That's Mama Do and me at the roadside park near Dickens, TX. I think I must have been about four, and I had gone with my grandparents to see the Gregorys in Petersburg. My first big trip without the parents.
At somepoint, while we were cruising across that 400-mile stretch in that big green Buick, I asked for some gum. She always had Wrigley's spearmint, and I always got half a piece.
Not this time. Maybe I protested a little from my perch on the middle armest in the front seat or maybe she was just fed up.
"I'm sorry. You're just shit out of luck!" she said.
So today, probably 34 years later, I feel like I may have to use that line at work. I can't help it.
And you know what?
I'm gonna chew some gum when I say it.