A Normal Life
He stood at the sink washing dishes and looking out the kitchen window at the beach and the Pacific Ocean on that beautiful June evening. The place on Saw Grass Drive had been perfect with 2 bedrooms, a shared bath, a living area and an eat-in kitchen and reasonable price tag. It also had a deck that was almost as big as the house and this is where most of their evenings were spent.
Two long years of struggling to recover physically and financially had convinced the partners to pool their resources and purchase the fixer-upper cottage that they now lived in and it also allowed them to start rebuilding the savings accounts that both of them had drained over the last couple of years.
It had taken him a while to adjust to the news that he would not be allowed to return to the streets. At first he was furious, disappointed and depressed. As he recovered, he thought about the teaching positions at the Academy that had been offered to him and Hutch when he was ready to return to active duty. And he had finally come to the conclusion that regular hours and weekends off were not such a bad thing. He told Hutch that he liked the idea that they could finally live a normal life.
He finished up the last of the glasses as he stared at the sunset and the ocean breeze blew in from the open window. The breeze also carried with it a familiar guitar chord and tune. He dried his hands on the dishtowel and hummed along.
*Amarillo by morning, up from San Antone.
Everything that I've got, is just what I've got on.
When that sun is high in the Texas sky,
I'll be bucking it to the county fair.
Amarillo by morning, Amarillo I'll be there.*
He sat down next to his partner on the empty lounger as the song lilted from Hutch's lips. He looked across to the other lounger as the music stopped, he just nodded his head at Hutch and the music began again. He felt like this was the way it was meant to be. He settled in as the next refrain floated gently in the air.
*They took my saddle in Houston, broke my leg in Santa Fe.
Lost my wife and a girlfriend somewhere along the way.
We'll be looking for eight when they pull that gate,
And I'm hoping that judge ain't blind.
Amarillo by morning, Amarillo's on my mind.*
He closed his eyes and thought about how this particular stanza of the song mimicked his life and Hutch's. He compared the person's life in the song to their own lives. Both professions encompassed danger in their own ways and both had lost many women to, or because of their professions. But he now smiled because he knew now that things would turn around, for now he was living a normal life.
*Amarillo by morning, up from San Antone.
Everything that I've got, is just what I've got on.
I ain't got a dime, but what I got is mine.
I ain't rich, but lord I'm free.
Amarillo by morning, Amarillo's where I'll be.
Amarillo by morning, Amarillo's where I'll be.*
He had always enjoyed the last refrain of this song the most, because to him it reflected his feelings the most. They didn't have much, but what they did have belonged to them and them alone. They weren't rich but at least they now felt a freedom they hadn't felt in years. They had both come to a point of acceptance of what had transpired in their lives for the last couple of years and they were now ready to look to the future. He knew he wasn't going to Amarillo, but he knew that come morning….he would be in Bay City, in this house, on this deck, with his best friend and partner and that's exactly where he wanted to be. How much more of a normal life could a person stand?
*Amarillo by Morning
Sung by: George Strait
Written by: Paul Fraser and Terry Stafford
He finished up the last of the glasses as he stared at the sunset and the ocean breeze blew in from the open window. The breeze also carried with it a familiar guitar chord and tune. He dried his hands on the dishtowel and hummed along.
*Amarillo by morning, up from San Antone.
Everything that I've got, is just what I've got on.
When that sun is high in the Texas sky,
I'll be bucking it to the county fair.
Amarillo by morning, Amarillo I'll be there.*
He sat down next to his partner on the empty lounger as the song lilted from Hutch's lips. He looked across to the other lounger as the music stopped, he just nodded his head at Hutch and the music began again. He felt like this was the way it was meant to be. He settled in as the next refrain floated gently in the air.
*They took my saddle in Houston, broke my leg in Santa Fe.
Lost my wife and a girlfriend somewhere along the way.
We'll be looking for eight when they pull that gate,
And I'm hoping that judge ain't blind.
Amarillo by morning, Amarillo's on my mind.*
He closed his eyes and thought about how this particular stanza of the song mimicked his life and Hutch's. He compared the person's life in the song to their own lives. Both professions encompassed danger in their own ways and both had lost many women to, or because of their professions. But he now smiled because he knew now that things would turn around, for now he was living a normal life.
*Amarillo by morning, up from San Antone.
Everything that I've got, is just what I've got on.
I ain't got a dime, but what I got is mine.
I ain't rich, but lord I'm free.
Amarillo by morning, Amarillo's where I'll be.
Amarillo by morning, Amarillo's where I'll be.*
He had always enjoyed the last refrain of this song the most, because to him it reflected his feelings the most. They didn't have much, but what they did have belonged to them and them alone. They weren't rich but at least they now felt a freedom they hadn't felt in years. They had both come to a point of acceptance of what had transpired in their lives for the last couple of years and they were now ready to look to the future. He knew he wasn't going to Amarillo, but he knew that come morning….he would be in Bay City, in this house, on this deck, with his best friend and partner and that's exactly where he wanted to be. How much more of a normal life could a person stand?
*Amarillo by Morning
Sung by: George Strait
Written by: Paul Fraser and Terry Stafford
