July 10, 2002

• I’m in Houston, TX, now. No, no… Your pity is appreciated but not necessary.
  
  Heh.
  
  Anyway. Tonight was one of those lovely nights that epitomize Houston to me. Big lovely pink clouds at dusk, reflecting in the chrome bumpers of the SUVs. Sparkling crackling electric light filtering down through humid air to illumiate asphalt and the manicured tiny green spaces in the parking lot. Walk into the fast food place, order, make a stupid joke the server doesn’t get. Eat while the next booth over emits one side of a phone conversation… “Yah, he said a hundred and twenty four thousand. Can you believe? The place is only worth a hundred.” Children fight in the booth on the other side. Exquisitely manicured Texas businessman eating a sloppy hamburger at a table covered in formica imprinted with gaudy patterns. He’s tall and looks like he shaves three times a day, and combs his hair twice that. He has a bulky gold ring, a money clip with semiprecious stones mounted on it. Pinstripe suit. Shiny shoes. He moves like a stage magician. I’m in Houston now, where money talks and greed turns you into this guy.

  • 2:04 am
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