STORIES
If our lives are a book, the cars we drive define the chapters.
These are stories featuring cars, trucks, and even RVs that played a role in the lives of the people who owned or drove them. Many are set in Fort Stockton, Texas and involve a cast of characters in and around the dusty southwest Texas town. A lot of the stories are shared around the table at The Grounds for Divorce, where the ‘regulars’ meet.
Pull up a chair and let Lucinda pour you a hot cuppa joe and enjoy.
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IT’S A BIRD, IT’S A PLANE… CHAPTER 4: “The Final Run to Pecos County”
CHAPTER 4 OF A FIVE PART SERIES The storm had cleared as the trio managed to navigate their way to Newfoundland’s Gander airport for a much-needed refueling stop. Compared to their previous chaotic landings, this one went smoother than expected, but the tension was palpable as the plane rested on the tarmac. They were closer…
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IT’S A BIRD, IT’S A PLANE… CHAPTER 3: “Lost in the Azores”
CHAPTER 3 OF A FIVE PART SERIES Against all odds, Ben and John had managed to navigate the perilous Atlantic journey from Cape Verde to the Azores. They had managed to stay one step ahead of the authorities, weaving through their tangled lies and desperate luck. But as they neared the small island of São…
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IT’S A BIRD, IT’S A PLANE… CHAPTER 2: “Trouble in Paradise”
CHAPTER 2 OF A FIVE PART SERIES The gleaming 727-233 had defied all expectations. Despite the odds, Ben C. Padilla and John M. Mutantu had taken flight from Angola, heading into the heart of the Atlantic Ocean. For a moment, it had all seemed surreal—like a dream half-remembered as they cruised above the vast ocean…
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IT’S A BIRD. IT’S A PLANE . . . CHAPTER 1: “The Heist”
CHAPTER 1 OF A FIVE PART SERIES The Buick Electra’s Purr Ben C. Padilla gripped the wheel of the 1976 Buick Electra Limited Coupe with a sense of certainty only born of sheer desperation. The white exterior, marked with age and nicks like the weathered faces of old ranchers, shone with an odd, almost ironic…
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RED RAM DREAMS
The sun had begun its descent behind the Davis Mountains, casting long shadows across Fort Stockton’s cracked streets. The summer heat was a persistent weight in the air, heavy with dust, but the wind, when it came, carried the scent of creosote and dry desert flowers. It was the kind of heat that made everything…
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TRIXIE’S TALE, CHAPTER SIX: Wild Horses
THIS ONE WINDS UP EVERYTHING YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW The Dillo Express rumbled into Fort Stockton twenty minutes behind schedule, a plume of highway dust trailing it like a wedding veil with regrets. When the doors hissed open at the corner of Pecos and Jackson, a tall, red-headed young woman stepped down in boots…
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TRIXIE’S TALE, CHAPTER FIVE: Cadillac Man
AFTER THIS CHAPTER, WE’VE ONLY GOT ONE MORE TO GO. A friend of a cousin who knew somebody in Trixie’s graduating class at the Fort Stockton School of Cosmetology and Taxidermy set her up with a visitor from Blanco who was in town for the weekend. His name was Wylie Woodson. Despite having been burned…
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TRIXIE’S TALE, CHAPTER FOUR: Minnelli Yellow
HAS TRIXIE ROUNDED THE CORNER IN CHAPTER FOUR OR IS SHE HEADING OFF A CLIFF? Trixie came home twice in the same week. First, from Fort Stockton Memorial Hospital and Animal Testing Facility after giving birth to a daughter she would never know but had already loved in a way that ached. Second, from the…
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TRIXIE’S TALE, CHAPTER THREE: The Deep End
THE THIRD CHAPTER OF SIX, TRYING TO DEFINE TRIXIE BY EXPLAINING HER PAST. The couple from New Braunfels wasn’t the kind to make waves. They lived in a limestone ranch house tucked off a gravel county road, where the live oaks shaded the porch and the wind chimes told you what direction the weather was…
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TRIXIE’S TALE, CHAPTER TWO: Burn Barrels and Razor Wire
CHAPTER TWO OF SIX THAT EXPLAINS JUST WHO TRIXIE IS. The marriage started on the wrong foot and never got pointed in the right direction. If their trip to Vegas was a fever dream, reality came cold and clear the minute they returned to Fort Stockton. Kirk’s boot prints barely had time to dry on…