Lyra and Lochlan’s next day off was Friday. They had finished the leftovers from their big Whole Foods shopping experience and had just about aired out their house from the durian. Leo, their closest family friend, had come over that morning, bringing sweet potato empanadas, a big bag of fresh picked vegetables, and a bundle of beautiful marigolds. The twins were keeping their newfound fortune a deep secret, but they knew that when the time was right, Leo would be the one to confide in.
The abundance. Look at that table! Tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, squash, cilantro, empanadas. Leo has brought an extraordinary harvest from his garden in the desert.
Over many cups of coffee, they talked about the game. Leo was still excited: “67 to 21! Can you believe it? The refs must have been winded just trying to keep up.” They talked about work, with the usual stories from the nursery and retirement home. Leo laughed when Lyra told him she had dumped a load of peat moss off the forklift, and the dusty mess it made.
They talked about Leo’s garden. The cold north wind hinted at the end of the gardening season, and Leo’s gift was some of the last peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, cilantro, and calabacitas. Leo had what he called his “sweetwater well”, but Lyra and Lochlan called it the agua milagrosa. Many years ago Leo hand-dug a draw well near his home, and it has been brimming with cool water ever since. He was the only one in the bone-dry area with a vegetable garden, because he could irrigate it from his well.
They talked about cars and tractors. Leo really liked the new paint job on Old Blue, and Lyra told him about the new clutch. Later she wondered if Leo was offended that she hadn’t asked for Leo’s help, instead taking it to a mechanic in Wink, and she felt a little bad about that.
They talked about the weather. They talked about chances of rain. “Best chance won’t be for another three weeks,” lamented Lochlan. They talked about the Roy Orbison Museum in Wink. Lyra said, “It’s been a while since we’ve been there. Let’s plan a trip.” Lochlan and Leo were enthusiastic.
After Leo left, Lyra put the marigolds in water and placed them in the front room. The twins then settled in in front of the X-box. Lyra began, “You remember our three tiers? We had a good time with tier one, and it ran us about $300. Leo gave me an idea for tier two. Tier two is where we throw out all our really dumb ideas about how to spend the money. I’m sure you have lots of dumb ideas.”
Lochlan was not fazed, as he had just stomped Lyra’s Queen in the X-Box game “Rampage of the Killer Fire Ants.”
“Let’s hear your idea,” he said.
Lochlan kept it up: “And for after-wedding services: ‘Only the Lonely – One Stop Regrets’ – marital counseling, annulments, pre-nup breaking, divorces, criminal law services if things got messy. I figure one employee can multitask.”
Wink, Texas, is the boyhood home of Roy Orbison. There is a Texas historical marker on the vacant lot where the he grew up.
We can thank Walt Quigley for his dedicated efforts for making the historical marker a reality.
The Midland Reporter-Telegram details Mr. Quigley‘s efforts. He spent two years lobbying the Texas historical commission.
Quigley, a transplanted Arizonan who now splits time between a home in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., and Wink, performing in both regions as an Orbison karaoke tribute artist, began working on the marker over two years ago out of his fondness for a singer he said was forever “a true gentleman.” – MRT.com
Mr. Quigley is also involved in restoring the historic downtown Rig Theater in Wink.
The Rig Theater is a former cinema on East Hendricks Boulevard in Wink, Texas. It was built in 1928. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. It had a single screen as a cinema and had a seating capacity of 605….]
The Rig Theater was the childhood cinema of the young singer-songwriter Roy Orbison, where he spent many hours. Orbison performed at the Rig with his early bands, the Teen Kings and the Wink Westerners. Walt Quigley, a Roy Orbison tribute artist, is raising funds to reopen the Rig Theater and to move Wink’s Roy Orbison Museum into the theater’s lobby. Graffiti by Orbison and his friends from 1951 was found in the stairway to the balcony in 1999, and is preserved in a display at the Roy Orbison Museum.
Rig Theater, 213-215 E. Hendricks Blvd., Wink, TX By Whole is One – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21858999
Roy Orbison’s childhood home is directly across the street from the beautiful Wink public library, where our twins frequently visit, and where they learned of their newfound wealth.
Roy Orbison Museum
There is indeed a Roy Orbison Museum in Wink, Texas.
In loving memory Dorothy Wolf (l) and Neita Vaught, curators from the Roy Orbison Museum, Wink TX. June 2009. (Both ladies are unfortunately passed away)
