THE GHOST LIGHTS OF MARFA

Chapter One

The car will die. And hungry . . . stranded . . . we’ll die.

This thought blared in Kristy’s head during  the endless stretch of road thorough the bare west Texas desert. Finally driving past the 'Welcome to Marfa' sign, she released a sigh of relief.

“Are we there yet, Mommy?” Cody’s high-pitched voice pulsed with energy.

“We sure are.” Kristy glanced in the rearview mirror at her six-year-old son. Framed by two dimples, the corners of his rosy mouth turned up into a bright smile. His brown eyes snapped with merriment and dark curls fell across his forehead and his plump cheeks as he banged his plastic sword against the car seat. Cody couldn’t have been happier and she wanted to keep it that way.

As a golden oldies station played Bennie and the Jets, she turned onto South Dean Street. “This is Marfa. We’ll see the lights soon.” She glanced at the fuel gauge. After a six-hour drive from San Antonio, it pointed near empty. “We made it.”

“How do those lights come on?” Cody squeaked from the back seat. “What time do they come on?”

“Tonight, after it’s dark.”

The town reminded her of a western movie set as she drove by rows of white wooden houses and one-story adobe buildings. The peach-toned courthouse towered above them. Its gray dome caught her eye, along with its blanket of green lawn, adorned with bushy crepe myrtles and old pecan trees with sprawling branches. Driving down the narrow road, she soon spotted the white, rectangular building and the prominent black sign with white script, El Paisano.

“Cody, famous movie stars, James Dean, Rock Hudson, and Elizabeth Taylor slept in that hotel when they made Giant here, a real famous old movie.”

“Who?” His brows arched over his wide brown eyes.

“You’ll see it on TV one day, maybe on Turner Classic Movies. It doesn’t matter, we’re not staying there.” No money for that. “We’ll camp out tonight, sleep in the car. Won’t that be fun? I’ve got pillows in the trunk.”

 “I get to sleep in the car.” He jerked his head, ruffling his mop of black hair.

“We’re going to have so much fun, Cody.”

As Kristy peered in the rearview mirror, she found the wide smile on his face contagious and her mood grew buoyant. She would try to get a job as a desk clerk or a maid at the El Paisano. Kristy had come to see the dusty ranch town as her last hope. In the middle of the vast desert, under the big Texas sky, Marfa—a place of consistency and peace—remained untouched by the economic crisis.

Just what she needed after discovering many family shelters only allowed a month before they kicked you out. You can’t keep your children, if you can’t feed them. Simple words, with less stuck on the end, like homeless, jobless, didn’t explain all that. All the languages in the world can’t explain that Mommy, the only person who takes care of you, can’t. Lost her job and no one wants her. At six, you’re on your own, in foster care. Kristy vowed that wouldn’t happen to her son.

She glanced at a square, white building on West San Antonio Street with El Cheapa in large, red script letters. “The town is so cute.”

When the constable tacked the eviction notice to her apartment door, the only idea she came up with was to take Cody on a vacation. Show him the ghost lights of Marfa, the giant horseshoe, and the place James Dean made his last movie.

Like a rebel without a cause, she threw her kid and some clothes into the car and took off. She had nothing left but a few coins and dollar bills. What would it be, gas or food? Knowing eight dollars’ worth of gaswouldn’t get her far, she chose food.

“I’m hungry, Mommy.” Cody opened his mouth wide, signaling he was ready to eat.

She spotted the familiar white, red-roofed restaurant. “There’s the Dairy Queen.”

After parking, she finger-combed her shoulder-length, auburn hair. She retrieved a kohl pencil from her purse and lined her pale blue eyes, then brushed a coat of thick mascara on her long, thin lashes. She had to look good just in case. Maybe they were hiring there. You never know.

*  * * * *

Cody unbuckled his seatbelt and scurried into the Dairy Queen with Kristy at his heels. He plopped onto the seat of a bright orange booth, as she asked the cashier if they had any openings.

She received the familiar reply. “Not at this time.”

After ordering a junior hamburger and a kid’s meal, Kristy gave into her cravings and ordered a watermelon slushy. The sweet, cool, refreshing treat was a favorite of hers since she was Cody’s age and it didn’t look like she’d be having another one any time soon. So she decided to splurge. She ordered Cody one, too.

She sat in the booth and hungrily clutched her hamburger. The moment she bit into the soft bun, the combined flavors of beef patty, ripe tomato slices, and lettuce wrapped around her tongue. As Kristy munched her burger, she reflected on how she’d ended up here.

When she found out she was pregnant with Cody, it was a shock. Though she took birth control pills, she’d missed a day. She never considered not keeping the baby, even when her boyfriend pulled the routine ‘I don’t want this, I don’t think it’s mine.’ But he manned-up, and at six months into her pregnancy, a justice of the peace married them. The judge wished her the best of luck, but even then, she wondered if she was making a mistake. A year later, after her husband hit her for a third time, she escaped to a shelter for battered women. The divorce took all her savings and her ex-husband disappeared. She never received a single child support payment.

At school events or anywhere someone asked Cody to introduce his mother and father, he always said, “My mother and father is Kristy.” That never failed to bring a warm flutter to her heart.

Then, she lost her job. She went to work on Friday, payday, and found the office locked. The owner skipped. Since it was a contract position, selling credit card machines to businesses, her boss didn’t take out taxes, so she wasn’t able to file for unemployment compensation.

Kristy managed the rent that month and a United Way charity paid it for her the next. The third month, her luck ran out. She still hadn’t found a job.

Now, she’d spent her last dollar on fast food. But in the back of her mind, she believed the ghost lights of Marfa would bring her luck. Something has to, she thought.

As he finished the last of the slushy, Cody’s noisy slurping brought her back from her musings.

“Mommy, is it time to see the lights?” He puckered his lips and strummed his finger across them, making a brrrrrr sound.

“Don’t you want your treat?” She tore the coupon off the kiddy bag and used it to get the free chocolate-dipped ice cream cone. She handed it to Cody and piled a stack of napkins on the table. He grinned ear to ear, eagerly biting through the chocolate covering to the soft vanilla ice cream.

“I finished, Mommy.” He popped the last piece of the kiddy cone into his chocolate-ringed mouth. “Are the lights ready to come on?”

Kristy grabbed a napkin and wiped his face. “First, I’m going to take you to see the world’s biggest horseshoe. Would you like that?”

“Yes, yes.” He climbed off the seat and jumped up and down. “Let’s go.”

She stood and grabbed her purse. “What a lucky boy you are, Cody. You get to see the giant horseshoe now and the ghost lights tonight.” She spotted the toy on the table. “Don’t forget your sword.”

He ran back, grabbed the pirate sword and darted to the car. Kristy buckled him in and slid behind the wheel. She fit the key into the ignition and took off down the quiet, traffic-free street.