@Urban Magazine August 2013 Issue

doodle august 2013 AtUrbanMagazine.com

featuring

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Catherine Frederick

lifestyle

MANAGING EDITOR Marla Cantrell

entertainment

16

7

Note to Husband

8

Up Close & Personal

12

Sweet Survival

16

Ignite: Twelve Acres of Happiness

20

Little Bit in Love

22 24 26

Urban 8 Night Fall The Secret Sisters

26

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Marla Cantrell Marcus Coker Catherine Frederick Shannon Hensley Stacey Little Tonya McCoy Anita Paddock Betty Pittman CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Marla Cantrell Mark Mundorff Jeromy Price Stacey Little

people

DESIGNER Jeromy Price

Five Fine Old Fords

50 52

Maple Bacon Manhattan

Proud to be a Slacker Inside the Sacred Harp Nitro Circus The Pick of the Crop

WEB GURU David Jamell PUBLISHER Read Chair Publishing, LLC

taste

28

28 32 36 40 44

Kiss These Grits

52

ADVERTISING INFORMATION Catherine Frederick 479 / 782 / 1500 Catherine@AtUrbanMagazine.com

travel

EDITORIAL INFORMATION Marla Cantrell 479 / 831 / 9116 Marla@AtUrbanMagazine.com

56 62

Finding the Bluebird of Happiness Fiction: Early Morning in the

56

Land of Dreams

Š2013 Read Chair Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. The opinions contained in @Urban are exclusively those of the writers and do not represent those of Read Chair Publishing, LLC. as a whole or its affiliates. Any correspondence to @Urban or Read Chair Publishing, LLC., including photography becomes the property of Read Chair Publishing, LLC. @Urban reserves the right to edit content and images.

FOLLOW US Subscribe to @Urban and receive 12 issues per year for only $30, within the contiguous United States. Details: AtUrbanMagazine.com.

letter from Catherine | 5

S

ee that rooster on the cover?

Changing seasons, all the time. And to be honest, I wouldn’t

I’m going to need a bird

want it any other way.

like that in just a couple of

weeks. Perched on my nightstand,

That thread runs through this issue. Meet a man whose love of

ready to crow when the sun

racing sent him on the road to follow his dream, long after he

begins to peak over the treetops.

thought he’d given up on the idea. Meet a family who faced a

And crow he must. Loudly. I’m not

series of major setbacks, only to find themselves transplanted

one of those morning people who

to Arkansas, and discovering a way of life that make them happy

bounce right out of bed full of

every single day.

happiness and chatter. I’m more of the hit the snooze button ten

And then read the story of two older gentlemen who have

times, stumble to the coffee pot, don’t talk to me for the first

remained friends for longer than many of you have been alive.

hour, kind of girl. But soon, I’ll have no choice. No more sleeping

And they’re still making plans. If you asked them, they’d tell you

in and waking on my time. I’ll be waking on school time, which

change is the thing that keeps them going.

is EARLY. And I’ll be dealing with an equally grumpy bear, also known as my eight year old, who loves his sleep as much as his

From there we’re taking you on the road to a wonderland for

mama does.

both kids and adults. We’re showing you how to use bacon in a cocktail. Yes, I said BACON. And we’re sharing a grilling recipe

We’ll make it through, in part because we have something to

complete with grits.

look forward to. You see, back to school coincides with the start of NFL preseason, which is prized second only to basketball

If that isn’t enough, we have plenty more. Each month we work

season at our house – and sleeping late. Back to school also

diligently to bring you great stories from people just like you:

means sports activities are changing. Gone is the baseball

talented, hard working, salt of the earth types. Is it any wonder

bat - it’s been retired and replaced by a football. In just a few

we love our jobs?

weeks, my family will be hustling to finish homework, make it to practice, eat dinner and get to bed at a reasonable hour, all

Finally, check out the DIY. We’re showing you how to put

after a full day’s work.

together an easy and tasty gift for the teachers in your lives. It should make the first day of school a little easier. My one tip is

Sometimes I sit and wonder what we did with all of our free

to make it ahead of time. Because, if you’re like me, you’ll only

time before our son was old enough to play sports. Nowadays,

be up early enough to down some coffee, slap together lunch,

it seems we’re always going somewhere. Playing something

and get your precious cargo to school on time.

– baseball, basketball, football. Rushing to a practice, a camp, or a game. But that’s life. And isn’t that what life’s all about?

To reserve this free space for your charitable non-profit organization, email: Editors@AtUrbanMagazine.com

lifestyle | 7

8 | UPCLOSE&PERSONAL

DuVal (Butch)Johnston

Owner

Johnston’s Quality Flowers 1111 Garrison Avenue Fort Smith, Arkansas 479.783.5146 QualityFlowers.net

Words to Live By

My grandfather taught us: “Never be out-worked, out-thought, or undersold.”

What’s the one thing you want our readers to know about your business?

We are in the emotions business, not the flower business. Our customers entrust us to be sure their feelings and emotions, happy or sad, are properly expressed to others. As we approach our firm’s 100th year of operation, I fondly remember many a Saturday morning breakfast with my grandfather at my grandparents’ home, which was adjacent to the Johnston’s Greenhouses. He loved to grow things, and was successful because he believed in and loved what he did. With his hard work and focus he was able to put three sons through Notre Dame during the Depression. Our firm is now a four generation Fort Smith business.

Q&A with Butch If you could trade places with someone for a week, who would it be and why? Joe Montana, always wanted to be a Super Bowl winning quarterback.

What’s the first thing you’d do if you won the lottery? Don’t know?!? NOT spend it all, for sure! Where’s your favorite spot in Arkansas? Besides home, the U of A campus – Fayetteville. What’s on your playlist right now? Ray Charles Whose autograph would you most like to have? Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox. What are you most thankful for? Family and country What’s the most sentimental thing you own? Some items of my father’s, who was a WWII Air Force “Hump Pilot”. Do you have a nickname, and if so, how did you get it? “Butch,” I got it at birth Last book you read? Killing Kennedy What’s your best advice on how to survive an Arkansas summer? The pool, cool drinks – A/C YOUR favorite color? Green, because it is the predominant color in nature. If you could drive any car what would it be? Audi A-8 Are you a cat person or a dog person? DOG! We have two, Hershey and Baxter.

Best place you’ve ever been on vacation. Boston, Massachusetts If you could have a super power, what would it be? Wouldn’t it be great to fly like Superman?

UPCLOSE&PERSONAL | 9

Dr. Ann Passmore

MD, FACS

Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery 3017 South 70th Street Fort Smith, Arkansas 479.275.6600 Passmoreplasticsurgery.com

Words to Live By

Never miss a thing; see the sunrise and the sunset and then some.

What’s the one thing you want our readers to know about your practice?

Plastic Surgery is an ever changing medical specialty.

I take great pride in offering my patients the latest in cosmetic procedures and skin health products. I believe that being a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon adds a level of expertise that is of utmost importance when considering appearance enhancement. My staff and I work hard to ensure personalized care to each individual, enabling them to look their best and feel great about themselves.

Q&A with Ann If you could trade places with someone for a week, who would it be and why? I would trade places with Princess Kate. She is striking, has the opportunity to use her celebrity to make a positive difference, has a superb wardrobe, and is a mom. Where’s your favorite spot in Arkansas? My backyard where I view my son’s tree house and tire swing, grazing horses, and sunsets over the barn. Most people don’t know that I have Belgian draft horses. Some are taller than the Budweiser Clydesdales! Where’s the strangest place you’ve called the Hogs? While I was completing my surgical training in Boston, I went to a sports bar and requested that one of the fifty TVs be tuned to the Razorback game. Even the cook came out and was cheering the Hogs with me before the game was over. What’s the most sentimental thing you own? An engraved white Bible that I was given after my kindergarten graduation. Do you have a nickname? Red, because of my hair. What’s your best advice on how to survive an Arkansas summer? In or near the water with plenty of watermelon. And don’t forget your sunscreen! If you could drive any car what would it be? A BMW 750Li or a Tesla. Are you a cat person or a dog person? I am an animal lover and have many rescue pets. I am BOTH a cat and dog person. If you could have a super power, what would it be? I would love the ability to read minds.

10 | lifestyle

make a friend for life

Ahimsa Rescue Foundation is an all-volunteer team founded in 2004 and based in Muldrow, Oklahoma, that rescues and places abused, unwanted and abandoned animals.

All dogs are microchipped, spayed/neutered and vet-checked.

Solomon Male – Border Collie

Summer Female – Rat Terrier Mix

Rusty – Male Yorkshire Terrier/Brussels Griffon mix

Aurora Female – Australian Cattle dog mix

Elmore Male – Labrador Retriever

Aggie Female – Boxer/Boston Terrier mix

AhimsaRescueFoundation.org @images Tessa Freeman Ahimsa Rescue Foundation, Muldrow, OK Facebook.com/AhimsaRescueFoundation savingpaws@aol.com

Ahimsa Rescue Foundation is an all-volunteer team, founded in 2004, specializing in the rescue and placement of abused, unwanted and abandoned companion animals from eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. All pets are spayed or neutered, micro-chipped and vet-checked before being adopted to carefully screened homes.

Ahimsa’s mission is to place needy animals in responsible homes, provide humane education, and encourage spaying and neutering because not enough homes are available. Contact: Savingpaws@aol.com

12 | lifestyle

sweet survival @story Catherine Frederick @images Jeromy Price

lifestyle | 13

T

here’s probably no one who looks forward to or treasures summertime more than a teacher. With summer drawing to a close and another school year around the corner, I thought it

would be nice to make the first day of school a little yummier for some of the teachers in my life. I’m stepping it up from the traditional apple.

I call it the Sweet Survival Gift. It’s an ice cream sundae kit that’s a cinch to put together for the teacher on your list. Pack it full of waffle cones and bowls, go crazy with a variety of candy toppings, and whip up a batch of homemade fudge sauce that’s so good you’ll want to eat it with a spoon – not that I’d EVER do that.

Have fun personalizing the gift basket with coordinating fabric for the jar top on the fudge sauce and tissue paper. Just think about how nice it will be. A sundae for the first Monday of school. And who knows, it could help you through that first parent-teacher conference of the year. What could be sweeter than that?

