Childhood memory of a farm in Illinois

My father certainly didn’t hunt as much as I do, but from the time I was 9 or 10 years old he always made sure to include me when he did go hunting.

One trip we took every fall was to his cousin’s farm in Illinois where we’d stay in an old camp trailer out back behind the barn.

Dad would pick me up early from school on a Friday, and I’d settle into the backseat with our beagle Patches while he and Mom’s cousin Carlton, who was like an uncle to me, sat up front telling stories and smoking cigarettes.

We always got to the farm well after dark, and I remember shivering under the covers next to my...