster. He skips the fancy stuff and nails the tough guy with a pile-driver right between the eyes. The bouncer staggers back, and the two others rush in to help him. Now women are screaming all over the place, fists are flying; and I figure it's time to take the girls home."   (from EGYPT BURNING)

Flapper in the Making

" 'Welcome home, sailor,' says she, and sliding her bare arms around my neck gave me a kiss that was as unexpected as it was sensual. Her warm, small-breasted body rested against me for a second, then she was hugging Sis and Owen and giving me a charming view of her back-side, thinly draped in a dark-green dress that was way ahead of its time, tighter and shorter than anything I'd seen since Shanghai. Our dear Norah was definitely a pioneer version of what would come to be know as a Flapper."

KKK, SCABS, AND BOOTLEGGERS

http://www.amazon.com/Egypt-Burning-Will-Murray-ebook/dp/B00MAMN3AA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1412738152&sr=1-1&keywords=egypt+burning

Doughnuts and War

"Otto the baker was another nice old Herrin guy I remembered from way back. But he didn't seem as happy as Joe; maybe because Italy had been our ally in the War, and Germany had been the enemy-- the Hun. Otto had never been the Kraut type with a big picture of Kaiser Bill on the wall, but a lot of people were still down on Germans in general, even though they still loved the fresh bread, doughnuts and cakes."

(from EGYPT BURNING)

Hot Times in Little Egypt

""Yeah," Owen chuckled, "you yell 'Joe' at a ball game around here, and half the place turns around."
"Or yell 'Mike' at an Irish picnic," said Nora.
"Or 'Pierre' over in French Village," I laughed.
"Yeah," agreed Owen. "But according to the Klan dragons and what-not, foreigners are what's ruining the country. And if you ain't a good ol' American Scotch-Irish, English, German Protestant, you just as well get back on the boat."

(from EGYPT BURNING)

Ragtime and 80-Proof Rootbeer

"Alexander's Ragtime Band" ended with a loud flourish on the drums. Norah unglued herself from me, and we worked our way through the happy perspiring crowd, back to the table where Sis and Owen were greeting people they knew. We ordered drinks from a cute little red-haired waitress, who it turned out was the girlfriend of Kelly, the kid I'd met at Milo's. He was parked at the bar over by the gray-haired lookout, his unsmiling blue eyes watching the crowd, and sipping from a big mug of what I knew certainly wasn't rootbeer."

EGYPT BURNING

Southern Illinois, Little Egypt, in the early Twenties. Bad times mixed with good times. Miners versus mine owners, bootleggers versus KKK, The Herrin Massacre, hot Dixieland jazz and sweet romantic tunes, and the dancing that went with them. Ed Murry home from the China Fleet, with two very different girls on the line, and a .45 in his suitcase.