14 | lifestyle

what you’ll need Container of choice Waffle cones and/or bowls Variety of toppings (we used chocolate and confetti sprinkles, mini Reese’s pieces, mini M&M’s, mini chocolate chips, nuts) Plastic treat bags Decoration (tissue paper, fabric for jar top) Mason Jars (we got ours at Yeagers Hardware in Fort Smith)

fudge sauce 1/2 cup butter 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoons agave syrup 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup cocoa 1 cup whipping cream 2 teaspoons vanilla In a saucepan over low to medium heat, melt butter. Add cocoa, salt and sugar, and stir to combine. Add cream, increase heat to medium – high and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for five minutes. Remove from heat.

Add agave and vanilla. When cooled, fill mason jar with sauce. Sauce must be refrigerated. Can be served hot or cold over ice cream (or just eat it with a spoon when no one is watching!).

16 | lifestyle

Twelve Acres of Happiness

@story Marla Cantrell @images Marla Cantrell and Courtesy White River Creamery

Each month in our Ignite series we bring you stories we hope will inspire you, give you new ideas, and bring you inside the lives of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

lifestyle | 17

I

t is a beautiful morning, so cool you could drive with the

Tessa says the chef at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

windows down. All along the road to Elkins, Arkansas,

in Bentonville turned out to be one of the people who bought

people are working in their yards or tending their gardens.

White River Creamery cheese. “We are so fortunate to be there.

And farther off the main highway, on twelve acres of lush land,

The hard part is that they might call and need seventeen pounds

Tessa McCormick and her three daughters rest. They’ve been up

quickly and we have to make that happen. But that’s good for

for hours, milking twenty-six of their does, cleaning out stalls,

us, that’s keeping us on our toes. When Tom Cruise and Hugh

making sure there’s enough hay out for their goats to eat.

Jackman came for the Walmart Shareholders meeting and ate there, our girls were so excited. Tom Cruise and Hugh Jackman

Right now, they’re sitting at a picnic table just outside White

may have eaten our cheese!”

River Creamery eating scones and cinnamon rolls from a bakery down the road. All around, the Nigerian

The reason for their early success has a

Dwarf dairy goats are calling out, the

lot to do with Scott’s dedication to detail.

sound like a playing card whipping

Tessa says he’s a perfectionist, which suits

across the spokes of a bicycle wheel.

cheese making well. And then there are

Tessa rises, then goes to the fence line

the goats. A Nigerian Dwarf goat’s milk is

to point out Pigpen. She’s a funny little

two to three times richer than any other

goat, and seems to smile at the attention

goat milk in the nation. “A regular goat

she’s getting. Each has a name, and each

will produce about 3.5 percent butter fat,”

comes when called. There are seventy in

Tessa says. “Our girls, on a low end will do

all. The girls weigh about fifty pounds,

about a 6.8; they’ve been tested at 9.8.

the bucks seventy, none bigger than a

Very rich and creamy and you don’t get

mid-sized dog.

that tang as an aftertaste.”

Inside the dairy, Scott McCormick is

The McCormicks appreciate the milk, but

working on his latest batch of artisan

there is more going on here. They love

cheese. When he comes out for a

these goats. “I think what surprised me

quick break, he waves to his wife and

most was how smart they are, and they’re

daughters, then jumps on a tractor and

docile and easy to work with. One lady

heads up the hill to the family’s home.

has two she keeps in her house,” Tessa says. “They can be potty trained. She keeps a kiddie gate up in her kitchen for

In a nearby pasture, Tessa’s rescue horse grazes. The family cat

when she’s cooking. I doubt I’d go that far, but they do make

lazes near the picnic table. And then a black hen marches up,

great pets.”

her new chicks in tow. It is an idyllic scene: family, a place in the country, a new business. Tessa looks out across the land, smiling

Tessa is an encyclopedia on the breed. But it wasn’t so long ago

at her good fortune. The dairy opened on May 2, 2013, and on

that she didn’t know a thing about the goats. Her family was

May 4 they sold cheese for a local tasting. Then Scott made ten

living in California in 2010, in a 2,000 square foot house they’d

pounds of feta for a wedding reception. After that, Tessa hit the

painstakingly built by hand. It took them ten years to complete.

road, taking samples to “every restaurant between Elkins and

It took one fire - and the mold that came after the fire had been

Bentonville.” She also sold to Ozark Natural Foods in Fayetteville,

doused - that finally caused the McCormicks to pack up and

several wineries in Altus, and at the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market

move at a significant financial loss.

where ninety pounds of their artisan cheese can go in a flash.

18 | lifestyle hallway, seemed to fall from the sky. They bought three at a ridiculously low price and sold one to buy the herd of goats in 2011 that started White River Creamery. That same year Scott signed up for a cheese making course at Vermont’s Institute of Artisan Cheese and liked it so much he returned for an advanced class in 2012.

Back home, the diary was taking shape. They designed it so that it could accommodate visitors, with wide windows that let you watch Scott as he makes the cheese. “You can’t imagine how much caulk there is in there. Every time I’d go to the store, Scott would call and say, ‘Bring home more caulk.’ Everything has to be water resistant. I told the girls if we ever build another dairy, we’re making it all out of caulking.”

The loss of their home and the investment they’d put into it

After getting settled, they asked Tessa’s parents to move from

was devastating. “When everything fell apart we thought God

California and stay with them. Her mom had grown up on a dairy

wanted us to be missionaries in Africa. None of those doors

and her father had worked in one as a young man. Her father

would open. There was always something standing in our way.

never saw them finish the dairy. He passed away in 2012. “My

We came out here to Arkansas to visit friends and literally heard

mom and dad really wanted to finish the dairy. Unbeknownst to

God say move here. At that point, we didn’t have a lot to work

me, my dad had life insurance. So we did,” Tessa says, and then

with. We’ve had so many people help. The people who sold us

adds, “Sorry, this is the part where I always cry.”

this land didn’t know us, they knew a friend of a friend of a friend. The place wasn’t listed when we asked about it. A lot

The money was just enough to finish the dairy. Today, White

of farmers have helped us with things because we were from

River Creamery is a certified dairy farm and cheese making

California and didn’t know what they knew.”

plant. Tess says it’s the only one of its kind in Arkansas. A typical day begins with chores. Milking is done by machine and lasts

They moved in February of 2011, in some of the worst weather

from six to ten in the morning. Then there are hooves to tend

possible, hitting a blizzard in Amarillo. When Christmas rolled

to, and in the summer Emily shaves the goats. She’s become an

around, Scott and Tessa gave each of the girls money to buy

expert at trimming their beards. Once those chores are done,

an animal, though they feared it was not nearly enough. Caily

they may have time for a nap after lunch. After supper, they start

wanted a bloodhound. Amber wanted a cow. Emily, however,

milking again.

had money to spare. She bought a bunny.

Scott, however, works a different schedule. He alone is the As Tessa is telling this story, she’s marveling again at how things

cheese maker, so he’s in and out a lot, testing pH levels, timing,

worked out. A farmer gave Amber a cow. While looking at storm

always busy with another batch. All the cheeses are wonderful,

shelters, the seller offered Caily a purebred bloodhound for

but if I had to pick one I’d leave with the chocolate chèvre,

$150, much less than what it was worth, which was exactly the

which is so good you’ll likely be tempted to eat it with a spoon.

amount she had.

The demand for White River Creamery cheese is growing quickly. They’ve added cow cheese to the menu recently,

The home where they live now, two yurts connected by a

getting the milk from a nearby neighbor. Right now they’re

lifestyle | 19

making about 170 pounds a week: feta, ricotta, chèvre, formage blanc. Tessa wants to make ice cream one day. They family made some for themselves last year with local strawberries

Visit whiterivercreamery.com for more information.

and couldn’t believe how good it was.

In Fayetteville, you can buy their products at Ozark Tessa is talking about the future when Scott pulls up and jumps

Natural Foods, the Farmer’s Market on the Square,

off his tractor. He has a timer he’s holding and it will soon sound.

the Saturday Wren Thicket Farmer’s Market, and the

“Back to work,” he says, as he races past. Amber, home for the

Wednesday Nightbird Farmer’s Market.

summer from John Brown University, shakes her head at him.

These days, he always seems to be rushing by. Caily and Emily,

In Altus, their products are available at Post Family

both homeschooled, have fallen in love with Arkansas. Tessa’s

Vineyards, Chateau Aux Arc Vineyards and Winery,

mother is here, a comfort to Tessa after the loss of her father.

and Wiederkehr Wine Cellars.

And all around are good people who took the time to help this couple from California, who’d lost their home and were looking for a way back.

They have found that place. They couldn’t be happier. They have come home.

20 | SHOPLOCAL

Little Bit in Love with...

Haute Baby® Football Shirt & Leggings Set K AT I E B U G S

Lemon Loves Lime® Top & Ruffled Pants K AT I E B U G S

Appaman® Bulldog Shirt & Jeans K AT I E B U G S

Monogrammed Tank INSCRIPTIONS

Vera Bradley® 2014 Agenda INSCRIPTIONS

What’s Your Virtue® Lip Gloss BROW BAR

Vera Bradley® Campus Backpack INSCRIPTIONS

Pro Select® Wet Brush Detangler BROW BAR

Circadia® Spot Stop BROW BAR

SHOPLOCAL | 21 We love pretty things. And useful things. And must-haves, can’t-live-without-it things!

But most of all, we love finding those things close to home. Check out our latest finds, from local shops that we’ve fallen a little bit in love with. Our guess is you will too.

Mrs. Wages® Pickle & Salsa Mixes

Ball® 100th Anniversary Heritage Collection

Y E A G E R S H A R D WA R E

Y E A G E R S H A R D WA R E

Ball® Fresh Herb Keeper

Y E A G E R S H A R D WA R E

“Our Family” Pillow THE GOODS

“Your Opinion” Recipe Box THE GOODS

“You Are My Sunshine” Window Décor THE GOOD’S

Repurposed Tray with Leopard Handles THE GOOD’S

See Resource Guide on page 61 for shop locations.

22 | entertainment

Submit your events to editors@aturbanmagazine.com

1 2 3 4

115th Annual Tontitown Grape Festival August 6 - 10 // $FREE Admission // See website for details Tontitown, AR // 479.927.2295 // TontitownGrapeFestival.com Come celebrate 115 years of Italian heritage, tradition and craftsmanship. This family-friendly festival offers live entertainment, an arts & crafts fair, carnival, and a Run for the Grapes race. This event takes place at St. Joseph’s Church in Tontitown.

