Joel
The gas gauge on my truck dips below empty as I make my way into Fairview. I’m worried that I will run out of fuel, but just then the town appears on the horizon.
The only business open in town is the diner, and I am hungry, so I decide to stop for lunch. There’s nothing else here and nothing for miles.
I leave my truck in front of the diner and go inside. The place is packed, but I manage to find a seat at the counter. I am reading the paper when a man appears at my side and says, “You"re not from around here, are you?”
“No,” I say. “I’m from Texas.”
The man looks puzzled and then laughs. “I could tell by the way you talk,” he says.
I’m not in the mood for small talk today, or ever, come to think of it. “Tennessee is not Texas,” I say. “I know just as soon as I set foot in it t
