That Familiar Stench...

As I was glancing through some posts on Facebook, I saw an entry with a short video attached by Mary Karr, the famous memoirist/poet from Groves, Texas.  I clicked on the video and watched as she and her sister filmed their journey into Port Arthur, Texas.

They shared memories of Luby's cafeteria, the countless refineries with "alien-like pods" or storage tanks that were plentiful on the grounds.  Then, it happened.  That familiar, God-awful stench of rotten eggs permeated the air.  The overhang of pollution and sludge was thick in the air and the sisters giggled at the foul stench wondering aloud how they ever survived the smell!

The funniest comment came from Karr as she quipped, "I can't begin to tell you just how much of nothing there is out here."  I chuckled.  That's why I included that stench in my novel, "The Long Road from Perdition".  Karr speaks of it as well in her own memoir, The Liar's Club. 

If Nicholas hadn't made mention of the pollution and rotten smell of his home town, it wouldn't have been a major oversight for someone writing about southeast Texas.

No one knew better than Nicholas that there's "so much of nothing" in his hometown.  But, it was his hometown nonetheless.  Thanks to Mary Karr for that familiar journey that is pure Golden Triangle nostalgia.