The Sunshine Mountain Valley is a lovely little crossroads community in north-central-south-western North Carolina, located near the intersection of two interstate highways, two great concrete and steel ribbons of travel and commerce, that cross and go their separate ways just out of sight, and out of mind, of the people of the valley. These are their stories, some told from the porch of the Bull Tail Tavern, so named because the owner was enamored of Mark Twain who noted that the man who takes a bull by the tail is privileged to information not available to others. People of the valley live lives and have experiences not available to others. Read this book for the simple enjoyment of the stories or as an aspiring storyteller. Each of the main stories is followed by a section discussing a potentially difficult element in the telling of that story. There are unfinished stories for the writer or storyteller to complete, and shorts about children, to remind all readers that we are all storytellers.