Outdoor Movie Classic: North by Northwest Friday, August 9, 8:30 – 10 pm // $FREE Admission // See website for details Bentonville, AR // 479.418.5700 // crystalbridges.org Join the folks at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art for an outdoor screening of North by Northwest by film director Alfred Hitchcock. This 1959 film classic stars Cary Grant, and captures America through brilliant cinematic chase scenes, as well as an iconic portrayal of America’s architecture and landscape from New York City, to Chicago, to Mt. Rushmore. Drinks and snacks will be available for purchase.

Mountains, Music, and Motorcycles August 16 - 19 // see website for details Mountain View, AR // 870.269.3851 // ozarkfolkcenter.com It’s a great time to jump on your bikes and head for the mountains. You can book rooms in Mountain View at Dry Creek at the Ozark Folk Center, test your bravery on the Loco Ropes adventure challenge course, and dine at Skillet Restaurant where Southern cooking rules. There will be concerts, demonstrations at the Ozark Folk Center craft village, and plenty of time to ride the winding roads.

Teal Night in Tahiti Saturday, August 17 // 6PM // Advance tickets $35 Fort Smith, AR // 479.883.3379 or 479.646.3431 // rivervalley@arkansasovariancancer.org A great night of dining and dancing for a great cause! Proceeds benefit the River Valley Chapter of the Arkansas Ovarian Cancer Coalition. There will also be a silent auction and a jewelry drawing.

Teal Night in Tahiti will be held at the Fort Smith Convention Center in Hall C.

entertainment | 23

5 6 7 8

Johnny Cash Music Festival Saturday, August 17 // 7PM // See website for details Jonesboro, AR // 888.278.3267 // JohnnyCashMusicFest.com Hosted by Tommy Cash, this event offers an all-star lineup of musical talent like Vince Gill, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, and Jimmy Fortune of the Statler Brothers. Proceeds from this event will help support a scholarship fund set up in Johnny’s name, and will benefit the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home Project. Arkansas State University will be host to this event.

Skydive for Kids August 17 – 18 // See website for details Siloam Springs, AR // 479.621.0385 // VisitRogersArkansas.com Be an advocate for kids by jumping from a plane! The 4th Annual Skydive benefits the Children’s Advocacy Center of Benton County. Take part or simply come to see jumpers take a leap of faith to help hundreds of children in Benton County. This event takes flight at the Skydive Ranch located at the Siloam Springs Airport.

Frisco Festival August 23 – 24 // $FREE // See website for details Rogers, AR // 479.936.5487 // FriscoFestival.com Experience the rich railroad heritage at this family-friendly festival in the Rogers Historic District.

Area sponsors will be providing music, rides, food and much more. There will also be a few signature features which include Chili-Jalapeno Competition, Kid’s Connection and a Frisco-style chicken BBQ. Be ready for a day of food and fun in downtown Rogers.

NEON-A-Thon 5K Saturday, August 31 // 7:30PM – 12AM // See website for details Fort Smith, AR // info@neonathon.com // Neonathon.com Get ready for this glow-in-the-dark 5K that’s guaranteed to be a colorful event. This nighttime event will leave you covered with fluorescent colors as you pass through glow stations complete with UV lights, awesome music, and refreshments. Join the Blacklight After Party to finish out the night. This event will take place at Fort Chaffee just east of Fort Smith.

24 | entertainment They later learned about the crash of TWA 800. They had the recording of the reddish orange streak across the sky, but they couldn’t risk their marriages to turn over the film to the authorities who were investigating the crash.

This is the beginning of Night Fall. More than 200 people reported seeing the red flash across the sky that July night. Had the plane been hit by a missile fired by terrorists? Or was it, as the authorities reported, an accidental explosion that most likely occurred in an empty center fuel tank, filled with volatile vapors that caused the crash?

DeMille spins a fine suspense novel that clips right along. He holds your attention and makes the reading of his novel an unforgettable excursion into the land of fiction with factual overtones. He begs the question, as an investigator in his book asks, “The lack of evidence for a crime doesn’t prove it’s an accident, does it?”

After attending a five year memorial held by the families of those killed in the crash, John Corey, a former NYPD homicide detective now working for a Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force, and his wife, Kate, an FBI agent who was part of the original investigation, begin

Night Fall

by Nelson DeMille Time Warner Publishing @review Anita Paddock

O

their own private probe into the cause of the crash. Haunted by the death of the travelers headed for a Paris vacation and the despair of the loved ones left behind, they become obsessed with finding out what caused the crash.

They know that a blanket and a camera lens cover were found

n July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 left New York for Paris,

on the beach, and so they search for the adulterous couple, who

carrying 230 people including the crew. It crashed just

must have captured the actual speeding red flash. But can they

off Long Island, killing everyone aboard.

find the couple and the film?

On the same day, a man and woman arrived at a deserted Long

As with any review of a suspense novel, I can’t tell you what

Island beach. Each was wealthy. Each was married to someone

happens at the end except to say that the investigation was

else. They had brought along a camera to film their rendevous

trumped by two planes flying into the Twin Towers. What I can

on a hotel blanket on the sands. While the camera was rolling,

tell you is that all the parts of the plane were recovered and bit by

they saw a bright reddish orange light zoom across the sky,

bit, like a jigsaw puzzle, they were painstakingly pieced together

and then they heard a booming crash out over the water. They

in an effort to give some satisfaction to the families of those 230

grabbed their clothes and the camera, fled to their parked SUV,

souls who died on TWA Flight 800.

and headed back to their room.

26 | entertainment Their self-titled album takes you on a hayride back in time, where local musicians performed at the county fair by day, and the honky-tonk by night. Laura and Lydia, who are in their twenties, not only sound the part with their flawless harmonies, they look the part with their demure print dresses and fifties hairstyles; the spittin’ image of a war hero’s “girl back home.” The Secret Sisters is composed of two original tracks and nine re-releases of favorite classics. The song choices are perfect for the duo, and the original songs showcase their extraordinary talent.

It’s not a country song without hearing about how your man done you wrong, and there is plenty of it featured on this album.

Their versions of classic torch songs “Why Baby, Why,” “Why Don’t You Love Me,’” and “The One I Love Is Gone,” are executed perfectly, almost to the point you believe the song was written for them.

“Tennessee Me” is a classic country song born from Laura’s own breakup with the wrong guy. Getting the song out there was good for Laura and great for the Secret Sisters. It earned them a

The Secret Sisters The Secret Sisters Bluebird Studios, $1199 iTunes secretsistersband.com @review Shannon Hensley

T

nomination for the New/Emerging Artist of the Year during the 2011 Americana Music Awards. Another track, “Waste The Day,” proves there’s no song better than one about a broken heart.

You have to appreciate their passion for pure music. The Secret Sisters takes you back to the days of your grandparents and defines the need to preserve it. I would have loved to hear

he Secret Sisters, Laura and Lydia Rogers, are a pair of

more original tracks, but the two featured show what Lydia and

old souls from Muscle Shoals, Alabama who grew up

Laura can accomplish on their own. That has me excited about

listening to George Jones records every Sunday before

their new album to be released this year, titled Put Your Needle

church. They took us by storm with their classic style and vocals

Down. I don’t wish a broken heart on anyone, but I sure do love

in 2010, even charming the legendary T Bone Burnett and rocker

listening to songs about it.

Jack White into helping out on their first self-titled album.

Muscle Shoals is an important place in music history. It’s the home of FAME Studios, where many hits of the sixties were recorded. Decades after it’s heyday, the dynasty continues with a couple of wide-eyed Southern girls. If it weren’t for an impromptu audition at Hotel Indigo in Nashville, The Secret Sisters would have remained Alabama’s best-kept secret.

I Rate It

28 | people

Five Fine Old Fords

@story Marla Cantrell @images Jeromy Price

people | 29

B

ob Becker, who’s seventy-nine, is trying to explain his longtime friendship with eighty-one year-old August M. Khilling. He hesitates, rubs his chin and then says “We

run together pretty good. Made all the beer joints together and half the jails.”

August smiles, “He’s not kidding,” he says. “Had him call me years ago and tell me he’d be late to work. “I said, ‘Where the hell are you?’ and he said, ‘I said I’ll just be late.’ After a minute he said, ‘Ozark jail.’”

The two laugh, and the sun shines down on them. They are sitting beside their garage in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where five fine old Fords wait inside. There’s a 1924 Model T Roadster, a 1926 Model T Coupe, a 1930 Model A two-door, a 1932 Ford pickup, and a 1941 Ford Coupe. Bob still has the bill of sale for the 1924 Roadster. Brand new it cost $300.

Today is one of the last days they’ll have the cars here. Bob sold his interest to Fort Smith car collector Lou Gramlich, and the Bob Becker and August Khilling

cars, all in tip top condition, will soon be on the market.

So right now, they’re reminiscing. They talk about the first car

The stories go on like this. “Tell them about your heart attack,”

they bought together, an old Cadillac limousine, back in the

August says. And Bob answers. “I was at the field trial for rabbit

1990s. August says, “I called Bob up and said, ‘How crazy do

hunting in Springfield. I had beagles that hunted rabbits. Won

you feel today?’ And he said, ‘Pretty damn crazy.’ So I said, ‘Then

a lot of trophies. And I had a heart attack. They airlifted me to

why don’t we buy this limousine I just found on the curb?’”

the hospital. The nurse said, ‘What did you take?’ And I said, ‘Two nitro pills and some whiskey.’ She said, ‘The whiskey didn’t

Bob cuts in. “We lost that car in the tornado of ’96. The tornado

work, now did it?’ And I said, ‘The nitro didn’t neither.’”

throwed a tree across it and we had to sell it for junk.”

They continue like this, each recalling something they want the August turns to Bob, and his silver ponytail catches the light. “Bob

other to share. The two met in the early 1950s while working at

was standing in the hall drinking a beer. By hisself. The tornado

Interstate Electric on 15th Street in Fort Smith. Both were former

come by and just missed him. Took his fishing boat, 1,700 foot of

Navy men. Bob repaired engines. August was in the engineering

chain link fence. Outbuildings. Just left the house alone.”

department.

