THIRSTY

I'm old and too fat for my own good,

so I've been walking a couple miles down

county road 22, and back; I'm a bound 

and true Romantic, and need the solace

the deep emptiness of the Texas plains

lying flat to the horizon.

The landmarks today are seventeen beer cans,

one a Schlitz, six water bottles, two Dr. Peppers,

seven longnecks, and a forty-ounce King Cobra

malt liquor. Apparently, in Texas, the ground

isn't the only thing that's thirsty…

There is a shattered mylar balloon,

a bag from wallyworld, and one plastic fork.

Tomorrow there will be less evidence,

and by the time I'm ready to turn home,

maybe none at all, at least for a little while.

I think tomorrow I'll carry a sack to speed

the process, so I can pay more attention to that

new badger burrow by the fence, and those

prickly pear with the inch long thorns,

or spot the coyote that left crusty tracks

in the mud last time it rained.

In this early spring there are no crops

sown yet in the flat, empty fields.

Another thing I've noticed is no birds,

not on the fences, the power lines, or

soaring. The pastures stretch as far

as I can see in every direction, but

there are no cows or horses, either;

everything seems dead except the wind.

A train from north, or south rumbles

beside highway 287 headed to Amarillo,

Fort Worth, or maybe Houston, and stacked

with shipping containers, or pulling

a couple hundred cars of coal.

At the house, the pressure tank

beside the well pump is water-logged

and won't quit running; it's been forty

years since I had to deal with that, so we

called the man to come and save me

from breaking something. Water is too

important to do without because it has

been three months since the last rain,

and Texas is as thirsty as the rest of us.

Reviews

[Kelly Scheppers]

See, this is why I love your writing. You're so good, Vol! I walk everyday myself, taking pictures of trees, squirrels, crows, whatever catches my eye. It's pretty beneficial to my sciatica too, and I do find it inspires my muse, as well. Tell me, does Texas have any idea they have a residential Mark Twain in their midst? Thank you for the adventure, my friend! What a thrill it was!

[Vol]

Kelly,
Thank you so much, M'lady, at my age things go weird... and I love to walk ,but my back won't let me, when I do try, It hurts like hell, but when I'm just touring Walmart, I'm fine... My town is exactly three miles around from my door and back again... I walked it for over a year when my back said to knock it off... I had surgery to fix it, but now I have discovered a whole new problem called "Spinal Stenosis." Aan easy fix surgically, but there are only about five neurosurgeons in Amarillo, and the soonest I can even get in to give me an evaluation is in April, much less schedule surgery...

[Kelly Scheppers]

Wow, that's an awful long time to wait. But it doesn't surprise me. I need to have epidural injections into my spine for my sciatica every couple of years, but before that, I have to have an MRI, because the imagery from that is used to know where to make the injections into my spine. It's a waiting game, just like you said. I feel your pain, I really do. My problem is from falling flat on my back onto a concrete floor. I couldn't feel my legs for hours afterwards and was in the hospital overnight. The pain is sporadic and pretty much chronic for the rest of my life. Please let me know how your surgery goes, ok? Either here or on Facebook. We'll be in touch, I'm sure!

[Vol]

Aw, Kelly,
That sounds awful! I've been in a number of auto accidents, and none of them seemed to damage anything permanently, but the accumulate effect of some rarther serious bits of runing into walls, launching off the tops of sand dunes, getting t-boned among others has left me rather broken... but it was so gradual... Falling onto concrete flat on your back has to ber far worse...

[D. Mansfield]

Awesome story, I doddlebugged in east Texas right out of high school, was a shooter. We were very thirsty

[Vol]

On the other hand, with humidity at 4-40 % I can breathe for the first time in my life...

[Soren]

A picture well painted and from which one can dip deep. I loved the imagery in this piece it brought me back to places I"ve lived and visited. With each item selected painting another like the birds that tell the scenery areound them. It made me thirsty for more.

[Vol]

Soren,
Thanks, man... It is fascinating to me that words, squiggly lines on paper, or vibrations of the air can make people see things that are not there...
Vol

[Lorry]

I like your landscapes Vol. We have similar here, although to be honest I thought schlitz went out of business decades ago.
Me and Katie walk the trails here picking up after others and it never ceases to amaze us why people come to visit for the beautybut are only too glad to leave it their own personal dumpstite!
Even the local primary school kids (aged 5 to 11) now have litter picking days and love it as they feel they are helping clean up the area and are copying their favourite grown up Katie (I don't qualify as a grown up apparently(
Just goes to show some people haven't the sense they were born with!
The one that gets me is the plastic carrier bags, because we have a tax on them to save waste and some stores charge between 20 pence and a pound for bags (between around 30 cents and a dollar thirty five) yet some meanderthals (get it, its a hiking trail) don't think twice about dumping it on the ground, only for it to fly away into the nearest tree and end its days looking like the world's most tragic kite!
(Here's an idea meanderthals, ut your garbage in the bag and put the bag in a bin you forking thinktards!)
Also, ice always wondered where amaryllis was. Watch the video to find out how annoying that song is. Funk knows why it became a hit for a comedian, but it did raise lots of money for charity.

https://youtu.be/t63CMUqo7qA?si=MinBuJx14iG0lQLw

[Vol]

Lorry,
I know what you mean... When I went to the Grand Canyon, there was so much litter, it changed my theology... I think there are two kinds of people, those descended from Adam and Eve, and those who climbed down out or the trees. The created ones have souls and never litter, the other ones drop their Tropicana cans and empty Frito bags all over the place...
Thanks for the ear worm... (ha...)
Vol
Schlitz has occasional revival and appears at random from time to time. While ai was growing up, it was Budweiser's main competition... Almost all American beer just plain sucks. It is so bad they have to drink it ice cold to shock and numb their taste buds.

[Lorry]

Says the IPA dude! 😃
I just got a ten pack of hobgoblin IPA and soon as my back was turned her Katienessput it in the fridge like a damn heathen!
I'm gonna make her coffee into freeze pops in revenge! 😃

[Vol]

It always turns out to be something unexpected...
BTW, the cowboys here, with more muscles in their hands than I have anywhere all drank Bud Light until it went gay, now they drink Miller Light... sigh Marshall Dillon and Miss Kitty at the bar drinking COLD light beer... my whole life is a lie!
Vol

[Lorry]

You were born in the wrong country mate! But then you'd have to put up with having 18 cups of tea a day too! 😃

[Vol]

all I do these days is pee...