Lorie's Way

I finally found time to read "Lonesome Dove," the 800+ pager that won Larry McMurtry his Pulitzer Prize. I am now acquainted with Gus, Call, Jake and, my favorite, Lorena. This story draws you in, and makes you thankful for modern conveniences, for infrastructure and for clean water. I wonder what Gus would have thought about cell phones? The drive-by window at Taco Bell? Google Earth?

Naturally, I see similarities between 1887 and 2007. Our evolutionary path is ebbing forward, but it is towing more along with it. Gus and I would agree, there are hard workers, and there are lazy sons o' bitches. We both share in the preponderance of gossip and the sex trade. We witness evidence of brutal domestic violence in both centuries.

I would not trade my opportunities for education in my century. But, given the choices of last century, I would have gone Lorie's Way, or, The Way of the Whore.

Her practicality is admirable. She is the independent woman of her time. She earns her own money. She is not a burden. She has goals. Lorena reminds me of the John Hiatt song "She Don't Love Nobody".

I'm on page 355. Keep on keepin' on Lorie!