Chapter 1

My First Taste of Texas

Lyrics © Ed Bruce

My first taste of Texas,
Had blue eyes and golden hair.
Beneath the Tennessee, silver moon,
We found a feelin’ we could share.
And age made no difference.
I’d been around and she was young.
But my first taste of Texas,
Still lingers in my heart and on my tongue.

Her gentle heart was broken,
In a way a tender lady shouldn’t have to know.
And mine was somewhere in between.
Somethin’ I should hold on-to or let go.
Her talkin’ blue eyes told me,
The story of the love she’d failed to find.
And without conversation I suppose,
The lines on my face told her mine.

My first taste of Texas,
Had blue eyes and golden hair.
Beneath the Tennessee silver moon,
We found a feelin’ we could share.
And age made no difference.
I’d been around and she was young.
And my first taste of Texas,
Still lingers in my heart and on my tongue.

‘Cause me and my son, we’ve only just begun
Begun to love, now the three of us are one.
And age makes no difference.
We’re still around and love’s still young.
And my first taste of Texas,
Still lingers in my heart and on my tongue.

My first taste of Texas,
Had blue eyes and golden hair.
Beneath the Tennessee silver moon,
We found a feelin’ we could share.
And age made no difference.
We’re still around and love’s still young.
And my first taste of Texas,
Still lingers in my heart and on my tongue.

A single man my age, never knows when his next life changing event will come along. Sometimes it’s on a man before his brain can get a handle on it.

I was up in Kansas, when the latest such event happened to me. Before I realized how much it was going to change my way of living, I was knee-deep in the middle of something, I later hoped would last forever.

I’d been up to Haven, Kansas – about thirty-five miles northwest of Wichita, visiting my younger brother, Dale on his ranch for two weeks. I was on my way back home to Comanche, Oklahoma when it happened.

Dale had just bought a new Ford Super-Duty 4X4 Dually Lariat Diesel from his father-in-law’s Dealership. He told me that he could get me the same deal on one just like it, if I wanted to trade my two year-old, Ram Dually. Of course, I had to have one like it, after I drove his.

I was pulling my thirty foot slant back home with two cuttin’ horses on board, that I’d bought from Dale. I rolled into the Flying Eagle Truck Stop off I-235 Loop in Wichita, to top off my tanks, check my horses, and use the restroom before I hit that long stretch of I-35 down to Comanche.

I’d filled my tanks and was walking around the backside of my trailer, kicking the tires and checking the trailer lights - one last time before I pulled out - when I saw this dude trying to open the off-side door on my new truck. I got to him, just he was looking inside the tinted glass with his hands cupped around his face. He reached for the door handle again, about the time I reached for him.

“Mister, you pull that door handle one more time and I’ll break your damn arm!”

He whirled with his fist cocked to take a swing at me and I decked him with a hard right to his jaw. He was scuffling around on the concrete, trying to get to his feet, reaching for my jeans the whole time.

“Mister, you better get your ass away from my truck before I call the law. Now, get the hell away from me - and - my truck.”

With his right hand on the running-board, he pulled himself up on his knees, glaring up at me.

“I was looking for my friend. She ran out this way and I could swear she got in this truck.”

“There’s no one in my truck, it’s locked. Now get the hell out of the way so I can leave, or I’ll call the law.”

“You’re not leaving here until I make sure she’s not in this truck!” He yelled at me, lunging toward my legs from a kneeling position, with his arms outstretched.

I busted his face with my right knee and he fell over backwards on the pump island with his nose bleeding and both lips busted.

Just about that time, there was a security guard reaching for the guy.

“What’s up with this dude?” he asked.

“I caught him trying to get into the cab of my truck. Then he wanted to take a swing at me. I decked him and told him to get out of my way before I called the law.”

“I saw that part on the security cameras. You can leave now, I’ll take care of this.”

I was ten miles south of Wichita on I-35 when I heard something scuffing around in the back seat. I nearly jerked a crick in my neck as I turned to look back between the seats. There sat a young woman huddled over on the passenger side in the floorboard.

“Do you have a gun?” My first thought was - she and her boyfriend may have planned to hijack me, rob me and steal my truck and trailer.

“No. If I did, I would’ve killed that son-of-a-bitch way before you hit him.”

“You married to him?”

“Hell no I’m not! He wanted me to marry him and I kept telling him, no way. He’s my damn step-brother and he followed me to work this morning.”

“You work back there at the truck stop?”

“I did, until I quit and got my pay, just before he showed up and caused a ruckus in the office.”

“You can get off the floor and sit up here if you want to. We’re at least twenty-five miles south of Wichita.

...”I’m Wade Hobbs - by the way.”

“I’m Julie. How far south are you going?”

“Down to Ardmore, then west another hour or so, over near the small town of Comanche.”

“My Momma lives in Sherman, Texas. Can I ride as far as Ardmore with you?”

“Sure. Come on up here so I can see you when we talk.”

“I’ve been crying and my face is a mess. I’m not much to look at this morning. You’ll have to turn your head so I can crawl across the console. All I have to wear is my uniform and it’s so damn short it barely covers my ass when I bend over.”

“Come on up here. I’ll look the other way, but from what I can see of you, you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Thanks ... but my sorry-ass daddy told me I was too skinny, and that damned jerk-off-asshole, Herschel - told me that I needed to put some more meat on my bones if I ever wanted to look like a real woman.”

She was still talking as I saw both feet slide over the console first. There was no way I could keep from looking in the mirror while she was trying to keep her short uniform down over her butt. When she turned to swing her butt off the console into the seat, I nearly ran off the road... Damn!

