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tries sho AFTERWORD All the Pretty Ponies BY SUCIEDAD ANONIMA The Kid drove quiet through South El Paso, frippering the brake of his ’68 Riviera, eyes on the garita sundering Texas from Mexico. The day was slow, still morning really. He knew this from the fuzz of the radio and its oldtimey dial. The dial that gave him such grief: so punily wrought it was, that often it landed, maudlin and slatternly, on stations he didnt give a Gol darn about hearing. It was thus now, when instead of AM, the dial had tuned NPR. A man’s voice was on, if one could call it a man. More like a woman, with low, man tone, yet speaking of things no man cares for lest he come from a sissy world. A world like Harvard or Austin or Santa Fe. The Kid cursed and wished he’d bought the Low Rider he’d spied when he and his buds Claytie Williams and Dick Armey had herded their fillies to Juarez, that evening long ago, to the Electri-Q Disco. Hoofed and danced all night then, well most the night anyhow. Till the fillies had shambled trembling to the Ladies Room, whinnying, rumps shaking, all perked ears. Then never come back. “None of em huh?” Armey had said. “Reckon they done run off with cholos?” “Reckon.” “Well t hell with em. Lets give a look see at that Pinto out the parking lot.” “Me I’m partial to Mustangs.” “Dont make no difference theys them there too.” Thats when The Kid had seen the radio. All shiny and digital, its chassis catching the lights of the estacionamiento finer than Max Factor when it goes stale and oily on a bar filly’s drunken face. The Kid fingered the buttons and thought of their red-blue glow, of how he could tame them, program them, for Howard Stern in the dawnings, Michael Reagan when the desert sun warmed the ground, and in the groaning heat of midday, Rush Limbaugh and his grit. He’d writ a message then, crafted on a pizza box: “I’ll be wantin to buy this here radio mebbe even the whole damn car.” Then stuck it on the windshield. And thats why he was driving back to Juarez. Ready to deal with the Mustang’s ownera wily ranchero named Frenitos and spirit the handsome vehicle back to Texas without import/export papers. But first a slack-eyed federale waved him stop: “Senor,” the Mexican said, “you is maybe smuggling? I belief you understand. The mota. Perhaps the Dust of Angel. Or platform of Party of Republican.” “NoSsir,” The Kid replied. “Aint got nothin but this here scrip for Zoloft.” “Receta?” “Yup. Three hundred milligram. Twicet a day.” “Depresion senor?” nodded the federale. “More like a mighty bad case of dysthymia.” “Mole,” the federale said, pointing. “There is farmacia. And here, senor, is the ca4 f my therapist, with much pleasure I n olv,ognitivo. N1/4 end he to you. A Rogerian, con `ndale,S said The Kid, smiling. And ed Soutk o the pony of his dreams. rec f ro 1996 BAD CORMAC McCARTHY WRITING CONTEST El Paso’s Border Voices ’96 Literary Festival is accepting entries for its Bad Cormac McCarthy Writing Contest. Sponsored by the El Paso Public Library, Border Voices has been held several times during the past decade, and will take place this year from November 15-17. The 1996 festival features literary readings and workshops. It includes the writing contest to honor El Pasoan Cormac McCarthy, acclaimed author of Blood Meridian, All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and many other works. The Bad Cormac McCarthy Writing literary tradition embodied in the nationally-famous Bad Hemingway and Bad Faulkner competitions. As entrants in these events know, parodying brilliant writing can be harder than it looks. But it is a great way to get familiar with an author’s work. And it’s fun! Even more fun are the prizes in the Bad Cormac McCarthy contest. First-place winner will receive $100; second place gets a copy of a rare work by McCarthy. Both winning entries will be published in the El 5 Paso Herald-Post, and winners will be invited to read them at Border Voices ’96. Contest Rules: Entrants do not have to live in El Paso. There is no limit on number of entries, b. each entry must be no longer than 500 wo d, if possible, and …….. ‘ \\ anAt\\lik \\ , , 04,4t , exas 749; \\ i nnks\\vill be announced tlit’ ,.. N No mber, 1996. Border V’. s.’* entries to: Cormac McCarthy,: athan r a eac h e , \\’ ,contestant’s name, ader on the back of the test anize ‘contest judges, and their f es oibt eligible,AG en r s More info 0 ration: SEPTEMBER 27, 1996 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 31