Chapter 1: To Lubbock and Back

The mood was pretty sombre when they'd left Dryden all those hours ago. This little jaunt of three hundred miles started about a month earlier when Silvia, Stan's girl friend found a suspicious looking patch on the back of Stan's ear. She finally convinced Stan, told him most likely, to have Doc Eller take a look at it. Doc Eller ended up cutting off a piece of Stan's ear and sending it to Lubbock to some friend of his. Skin cancer had killed Stan's father and all the old cowboys had bits and pieces missing from ears and noses; Stan was more than a little scared.

Scott was pretty sure that Stan was more likely to get an ulcer worrying than have cancer. As far as the trip to Lubbock was concerned; hell Scott wasn't even supposed have been along. But when Silvia's mother fell at her home in San Antonio he was drafted, for "moral support" in her words. Truth was Scott was worried too, but Silvia had informed him in no uncertain terms that he was to be the pillar of strength that she would've been had she been there. Never mind that doctors, not to mention hospitals, gave him the willies, his orders were to go, give support, listen, and keep Stan out of the titty bars on the Slaton Highway. So when the nurse called Stan back to the exam room he asked Scott to go with him. Scott didn't bother to tell him that Silvia had already threatened him bodily harm if he didn't go in and make sure he asked the page long list of questions that she had typed up. Dr. Marks had gone through med school with Doc Eller and now taught at the university hospital in Lubbock so word of any failings on either of their parts would get back. Probably before they did.

The doctor felt compelled to tell his favourite war stories from when he and Doc Eller were in med school. Nothing he could have told the two of them would have been a surprise as Doc Eller was one of those characters that had, and or would, do just about anything. When he finally got around to telling Stan that it wasn't cancer, he and Scott both felt more than a little relieved. The doctor did take the opportunity to preach to Stan and Scott on the evils of sunburns and expound on the liberal use of sunscreens. Scott had always thought a good hat, long sleeve shirt, and a bandana was plenty good and was fool enough to say so. He found out the doc wasn't all that impressed with his opinion, and didn't hesitate to tell him so. In the end he spent more time ragging on Scott's ass than talking to Stan. Scott was fully expecting to get dunned before he could get out the door.

When they left Stan was grinning ear to ear and laughing at Scott while he felt like he should give the doc a wedding ring. The last person to eat his ass out like that had been his ex-wife. When they got to the doors to the outside of the hospital they discovered that Lubbock was having one of their Air Quality Crisis Days. There was a light breeze of 35 or 40 mph blowing and a whole lot real estate was trading places. Call it a sandstorm, dust storm, or just plain nasty; the sky was red and there was a smell to it that Scott couldn't describe. Say what you want to about Dryden, sure it's small, it's desolate, with no hope of ever being anything but small and desolate, but when the wind blows it doesn't blot out the sun. Lubbock was, is, and always will be in the middle of a cotton field. It didn't matter if they moved one million people in here there was still going to be cotton fields on every side and spring would always be brown and dusty.

They managed to hold their hats down while they walked back to the truck as fast as they could. Stan called Silvia on his cell phone to give her the news. Scott was still pissed at the doctor for his little lecture and now, with his stomach growling and knowing that Stan's conversations with Silvia tended to run on the long side, Scott was getting ready for a long wait when Stan handed him the cell phone. "What did the doctor tell you Scott?", Silvia quipped. Scott hadn't heard Stan tell about his little "visit" with the doctor so he knew something was up.

It was at that point that Silvia informed him that she had set him up with the good doctor. If nothing else Silvia and Stan were a perfect match when it came to their proclivity toward meddling and practical jokes. Stan had been known to spend weeks, even months setting up a joke and Scott was learning that Silvia didn't mind going that extra mile either. Turns out she had known the good doctor when she was studying nursing in San Antonio and as she had been unable to convince Scott as to the wonders of sun screen she thought maybe he'd listen to a doctor.

"It's good to know she doesn't mind nagging both of us", Scott said glaring at Stan.

What snappy come back did Stan have? "Well you need somebody to look after you."

His comment reminded Scott of the recent efforts at matchmaking the two of them had been up to. The area around Dryden and Sanderson was not exactly overflowing with single women, though now and then there was the occasional new teacher right out of college. Generally speaking the complete absence of a social scene usually kept their stay to one year. A few of the less hardy souls didn't even make it through the school year.