Bob tugs at the brim of his ball cap. “Boy, I was shaking. I knew

Not long after, August left his job. Bob followed. And then August

I had another beer in an old icebox I kept away from the house,

ventured out on his own. “I left first and started Khilling Industrial

but when I went to get it, the icebox wasn’t left. Campers,

Electric,” August says. “Then it was Khilco. I was in business two

canoes, all gone. I had a cellar out here. The tornado took the

or three years and then we rented a place. The first year Bobby’d

door off and throwed two by fours down in it.”

fix vacuum cleaner motors or paint motors, anything. Very flimsy

30 | people

business at first. And then he took on the industrial motors. Big

to trotline fish. We’d have the boat and camping stuff in one car.

motors like the factories use. At one time we had more than

Nowadays you’d have to take a damn semi.”

seventy employees.”

That life of excess is one of the reasons they’re getting out of “After we opened an electric motor center here in Fort Smith,”

the old car business. Bob wants to park his newer cars in the

Bobby says, “we branched out to an electric motor center in

garage. August is busy with other projects. He took a course in

Russellville and then an electric motor center in Springdale and

geo-thermal and radiant heating and has installed it at some of

then Becko Machines, we still own Becko Machines. We still own

the properties he owns. “I need a challenge,” he says, “so they’ll

Electric Motor Center, Inc., of Springdale.”

be something else around the bend.”

The two roared through the following decades, never once

That’s how Lou Gramlich fits in. He’ll be selling the old Fords

thinking they’d fail. “Nah,” August says. “You work hard, you treat

in the next few months. His love of cars started in the 1960s

your customers right, know how to market, and the money comes.”

when his father, Louis, was a salesman at Hobbs Dodge on 10th Street in Fort Smith. “I grew up on a showroom floor,” Lou says.

The work August is talking about started early. “My childhood

“I remember getting excited when the new models came in. And

can be summed up in one word. Poor,” August says, “spelled

everybody knew my dad. He was a great salesman, knew how

with eight o’s. We was poor. Born in Charleston, to El Reno,

to treat people, so they’d come back when they wanted to buy

Oklahoma, to Arkoma, graduated from Spiro, and Northeastern.

again.” Over the years Lou’s collected quite a few old cars and

My mother pushed me to go to college. She said, ‘I don’t want

now he calls his wife “the biggest car guy around.” “She never

you to work as hard as your dad did.’ He was a plumber. I started

gets mad when I bring another car home, but she doesn’t like

in electrical, fixing doorbells when I was sixteen. I’d fix porch

me to sell one.

lights. I worked my way through college as an electrician. I had my Master’s license when I was junior at the University

“I don’t know anybody who doesn’t get excited about a classic

of Arkansas. If a professor needed something fixed, my grade

car. I see it as an investment. They’re rare and they’re beautiful

would go up.”

and they bring back a lot of memories.”

Bob says. “I was one of seven kids. Coal miners. We scratched

Bob agrees. “I took that ’24 Roadster to the car show one day

out a living. Had a house I don’t know how we all fit in. Later, we

and an old man dressed in overalls, looked to be about eighty,

had an old ’46 Nash. We’d load that up and go out on Petit Jean

he kept looking at it. He said, ‘I drove one just like that to

people | 31 California. It took me three months and I wore through two tire pumps and six cans of Camel patching.’

Which reminds August of another story. “One time we were driving to the races and lost the belt on the car we were driving. We went up to a lady’s house and bought her screen door for five dollars. We used the spring off of it to replace the belt. Sang like hell, but it worked.”

Bob is laughing so much he has to stop to wipe his eyes. “Made it to the races. We sure did.”

August reaches over and pats Bob’s shoulder. “We aren’t going to miss the cars. We want someone to have them who’ll really enjoy them. Bob and I still have plenty to keep us busy.”

“If it was thirty years ago,” Bob says, “we’d be opening more companies, spreading out. Maybe do some more business in Northwest Arkansas.”

August’s phone rings and he quickly silences it. “Here’s one thing I’d like to tell you. We’ve been friends for well over forty years and we’ve only have three squabbles. I don’t think you could find a man and woman who could say the same.”

Up until this point it’s been mostly laughter. Now, the two men look away. They’ve been exposed, these hard living trailblazers who got into rumbles and took chances that would make milder men shake in their boots. They understand what a great stroke of luck it was that they met when they did. That they built an empire together. That every single day of their life they can pick up the phone and ask, How crazy do you feel today? And the other one will answer, Pretty damn crazy.

If you’re interested in purchasing these 5 old Fords, you can contact Lou Gramlich at his place of business, at 479.782.4980.

32 | people

proud to be a slacker @story Marcus Coker @images courtesy Lee Wyatt

people | 33

I

t’s a Saturday afternoon at Broadwater Creek in Harrison,

The second line, called a longline, was over five feet off the

Arkansas, and Abel Price has just secured himself to

ground and over one hundred feet across. Lee says, “The longer

something called a slackline that’s suspended thirty feet

the line, the higher it has to be because you need a minimum of

above the creek and anchored to two trees, one on each side of

one foot of drop for every forty feet of line in order to guarantee

the water. After taking off his shoes, Abel puts one foot on the

you aren’t going to exceed its breaking strength.” Because longer

slackline, stands upright, and begins the sixty-six foot journey

lines require more tension to support weight, they require more

to the other side.

advanced gear—like pulleys—than primitive systems do.

It is a challenging endeavor. Constructed of polyester and

I thought slacking looked hard, but I didn’t think it looked THAT

similar to a backpack strap, the slackline resembles a tightrope

hard and wanted to try. So with Abel’s coaching, I put one foot

and is only one-inch wide. But whereas a tightrope is typically

on the lowline and tried to stand up. But before I could, my leg

unbending and unmoving, a slackline is like a long, narrow

started wobbling the way my washing machine does when all

trampoline that stretches when walked across. That means Abel

the towels shift to one side. Apparently it’s called “Elvis legs”

is about to be faced not only with balancing himself, but also

and is common for beginners. I finally got to the point where I

with controlling the line beneath him.

could stand on one leg for two seconds, but it still felt like trying to ride a mechanical bull.

Abel says, “Slacklines are more dynamic than tightropes. They move three dimensionally—up and down, left and right, and

If the whole thing sounds difficult, it is. But for slackers, which is

front to back.” Consequently, Abel has to shift his hips to one

what they call themselves, the challenge is the appeal. Lee says,

side or the other like a snow skier in order to balance himself

“You have to loosen up your arms and shoulders, like Gumby.”

as the line moves beneath. Sometimes he makes it all the way

When that happens, the body is able to balance itself.

across, other times he doesn’t. When he falls, he’s caught by a safety harness that’s fastened to the line.

Abel compares the sport to meditation. Lee says, “It’s peaceful because it requires you to focus on you and your balance. You

“In the 1970s, Yosemite was a big climbing destination,” says

can’t hold on to anything; you have to let everything go. It’s

Abel. “Slackline, which climbers call webbing, was used for

beautiful. It’s the only activity I’ve found that truly centers me

anchors. It’s really, really strong. As a pastime, climbers would

and calms the mind.”

set it up and walk across it to work on balance. Eventually, it developed into its own sport.” That sport, called slacklining or

Whether they’re a few feet or a few dozen feet off the ground,

slacking, has recently seen a resurgence. It was even showcased

slackers stand the chance of falling. That’s why Abel and Lee

in Madonna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2012.

have spent a lot time on sites like idratherbeslacklining.com and SlackChat on Facebook researching the safest ways to rig their

Earlier that day, Abel and Lee Wyatt, who are both twenty-nine

systems. When it comes to midlines (20-50 feet above ground)

and live in Fayetteville, set up two slacklines in a friend’s backyard

and highlines (over 50 feet above ground), they not only fasten

and practiced. Both lines were stretched between trees, much

themselves to the line with a six foot rope and harness in case

like a clothesline would be. The first, called a lowline, was just

they fall, but also fasten themselves to a secondary line that

a few feet off the ground and forty feet across. In order to keep

runs directly underneath the first one in case the main line were

tension in the line, they used what’s called a primitive system,

to break.

which works a little bit like a slipknot. As Lee and Abel pulled on one side of the line, a series of carbineers and metal rings held

Still, slacking is not without its war wounds, as evidenced by the

the line tight and kept it from sliding back out.

bruises on Abel’s arms and legs. “Sometimes when you slip off

34 | people

the line, the tension will cause it to pop your leg,” says Abel.

“And when we set up higher off the ground, like at Broadwater, we try to grab the line when we fall, even though there’s a rope and harness that would catch us.”

Search videos on YouTube, and you’ll find people doing cartwheels, somersaults, and backflips on the line. Back on the midline at Broadwater Creek, Abel is content to work on simple poses like dropping down to one knee then standing back up. He says, “Step by step, I’ve gotten better and can see the accomplishments I’ve made—first standing up, then one step, two steps, and longer lines. For me, the goal is to push my limits and boundaries.”

Lee’s goal is slightly different. He says, “Once I was on a highline at Stack Rock near Searcy, Arkansas, sixty feet up and forty feet across. I took one step, and my subconscious froze my body. I couldn’t take another step. I want to get through that fear and conquer some really tall stuff.”

people | 35

It’s taken Abel and Lee a year and half to get to where they are,

If you’d like to try the sport, I recommend getting help from

and clearly they want to take their skills higher. Much of the

someone with experience, especially when setting up the

time, you can find them several feet off the ground in a local

line. Start low to the ground, seek proper training, understand

park. Abel says, “Some people get run off by park officials, but

the risks, and know your body’s limits. If you’re going to be a

that’s usually when they don’t understand the sport or what’s

slacker, you might as well be a smart one.

associated with it. I personally would like to see slacklining progress in Arkansas so that more people are doing it.” To that end, Abel and Lee have started a Facebook group called Ozark Slackers to let others know where and when they will

For more information, search for Ozark Slackers on

be practicing.

Facebook. For materials, visit balancecommunity.com.

They already have one convert. Since that day at Broadwater, I’ve gotten back on the slackline twice. I even set up my own primitive system for about $100 and managed to walk from one end to the other. The best part is that my feeling of accomplishment far exceeds any pain I have from slipping– there’s a bruise on my left leg to prove it. Through the process, I’m finding my balance, focusing on successes instead of failures, and learning to trust myself.

