Me Riding a Pig

My mom lives in this little town in West Texas called Big Spring.  It’s located in a part of the state where the land flattens out and the sky opens up.  The opening scenes of Midnight Cowboy were filmed there decades ago, back before Webb Air Force base shut down and the place went into an economic tailspin.  Being the setting for that classic movie is Big Spring’s one claim to fame.    

Every summer, when I’m back in the United States, I travel out to that little hamlet on the Great Plains to visit the woman most responsible for my personhood.  We spend the hot days and breezy evenings getting caught up.  This year’s visitation is a special one because I have Azza, my new Egyptian wife, with me.    

When we arrived in Big Spring several weeks ago, there was a carnival in town.  It had set up on a large parking lot adjacent to an empty, boarded-up structure that had once housed a supermarket.  We vowed, on that first day, to spend an evening at the midway before it packed up and moved on. 

Three or four evenings later, we borrowed my mom’s blue Pontiac and drove to the carnival.  It appeared that everyone in town had had the same idea because the place was packed.  We ended up eating cotton candy, watching teenagers scream while riding something called The Zipper, and trying our hands at a variety of contests with the intent of winning cheap, stuffed animals.  (Sadly, we weren’t successful in any of our endeavors.)     

As the night progressed, I ended up taking a few photos, a smattering of which I’ve included here.  I couldn’t help getting a little artsy-fartsy with some of them.

I’ve included the last picture as a bonus—a freebie.  It was actually taken a day or so after our night at the carnival, at The Big Spring Mall, a little shopping center that has a carnival-like atmosphere (as you can probably tell from the image).  I had loads of fun while riding a plastic replica of a razorback.  After inserting a quarter, the thing pitched to and fro for all it was worth. 

I’m happy to report that I remained astride the thing despite its energetic exertions.