Wanderer Springs: A Novel

Prod

PROD chickens, sheep, mysterious children, an Indian and a woman in black I drove down the old road to Prod. At one time as far as the eye could see from horseback everything belonged to the lances, held together by Earl, a slight little man who walked in quick, shon steps, his bomheels resounding, his chin and eyes jerking. Earl who had shot Oscar Spruill, and maybe his own brother, was our example of how to get things done. I told Gilbert about Earl Lance one night when Gilbert came home, his face and knuckles bloody. There was a lot of anger in Gilbert. When he walked out of the house in the morning he saw the cars that Manuel had given him and Rosa. Gilbert did not believe Manuel was a good American. He listened to the radio on the way to work and they never said anything good about his city, his country. The boss looked at him as though he was late and he had never been late. When he went to the courthouse to change the title to Manuel's car, they had treated him like he couldn't speak English. After work Gilbert stopped at the ice house to have a few beers and relax with his hiends. They talked loud, laughed, got mad together, and he felt better. Unless someone made a remark aoom his wife being a maid, or said that he was not an American, or said that he was not Mexican enough. Sometimes Gilbert did not find relief or a fight at the ice house. He came home drunk and morose and picked a fight with Rosa. 157 158 '*"WANDERER SPRINGS For some reason Gilbert never picked a fight with me. He sat on the porch and listened to my stories about Wanderer Springs. Gilbert was astonished that Earl WInce was our version of the gunfighter who rode into town and with nothing but courage and his skill with a six-gun, defeated the forces of evil. "What good did it dor he asked. Like most students, Gilbert understood the lesson. Applying it was something else. Wanderer Springs invoked the name of Earl WInce every time they lost comrol of events. "Old Earl would know what to do about them stealing the courthouse," folks said, although Earl did not involve himself in politiCS. "Old Earl would know what to do about them niggers trying to vote," folks said, although Earl did not involve himself in cross burnings or other religiOUS matters. "Old Earl would know what to do if he caught Bud Tabor fooling with his daughter," folks said before Ed McElroy shot Bud through Box 287. Bud also trifled with Earl's niece, Selena WInce, but nobody thought Selena needed protecting. Delmer, the youngest of the WInce boys, was always referred to as "Earl's brother?" It was not a question ofMa WInce's virtue, but Delmer's quality. Folks were always stanled that the two boys were brothers. When Ma WInce died Delmer decided he needed a wife so he went to Wichita Falls and got one-a short, broadshouldered , cheerful girl named Cristobel. Although she bore him four children, stocked the store, held mules while they were being shod, chased Snuggles, hatched and dried chickens , and was decem enough to die soon after he did, folks thought there was something wrong with the marriage. It wasn't Cristobel they doubted; it was because Delmer never did anything right. Delmer was a hulking, brooding, dark-faced man who decided. the future was in commerce rather than ranching. His decision was better than his execution. The railroad was bringing farmers to the county and they were buying land, so PROD ,,*"159 Delmer laid out a townsite on a comer of the ranch, buHt the Prod store, and secured a post office located in the store. No one moved to the town of Prod, and the only ming that kept me store going was that Earl bought aU his ranch supplies there. Delmer built a blacksmith shop but fanners preferred going to Wanderer Springs where mey could lounge around Shipmans Hardware. Earl sent his horses and mules to Delmer, and Cristabel pumped the bellows and held the horses while Delmer nailed the shoes. One year the grasshoppers were so bad that the only thing the fanners could raise was chickens. Delmer cleaned out the blacksmith shop and went into...