Drive - A Memoir 97th Installment
If
I ever needed help they wouldn’t look up from the poker cards. You
guys are here for me, to help when I ask. I can rely on you two
boys.” Tex said with emotion. When he said ‘rely on you two
boys,’ even I felt a tingle of emotion and feeling my eyes wet
without pain, a rare feeling but true.
“What
about your neighbors? Isn’t that the code of the farmers to help
each other? You pay for hired help if you have money and ask for help
when you don’t.” I explained.
“The
neighbors want me dead,” Tex said matter of fact. “The government
refuge to the west, BLM ground to the north, Rene to the east, and
his fat assed son to the south. They’ve been trying to buy, cheat,
steal this place for years. They’ve tried to condemn the land, have
the government take my place, and then buy it from the government.
Their lawyers tried to say that the land should be put to use or
condemned because I wasn’t farming or grazing it. Their evil
efforts didn’t work because I have the money to fight them. They
try to chase or scare me off, but I know what they’re up to. They
even lit the lower place on fire, I didn’t care. I just let the
fire burn itself out. I will never allow my place to be deeded to
that crook Rene and his inbred kin!”
“You
got money?” I asked.
“I
have resources.” Tex smiled.
“Why
don’t you buy a house or a car?” I asked, even though I knew all
these personal questions were going to make him self conscious. “What
about family?”
“Family
can go to hell! Let’s take a break,” Tex said calming down. “Put
that lumber down, sit and relax. I think I’ll have to stand to tell
the story so I can pace back and forth and burn energy. I was born
into money. My father was a rancher and an oilman in Texas. He made
money with power and force, but truth be known, he was ‘crazy
waiting to happen’. Everybody knew he was evil, and they all were
afraid of him. I had a brother and sister, and we were frightened of
him too. We got by for a while, and then mother died. I didn’t
think it was a natural death, but what can you do? Father went from a
drunk to a ‘bad drunk’. My sister married at the first
opportunity and left home. My brother steered clear of him, but
stayed around the ranch. I took the money that I had control of and
what was rightfully mine and got out. I searched for the most
out-of-the-way place in the USA where I could never be found – and
I turned up here. I bought the land and a tractor in case I wanted to
farm, put the money
500 more words tomorrow
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