Out here in Brownfield, we're close enough to Abilene, close enough to Austin, but far enough away from anywhere real.   But, it's home, not much out here other than the oil fields.  Oil, that's the whole reason for this mess anyway, I think.   Sometimes I wonder if there'd been something, something other than the dead end manual labor jobs available, something other than that, if Tommy might have never joined up.  He was always "too cool for school," so once he graduated, what else was there for him here?  He never wanted to be an oil rat.  At least Tommy seems to have some sense of pride now, something other than the emptiness I'm sure he'd have found out here working the refineries.

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