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.
