“Boss Hog”

The year is 1997, August 5^8h, to be exact; that is the first time my wife, Dorothy, met Boss Hogg.  “Boss Hogg” is not his real name, but my wife swears this man who arrived with his truck and large storage trailer to move her and my three children to Charleston, SC was the epitome and the true image of this legendary man who inhabited the TV program, “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

Perhaps you remember this show, in which Bo and Luke Duke who live in the rural community of Hazzard County continually find their nemesis in Boss Hogg, the corrupt politician who regularly sends his minion, Sherriff Rosco P. Coltrane to arrest them.  They normally make their escape in a revved up Dodge Charger in a series of lively chase scenes that last for the better part of the show.  Daisy Duke is the sensible lass who balances out her brothers as the sane female actress of the show.

My wife encountered Boss Hogg come to life, when I hired him to carry all our earthly possessions from our home by the church I pastored in Iva, South Carolina to the new rented home on Kings Street, in Mt. Pleasant, SC.  I was completing my first course of the Medical University of South Carolina over the summer of 1997 and needed to move my family into our new home prior to starting the Medical University for the fall classes of my first year.  In this period, summer Gross Anatomy was allowed, and I took advantage of this to get an early start on my medical training.  Dorothy stayed with the children at our home provided by Good Hope Presbyterian Church for these three summer months.  They graciously permitted my wife to stay for three months in the house provided by the church for the pastor, while I started medical school.  We had served this particular church for almost 10 years.

Since funds were tight for us moving into a new home, I sought out and found a local man from Belton, SC, who owned a large trailer which he pulled regularly to different markets carrying his wares for sale.  He agreed to help me move my family for such and such a price, which I thought rather reasonable, so we made a deal for the move during the first week of August, 1997.  True to his word, “Boss Hogg” arrived on time and with others helping loaded all our furniture on his long van for transport to Charleston.  Dorothy put the three children, one dog and a miserable cat named “Albert” in the car with her and transported all to Mt. Pleasant following “Boss Hogg” down the highway.

She called him “Boss Hogg” as he was a short man, somewhat pudgy in the middle, and he wore a white hat and white pants, just like the other “Boss Hogg” on the TV show, ”Dukes of Hazzard.”  He was a great talker, and could strike a deal with the devil if he needed to do so to advance his enterprise.  I needed a cheap mover, so he was a Godsend to me.

Dorothy loves to recount this story, how driving to Charleston, Albert (the cat) was placed in his cage on the front seat across from her in the Volvo station wagon.  She says he started moaning and crying constantly for about the first hour of the journey.  Finally, she told him if he uttered another word he would be left on the side of the road on the way to Charleston.  He quit crying at once and never said another peep until he arrived in Mt. Pleasant.  I don’t know what she said to him, but it was quite effective!  I expect after that the children did not say much either, knowing Dorothy meant every word and had no patience for any argument from anyone on that day, even a moody cat!

Dorothy reports by the time the whole menagerie arrived after the more than 4 hour ride to Charleston, they all looked “like the Clampetts arriving in Beverly Hills.”  I was amazed at how many things she had managed to place in that one car.  When the children opened the doors, it was as if the car exploded and all kinds of things began to spill out.  Of course, the dog and Albert the cat got first attention and after good watering found themselves a safe place in the back yard for the dog and in the house upstairs for the cat.

“Boss Hogg” and his two helpers arrived about 20 minutes after Dorothy, having stopped for a snack before beginning this unload.  I was of course anticipating a great relief to finally have everyone and everything finally in our new home.  A very kind and generous man, a son of a Baptist minister rented us his second home on King Street for the four years we lived in Charleston.  I shall never forget Steve, who never changed the rent once during our four years in his home, even though everything in that area was in a real estate boom.

“Boss Hogg”, however, took another strategy with me.  When he arrived and before beginning to unload, he came up to me and said, “Preacher, we are going to need another $500 from you to unload your furniture, as it cost us more than we thought to get down here to Charleston.”  I did not know what the extra cost had been, nor was I in a mood to argue with him at that moment.  If fact I had felt I was going to need more money for the trip, so I had gone to the bank and taken out an additional $700 in hundred dollar bills.  I have never seen a man more pleased when he received five of these one hundred dollar bills before taking anything off the van.  Not a cross word was said between us from that day to this day.  I knew with “Boss Hogg”, it was simply the cost of doing business.  We did have a whole lot of stuff and I suspect he meant the time to load and unload everything was more than he had planned and he simply wanted his crew to be happy.

By this time, I was so grateful to see my family and all our household goods delivered safely, I would have paid him $1000 to get it off the truck.  He did not know that, of course, and I did not tell him, but I did offer a silent prayer of thanks to God Most High and to our Lord Jesus Christ for bringing my family safely to our new home.  After this day, we started a new and exciting journey together, beginning my medical training at the ripe old age of 43.  It seems now like an eternity ago.  I am not sure today, I would have the courage to do such a bold, or perhaps “crazy” thing as this again.

It did however provide a real adventure for Dorothy and our children.  They all fell in love with Mt. Pleasant and Charleston, SC. It is such a beautiful place!  We went to every garden and every tourist attraction at least once, sometimes three times.  Dorothy took the children to Sullivan’s Island beach so many times over the first two years the children finally begged not to go!  It was a truly happy time for us.

As to “Boss Hogg”, I never saw him again.  If I had not witnessed him in person myself, with his white hat and white pants and shirt, I would say the whole thing was a vivid dream.  But I know it did happen just as I have said.  It cost me $1700 to move my family to Mr. Pleasant from Iva, South Carolina.  But my, now, looking back, it would have been worth three times the price.  I remain today as ever grateful to our God who loves us and cares for all his children.  Wherever “Boss Hogg” is this night, Lord, and for all his family and his helpers and their families, remember to bless them, for the kindness they showed to me and my wife and our children, one dog and a moody cat named Albert!  They blessed us on that journey, O Lord.  Bless them all, for we pray and give thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord, Redeemer, wonderful Savior and abiding Friend.  In his blessed name we pray, Amen and Amen!”

BWW

October 14, 2017