Lunch with Marvin and Alene

Sunday. I got up. I drank coffee. I read news on the Internet. I forgot to eat breakfast -- this was not good. I left the apartment for church at 9:35. When I got to the Highway, I saw two cops speeding by with sirens, so I turned around to follow -- maybe I could get a photo.

But I couldn't keep up. Then I saw the giant truck hauling the huge tank down the highway with front and back flag trucks. Curious indeed. This was the same tank they were hauling several weeks ago. I got pictures. I asked one of the fellows what it was.

Surprisingly, the tank was on a long trip, from Odessa to Houston, more than 500 miles, but all on side roads to avoid overpasses and busy intersections.

The man said that four of these tanks, manufactured in Odessa, were being delivered to Houston.

I got the photos, but I would be late for church. That didn't concern me at all, but the fact is, I was getting jittery and distracted. That was the part I didn't like.

I got to the church, over in Stockdale. I sat in the back. My mind was very jumpy. I was thinking about the newspaper too much. Usually I don't think about it all on Sundays.

The preacher talked about Ishmael and Abraham. I love that story. Ishmael got such a raw deal, and he did nothing wrong. This was 3,000 years ago, but we still need to make this right. That's not what the preacher said, but that's what I think.

But I was reading the Book of Ruth during the sermon, it's very short. Ruth leaves her home and people to go with her mother-in-law Naomi and become an Israelite. Then she married Boaz. It's a very touching story.

Still, the problem was food -- I just didn't realize it at the time.

After the service, Marvin and Alene invited me to lunch at the OK Corral outside of Stockdale a few miles down the road. I enjoyed eating with them very much, although I didn't think the food was very good.

They are a sweet couple. Sometimes I think Alene is the brains of the outfit, but it just might be that she talks a lot more than Marvin. Well, she is pretty, and vivacious and charming, and Marvin is just a classic gentleman and easygoing country fellow -- with plenty of backbone, if the situation calls for it. He said, speaking of his 20 years as a state trooper, "I always tried to treat people as nice as they would let me."