The reversal (33)

“How long have you been picking up on this?”
“I noticed it about you for quite awhile, but it never spilled over into business.”
“But this time it did, with Van.”
“Yeah, you called him out when you didn’t need to.”
“Yeah?”
“I think you’ve come a bit unglued since I left UT.”
“Yeah?”
“I mean you always wanted me to go down there and win at your game.”
“Yeah.”
“But it’s a useless game. I mean fighting with that idiot professor over evil in Houston was borderline illiterate.”
“What?”
“He’s so full of himself he’ll never get it. The words coming out of his mouth are all lies.”
“So???”
“Tip your hat and walk away in silence.”
“And not go back to school?”
“For the time being.”

The reversal (32)

“So we get back to the poison, Nunk.”
“So what is the poison?”
“Your reaction. A kind of pride in the voice.”
“What?”
“You don’t believe in philosophy ‘cause it’s a phony last word, but you still got to have that last word or laugh most of the time. “
“What?”
“You have to sum the deal up, whatever it is, just to get your handle on it.”
“Yeah?”
“And most of the time the handle allows you to toss the deal away, put it where you want it, and get on.”
“Mister- in-charge with words.”
“Yeah. They may be short and may be nothing, but there they are, coughed up just to get clear of Mavis’s table or somebody else’s..., even God’s.”
“God’s is the worst.”
“So you say.”
“Yeah. But I didn’t toss you out. Just all the bullshit around this place and what I've run into across the fence.”
“True. But your quips can be hard on a guy. And they’re not necessary most of the time.”
“You mean silence would have been better?”
“Yeah.”
“So here I am preaching to you about the unnecessary in philosophy all your damn life. You had Wittgenstein for breakfast. Goddamn. And yet I proceed to do all this unnecessary talking.”
“Yeah.”

The reversal (31)

“You’re telling me that Mom sold me out?”
“Yeah. To me. You wanted to come. I didn’t know about Big Hamlet’s ghost. But yeah. And I needed a man.”
“If you’d known?”
“Shit, you’re no Olivier. I’d ‘a gambled on you. And you’ve never shown me hesitation.”
“Well, at least there’re no daughters of Lear, here.”
“A little late for them unless they come on your watch. Better hope not.”

The reversal (30)

“So you lived with this crap and raised me.”
“Had to.”
“Sheeeeeit.”
“Loved Mom. Ralph was good, but weak. The flaws ran deep, but we had to live with the herd and grow it.”
“Mavis was…”
“Mavis.”
“And my Mom?”
“She’s your Mom, fucked up as she is.”
“Hmm.”
“At least neither of ‘em messed with the ranch. We kind of kept ‘em away.”
"How?"
"Mavis has her piece, and she does her church suppers."
"And Mom?"
"You work for your Mom; you're the reason she's got what she has. I made a deal with her to raise you. Otherwise she'd just have had a piece of Mavis's."

The reversal (29)

“Did Dixie know?”
“Not sure. Mom would have been ashamed to tell her. And Mom was the ranch, you know. Dixie’s dad died fairly young and so did her brother.”
“Whoa.”
“Yeah, and her brother had no kids. That’s why the ranch is so big. I mean we got ours and theirs, and Mom had to run it all with me and Ralph.”
“Hmm.”
“That’s something Lupe did not tell you.”
“No.”
“Even though she says there’s nothing rotten here.”
“Well there isn’t now.”

The reversal (28)

“I just don’t get Hick.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’ve heard him argue about stuff and he is smart.”
“Yes.”
“But he seems to have been away from a lot of what went on, and seems to have only a mild interest in it, if at all.”
“That’s Hick. He’s never paid much attention to stuff away from work unless I prodded him.”
“Which is why I’ll have to prod him?”
“You better have some high voltage. I mean I dragged him down to UT; made him take some good courses. And he did pretty well. But I don’t think he ever gave a rat’s ass one way or the other.”
“Heh.”
“He just did it because I was doing it. The one thing he did on his own is he took some finance courses at one of those schools down where he was married. He can cowboy the numbers as well as anybody.”
“So he watches your back there.”
“Oh yeah.”

The reversal (27)

“Mavis…, she and Ralph would get religion, but from time to time Ralph would end up down there with her and the Schlitz.”
“And the Luckies?”
“How’d you know?”
“Just came to mind.”
“Shit.”
“Hick know?”
“No, ‘member he was gone in his twenties and thirties. And as a boy he used to sleep back in the bunkhouse most of the time.”
“Hmm.”
“Lupe didn’t tell you that?”
“Nunk. I don’t see all the facts as discreet things. Nor does she.”
“Ok.”
“Just strong notions, I guess. And half the time I try to put ‘em aside.”

The reversal (26)

“They were all hidin’ the truth.”
“Yes.”
“You went along with it.”
“Yes. I did because I swore to my Mom.”
“Why?”
“Cause she and Mavis kinda shared Ralph for some decades.”
“Ooooh.”
“Yeah.”
“Too hard to explain. I mean they were sisters. But shit...”
“I did not see that.”
“Nor Lupe?”
“Our minds did not run like that.”

Let me interrupt the story for a moment. Had a friend die Friday. He was an odd friend for me. A Baptist minister. I don’t have too many ministers for friends. And certainly no Baptists, other than Larry. But I worked out with Larry, from time to time. And we always had kind words for each other.

As I’ve said on this blog elsewhere: I’ll drink a beer and talk with just about anybody.

It wasn’t even beer with Larry. It was water in a pool, where I swam on occasion with him.

There is a kind of baptism, a real dunking, when you swim a mile or so in a pool. He did on a day I did not. And he went to his Lord in that pool. Probably a fibrillation got him.

