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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BAD CHOICES MAKE GOOD STORIES, Part II
Misti LuAnn Duvall was the product of a broken home and found herself bouncing back and forth between Fort Stockton, where her mother lived and Dumas, where her father was from. It was never clear whether Misti’s parents were ever actually married, although Lucinda said something about them fulfilling the requirements of Common Law Marriage. “If…
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BAD CHOICES MAKE GOOD STORIES, Part I
“Joaquin Despeada never had a chance,” some folks would argue when his name came up in the conversation. Some, particularly those who believed heavily in the concept of fatalism, said that Joaquin’s future was already sealed the moment he exited his mother’s womb at Fort Stockton Memorial Hospital and Animal Testing Facility. When the idea…
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THAT SPECIAL WEEK
“That week in 1955. The one at the cabin. The week that it was just Lydia and me.” The old guy was in hospice care at Fort Stockton Memorial Hospital and Animal Testing Facility. He didn’t have long. He knew it. Angelina Newton knew it. She’d been the nurse on duty in the emergency room when the ambulance brought him…
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FROM THE BACK OF THE BERMUDA, 12/29/2024
Well, here’s to the weirdest time of the year, that week in between Christmas and New Years. That week where nobody’s working, even if they’re supposed to be, and nothing really gets done. Christmas is over, but there’s still one more holiday left before everything goes back in the attic. It doesn’t really feel right to have Christmas…
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CLIPPED WINGS, Part III
The final story of a trilogy. After circling the Coast Guard cutter Pontchartrain for nearly an hour waiting for the sun to come up, Captain Ogg could no longer wait. The passengers were prepared for what was to come. The fuel tanks in the Boeing 377 were nearly empty. The crew on the deck of the Coast Guard Cutter had…
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CLIPPED WINGS, Part II
The second story of a trilogy. One morning early in October of 1956, Vernon Whitney woke up in his studio unit in the Benjamin Apartments, a young attractive stewardess by the name of Nadine Nimbus asleep on his arm. Whitney couldn’t tell how long she’d been there, but his arm had lost all feeling. Glancing down…
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CLIPPED WINGS, Part I
The first story of a trilogy. From the time he was a boy Vernon Whitney gazed up at the sky in wonder. His mother thought him to be slow. But he was as bright as the next boy in his classes at Alamo Elementary, San Jacinto Junior High and Jim Bowie High School, “Home of the Fightin’…
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HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, Chapter 7: Silent Night
This is the final chapter of the Christmas series. Doug was out of his chair and out the side door from the kitchen like a bullet. In the driveway, he looked at the passenger side of the Country Squire in total disbelief. A moment later, Bobby ambled out. He had a beer in each hand, one for himself…
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HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, CHAPTER 6: White Christmas
This is the sixth chapter of a holiday series that will run for seven days and end on Christmas. Grandma Nolan was up long before the sun. The tuna hot dish was just coming out of the oven when the others began to stir and make their way to the chrome percolator for a hot…
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HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, Chapter 5: The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
This is the fifth chapter of a holiday series that will run for seven days and end on Christmas. The Country Squire eventually made its way back to the brick Tudor home of Doug’s youth in Ferndale. Doug’s family felt like they knew him a little better having seen the town he grew up in, the…