The most eligible bachelorette in town was Samantha Miller. She worked as a waitress at the café in Sanderson; actually she owned the café. Sam, as she was known to her friends, had grown up at the Pecos Gas Plant. It was the furthest point on the bus route for the Sanderson School district and right across the road from the turn off to the Miles ranch. Over the years during the long hours on the bus Sam and Scott had become fast friends. But friendship was as far as either had ever wanted their relationship to go. As far as Scott was concerned she was the little sister he never had.

Stan had been talking to Silvia all this time and when Scott stopped day dreaming there was a frown on his face. At some point and time the conversation had turned serious. Stan took off his hat and threw it in the seat, got out of the truck and walked a little ways off for some privacy. Just to get out of the truck to talk meant that something was bad wrong since no one in their right mind wanted to breathe the brown, gritty dirt blowing around. The longer they talked the more morose Stan got and they talked for a good little bit. Stan had lost the smile the doctor had given him; in fact he looked worse than when he was worried about having cancer. He and Silvia said their "goodbyes" and "love yous" then he closed the phone.

After Stan got back into the truck spittin' mud balls his eyes were red and watery, and Scott was pretty sure it wasn't all caused by the dirt. He'd never seen Stan tear up but ever since he met Silvia he had been a different person in many other ways. Still, he didn't say a word about what was going on and Scott respected his long time friend enough not to try to pry it out of him.

They had the normal discussion as to where they should eat. After deciding the when and where, they left to go eat and then start on the long ass trip back, heading off to some chain eatery that Stan knew of. He was quieter than normal and Scott wondered what was eating on him. There was something wrong, maybe he'd tell him while they were eating. They'd never kept secrets from each other before.

A blonde haired young lady greeted them and led them to a booth. The Mexico flavoured restaurant had sombreros, serapes and matadors in velvet paintings hanging from floor to rafter intermixed with piñatas and Tecate signs. Every so many feet some fake plant was making a home for dust bunnies and cob webs. It looked like every curio shop and border gas station had been stripped of their faded wares to decorate the place. No matter how you looked at this place it was a far cry from Ma Crosby's, the famous bar across the river from Del Rio, Texas in Ciudad Acuna. But by all accounts they put out a fair steak and according to Stan their beer was cold. So here they sat shoot'n bull and taking refuge from Lubbock's brown fog.

Stan sat silently sipping his beer and that was not like him. Stanley Willus and Scott were best friends; neither had any siblings so they had basically adopted each other as brothers. They had spent almost every waking minute with each other since they had met twenty five years ago. Something else was eating on Stan; you'd of thought the news from the doctor would have had him in a great mood. The waitress came and went and Scott watched Stan till he had to say something. "What's wrong Stan?"

Stan started telling Scott that Silvia's mother was in bad shape. She had fallen and along with a broken hip she'd had a stroke. Seems that Silvia's sister who lived a few blocks away hadn't checked on her and she had lain on the floor for a day and a half. Silvia would be staying in San Antonio until her mother recovered, and for now that looked like it would be many months. Silvia Guerra was one of those people that gave unconditionally and expected everyone else to do the same. Stan was pretty much the same way making them a perfect match. So in the normal course of things Silvia and Stan both tended to get a little put out at some of the lesser mortals that they had to endure. From the stories Silvia had told her family was slightly less giving than a rattlesnake. Stan was crushed thinking about the two of them being separated for that long. She had made a big difference in Stan since she had moved to scenic Sanderson to be the school nurse. Stan was the Ag and shop teacher, they met the first day of school and fell madly in love. So drastic had been the change that the teachers at SHS called that day the re-birth of Stanley Willus. Before Silvia he'd always been a little wild, crazy, mischievous, and more than a little hare-brained. Since that first day of school back in August they had spent almost every minute with each other. They were, to put it mildly, the talk of the town.

Two weeks from today school would be out; Scott told him, "You can go to San Antonio then". If anything the thought of going two weeks without Silvia sent Stan into an even blacker mood. If Scott was a betting man he'd bet that Stan wouldn't make it a week before he headed to San Antonio. She'd asked if he would put the few things she had in his garage until she could send someone for them. They weren't breaking up, thank God, because Scott didn't think Stan could have stood that. It was at about this time that the waitress dropped off a fresh basket of chips and another bowl of salsa. As if to further confuse Scott, Stan started grinning. The grin went to a chuckle, then to a full blown belly laugh. Thinking that he'd been pulling one of his well known and usually not funny practical jokes Scott asked "What's going on?"