you wanted to shop , they would call Ringo to come over and let you in . If you weren ’ t feeling social and just wanted to curl up at home with a movie , you could rent one from the spinning rack with the same 20 movies it had last time you looked . We are talking VCR tapes , people . Be kind and rewind . The people of Terlingua love to read and I discovered the “ library ” was in an old gutted RV parked in back of the store . It was basically a free box for books . It was a tradition so wonderful that it too lives on and is located now inside the Terlingua Post Office , a climate controlled , wind and dust free perfect place for books .
“ When I reminisce about the Study Butte store , which like all of South County is in the midst of radical transformation , I remember lots of little things . The cashiers smoking and swatting flies … the glass case near the register that had those awesome rope sandals they make in Mexico … the pickle buckets scattered around the store to catch the rain that poured in during a good storm . I remember where things were located in the store , the color of the wood , the sound of the credit card machine making an imprint of my card . I remember music and laughter ; so much music and laughter . There were so many wonderful folks making music in those days on that porch , but the one that WAS the Study Butte store for me was Randy . He was usually there with his dog and usually playing his accordion and sometimes even singing my favorite of his songs , “ my dog has fleas , but she don ’ t screw my buddies and she ain ’ t never taken no money from me … my dog has fleas , but she don ’ t screw my buddies and she ’ s a damn sight easier than you to deflea …” Randy is gone , the porch itself is gone , the days when half an hour could go by before a car drove through Study Butte are gone . The memories of being in a wild place , with wild people at a wild time in my life , remain .
“ I remember lots of little things , but what I remember most is a feeling . The Study Butte Store felt like a cool beer on a really hot day . It felt like a sunny afternoon with nowhere to be . It felt like people who never hurried slowing down even more to just sit and be together . It felt like three-day-old news from an abandoned San Angelo paper and a hot wind that made the desert feel like a convection oven . We just sat there in the shade and felt our whole lives stretching out in front of us with nothing to do and nowhere to be but right where we were . It felt like an outpost on the last frontier . It felt like home .”
-Ceil Drucker first landed in Terlingua in 1991 , in a borrowed pickup truck with flashlights taped on the back for taillights . She is a massage therapist and lives in Terlingua and Alpine with her massage partner and husband Bob , son Leo , a couple of porch-worthy dogs , way too many houseplants and a really nice porch .
Cenizo
Summer 2021
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