Not even sure I understand the difference between irony, coincidence and serendipity. But I luvs ’em all.
And this morning’s events must fall under one of those headings.
‘Tis The Season To Be Shiny
As soon as I landed back in Texas for just a few days “visiting” home, I rushed to the world headquarters of PingWi-Fi and found a stack of my hometown newspapers. Interesting. There was a page-one story about the new Catholic church, which is replacing the old Catholic church … next door to the Dairy Queen, I might add.
Great little historical recap about the Oldham County history and the first Catholics in the Texas Panhandle, out near what became the gunslinging Old Tascosa … yada … yada … yada … Nice work, Editor Q!
Anywho … as I was reading the paper — the weekly my family likes to call “The Vega ‘Surprise'” (Enterprise) — I noticed the Catholic church was all sparkly. Ha … I suppose one of the weeks-old Christmas cards in my mail had leaked a little glitter onto the church photo. Why, it was almost spiritual … spir-i-tu-al, I tell you … because just as I noticed the glitter, my every-present television announcer or news anchor doing background noise said something about ” … have a sparkly, glittery day.”
Miraculous. Ha … how funny … coincidence? God’s sense of humor, I calls it.
But Why So Deflated?
And my return to Texas was a return to a very small world. Just an hour or so after the sparkly message was made known unto me, I went on a motorcycle ride. Then I decided to work on my car, when I ran into a Fort Worth acquaintance from years past.
Such a small world … but this story requires some set up … you see, way back in high school, in Vega, a friend of mine’s dad was on the jury for the world-famous murder trial of Fort Worth billionaire T. Cullen Davis. You may recall, at the time, and to many people’s surprise, Davis was the first Texas billionaire and richest man ever acquitted on murder charges … largely, they say, due to the fast footwork of one Racehorse Haynes, defense counsel.
Anyway … as I was walking up to my car this morning at the gas pump, about to put air in a tire that had gotten low, while I had been spreading hot air around New York for the last two months … I saw this woman. This woman had grabbed up the air hose that I had already stretched out beside my car. No problem. I doubted she knew I was parked there to get air. Ha … So, I offered to help her air up the tires on her sweet, sporty little Lexus … but she declined.
It is important to remind you that I had previously been on a motorcycle ride earlier and have long, long hair and was wearing dark glasses and black leather jacket.
She refused my help and went on struggling with the nozzle and tire stems, etc.
“You know, you look familiar, but I can’t place you,” I said. We both then introduced ourselves. I knew it. It had been years since we had seen each other — back when our children played basketball together and took dance.
Ha … then and only then, she let me air up two of her tires for her. Ha … I got two hugs out of the deal … one hug per tire, I guess. (Always the gentleman, I informed her she had unfortunately gotten grease from the air hose all over her hands, and gone on to smear it all over her forehead, unbeknownst to her …)
Oh … back to the murder trial and the small world. This old Fort Worth friend is, indirectly I suppose, one of the victims (married to an actual wounded survivor of the shooting at the Davis mansion) … probably one of Fort Worth’s most infamous nights ever.
So … I have always found that interesting that I knew a member of the jury up in The Panhandle and later, someone affected by the event here in Fort Worth. Okay, not mind blowing … but interesting.
Oh … I didn’t think about the implications of her initial concern until later. After she knew who I was, the lady admitted she thought that maybe I was going to rob her or hurt her today at the gas station … at first … a little.
Hmmm … I need to go back and read Blood Will Tell again, about the billionaire murder … but I think the mysterious killer … was described as “a man in black, wearing sunglasses and a long, long wig.” … Just saying. Sorry if I scared you my old friend.
What’s the point? No point … another blog about nothing. Just thought it was an interesting morning for my first back in Fort Worth.
Know what I sayin?
