In the Quiet – Part Two
As I was saying – there were two flat tires on the Buick hearse. They managed to get swapped out in good stead. We said our goodbyes to Art and Julie and we headed out to Texas.
Our plan was to drive strait through to Riesel, Texas. I had cashed my last paycheck from McLeod County. I had $150.00 in hand. I never asked Orlin as to what his financial situation was after closing down the newspaper. I lived then, somewhat like I do now. I lived in faith.
We had one oops in Oklahoma. We ran out of gas in the middle of the night. We were in some small town called Marion, Oklahoma. We slept where we sat until daybreak when the gas station that we had coasted into, opened. A very leary black man checked out the vehicle as he opened up the shop. We picked up some coffee and some less than fresh packaged rolls and headed on. There were no cell phones in 1964. I had no idea how Orlin, or if Orlin had notified the Norman Whites that we were coming. Remember . . . faith!
Of course we were welcomed with open arms when we made our first stop, that being at the Riesel Rustler Newspaper on Main Street. Norman and Elaine were thrilled that we were there. Of course, everyone in Riesel called him “Schafer.” It didn’t take long for the community to know that Orlin had come back to all of his old friends. For several nights we stayed with the White’s son . . . Scottie and Pattsie.
Someone knew someone who knew there was a house for rent in town. All we had to do was find Charlie Bruggeman. We rented the house for $35.00 a month. It had no heat but it did have running water in a kitchen and a bathroom. Amazingly used furniture showed up day by day. It seems a whole lot of people had extra to share. Orlin went to Waco on the fourth day we were in Riesel. He came home followed by a Sears delivery truck. We had a box spring and mattress and a refrigerator and gas kitchen range. It sure looked promising that we were going to have a home. It also meant we had just opened a Sears credit card.
The house was a single wall home built on short stilts. There was an open porch on the front of the home as well as on the back. The yard had grass and it also had an older garage. I took my time cleaning and scrubbing in the house. I found out that mud daubers, a friendly sort of wasp, liked to build nests in the depths of the closets. I kept busy during the day and would often break up the day by walking down to the newspaper office to visit with Norman and his wife, while Orlin began looking for work. One could walk one end of the town to another in several blocks. Across the highway were the cotton gins and also Pundt’s grocery store and mercantile store.
Shortly after we arrived we were given a house warming shower. At the time it never came to me, but . . . I wonder what people thought of the two of us showing up with so little with us intending to live in their town.
The people were friendly to no end. Orlin had practically lived with Norman Whites the entire time he was not scheduled at the Air Force base. Our kitchen was equipped with a card table and two chairs. The Sears truck had also delivered a television set.
It took me some time to remember names. Norman and his wife made sure we had something to do or somewhere to go to meet and greet people. I was introduced to everyone in town in short order. It didn’t take Orlin long to catch up with his friends. For Orlin it was old home week. I worked hard at fitting in and listening closely to fill in missing pieces of the conversations. This Northern Yankee was going to make it just fine.
Within a short amount of time, Orlin found work at Mart. It was a small town which was a short distance from Riesel working in their newspaper, The Mart Herald. They also did a fair amount of special order printing. I had gleaned that while Orlin was in the Air Force, and had spent a lot of time with the White’s, he had found a passion working with the presses for the newspaper and the special orders for printing. Orlin was right at home.
–to be continued.