This piece is an autofictional seed for the Autofiction x Worldbuilding submissions call. It inspired this other piece.

You’ll always find them up by where the cotton grows 

I ran birch four days a week down to Charleston from North Carolina where I was based. Been doing it a month shy 8 years. One time they substituted me Doug-fir but, it wasn’t like that pure white birch. Anyways. Replaced it at port next time I was there. 

I ran Eastern, mainly. Got my 12 and longers at Eacom; studs in Chaleur. A big industrial guy once said ‘em Chaleur’s were the best ‘em they’d come by. That made me feel real good. People were always beating off about prices no matter what. Even when they’re still buying. You kinda listen with the deaf ear— makes no difference to me. 

Whole career ran smooth until the lines out East got real hard, it was hard to get a car due to strikes. Bloody Canadian CN, needed a velocity account to get a pass. Made the rail, mind, made that— had the volume, though. 

Got friendly with a guy called Mulherin heading up South-East Lumber & Co. outta Kernersvile, NC. Ranked our guys ‘em top of the heap he would say. Liked his panels straight edged; square. That was his dig. 

He’d be like, Yessir— yes sir my friend, mm-hmm, well, I was kind of cornered when you came by yesterday. Mm-hmm, uh-huh, mm-hmm— we rank our guys top of the heap I’d say. Mm-hmm. 

He’d pick up at Newport News, mainly, but sometimes they’d deliver trailer straight to him. That was real lucky. He liked the others’ but said my dig was just like that Breyers ice-cream. That made me feel real good. 

I’m laughing now but I remember one time him being like hey, Don, just love your delivery guy. Love listenin’ me to some good ol’ South Georgian red-neck. 

We had a mutual called Grieve who ran Bark’s Lumber outta Dahlonega, Georgia up on the Hall and Lumpkin county line. Grieve had a forest up in Buckeye that he grew but mainly dealt with warehouses like Hawkeye’s in Alabama that did next day. Grieve said his broker was as good a broker he’d ever dealt with. Still, he didn’t deal with him all that much. Went mainly with the Texans or Pacifics. Jobs are dime a dozen out there. 

Eventually Grieve, me and some other guys got a co-op going running storage down at the docks ‘til the sheds were occupied by travelers. We were a little embarrassed ‘bout that but let them be ‘til they figured out what was for doing.

Everything went south when one of them fell into a giant tub of site coatings which is like a strong laminating glue for cross timber. We were forced to clear then secure the shed for its own good. The boy was real beat up. 

Everyone bailed on the co-op but I was determined to wind some insurance money out of the whole thing. Had a little success with a suit with a clipboard. But it’s a numbers game, I get that. 

I was getting ready to bail complete on the industry when I met Steve. Big Steve had worked technical and production for sawmills near 20 years and repped a conglomerate sourcing mechanicals for DC Comics. 

Steve was pissed that a few of the mills were closing down, all the while thankful for consignment up in Montreal and Philly. He liked the North American sheets as it met requirements for a substrate DC used or something to that effect, but preferred the blue-white shade, the European shade. That was the best shade. Said clients were nervous about working with someone across the pond and asked if I would travel to Finland with him to help secure a large load. 

I figured I had nothing to lose. Had a couple of thousand from the insurance and arrived there with zero expectations. You can forage cloudberries up there. Seriously fields and fields of the things. Finns call it the gold of the North. Make jam and whatnot from it. They grow in wetlands, need loads of water, bit of sun. Essentially peat-dwelling plants. 

On my last day up there I didn’t have two dimes to rub together so I went hiking, foraging. Someone said the trick was to look out for where the cotton grows. 

You’ll always find them up by where the cotton grows, they said. 

That made me feel real good.