“I know I shined my ass at you, but there was no way I could get up here without you seeing me.”

“Julie, you won’t have to fight me off! I’m old enough to be your daddy. Besides that, you need to get a whole new attitude about yourself. You’re a very sexy, very attractive girl. How old are you anyway?”

“Thanks for the compliments, but I’ve never felt like I was pretty... And I’m not a girl either! I’m twenty-one, and at times I feel like I’m forty-one, after living with my sorry-ass daddy and my jerk-off-asshole step-brother, Herschel.”

“It’s none of my business, but I’ve got to ask ... Did either of them molest you? If they did, tell me now, and I’ll turn this rig around right here in the middle of the interstate. We’ll go back there and both of us will stomp the hell out of their asses.”

“They never touched me, but they’d get drunk at least three times a week and bang on my bedroom door until they passed out. I was afraid they’d break in and rape me. I hardly ever got a full night’s sleep.”

“There’s a blanket in the back seat. Reach back and get it. You can recline that seat and cover yourself so you can get some sleep. You got my word that you won’t be molested as long as I’m around.”

“Thanks, Wade. You sure do have a deep voice and you sound so calm after that little to-do back there. How old are you, anyway? You never did say.”

“Thirty-one.”

“You married?”

“Divorced.”

“Any kids?”

“No - What is this? An interview or something?”

“Sorry, I was just making talk. Can I ask one more question?”

“Sure. I didn’t mean to sound like I was snapping at you.”

“Do you live alone? No woman-friend waiting at home?”

“Nope. I was dating a woman... a lot younger than I’d like to admit, and she kept telling me that she wanted to get married and have kids. I told her she’d have to find another man, that I wasn’t about to marry again...

“What about you? Are you twenty-one, and never married?”

“Never! I’m not sure I ever want to be married either. I feel like I’ve been living in hell, and now here I am heading back to my drunk-ass Momma’s place, and that nasty-ass old man she lives with.”

“Julie – you got ‘em coming at you from all sides – don’t you?”

“I sure do.”

“You got any other kin you could stay with until you can get on your feet?”

“No, but I’ll be alright. I’ve always managed somehow.”

“You’re luck’s gonna run out, Julie – if you keep shacking up with the wrong bunch like that.”

“I know, but I don’t have a choice this time. I don’t have but a week’s pay to my name, and not even a change of clothes until I can buy some more.”

“We’ll stop down here at Oklahoma City and get a bite to eat. There’s a mall just off the freeway and we can stop there so you can buy some sweats, or something, to cover your butt when you bend over.”

“I knew you saw my butt! I can’t believe you didn’t try to grope me.”

“You were expecting it?”

“No. I guess it’s just that I’ve lived with that crap all my life and I’ve come to think all men are alike.”

“They’re not. You’ll meet a nice young man one day, when you least expect it.”

“That’s been my only hope that keeps me sane and keeps my knees locked together.”

“As bad as you’ve had it, at least you haven’t been raped. You can’t even watch the news or read the papers anymore without seeing where a girl has been raped.”

She didn’t say anything for a long time, then I heard her snoring under the blanket.

We were within a few miles of Oklahoma City when she roused up and looked back over her shoulder at me. I looked at her, and she smiled.

“Wade, I need to pee, and I need to go bad!”

“We’ll take this next exit and stop at a convenience store. I need to check my horses anyway.”

“You have horses in that trailer?”

“Yes. Do you ride?”

“That was the only thing I liked about living with my daddy. He had four horses and I rode most every day I was home and they were at work. I could live on a horse if I owned one.”

“You run in and pee and we’ll drive on up here to get a bite to eat. Then we’ll stop at that mall and get you some more clothes.”

“May I ask you another question?”

“Sure.”

“Have you always been so laid back and casual? You just take everything for granted – then do it.”

“I’ve never thought of myself as being like that, but I reckon I’m just what you’ve seen so far ... and I’m too old to change.”

“You’re not that old.”

“Some days, I don’t feel like I am either.”

“You look like you’re in twenties.”

I pulled off at the first Moore exit, and drove over to the Golden Corral. I had to park out back with the trailer, and as we walked around to the entrance, I saw her looking up at me.

“You sure are a big man!”

“I reckon I am. My whole family is tall.”

“How tall are you?”

“Six-six. My younger brother is six-five. Our dad was six-six, Mom was five-eleven.”

“You’re one foot taller than me.”

“Five-foot six is what I’d call a perfect size for a woman, and you’ve got the body to go with it.”

“You really think so? I mean, I know I’m no hag, but I’ve never thought much about me looking good to a man. I guess I’ve always been afraid to think I was attractive.”

“Well, as long as you’re with me, you can let go and feel attractive. You have my word, I’ll never molest you, or let anyone else.”

I’ve stopped at this Golden Corral to eat a few times in the past, and went straight to my favorite booth in back, away from the food bar.

A waitress followed us and asked what we wanted to drink. I’m a sweet tea man and that’s what I ordered. Julie looked up at me and smiled as she ordered sweet tea.

The waitress left two menus and Julie picked one up. “What do you usually order when you stop here.”

“How did you know I’ve stopped here before?”

“You walked in like you own the place, then walked straight back to this booth.”

“Is that the waitress in you?”

“I suppose it is. I knew my regular customers. Most of them, I had their coffee or tea on their favorite table by the time they sat down.”

“I would think you’d make good tips, with your looks, your smile and your attention to the little details like that.”

“I did make good tips, but I had to be rude to some men so they’d leave me alone.”