Dive Bartender: Flowers in the Desert by T.K. O'Neill

Author:T.K. O'Neill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bluestone Press
Published: 2022-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

69

November was sure a lot different in Arizona than back in Minnesota, Frank Ford was thinking as he stirred sugar in his coffee cup.

His home state this time of year was all low clouds and dark skies and wind and rain and sometimes snow. Cold, of course. If he were there right now he’d be obsessing about Thanksgiving. Frank seldom enjoyed family get-togethers. And after little brother Ray’s premature death last spring, there was just his mother and sister left.

Ray was always a pain in the ass at holiday gatherings, anyway—when he actually bothered to show up—so Anne and Mom were better off without the little booger.

Not that they would necessarily agree.

Maybe an uncle or an aunt would join them.

A brief wave of melancholy passed through him as he pictured his mother and sister eating dry turkey in his mother’s apartment, television blaring in the background.

Down here in Arizona, it was all sunny skies and mild temperatures, for the most part. The kind of weather that made Frank understand why people from the North liked coming down here. Why they transplanted to a region that didn’t seem meant for large numbers of humans.

Frank believed this was a place nature intended for desert rats and native tribes and all the gnarly creatures able to survive in this dry, baked, hostile, dusty climate.

Not hordes of retirees or snowbirds.

But, Jesus, it did feel good to be wearing short sleeves in November. And as much as he didn’t want to see the Colorado River drained to keep all the snowbirds lubricated, he didn’t have much say in the matter. Going with the flow seemed the order of the day.

Nearly a month had gone by since the Desert Flowers’ performance at Sun Devil Stadium. On the day after the concert, Frank had seen a short piece on the TV news showing Evie being escorted by two Tempe policeman and ASU president Howard White, as she carried a large bank bag into the ASU Admin building, the foursome on the way to store the donation money—reportedly near $26,000—in the school safe, until the banks opened on Monday morning.

A few days later, Frank read in the paper that the band had gone to LA to make a record. Seems all the press coverage and notoriety surrounding the bombing of the band’s van—the injuries to the two roadies and the benefit concert, etc.—had helped push the Desert Flowers’ first album, a locally produced record of covers and a couple Billy Jiminez penned originals, to number one in the region and fifteen nationally. Sales for the self-titled debut had been stagnant until the recent events brought on a revival.

Sometime after that Frank read a local entertainment column announcing a new album coming on the heels of the band’s recently released single. The single, which had “Hole in Your Heart” on the A-side and “Crazy” on the B-side, was already rising on the country charts and the columnist stated that the record label was seeking to “strike while the iron was hot.

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