You learn to live with dry spells if you live in west Texas. There are more dry spells than wet ones. Why worry they said. It would rain this fall. It always has. A cancerous blight burning a scar on the land. Just another dry spell, men said at first. They watched the rank weeds shrivel as the west winds relentlessly sought them out and smothered them with its hot breath.
They watch the grass slowly lose its green, then curl up and fire up like dying corn stocks. Men grumbled. But you learn to live with dry spells if you live in west Texas.
The s drought is a major character asserting itself, maliciously and unceasingly, throughout the book. The central character is Charlie Flag, a tough old rancher from a bygone era who refuses to take government aid to survive the drought.
He was something to be proud of and respect, but now he has turned into some kind of muddled-brained Sugar Daddy giving out goodies right and left in hopes that everybody is going to love him. Flag takes you to a time when charity was thought to be an unkind word. We beg and fight and prostitute ourselves. We take charity and we give it a sweeter name. He has given up a little bit of self-respect and little of his pride he used to have in taking care of himself, by himself. If you asked me to list the top ten Texas novels of all time, I could do it easily.
Putting them in order, though, would be a challenge beyond me. Spend a few evenings with Charlie Flag and you will see the incomparable Texas spirit in its purest form. You will feel like you went out with your grandfather and checked all the fences, making sure they were horse high, pig tight and bull strong.
