Princess Lines in West Texas?

OH DEAR! I've done it this time. What started as a simple notice of my upcoming class reunion took an unexpected turn. Sorry!


Our family moved to Tucson during the summer before Sam’s senior year; I would begin my freshman year at Tucson High School. Sam was not happy about the move because he would not get to graduate with his good friends.

We moved to the big city from Frankel City, Texas. Frankel City was located 14 miles west of Andrews. For the 2 years we lived there, Sam and I rode the bus to school in Andrews. Entering Frankel City (also known as Franklin and Fullerton), the posted population read “9.” Within the “city limits” was a grocery store, a café, and two church buildings, one Baptist and one Church of Christ, and a garage.

What would sustain such a town? It would not take a visitor any time at all to ascertain who made up the tiny congregation of believers. Oil derricks and pumps dotted the landscape; housing was provided for the workers in the field. When our family would have guests, we would take them on a drive of the area; pointing out sagebrush, desert creatures, small sand dunes, oil derricks…a flat, parched land. Daddy would always try to time the tour so that, right at dusk, he would stop and point out the lights of “the desert ship.” Guests were always taken aback at how such an enormous vessel could possibly exist in such a barren land. Then Daddy would drive up closer so one could see clearly that the ship was not a sea-going vessel at all. It was an oil refinery.

Our house and church building sat next to the grocery store, right on highway 181. Folks who were familiar with the area knew that this was a shortcut to the big town of Seminole; otherwise, anyone else on the road was just plain lost. Daddy marked the road every quarter mile for a mile, and Sam and I ran. We got to be pretty good runners. On Sunday afternoons, Sam would go hunting for rattlesnakes with other boys his age. Daddy occasionally went dove hunting. They were both hugely successful hunters for their chosen prey. Jackrabbits were also plentiful, but only at night when spooked out of hiding by car lights.

When leaving the house, we learned rather quickly to jump off of the concrete stoop. This was an important lesson because the rattlesnakes would hunker in the shade right where we would normally step. Otherwise, we made our own entertainment. On my 13th birthday, Sam taught me the game of Mumblypeg. His knife punctured the top of my left foot. To see a movie (or doctor) meant a trip into Andrews.

My grandfather had paid for and had shipped to us a tower for attaching a TV antenna, but it would be several years before anyone purchased the television set to accompany it. We moved it three times and never made use of it.

Check back here in the future for the story of two teens from population 9 town trying to enter the largest high school in the Nation.