Chapter 1:
The sun, blood-orange and liquid melted into the horizon while Elvis’s tired rock buzzed softly from the speakers of my ‘72 Ford pick-up; a cool wind stirred the bone-dry dust at my feet. The Salton Sea lay before me, stretching west towards orange groves, mountains, and the distant crashing waves of the life-force that is the Pacific Ocean.
I let the ash of my cigarette fall to my feet, and then dropped the entire thing. I watched as a small dust devil picked up the grey soot and swirled it round, off into the liquid in front of me – the color of watered-down coffee grounds.
This was never the life I wanted to lead, but I guess I didn’t exactly have much of a choice in that matter. I didn’t used to believe in concepts like “fate” but as the years have passed and the wrinkles in my skin have become more pronounced, I have gotten softer. Hell, I’ve become the old man that I used to make fun of. The one who spoke of his past like it was a great tomb of information. Like he was an epic poet and his life story was as timeless and classic as Helen of Troy’s.
I’ve grown an understanding that I really think can only be comprehended with the passing of time. And this story is my realization of that fact, and the path that I took to get me where I am today.

Chapter Two:

Growing up in West Texas was Hell. Literally, Hell. As in fiery heat, endless and incomprehensible boredom, paint peeling from the walls because no one gave enough of a damn to do anything about it, balls of flame, and scorched parks. Hell. Almost two-thirds of the boys in my senior class went off to war. Almost two-thirds. The government understood that our lives weren’t worth s*** and so they were picking us clean. But, it wasn’t just my town – though I think Abernathy had it just about as bad as it got – but Odessa got it pretty bad too. But, I understood that life – what it meant – where it would take me if I chose to remain. I and everyone else in town understood that the only way to not have to go to war, fighting for something that none of us believed in, was to father a bastard kid, or to contract a fatal disease – of the two, the latter was most usually chosen. And, it seemed that that was the only path to take. And, because of the fact that the Abernathy Independent School District didn’t teach contraception in their Sex Ed classes, we were not frowned upon like we would have been elsewhere. The PTA formally backed us; putting out official public statements in justification of putting in a nursery at the high school. They rallied in the fight to eliminate contraception from ALL school’s Sex Ed schedules. Because teaching contraception would be stopping the work of God, because their angelic children, obviously blessed by the hand of the Lord himself prior to exiting the womb, would never even consider having lewd thoughts, or pre-marital sex – unless it was ordained by the Father himself – and they were just blessed to live in such a holy town.