THE COLD PLAINS OF TEXAS
mADE dALLAS LAST NIGHT. iT WAS 85 DEGREES. tHIS MORNING IT'S 35 DEGREES. mY HOSTESS IS MY FIRST LOVE mS. sWEETS. wE saw each other once in the 35 years that has passed since we were college students in Tenn. If she didn't have to go to work we'd still be talking and giggling. She's got grown kids and is divorced and living with two dogs- Yoko and Little Dog in a tar paper shack out on a pancake flat piece of hardscrabble land just north of Dallas. Out the window I can see a couple of buzzards circling in the metal grey sky over some road kill. It looks like an armadillo. The wind is kicking up , making an old piece of farm machinery dance and squeak. There's a note for me when I get up. "Good morning Dimps! Help yourself to whatever you need (except $- I've done that! Love, Sweets) Smiley face.
For those of you that were following the narrative before I started this travel blog you know Sweets and I parted company back in 1972 after an ill fated trip to Milawyer's place in Florida. That's all forgotten now and we connect like no time has elapsed at all. I may be a tattooed skinny old man but in her eyes I'm a teenager with dimples and a pink shirt. Her twinkling eyes, smile and ready laugh are exactly the same. Poor little thing has had a tough row of it here in The Bush's Texas. She's worked hard as a teacher all these years and can barely afford gas for the rusted old pickup she drives to work. Yoko and Little Dog stare up at me, scrawny as pole cats, gnawing on bleached bones strewn across the floor boards. Once in a while the wind blows up under the house sending little puffs of dirt into the cold air. I feel for the little critters.
Before she went to work I told Sweets I'd give the windmill a look see and try to figure out what's wrong with it. Good thing I brought a case of Holy water. She's been without water for a week. Well, I better get at it. There's a six gun laying next to the bed with another note. "Dimps, Watch out for rattlesnakes near the well. Gun is loaded. See ya'll tonight. Love, Sweets"
For those of you that were following the narrative before I started this travel blog you know Sweets and I parted company back in 1972 after an ill fated trip to Milawyer's place in Florida. That's all forgotten now and we connect like no time has elapsed at all. I may be a tattooed skinny old man but in her eyes I'm a teenager with dimples and a pink shirt. Her twinkling eyes, smile and ready laugh are exactly the same. Poor little thing has had a tough row of it here in The Bush's Texas. She's worked hard as a teacher all these years and can barely afford gas for the rusted old pickup she drives to work. Yoko and Little Dog stare up at me, scrawny as pole cats, gnawing on bleached bones strewn across the floor boards. Once in a while the wind blows up under the house sending little puffs of dirt into the cold air. I feel for the little critters.
Before she went to work I told Sweets I'd give the windmill a look see and try to figure out what's wrong with it. Good thing I brought a case of Holy water. She's been without water for a week. Well, I better get at it. There's a six gun laying next to the bed with another note. "Dimps, Watch out for rattlesnakes near the well. Gun is loaded. See ya'll tonight. Love, Sweets"
posted by mike osterhout at 10:48 AM
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