36 | people

Inside the Sacred Harp

@story Marla Cantrell @images Mark Mundorff

people | 37

I

am standing in the middle of a hollow square, which

Harp. One of the members, who wants only to be called

consists of a few feet of space on the old wooden floor

Grandma, tells the story of the first time her late husband heard

inside the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale,

the group sing. She begins, her voice as deep as a well. “He

Arkansas. Facing me are Sacred Harp singers who are sitting on

listened to us and then he said, ‘It’s an awful, horrible, beautiful

chairs arranged in a perfect box. Each of the four sides holds

sound.’ I think that’s pretty accurate. You don’t have to be good,

either alto, tenor, bass, or treble.

but you do have to be loud,” Grandma says. “Sometimes you sing so loud you can’t hear anybody else. And I sing bass, which

They want to sing to me.

surprises some people. A woman singing bass.”

A capella.

B.R. Black, who also sings bass and whose wife Katy sings alto, says the singing takes him back to a different time. “I grew up

And so they begin, these members of the Shiloh Singers of

singing tenor and bass,” B.R. says. “My mother played the organ

Northwest Arkansas. When we’ve been there 10,000 years, bright

for the church choir for twenty-five years. And I like the idea

shining like the sun, they sing, their voices booming through

that what we’re doing is preserving a bit of tradition. That’s what

the room and echoing off the coved

pushes me out the door on the second

ceiling. I hear the hills in their voices,

Sunday of the month.”

the deep woods, the low-lying valleys where church steeples rise

Willi Goehring, the youngest member

like towers against the blue sky.

of the group at twenty-three, says it was the poetry that drew him in. He’d been

This four-part harmony is loud and

playing the banjo at square dances and

visceral. The floor trembles, a result,

learning old ballads before he joined

I think, of so many feet tapping. The

this group. “It’s completely real,” Willi

coved ceiling catches the notes

says. “I find myself moved by the text in

and drops them down again so that

these songs.”

the sound seems to come from everywhere: floor and ceiling, walls and singers. If you could be

Dan Brittain, who’s traveled here from Harrison, Arkansas, has

baptized in music, this is what it would feel like.

been singing Sacred Harp music since 1970. “After college I got called to active duty, which many people were at that time,” he

The roots of the Sacred Harp (the sacred harp is the singer’s

says. “And they sent me to Georgia, which was the heartland for

voice) go back to Europe. The singers learned the songs using

this music. Once I heard it live, which is much different from the

shaped notes: fa (triangle), sol (circle), la (square), mi (diamond).

recordings available at the time, that’s all it took.”

Many couldn’t read, so the first time they practiced a new song they sang only the notes to learn the tune. A song might sound

Since then, he’s written at least a dozen of the tunes in two of

like gibberish at that point: fa, sol, la, fa. But once the tune

the shaped-note hymnals the group is using today. In April he

was established they moved on to the verses they needed to

was in Ireland teaching Sacred Harp to those interested in the

memorize to make the song come to life.

old folk music. When the school ended, he and his students preformed at a chapel in Cork.

Even today, Harp Singers use this practice, going first through the notes and then adding words. It is a beautiful tradition.

Dan tells the story of his Irish students, happy to be part of the

Although, beautiful is not a word easily associated with Sacred

movement that is sustaining history. He looks around at his

38 | people you sing Sacred Harp, you use the old Southern pronunciation, Jerden.” She smiles. “This music is just a half step below heaven.

It’s grace, at least it is to me.”

“If there’s only a half dozen of us left when you go,” B.R. assures her, “we will break into song.”

With that settled, the group begins again. They sing, In the arms of my dear savior, there are 10,000 charms. A few singers sway, one waves a cardboard fan, and a few others wave an arm up and down to the beat.

Standing inside the hollow square, it’s easy to agree with Grandma. This music is grace. As their voices blend together, fellow singers, and then he says. “I’ve lived all over the county,

you can sense it, rising to the ceiling, filling up this space,

and most of the places didn’t have this. If something like this

swelling in the hearts that occupy it. Grace and beauty, tradition

were to go, it would be a real loss. The oldest convention is in

and poetry, all riding on the coattails of heaven.

Chattahoochee, Georgia, and it usually has 120 attend. Wilson’s Chapel’s built just for it. It’s entirely wood on the inside, no varnish. The sound resonates.”

The Shiloh Sacred Harp Singers of Northwest Arkansas Katy Black smiles. “It is wonderful to hear the singing at

meet each month on the second Sunday from 1:30

conventions. And to see young and old there, singing together.

to 4:00, except in March, at the Country Store at the

I believe in it, a lot like I do in quilting. You want to keep the

Shiloh Museum of Ozark History at 118 Johnson

traditions alive. And with Sacred Harp it’s never the same

Avenue in Springdale. There is no charge to attend, or

experience twice. It has to do with the singers and the building,

to join the group.

so it’s unique unto itself.”

For more on the group, visit Gail Cowart describes the music in a way that takes your breath

shilohsingersnwa.blogspot.com

away. “These dimensions of life’s aspirations, joys, burdens or sorrows and expectations of eternity are made real in this music,” he says, that one line as beautiful as poetry.

SPECIAL NOTE TO EDUCATORS And then Grandma turns the discussion to the great hereafter.

The group is putting together a lesson plan to teach children

“When I go home I want them to sing Number 59, ‘Holy Manna.’

how to sing Sacred Harp music. If you’re interested in teaching

I love verse 5,” she says and then sings. Let us love our God

this traditional music, please contact David (Gail) Cowart at

supremely, Let us love each other, too; Let us love and pray for

cowartd@centurytel.net.

sinners, Till our God makes all things new.”

When she gets to heaven, she’ll see her husband once again, she says. “He’s already crossed Jordan,” she adds, “though if

40 | people

NITRO CIRCUS @story Tonya McCoy @images courtesy John Ferguson

J

ohn Ferguson stands in a yellow cloud of fumes making last

It’s kind of like being in the circus or something. You can have a

minute adjustments before the race car he is fine tuning

lot of fun and actually get paid to do it.”

launches at 300 hundred miles per hour toward the finish

line. He’s hoping it can make the quarter mile run in four to

John grew up around the race tracks near San Antonio, Texas. His

five seconds flat. He peers through a mask shielding him from

uncle raced pro-stock cars and John’s stepfather raced a nitro

the nostril-stinging fuel vapors. Headphones cover his ears,

funny car. When he was twelve, his stepfather began teaching

protecting them from the engine’s roar rumbling through

him the mechanics.

his entire body. John is the Assistant Crew Chief on the Tony Pedregon NHRA Funny Car drag racing team.

“I kind of got addicted to it. And when I turned sixteen, I got an offer to go to work with one of the professional teams on a top

“It’s kind of something you get in your blood and you can’t get

fuel dragster as kind of a summer job as a cleaner, a ‘go-for,’ a

it out,” John says. “As a kid it was just something, I thought, man

do this – do that type of kid.”

these guys are making a living doing this and this is really cool.

people | 41 from cleaning to helping assemble the parts to becoming a clutch mechanic. Life was good, and it was about to get better.

At twenty-six, his life changed forever, when a pretty young flight attendant walked into a restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky.

When John saw Pam Adams, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

A friend introduced them, but John says Pam had no interest in him at first. He admits this was a blow to his ego. However, it didn’t take long for Pam to warm up to his charms. John was working for Jim Eddler’s Funny Car Racing Team as a clutch mechanic and Pam came to some races. They began dating and fell in love.

The two travelled the country, and after eight years decided to marry. On their honeymoon, they headed to Monaco to see the Grand Prix races.

As time went by John decided he wanted to try something new. Racing was all he’d ever known and he wanted to see if he could do something else. He was hired to set up printing presses around the U.S., while Pam continued her job as a flight attendant for American Airlines.

In 2001, Pam’s grandmother became ill, so she and John moved to Fort Smith to be close to her family. They’d always wanted to try running a restaurant and Pam knew some restaurant owners that might be able to help them get started. Pam and John went to Judy’s Gourmet Gallery and asked the owners if there was He was making about two hundred dollars a week working for

any equipment they could buy.

Gene Snow Racing, but you’d have thought he was making a million. “It was just enough to eat off of and maybe throw fifty

To their surprise, they got much more out of the deal. They

dollars in the bank. I thought I was on top of the world.”

didn’t have any old equipment to sell, but they offered to sell their restaurant instead. Pam and John took their offer. Judy’s

After that summer, John could think of nothing but racing.

Gourmet Gallery became The Gourmet Gallery and is still serving fine foods, wines and cocktails today.

“I went ahead and graduated high school, but the day I threw my hat up in the air, I went straight to the airport and I never

So what do racing and restaurants have in common? More than

went back, other than to visit my family, for about ten years.”

you might think.

He started out cleaning the tools, air hoses, and oil pans. But

“When we bought the restaurant and started getting into it,

as the years passed he was given more responsibility. He went

I thought, man, this is a lot like racing. You’ve got to be very

42 | people Crew Chief he supervises team members as they assemble the car, which must be done before every run. Sometimes the pit crew will break down and reassemble the car up to eight times in one day. Everything must be expertly installed right down to the cylinders and hoses. This 10,000 horse power machine can accelerate faster than a fighter jet. It reaches between four to five G’s in a matter of seconds. This means it must be at peak performance for the safety of the driver and the team.

John likes the thrill of the fast ride as well. He’s driven a Super Comp Car, reaching speeds of over 180 miles per hour in eight seconds and is working on getting his funny car license. “If it works out I might do some exhibition type races with my stepfather.”

organized. You’ve got to stay on top of your orders, make sure you have the supplies you need to supply the customers. You have to work very fast.”

John enjoyed the challenge of the restaurant business, and he and his family were still racing fans, taking trips to Nascar and NHRA racing events when they could. But after a few years, John began to miss his life in the pit. This past winter, that longing to race became evident to his wife.

“Pam could see that I’d been missing racing. I had probably dreamed about racing every night. I talked about racing every day.”

So Pam asked John if he wanted to go back to the pit crew, and

Racing is truly a family affair. John’s nine-year-old son Adam brags about seeing his father on ESPN 2, and John remembers the first time he took Adam to a funny car race. “The noise and the smell, you could tell he just thought that was really cool.

