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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SUITS & VERDICTS, Verdict Number 2
The fifth of seven chapters that will run all week. It didn’t take long, once inside Franklin Danbury’s office with the door closed, for Rusty Hammer to break down into tears. For a guy who presented himself as a tough old redneck, Rusty was really as big hearted and emotional as anyone. He just kept it hidden. Or…
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SUITS & VERDICTS, Verdict Number 1
The fourth of seven chapters that will run all week. Prudence was dressed in a very conservative navy blue pantsuit that Franklin Danbury Jr.’s Jury Specialist had selected for her. It was ironic, in that everybody in the courtroom would have seen her completely naked in the pictures that had been posted online. “When they see you…
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SUITS & VERDICTS, Suit Number 3
The third of seven chapters that will run all week. Jimbo Carthage had spent several years barely getting by with his general contracting business. It seemed that just when he got a big job that would put him over the top, something would happen that made him break even or even lose money and he’d be…
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SUITS & VERDICTS, Suit Number 2
The second of seven chapters that will run all week. Brother Bob was finishing up his sermon on how the Lord will bless those who dig deeper when they tithe. It was the same sermon he gave every year when it was time for the congregation to sign their tithing cards and drop them in the…
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SUITS & VERDICTS, Suit Number 1
The first of seven chapters that will run all week. It didn’t take long for the festive mood to pack up and leave town. I mean Mavis over at the DMV, whose job it is to go over to the Paisano Pete Statue that welcomes folks to town and strip off all the Christmas garb…
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FROM THE BACK OF THE BERMUDA, 1/26/2025
It’s been cold in Fort Stockton. All of Texas, to be sure, but it seems like it’s especially cold here. They had to move Mayor Goodman’s swearing-in inside the National Guard Armory, if that tells you anything. That’s something folks swore would never happen, as the mayor loves him some quality time in front of the people from…
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KILLER IN PINK
It was late 1959, right after the brand new headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency opened up at Langley, near the height of the Cold War. It was early in the morning and Bradford St. John, Assistant Department Chief for Covert Operations, had just pulled into his assigned parking spot in the new 1960 Mercury…
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GOLDEN YEARS, Part II
Part II of a 2-part story. Ansel and Rose put more miles on their ’66 Pontiac Catalina in the first year of his retirement than they did in the first seven years they’d had the old ’55 Chieftain. The couple made good on their promise to travel and see what America had to offer. Initially…
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THE GOLDEN YEARS, Part I
Part I of a two-part story. When Ansel’s retirement date was on the horizon, he and Rose began making plans. Born in 1900, Ansel was finally ready to walk away from teaching Life Science at Jim Bowie High School, “Home of the Fightin’ Knives,” and enjoy the Golden Years. Rose, his wife of over forty years…
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THE LIST, PART III
No one was prepared for the turnout for Vic Volente’s funeral. We’ll, no one perhaps other than Franklin Danbury Jr., being privy to more information on Vic than anyone else in Fort Stockton. Danbury had a sneaking suspicion that the crowd might be larger than Pastor Peterson at Almost United Methodist might be prepared for. Behind…