John Wayne pulled off the Wickenburg Highway for breakfast on a Tuesday morning in 1957 and found the sheriff’s car parked in front of a small diner and the sheriff on the porch with a padlock and a woman in an apron standing in the doorway not moving. He sat in his truck for a…
Alabama, April, 1964. A lunch counter in a diner on the main street of Anniston, 70 miles east of Birmingham. A man named James Whitfield, 31 years old, a school teacher, sits down at the counter and asks for a cup of coffee. The owner tells him the counter does not serve colored people. James…
New Mexico, 1958. A feed store on the main street of Cimarron in the high country south of Taos. A cattle baron named Vance Prudhomme has been offering Esteban Maestras $800 for his grazing permit and the 40 acres of deeded land around his lambing pens for 6 months. Esteban is 73 years old and…
Oklahoma, 1959. A small county hospital in Enid, 60 miles north of Oklahoma City. A woman named Dora Sims has been sitting in the admissions waiting room since 7:00 in the morning with her 6-year-old son pressed against her side. The boy has a fever of 104 and has had it for 2 days. Dora…
John Wayne was driving east on the Wyoming highway when he saw the survey stakes in the field and the family standing at the gate and the railroad company truck in the road. He pulled over because he knew what survey stakes meant and he knew what the expression on the woman’s face meant and…
Calvin looked at him. He said, “That is not something I can accept from a stranger.” Wayne said, “It is not something you are accepting from a stranger.” He said, “It is a job offer. The ranch needs the work done. You can do the work.” He said, “I am not doing you a favor….
Arizona, 1957. A small town called Cornville, 40 miles south of Flagstaff. The Sisters of the Holy Cross have run a children’s home on the edge of town since 1931. 26 years, 31 children. On a Tuesday morning in October, a county official drives out from the courthouse with a padlock and an unpaid tax…
John Wayne rode Emmet ferry across the Columbia on a Wednesday afternoon in July of 1964 because the drive around added 40 minutes and he was not in a hurry but saw no reason to take the longer road when the ferry was right there. He was the only passenger on the crossing. Emmet ran…
He cued it up. He checked the levels. He opened the mic. He said, “This one’s for anyone who ever drove through Texas with the windows down.” He put the needle on the record. And then he took off his headphones and just listened. Like he had to hear it without the glass between him…
Janis was already in the elevator when Sarah called out across the lobby. She could have kept going. The doors were closing. She had a show in 6 hours and hadn’t slept. But something in the woman’s voice made her put her hand against the door. Sarah was the receptionist on the morning shift. She…
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