“Ya look like weird foreigners. \u00c2\u00a0Where you freaks from?” \u00c2\u00a0His words slurped from his loose mouth. \u00c2\u00a0“You sure as hell ain’t from Texas.” \u00c2\u00a0He muttered the foulest swear words as he slouched against a wall. \u00c2\u00a0I felt like throwing him out the window, head first.<\/p>\n
“Where you headed?” one of the farmers asked politely. \u00c2\u00a0He adjusted his baseball cap. \u00c2\u00a0It was covered with dust from fertilizer.<\/p>\n
“We’re just traveling,” I said.<\/p>\n
“Hippie, welfare-grubbin’ foreigner, lazy, good-fer-nothing’ …” the puffy-faced slob mumbled. \u00c2\u00a0Everyone heard him. \u00c2\u00a0I glanced over at Barbara to give her the sign that we’d better leave when one of the farmers, who had not said a word, walked over to the man, still swearing under his breath, and grabbed him by the arm. \u00c2\u00a0He half dragged him out of the store. \u00c2\u00a0I heard a pickup truck door open and slam. \u00c2\u00a0The pickup wove down the road. \u00c2\u00a0The silent farmer walked back inside, said, “Sorry about him.” \u00c2\u00a0The farmer looked apologetic as he said, “Ever since ol’ Wilbur’s wife died, he’s been goin’ downhill. \u00c2\u00a0Been drinkin’ from sunrise to sunrise. \u00c2\u00a0They say two fifths a day. \u00c2\u00a0Lost most of his farm and even stopped comin’ to church. \u00c2\u00a0He used to be a deacon in our church. \u00c2\u00a0Sad, ain’t it?”<\/p>\n
Everyone agreed; one person nodded. \u00c2\u00a0“Young lady, you people ever been in Texas before?” he asked. \u00c2\u00a0He looked like a Southern Baptist preacher.<\/p>\n
“Can’t say we ever have,” Barbara answered.<\/p>\n
“Well, let me speak for everyone here and welcome you to the greatest state in the Union. \u00c2\u00a0Ain’t nothing like Texas.” \u00c2\u00a0Everyone agreed. \u00c2\u00a0A bunch of them smiled. \u00c2\u00a0“Fact is, friends, we’re glad you made it through Louisiana. \u00c2\u00a0Now that place don’t even come close to comparin’ with Texas. \u00c2\u00a0Ain’t no place in the world that compares with Texas. \u00c2\u00a0IF you people are lookin’ for somethin’, then you found it. \u00c2\u00a0We got everything there is to want and then some, don’t we, boys?” \u00c2\u00a0He pointing the face into the west and all of Texas. \u00c2\u00a0Any real Texan would have stood to attention.<\/p>\n
I walked over to the refrigerator to get another Dr Pepper. \u00c2\u00a0“Did you know Dr Pepper’s from right here in Texas?” the preacher commented. \u00c2\u00a0I said no, I didn’t.<\/p>\n
On the side of the refrigerator was a yellowed sheet of paper that had been there for many years. \u00c2\u00a0The title was A Communist Manifesto<\/em>. \u00c2\u00a0It was a sort of summary of the Marx and Engels theory. \u00c2\u00a0The man who owned the place noticed me reading it and spoke up.<\/p>\n “Now, boy, that’s one document you need to memorize. \u00c2\u00a0You even seen it before?”<\/p>\n “No, I haven’t,” I said.<\/p>\n “Well, if you were a Texan, you’d know what that said. \u00c2\u00a0That’s how the communists plan to take over the country. \u00c2\u00a0Not one shot fired. \u00c2\u00a0They’re doin’ it, just exactly like it says on the sheet today.” \u00c2\u00a0His face was turning red with zeal.<\/p>\n A couple of farmers left. \u00c2\u00a0I watched one drive down he road on a big red and black Massey – Ferguson tractor.<\/p>\n “Those commies know that they can’t take over this country in a fight. \u00c2\u00a0They know that Texans still are ready to fight. \u00c2\u00a0Ain’t we, boys?” \u00c2\u00a0His eyes held a straight-line stare out the dirty window. \u00c2\u00a0“Boy, you read The Communist Manifesto while you’re a’travelin’…. ’cause them people ain’t gonna fire a shot, ok?”<\/p>\n “OK,” I said.
\n…………………………………………………………………<\/p>\n