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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THE PANTHER ON THE PORCH, Part I
In the summer of 1954, Martin Van Zandt was fourteen years old and saving up for a dream. That dream had curved chrome fenders, whitewall tires, a springer fork, and gold script that shimmered in the morning sun like it had something to say. The 1953 Schwinn Panther sat in the front window of Hobby…
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MA AND LIZZIE
It was 1920 when the Ford Model T rattled its way into Fort Stockton, the kind of car that looked more assembled than built. The black touring car wheezed over the gravel in front of the courthouse square like it was arriving for judgment—and in a way, it was. Riding up front, hands on the…
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TILL DEATH DO US PART, Part IV: A Bird Uncaged
THE FINAL INSTALLMENT OF A FOUR PART STORY. The news of Dane Granbury’s execution landed in Fort Stockton like a long-overdue payment—expected, but still a little unsettling when it finally arrived. The Stockton Telegram-Dispatch didn’t run a headline, just a quiet blurb below the fold:“Granbury Executed in Huntsville.”The same paper that once refused to print…
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TILL DEATH DO US PART, Part III: The Long Goodbye
PART III OF A FOUR PART STORY. TILL DEATH DO US PART, Part III: The Long Goodbye Dane Granbury lasted ten years longer than anyone in Fort Stockton thought he would. Not that many folks spent time thinking about him anymore. After the conviction, his name became shorthand. A warning. A whisper behind hands at…
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TILL DEATH DO US PART, Part II: Trial and Tribulation
PART II OF A FOUR PART STORY. Six weeks after the discovery of Deb Granbury’s body, with no murder weapon, no eyewitnesses, and no clear motive—other than being the husband—Dane Granbury was arrested for her murder. The warrant was signed at dusk, with Chief Martin himself leading the arrest, his shirt sleeves rolled up to…
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TILL DEATH DO US PART, Part I: The Granburys Move In
PART I OF A FOUR PART STORY. They arrived in the spring of 1964 like a pair of movie stars who’d taken the wrong exit off Route 66. Deb Granbury looked like Tippi Hedren stepping off the Universal backlot—cool, elegant, and slightly untouchable. Ash-blonde hair always perfectly set, waist so narrow it seemed architectural, lips…
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MOVIE REVIEW: FORD v FERRARI
By: Jimmy Don Ventura Stockton Telegram-Dispatch | Captain My Captain Blog “This Ain’t Just a Movie—It’s a God-Fearing, Red-Blooded, Unapologetic Burnout of the Soul” Let’s get this straight. Ford v Ferrari ain’t a film. It’s a bootleg communion service for gearheads and glory-hounds, held under the leaking fluorescents of a garage that smells like old…
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THEY GROW UP SO FAST
By Way of Moral Collapse and Coin-Op Thrills It started the way most things do in Fort Stockton—quietly, under slightly questionable paperwork filed in Delaware, and followed by a weeklong delay in the arrival of a box of European fuses. The ride appeared one Wednesday morning in front of the Ben Franklin like it had…
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THE LAST CALL TO ROADRUNNER BASE
By Anonymous, though Lucinda swears she could name the author if you bought a slice of pie and had her keep the coffee coming. By the time the 1951 Packard Henney ambulance rolled into Fort Stockton, Texas, it had already lived more lives than a stray tomcat with charm. Originally commissioned by the U.S. Navy,…
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MAYOR GOODMAN’S GRAND ILLUSION
Fort Stockton, Texas | Late Spring, the kind where dirt clings to your socks and truth evaporates faster than rain on a tin roof. If you stood just right inside the old feed barn on County Road 214 and squinted past the LED string lights and “Welcome Investors!” banner, you might’ve believed the future had…