Anyway, I went to his funeral today and cracked up when they got to Amazing Grace. It got the Last Word with me. They did it right. Not the way the pop idiots do.

So I will post nothing else today.

The reversal (25)

“So where are you going with this, outside of saying ‘get out of my life forever’?”
“No. You misunderstand.”
“How?”
“I pretty much knew.”
“What?”
“From Lupe.”
“God, here we go again.”

The reversal (24)

“What do you mean?”
“Look, Grandmother Mavis is so full of it; I understand why you are the way you are.”
“And Dixie had nothing to do with it? Or Mom? Or Ralph?”
“No. Mavis. She poisoned you all with her hypocrisy.”
“How?”
“Well, Hick is my uncle, not you.”
“Yes.”
“And she never let on.”
“No.”
“And Mom never let on.”
“No.”
“And Ralph never let on.”
“No.”
“And your Mom never let on.”
“No.”
“And you didn’t either.”
“So she bossed us all?”
“In her way.”

The reversal (23)

“You got yourself into this mess by talking too much which is not like you.”
“Yeah, well you’re talking a bit now.”
“And in a way it is like you, obsessed a tad with the last word.”

The reversal (22)

“You ain’t got the power or cunning to beat these guys, Nunk.”
“Yeah?”
“That’s what I see.”
“Yeah.”
“I said we’d come out of it, but that it would be very tough.”
“Yeah.”

The reversal (21)

“Come with me, will you, Stet?”
“Sure.”
“But we may need a little more than incantations.”
“I don’t do incantations and neither does the Father. If you think so lightly of each of us, why meet with us both or either one?”
“Ok. I apologize. I meant we need a plan.”
“Just say so, Nunk.”
“Ok.”
“Your distrust of all things mysterious will be your undoing.”
“Yeah, but I don’t see what the fuck you’re doing, boy.”
“I don’t either, til I see it.”
“Yeah.”
“You’ve lost the handle, Nunk. Your game ain’t going to work the way you’re playing it.”
“May be right.”

The reversal (20)

“We got to figure a retreat, Nunk.”
“I’m going to talk to Father John. You run on to the bank, Sonny, and watch your back.”
“You bet. See y’all later.”

The reversal (19)

“So that was them, huh, Sonny?”
“Yeah.”
“We sure thought we knew what we were doing, getting Kaylee to come along with us.”
“Now we’ve put her at risk.”
“It’s my doing, Sonny, not yours.”
“I think she was at risk anyway, Nunk.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s the Van Buren envy of the Macons.”
“Think they want to finish her off?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“And to get me in the bargain would be sweet.”
“Shit, Leland, we may need to mind our business a little more careful.”
“I’ll say.”

The reversal (18)

“And Hope; she knows all this?”
“Yeah. Lupe and she visit once a week, at least.”
“Shit. Damn this family.”
“Here’s Sonny.”
“Let’s eat and go see the pictures.”

The reversal (17)

“Nunk.”
“Yeah.”
“Sometimes I don’t see straight.”
“Yeah.”
“I mean I’m not always right,”
“Yeah.”
“I’m just a man, Nunk.”
“And a young one, at that.”
“Yeah. But…”
“But what?”
"Lupe and I are one. We almost don’t need to talk.”
“Oh, oh; sounds even more than biblical.”
“It is.”
“Then we might as well get you married quick. Or, on second thought, maybe you won’t need to.”
“Now you are damn well messin’ with me, Nunk.”
“Heh.”
“Nothin’ funny about it.”

The reversal (16)

“Dad told me to follow you.”
“What?”
“When he died, I saw him.”
“O boy. Like Hamlet?”
“Like Hamlet. But nothin’s rotten here, so far as I can see at this ranch.”
“God damn hope not. But it’s a pretty poor kingdom.”
“Lupe says not.”
“I’ll rely on the both of you.”

The reversal (15)

“So Hick’s dad Ralph is my grandfather?”
“Yeah.”
“So why’d he not fill in for you from time to time?”
“Well, he has in a way.”
“Yeah, but….”
“He didn’t know, and now he’s tongue-tied.”
“How’s he know?”
“Told him when you were going to UT.”
“So…”
“He’s dealing with it, I guess. You know Hick.”
“Well…”
“Give him time.”
“Mom’s so damn worthless.”
“Well…”

The reversal (14)

“I tried to ignore it.”
“Yeah.’”
“She picked up on it.”
“Yeah.”
“She knew I was.”
“Yeah.”
“Loved her since that day.”
“What day?”
“Since the day she thought Hick was my true uncle.”
“Yeah? When?”
“When we were little.”
“Yeah?”
“True? Made sense at the time. Hick looks more like me than you. Talks more like me, too. Built more like me.”
“Yeah.”

The reversal (13)

“Before Sonny comes.”
“Yeah?
“Lupe and I are the same.”
“What?”
“Santos does not know.”
“What?”
“Both of us, since we were little.”
“What?”
“You know, seein’ from left field.”
“Both y’all?”
“Yeah.”
“Damn.”

The reversal (12)

“Rojo, s’that you?”
“Yessir. Those hombres have gone to Dallas. They were seen on I35 going south.”
“Thanks. Caught a break.”
“Yessir.”
“We’ll be down to look at the photos. Sonny may know one or two of ‘em.”
“Yessir.”

The reversal (11)

“Nothing?”
“Nothing. Not much sleep, either.”
“Let me make the coffee, Nunk. Sonny will be along in a bit.”
“I’ll get some eggs frying. We’ ll leave Noemi alone.”

The reversal (10)

“I’m going to the shed.”
“Going to play?”
“Cover your ears.”
“That old sixties shit?”
“No idea. But I feel Garcia’s ghost upon me.”
“Who?”
“Never mind.”

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