He kind of reminded me of myself when I was a kid, of my first race, because that was all he could talk about. Last year, he kept asking me if he could race. I said, I don’t know if you’re mom’s going to let that happen, these things are a little bit dangerous.

Maybe someday you can get involved with it somehow.”

For John, his dreams have already come true. “My biggest ambition is to do what I’m doing. And that’s to be one of the top guys on the crew and oversee everything, keep it organized and support the driver and give them the best race car they can have.”

John jumped at the opportunity. He started making phone calls and within days he had a job with two time NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Car champion and owner of Pedregon Racing, Tony Pendregon. John had worked for him as a clutch mechanic in 1999 and 2000, but this time he came back as the Assistant Crew Chief. The team, which is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, travels from coast to coast racing more than two dozen times a year.

Today John’s specialty is the superchargers of the car, which determine how well engines will perform. Also, as Assistant

To see Tony Pedregon’s team race you can log onto www.tonypedregon.com for scheduling details. And to try the fabulous menu at The Gourmet Gallery or inquire about catering, stop by 2801 Old Greenwood Road, Suite 16, in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Monday through Friday from 8 a.m – 3 p.m. or call 479.646.6434.

44 | people

@story Marla Cantrell @images Jeromy Price

people | 45

I

t’s ten o’clock on a Monday morning and already the parking

“One thing that keeps us going is we’re here year round. Our

lot at Twin City Produce in Fort Smith, Arkansas, is filling

biggest holiday is the 4th of July. We do twice as much business

up. Owner Rick Warrick is on the storeroom floor, standing

during that time. But it’s important to be here year round. I think

beside rows of tomatoes and a massive display of watermelons.

it’s one of the reasons we’ve been successful. People come

He’s on the phone with a man looking to buy a case of okra.

here because of the atmosphere, because we know what we’re

When he’s finished, he helps another customer who’s looking

talking about. Our prices are good because we don’t have the

for both jalapenos and bell peppers. Rick walks on, into the

overhead of the big stores. People will come in and say, ‘Pick

cooler where it’s so cold it feels like winter. Always, Rick’s hands

me out a watermelon,’ and we’ll go out there and get them one.

are moving. He tosses out a green pepper he believes is past

It’s a tricky business because you have to gauge the shelf life of

its prime. He moves a sweet potato here, a bunch of carrots there, a stash of bright red apples that he rearranges in less than ten seconds.

everything you buy. The more you buy the better the price you can get, but you don’t want to buy too much and lose money.

“You want the produce so level that you

“I get local when it’s available. I just had

could roll a nickel across a display and it

a lady just come in and sell me fifty-five

would roll all the way down,” Rick says.

pounds of okra. She’s sold it to me for

“No valleys. No hills. You’ve got to put

years. She has an acre of okra – now that’s

something in the holes when something

a lot of okra. I get peaches from Mulberry

sells. You’ve got to make it attractive.”

and Clarksville. I get watermelons and cantaloupes from the Crabtree’s in Van

Rick learned the art of displaying produce years ago. When he was sixteen, living in Little

Buren. I’ve got some homegrown tomatoes coming from south Arkansas in about an hour.

Rock, a new grocery store opened and they needed carry out boys. Rick and several of his friends were hired. After the

“I used to get produce from all around Kibler and Van Buren,

grand opening, they let most of the boys go. But not Rick. He

from so many smaller farmers. It’s just not that way anymore.

got to stay. “I think they could see how excited I was to have

All the old farmers are dying off, and a lot of farmers are going

the job. I had to wear a bow tie and a white shirt and an apron.

to the row crops. You can make more money growing corn and

I’d sack the groceries and then carry them to the customer’s

soybeans. We used to have peddlers come in to buy stuff and

car. And then they had an opening in produce and that’s how

sit on the side of the road. Not seeing that anymore.”

I got started.”

As Rick’s talking, more customers come in. He greets them by At eighteen, Rick was made produce manager, the youngest the

name, and they ask after him. This is a cozy place. The air is rich

company ever had. From there, he worked his way up to produce

with the scent of apples and peaches, potatoes and onions.

inspector, and was eventually transferred to Van Buren. In 1990 he and a partner started a wholesale produce company in Fort

Part of Twin City Produce’s charm is that it isn’t trying to be

Smith, which split in two when his partner moved. It wasn’t until

anything fancy. The doorways are made of clear plastic strips

2001 that Rick opened Twin City Produce as a retail store. Rick

customers divide and walk through. The floor is concrete,

points toward the front of the store. “I set some pallets up out

scrubbed clean, the signs hand lettered. “We’re in the process

there,” he says, “and I put a little ad in the paper. People were

of doing some painting, and I had one customer ask me not to

starting to come in and it kind of grew from there.

do too much. ‘Don’t change the atmosphere,’ she said.

46 | people

He doesn’t plan to. He likes the order of this place, the regularity

But I’ve always liked the work I did. I liked working in the grocery

of produce trucks rolling in, the ritual of moving everything to

stores and talking to the customers. Even as a kid, carrying out

the cooler each night. When he opened there were at least six

groceries, I couldn’t wait to talk to the people.”

markets similar to his. He starts to name them. All but one is gone. The thought isn’t a pleasant one for Rick. He likes the idea

Just then, the phone rings again, a local restaurant owner on

of this small community, built around fresh food, flush with the

the other end of the line. Rick answers, assuring him he has his

stories of those who buy here.

order ready to go. And then he heads back to his office. There is no computer in there, just Rick and his long order form and his

“There’s this one couple, she’s always bossing her husband

list of suppliers. He takes one day a week off – Sunday – though

around, really joking like. She’ll say, ‘You pick me out a

he knows he should take more. But this is where his life is, this is

watermelon. He don’t know what he’s doing.’ And then he’ll say,

where he feels at home. Retirement? No, it’s not something he

‘I let her think she’s bossing me around. Makes her feel good.’”

thinks about. When you’ve been doing the same work since you were sixteen, it feels unnatural to stop. “I can’t imagine what I’d

It takes five deliveries a week to keep the store going, all on

do,” he says. So he gets back to work, the phone keeps ringing,

different days. Rick says the magic of this place is the people

and customers keep stopping by to ask for his help. “Not a bad

who help him keep it going. “Kenneth Irvin’s been with me

way to spend a day,” Rick says. Not a bad way at all.

for twenty years, since back when I was a wholesaler. Esther Johnson has worked part time, on and off, for years. Bill Dean works part time. He’s an old farmer. They’re all like family.”

At sixty-one, it’s hard for Rick to imagine his life going any

Twin City Produce is located at 623 North 9th Street

other way. His dad was a diesel mechanic, something Rick

in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Open Monday through Friday

wasn’t interested in doing. “I bought seven acres once, bought

from 8 to 4. Saturdays from 8 to 3. Contact them at

a tractor from my brother. My dad was a farmer before he was

479.783.7363.

a mechanic. I got out and cut all the trees and grew greens and bell peppers and squash for that Little Rock grocery store where I worked. That’s the most I ever did. About an acre. I do like it.

48

Say It SOUTHERN

O

h my word, how we love the South. There’s music in every voice, and there’s wisdom in the observations we’ve all grown up with. Once, when my grandpa was describing a local politician

who was advocating a rise in taxes, he said, “That man’s lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut.” (The man did not serve a second term.)

You likely have your own Southern sayings that make you smile and remind you of home. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorites from Etsy®,

an online shop for all things handmade.

Clint Print

Painted Post

Find Etsy® shop details on page 61.

My Southern Accent

49

Words on Wood 11

Pen Meet Paper

Simply Sweet Designs 13

Stephanie Creekmur

Slippin Southern

Old Dirty Type

The Pink House Press

Find similar décor in Fort Smith at Creative Kitchen at 309 Garrison Avenue; The Good’s at 1809 Dodson Avenue, and Inscriptions at 4803 Rogers Avenue.

50 | taste

@image Jeromy Price @recipe Jeff Price, Bar Manager, MovieLounge

1 1/2 oz Crown Royal Maple 3 /4 oz Sweet Vermouth 2 Dashes Orange Bitters 1 Drop of Grenadine 1 Strip Cooked Bacon Add ice, 1/2 bacon strip, Crown, vermouth, bitters and grenadine to a shaker.

Shake, then pour into chilled glass. Garnish with orange, cherry and remaining bacon. Optional: add a splash of orange juice to lighten up the drink.

To see an extensive lineup of other great drinks and dining options, visit movieloungefsm.com/menu Sponsored by

7601 Rogers Ave, Fort Smith 479.226.3595 | MovieLoungeFSM.com Enjoy this and other premium cocktails at MovieLounge. Please drink responsibly.

52 | taste

Kiss These Grits! @recipe and images Stacey Little

taste | 53

M

y Southern heritage is one of the things that I’m the most proud of. From my slow Southern drawl to my strong commitment to family, I just love being a Southerner. Things are just better down here, too. We live life a touch slower

and take every opportunity to be grateful. We pull over to allow funeral processions to pass and you won’t find many Southern men who won’t hold the door for you. We say “yes, ma’am” and “no, ma’am” and “yes, sir” and “no, sir” regardless of the age of the person we’re addressing. It’s just the way we do things. It’s what others call Southern hospitality, but we just call it going about life.

It’s unfortunate, though, that not all folks can appreciate all that the South has to offer. One of my first experiences with other’s stereotypical generalizations about we Southerners was on a trip to Toronto when I was in high school. I was addressing a large group of similarly aged students when one of them asked if I drove my tractor to school. Completely taken aback, I just wasn’t sure what to say. Luckily my travel companion, who was also from the South, was quick witted enough to provide a comical response. When it was her chance to introduce herself, she said, “And by the way, Stacey does drive his tractor to school every day because I usually pass him on my mule.” Since that time, I’ve come to realize that not everyone is lucky enough to understand what a gift it is to be Southern. But you know what we say about folks like that? Bless their hearts.

One of the best things about being Southern is that we can use words that only we Southerners are allowed to use. Words like fixin’, y’all, and yonder surely top that list. We call shopping carts buggies. When we’re doing things to waste time, we call it piddlin’. We do things like mash the elevator buttons rather than pressing them and down here pretty much all sodas are some form of Coke. We’re also really good at dropping the last consonant on words – especially when they end with ‘r’ or ‘g’.

