The Cold Days of Summer - Episode 1

Introduction, how it all starts, Odessa, City of Dreams

Introduction

This is an experiment. Not a new one, the idea of serialized fiction has been around since the 19th century. If this interests you see A Brief History of Serial Novels.

This is a new experiment for me. Several years ago I wrote a long, rambling story about Odessa, Texas and the people who live there. Some of the  story is true, some of it is total fiction.  A small number of friends and family have read the original version of the story. This is an updated version and it’s hopefully tightened up, but the general flow of the story remains the same.

No matter where you are from some of what you read may seem familiar. You might even feel you know some of the characters but every character is an amalgam of people I knew plus a good bit of fiction. Hopefully the mix of truth and fiction will be entertaining for you.

My plan is to publish something every Sunday, starting with this first installment.

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Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool.
Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.  
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!
Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him.  
Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.  

Proverbs 26: 1-5

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The main character is Drew Remington. The briefest description I can give is that Drew is often supremely confident but utterly wrong. His life is definitely a series of "two steps forward, one step back," but he is stubbornly optimistic. 

How this story starts

My name is Andrew Warren Remington. My Mom always liked the name Andrew while Warren was my paternal grandfather’s name. Most people call me Drew. I was born in West Texas in 1958. It was a time when the towns in that area grew without control as the oil flowed freely from the ground. A lot of people became rich during that time and a lot of people stayed poor. My father was one of the ones who stayed poor. His life was the oil fields. He worked in the oil fields in east Texas beginning in the mid forties and died working in the oil fields of West Texas some forty years later. After serving time in the Pacific with the Navy Construction Battalion during World War II he returned to Texas, found himself a bride from his hometown and settled down.

In 1952 my brother Ed was born in the small town of Palestine. Four years later my brother died there. My parents buried him and headed west. They arrived in Odessa, Texas in February of 1957 and for the first few months lived with my father’s older brother Bill and his wife Sherry. They had moved to Odessa a few years earlier and bought a house on the west side of town, a couple of blocks north of Odessa High School. My father found a job as a roustabout on a rig out toward Andrews and my mother found a small house to rent on the north edge of town. A year later I was born.

I don't remember much about those early years, save that Dad came home late every day. He would walk into the house, covered with dirt and grease, sometimes with a little blood mixed in. And I remember my mother cooking the evening meal and I always enjoyed it. About the most memorable event of my early childhood was the birth of my sister, when I was four. Elizabeth Jane Remington is her name.

Odessa, City of Dreams

Before we get too far into this story, you need to know a little about where I grew up, the town of Odessa, Texas. 

On a map of Texas find the southeast corner of New Mexico, then go east and a little south and there is Odessa. It is located near the edge of a caprock, 2900 feet above sea level, surrounded by the remains of the Permian Sea. The land is flat, flat as far as you can see. There’s not a lot of vegetation out that way. Located on the edge of the Chihuahuan desert, the annual rainfall in Odessa ranges from ten to twenty inches a year. Not far away from Odessa is a small town called Notrees, for the obvious reason, there are no trees in Notrees.  It is a harsh land and hardy folk live there. Folk who live there learn to take pleasure from the smallest of gifts. These same folk,  because of the vastness of the land and sky, often live large and talk loud.

Odessa is a town divided, east from west by Dixie Boulevard, or East County Road, north from south by the railroad tracks, which run alongside 2^nd Street. If you lived west of Dixie Boulevard you went to Odessa High School. If you lived east of Dixie you went to Permian High School. If you lived north of 2^nd Street you were probably white and if you lived south of 2^nd Street you were probably black or Hispanic. The divisions in this town were drawn hard but not perfectly, people did cross the tracks and Dixie Boulevard. 

Odessa is the county seat of Ector County, for many years a wet county surrounded by dry counties. In Texas a dry country is a county in which no alcohol can be legally sold.  Pinkie Roden recognized the situation and built liquor stores on every road leading out of the county as well as many locations in Odessa itself. Early on you learned where the Ector county line was as it was lit brightly into the night by a Pinkie’s.

People come to Odessa in search of something. At first glance, there didn't seem to be much to offer but earth and sky. It was below the ground where people found something. First there was water. In the 1880's the first water well was dug and an oasis, of sorts, was found. This part of west Texas became a water stop for cattle drives headed north. Soon the railroads saw the value and the area became a shipping point where cattle could be loaded into cars and onto their final destination. Where there is water and railroads people often gathered and Odessa was born. 

Children were told the name Odessa came from Russian railroad workers who felt this patch of west Texas looked similar to the terrain around the city of Odessa, Russia. According to legend the Russians were reminded of the great wheat plains of Russia and saw a second Odessa. The name stuck. 

Perhaps the best, most eloquent way to explain Odessa is to quote from the book “Odessa, City of Dreams” by Velma Barrett and Hazel Oliver:

“Odessa was found on dreams. First, of an empire to be built on golden grain. This dream did not materialize. Then came a group of people intending to found a second Zion, a religious center, where the law of God would rule, education would flourish, and no evil influences would be tolerated. This dream, too, faded into oblivion. The cowmen who settled here had little but their faith and their vision to sustain them but that same faith and vision held them here in spite of hardships, drought, and swirling sand. Finally after the passing of years came oil, that precious commodity that has both shattered and fulfilled more dreams than man can count.”

Yes, Odessa is a city of dreams. Some dreams warm the heart, some soothe the spirit, some guide the soul and some dreams are nightmares.

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Next week in Episode 2 of The Cold Days of Summer, Drew takes a walk in someone else’s shoes, Drew’s Dad takes care of business, and Drew begins to realize he sees the world differently than others.