The King of Cards

We had a pretty random call last night; we didn’t discuss anything related to the murder. Instead, we went more into detail about Odessa itself – a place that I truly feel that Charlie loves with all his heart.

Odessa is a typical oil town in West Texas. Its population ebbs and flows with oil prices.

Just like every town, there’s nice parts of Odessa and those that need a little love. Football is a big deal, of course, and Charlie seems to know how many years every person played for Mojo football – including their position. Like I said, he did go to Permian. And yes, Friday Night Lights was somewhat accurate – according to the locals.

There’s a main “drag” in Odessa where the kids drive around, show off, and socialize. Charlie has drawn me a couple of maps by hand, but I really need to see these places in person to picture everything. Many street fights started on the drag… but of course, they never ended there.

We also talked about how Odessa was a major attraction for card players back in the day. Even though it was illegal, The Inn of the Golden West was a hot spot for top gamblers across the US.

If one thing is certain, there’s a lot more to Odessa than meets the eye.

Say a prayer for me,

K. E.