Sometimes all of these “bad” habits combine and we end up completely changing words.

One of my favorite examples is pimiento cheese. Put a little “Southern” on it and it becomes “puhmenner” cheese. Speaking of “puhmenner” cheese, it really doesn’t get much more Southern than that. No Southern social event - be it a simple family gathering or an elaborate expensive wedding – is complete without pimiento cheese in some form. Whether it’s slathered on some gooey white bread or on crackers, I’ll eat it just about any way I can get it.

In the last few years I’ve even seen pimiento cheese become a topping for hamburgers and hot dogs. And trust me, a grilled hamburger with pimiento cheese just about can’t be beat.

This recipe is another one of those newfangled ways to incorporate some more pimiento cheese into your meal. The sharp pimiento cheese grits complement the grilled sausage perfectly. And honestly, just about anything would be good on top of these grits. You could replace the sausage with some grilled shrimp. I even bet some grilled shoe leather would make quite the meal on these grits. Y’all enjoy!

54 | taste

Ingredients 1 to 1.5 lbs fully cooked smoked sausage 6 cups water 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 1/2 cups quick cooking grits 2 tablespoons butter 3 ounces cream cheese 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese 4 tablespoons pimientos

DIRECTIONS 1. Cook the sausage according to the package directions. (I like to cut mine into 2” to 3” chunks and split them lengthwise to get a little more char on the pieces.)

2. To make the grits, bring 6 cups of water to a boil over medium heat. Stir in the salt.

3. Carefully whisk the grits into the water. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until tender, stirring occasionally. You may have to add a little additional water if they become too thick.

4. Once the grits are tender, stir in the butter, cream cheese, and cheddar cheese. Stir until the cheeses are melted. Stir in the pimientos.

5. Serve with the grilled sausage.

Stacey Little

is the author and publisher of SouthernBite.com, an award-winning Southern food blog dedicated to sharing his family’s Southern recipes.

56 | travel

Finding the Bluebird of Happiness

@story Marla Cantrell @images Marla Cantrell and courtesy Terra Studios

travel | 57

O

n a country road just outside Elkins, Arkansas, the world of art opens up. All across these ten acres there are statues and sculptures and murals, some made by well known artists

– there are more than 100 of those. But other murals are by people like you and me, who didn’t believe they had any talent at all until someone encouraged them to try.

Today, there is a school bus unloading its young passengers who run toward the giant outdoor chessboard. A toddler is hand feeding a crumpled paper cup into a trashcan that happens to be shaped like a giant troll head, his mother nearby snapping at least a dozen pictures.

The place feels a little medieval, or maybe it’s just magical. There are statues of dragons, trolls riding turtles, glass flowers that seem to sprout from the ground, and sea creatures placed in streams beneath the dappled light of countless trees. Even the door to the studio looks as if it came from an enchanted castle. If you look toward the bottom of the carved wonder, there is another door within this one that opens for very small people or average sized fairies. And just inside that door is a small bridge with a stream meandering by.

All of this is possible because of a glass bluebird, so small it fits in the palm of your hand. Well, not one glass bluebird. It’s more like 8 million. The first one was created by the Ward family who came to this area in the mid 1970s. Potters and glassblowers by trade, they landed in Arkansas after years on the arts and crafts circuit. They set up Terra Studios, and one day Leo Ward made a brown bird. But his wife Rita thought blue was the better color, since the land here was singing with bluebirds.

When a salesperson stopped in one day, he agreed, and told the two they should be selling the birds by mail order. With that encouragement, the Bluebird of Happiness was born.

Current owner, Jamie Ulick, tells the story while watching one of the glassblowers through a large window. This artist can make twenty-five bluebirds an hour. He pulls the glass from the 2,000 degree furnace, and it glows orange from the heat. He taps the bluebird off the rod, and while it cools it turns the signature blue the birds are famous for.

Each glassblower, there are four trained at Terra, signs and dates each bird, and then they go on one of the many shelves inside the studios.

58 | travel people thought Terra was closed.” He shakes his head. “Can you imagine?” he asked. “Losing all this?”

More than 100 local artists now display their work at Terra.

Sculptures, wood carvings, pottery, jewelry, and paintings fill shelves and display tables. They all sit within arm’s reach of children. But Jamie doesn’t worry. To him, art needs to be accessible to everyone. Parents are asked to hold the hands of the smallest shoppers, and today this is happening. Still, the children point, their eyes wide with excitement. There is a pottery birdhouse whose roof looks like overlapping leaves that sits beside a small troll. One girl, no older than four, keeps saying oh, oh, oh!

Jamie loves that. “Just watching the kids walk in and seeing their eyes light up. That’s what makes my day.”

Just then, Jamie’s partner, Val Gonzalez, steps in. “The stories these artists bring are wonderful. We have artists who are ninety and artists who are thirteen.” Val points to one of the displays where a sculpture of mother and child stand. “This artist is battling cancer. Her story is incredible. She’s from Madison County and has seven kids. We’ve had many of our other artists donate pieces of their work,” Val says, and points to two nearby tables. “All the money from those sales go to her. We have one craftsman who makes miniature houses with Jamie says he bought Terra Studios in 2007, when the business

hidden cubbyholes in places like the roofs or walls. He had

was waning and the Wards were considering shutting it down.

done the work for years but didn’t see himself as an artist until

Jamie was immensely familiar with the place, having worked

his daughter pushed him to show his work.”

with the Wards in the 1980s. And he had what he believed was the perfect mix of talent to bring it back to its glory. “I’m

As Val is talking, artist Maura Miller walks by. She’s just finished

part potter, part entrepreneur, part business man,” he says.

teaching a pottery class to a group of kids from Bentonville. “I

“For years this place was an incredible, wild, creative force. The

love teaching kids. They ask the best questions,” Maura says.

Wards would bring on artists they’d sponsor and they’d create

“They’re so engaged. We met a teenager during spring break

works. It really was a wonderland.”

whose baby footprints are on one of the outdoor murals. She was six months old when her mother made that tile. I think I

There are several buildings on the grounds, but the main one,

love my job the most because I never meet a grumpy person.

where art is sold and the bluebirds are made, took two years to

It’s hard to be grumpy here with so much to see, so much art, so

build. Artists created everything from hand forged light fixtures

much whimsy.

to handmade floor tiles. As Jamie tells the story, he says, “In 2007, this building had been boarded up for eleven years. Most

“When I go out and do pottery demonstrations, I’ll hand out

travel | 59

cards for free bluebirds to kids. They’ll come in with their card

you can leave your autograph, or write a poem, or leave a note

and bring their parents. There’s so much excitement here. I don’t

of thanks. There are troll sculptures that show up in unexpected

think many people could love their job the way I love mine.”

places, a stone bench with a happy bear sitting on it, a giant checkerboard where two children are playing.

There are classes for dying silk scarves, making clay bird feeders, bird houses, clay trolls, even painting pet rocks. Maura smiles.

The younger visitors get scavenger hunt printouts to take with

“Even kids younger than seven and older people love these

them as they explore the site. When they’ve completed the

classes. Some of our classes are only five dollars. The third

search, they take the form inside for a treat. All across Terra,

Sunday of the month, we have free events like face painting

visitors are walking the trails, some with the scavenger hunt clues

and entertainment, storytelling, drama classes.”

in hand, others simply taking in the beauty. A few head down the path where a labyrinth made from Arkansas limestone waits.

The classes take place in the Wizard’s Cave and Pottery Studio, which is next to the Sculpture Garden. Inside, the

“We have people from all over the world who come and walk

works of students fill the shelves and cover tables. Some of it

it,” Val says. “We had a woman from South Africa who came. She

is extraordinary. “This country was built on creative thinking,”

had breast cancer and discovered labyrinths on her journey to

Jamie says. “And over the years I feel like much of that has gone

healing. She had traveled the world walking labyrinths. “They’re

away. We’re asked to conform. You can’t imagine how thrilling

a symbol of walking into the center and coming back into the

it is for someone who doesn’t believe they can create art to

world. It’s great for meditation.”

actually do it. A light goes off. It’s just amazing. They’ll say, ‘I made this in just two hours.’”

Val points to one of the murals. “We had ninety veterans from all over the nation come here in 2011. They’d won art

The magic continues all across the grounds of Terra. A breeze

competitions in their hometowns. They painted tiles and we put

is ruffling the leaves on the trees. And everywhere there are

up this mural. Reading them, you’ll see that they talk about love

sculptures, much of it interactive, like the Wonderwall where

and forgiveness, about family and why they fought.”

60 | travel

“We had one veteran from World War II,” Jamie says. “And

bluebirds for her own kids and taught them how important it is

veterans from Vietnam, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan.”

to learn how to take care of something precious. She tells them the story of the bluebird and says, ‘Happiness is just like this.

The two walk as they talk. Families amble by on the paths, headed

It’s fragile. If you don’t take very good care of it, it will shatter.

across the wooden bridge where Fountain Lake shimmers in

You also have to be responsible for your choices. If you don’t,

the noonday sun. Some are carrying picnic baskets, other have

your happiness will shatter.’

gotten lunch from the diner inside the studio. A couple sits inside the gazebo, and three boys stand inside a tiny house whose walls

“Well, I cried,” Val said. “And that story made me change my

are made entirely of Bluebirds of Happiness.

mind about how old you should be when you get a Bluebird of Happiness. Now I think you should get one as early as you can.”

Jamie and Val are beaming. Every day is a joy. They, along with thirteen co-workers, keep all this going. In exchange, they hear

In this lively place filled with art, happiness seems to be around

the stories of how the Bluebird of Happiness made a difference

every corner. And this joy seems incredibly sturdy. Most likely

in someone’s life.

because the people here understand the treasure they have, and they do care for it, every single day.

“One woman got a bluebird as a housewarming gift when she got her first house. She kept it on the windowsill above her kitchen sink. Now, whenever she moves, she leaves a bluebird behind

Terra Studios is located at 12103 Hazel Valley

for the new owner,” Val says. “We have a Realtor in Arizona who

Road, just off Highway 16E, thirteen miles east of

buys twenty-five at a time and gives them to everyone who

Fayetteville, Arkansas.

buys a house from her.

Hours of operation are 10 -5 daily.

