"Betty's Roy Orbison Playlist" Bonus Content

Betty’s Roy Orbison Playlist begins in Wink, Texas before it moves to my fictional town of Dixon on the New Mexico border. Wink sprang up in 1926 after oil was discovered there. Oil companies created jobs—and so much money, organized crime got wind of it and dipped a toe, bringing bootlegging, gambling and prostitution to where there had been only flat land and ancient sand dunes.

I’ve never surfed in the ocean, but I have sand-surfed on the Monahans dune chain—flown down the face of a brown dune, probably with the harmonies of the Beach Boys in my mind as I pretended to be a California Girl. Older kids listened to the timeless sound of Wink, Texas home-towner Roy Orbison on transistor radios.

A lot of people have made and continue to make their livings from oil—and mixed feelings about it roil my insides. My daddy worked forty years for Mobil, rising up the ranks from an “Oil Johnny” to making a successful career. Our life—my life—benefited from it. The environment, the planet, not so much. And therein lie the battles that take place in my heart and mind. Life is complicated.

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Sadly, the Kermit Sand Hills have been closed to the public since 2016. A Houston company purchased the whole kit and caboodle to use the sand for drilling oil—fracking. Fracking uses sand in enormous amounts. Millions of pounds in steady supply are used to extract oil and natural gas from deep underground. And ironically, the special sand that makes up the storied, ancient dunes I used to play on is ideal for the woeful task.

It's sad that the dunes out in far West Texas/Southeastern New Mexico where I grew up are no longer a place to go play. We all need a place to play.

Cue Roy Orbison lyrics:

It’s over,

It’s over.

It’s ooooverrrrrr.

Cue:

Dust devil rising off the ground, dissipating into the sky.

Fade to black.

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