[The Porch Wolf] Chapter 1

Miesville, Minnesota

December 17, 2019

The light snow crunched under my boots as I stepped out of my truck outside the brown single-story building. "Wiederholt's Supper Club" was in big letters on the left side of the bump-out entrance, "Bar-Lounge-Liquor" on the right. I slammed the door closed as traffic passed on Highway 61. Miesville wasn't even a one-stoplight town; all you got was a short 30-mile-an-hour zone as you passed. On my side to the west was the old Catholic church, graveyard, and an amateur baseball stadium for the Miesville Mudhens. Across the two-lane highway, there was an antique store, a combined gas station and feed store, and a bar called King's Place with the best burgers in the state.

Tomorrow night I'd be there, but Tuesdays were Prime Rib Nights at Wiederholt's. The best prime rib in the state.

I hadn't skipped a Tuesday here in over three years.

I walked towards the entrance as the ten-degree cold blew across my bear