“A kindergarten teacher from a Montessori school emailed and wanted to order twenty-two bluebirds for her three and four

For more on Terra Studios, visit terrastudios.com or

year olds. And I said, ‘You know they’re glass.’ She said, ‘I teach

call 479.643.3185

personal responsibility.’ She went on to say she’d gotten the

@Urban Resource Guide PAGE 20

PAGE 22

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Clint Print etsy.com/shop/clintprint “Yes Ma’am” print

Inscriptions 4803 Rogers Ave. Fort Smith, AR 72903 inscriptionsfs.com 479.484.5559 • Vera Bradley® 2014 agenda • Vera Bradley® campus backpack • Monogrammed tank top Brow Bar 2801 Old Greenwood Road, Suite #2 Fort Smith, AR brows.co 479.434.5680 • What’s Your Virtue® lip glosses • Pro Select® Wet Brush detangler • Cicadia® Spot Stop Yeagers Hardware Fort Smith, Greenwood, Van Buren yeagershardware.com • Mrs. Wages® pickle & salsa mixes • Ball® fresh herb keeper • Ball® 100th Anniversary Heritage Collection Mason Jars The Good’s 1809 Dodson Avenue Fort Smith, AR thegoodshomewares.net 479.434.5057 • “You are My Sunshine” window décor • “Your Opinion” recipe box • “Our Family” pillow • Repurposed tray with leopard handles

My Southern Accent etsy.com/shop/MySouthernAccent “The Only Place in the Country” print Painted Post etsy.com/shop/PaintedPost “Arkansas with a heart” print Pen Meet Paper etsy.com/shop/penmeetpaper “Like an Old Familiar Friend” print Words on Wood 11 etsy.com/shop/WordsOnWood11 “If You Love Southern Women” wooden sign Simply Sweet Designs 13 etsy.com/shop/SimplySweetDesigns13 “Southern Girls Like Sunshine” print Slippin Southern etsy.com/shop/SlippinSouthern “Southern Fried Chicken” wooden sign Old Dirty Type etsy.com/shop/OldDirtyType “Sweet Tea, Pecan Pie, Grits” wood sign StephanieCreekmur etsy.com/shop/Stephanie Creekmur “Oh My Word” print The Pink House Press etsy.com/shop/ThePinkHousePress “In a Southern State of Mind” print * When searching the online shop Etsy®, you must type the name of the shop as one word. For instance, My Southern Accent becomes MySouthernAccent.

62 | back story

Early Morning in the Land of Dreams @fiction Marla Cantrell

T

he building where I work is an old Walmart. The new

certain words – like blindfold or jet or ice cream – to see what

Walmart is only two and a half miles away, right off the

the masses want, what they fear, what they long for. “This will

interstate, up by the church that has its own helicopter,

be bigger than Einstein’s Theory of Relativity,” he said when

and near the strip mall with a shop where you can get sixteen

we first opened. Nobody knows for sure what he’ll do with the

kinds of pasta flown in from Italy, or Tulsa, who knows for sure.

information, though there’s speculation he might use it to sway

My boss told me to quit calling the building ‘the old Walmart.’

elections, or sell deodorant. I don’t really care as long as I get

“Gypsy,” she said, “It’s Dream Catchers,” or D.C., if Dream

my paycheck on time.

Catchers is too much for you.”

Before these callers can share their night visions, they have to I have a cubicle where the Maybelline aisle used to be. I take

answer a bunch of questions they lie about. Last week, this old

calls from people who need somebody to hear what it felt like

guy who said he was forty-three but sounded at least ninety,

to wake from a dream where you were twenty again, or where

swore he jogged six days a week. When I asked him what kind

you had a job slaughtering hogs, or where you fell from a pecan

of running shoes he wears, he said, “Keds.”

tree and landed on your first boyfriend.

I charted it all out for Mr. Senior America. Food intake, water The owner of Dream Catchers, a trust-fund baby from Georgia,

intake, what he ate before bed. “A Coca-Cola and a handful of

had a team of brain experts to create an algorithm that takes

peanuts,” he said.

back story | 63 Forty-seven percent of my callers drink some kind of Coke

the rebound, something I would never recommend. But I did it,

before bed. Only two percent eat peanuts. These are facts I

three months after my first husband - his name was Ernest -

carry with me, telling people at parties, telling the doctor who

left. One night I pulled myself up, put on my face and went to

gives me Xanax when my own dreams get too bad.

the midnight movie. And that’s where, just as the Titanic sank, I realized I wasn’t as downtrodden as I thought. When I got home

At work, the same woman is calling every morning at 3:33.

I slept in the spare room. In a year we were done, done, done.

She’s having man trouble, not dream trouble, though she tries to throw me off by adding one strange detail to her story to

The woman is silent. The fluorescent light above me buzzes.

make it sound a little more believable. I don’t make her go

And then she says, “The vitamins aren’t helping at all.”

through the questionnaire anymore, something that could get me suspended if my boss listens in on my calls.

“How old are you?” I ask, and this time she tells the truth.

“I had a dream,” Mrs. 3:33 says to me tonight, “that my husband

“Fifty-four,” she says.

found the credit card bill and I had a charge of $159.87 to a place in Kentucky that sells medical-grade vitamins, which are

“You work?”

supposed to reverse the aging process. He called me an ugly name, a seriously ugly name.” She stalls, “and over in the corner

“I sell undergarments at Cleo’s, the downtown Cleo’s, on

was Sandra Bullock, the dark-haired Sandra Bullock, not the

weekends.”

blond one. Anyway, I said to my husband, I said, ‘Joe Joe, you spent more money than that painting the den black and buying

“I may have bought a girdle from you,” I say.

a giant TV.’ “I was talking about our new theater room,” she says to me. “Well, he swelled up like he does, and then he said, “That

“Foundation garment,” she says, and then laughs. “We’re not

just kicks the can a little farther down the road, now doesn’t it?

allowed to say girdle.”

Next thing I know, he’s out the bedroom door and then I hear the garage door whine open and then shut back.

“Well, life’s too short for foundation garments, and it’s straight up too short to tolerate a man you don’t love,” I say.

Mrs. 3:33 says she’s forty-one, which means she’s in her fifties.

She belongs to a gym but hesitates when I ask her how often

“But I do love him,” she says, and then her voice drops. “I’m just

she goes. She cooks everything she can in a cast iron skillet. Her

wondering if he loves me.”

grandma told her once that it was the key to a long life and she’s believed it ever since.

I hesitate. This side of the building is almost empty. Just me, my boss, three people in data entry. None of us is married. My

“What did he mean?” she asks. “That just kicks the can a little

boss has a painting of Cozumel on her desk, though I know she’s

farther down the road?”

never been. The three guys in data entry buy a lottery ticket together every Wednesday, hoping for the big break that will

“Ma’am,” I say, “I’m not allowed to interpret dreams.”

take them out of here. On their desks are baseballs and footballs from games they played in high school, and old birthday cards

My boss walks by and gives me a thumbs’ up. It’s rare praise

from Dream Catcher’s headquarters in Atlanta.

and so I return the gesture. When she’s out of earshot, I say, “But I will tell you this. I had a man used to tear me down like I

“I know where he goes when he leaves at night,” she says, and

was a tarpaper shack in the path of a twister. I married him on

I wait.

64 | back story “He sits in front of his first wife’s house.”

in Texas. Never remarried, far as I know.

“Oh,” I say.

I wonder what it would be like to sit outside his house, to watch him drink orange juice in the morning, to watch him come in

“She’s dead,” the woman says. “Six months ago. Car wreck. She

from work at night. If he saw me in the light of day would he

was younger than me.”

even speak to me? Could I say, sorry, sorry, sorry, until he finally believed me?

I want to tell her about my first husband, Ernest. I want to tell her how he used to talk to me late at night. I had the same bad

My boss walks back by. She wears slippers with her suits, which

dreams then as I have now. My childhood, it wasn’t so good.

chips away at her authority, if you ask me. I give her the thumbs’

Ernest would sit up with me. He’d tell me stories from his own

up, but this time she ignores me. This new caller’s talking to

childhood that always had a mutt dog named Bug in them, and a

me now, jumping right in, telling me about his dream about a

mama waiting at home who used to say to him every single night,

whippoorwill with four legs, a goat sitting at his kitchen table,

“I love you so much I could sop you up with a biscuit.” I think

a hatchet hanging from his ceiling fan. “This Dream Cather’s

about telling Mrs. 3:33 the story, but if I did I’d have to explain

place,” he finally asks, “is that anywhere near the Dream Oasis

why he left. That story is so full of regret and recklessness I’d

in Memphis?”

never tell it to anyone.

“Nah,” I say, “we’re in an old Walmart building in a little town in Instead I ask, “How old did you say your husband was?”

Arkansas.”

“Sixty,” she says.

My boss’s back is to me. I see her throw her arms up and shake her head. I think she might turn around, but she keeps walking.

“He retired?”

At 4:00, she’ll be back in her office. She watches old movies in there, stuff with subtitles. In her desk drawer she keeps protein

“No, we refinanced the house a few years back. We took a trip

bars and Hershey’s Kisses. Her chair is a giant exercise ball she

to Barcelona. Bought a Hummer. We added a garage we didn’t

perches atop, always trying to find her balance.

really need. He may never get to retire.”

When the call is over I log on to the Internet, another big no-no My other line is blinking.

at Dream Catcher’s. I type in Ernest’s name and then Texas. For only $9.99 I can find out where he lives, if he has a wife, if he’s

“You might want to ease up on the credit card,” I say, and she

ever been convicted of a crime. I pull my credit card from my

sighs.

wallet and start typing in the numbers.

“Eternal youth,” she says. “What a scam.”

And then the phone rings. I hesitate and then tap the answer button on my headset. “Dream Catcher’s,” I say, in a voice that

I pick up the other line. “Dream Catchers,” I say. In my wallet

sounds too high to be mine. So I start again, “Dream Catcher’s,”

is an old picture of me and Ernest. In it, we’re jumping off the

I repeat, “where your dreams are our business.”

Frogtown bridge together. I have on a blue bikini and my hands are thrown up and my ribs show and my hair is a black waterfall flying out behind me. Ernest has his hand on my back and his eyes are squeezed shut. Last I heard he was living somewhere

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