TMI
I come from a mining town.
...It’s an interesting man who makes his way to the middle of nowhere seeking his life and fortune. That’s what my grandfather, John Reid, did, when he was drawn to Searchlight from California just after the turn of the century.
...By the turn of the century Searchlight was booming. But reversals come quick. Within a decade, the town was in a serious decline.
...But by the time I came along - December 2, 1939 - the leading industry in my hometown of Searchlight, Nevada, was no longer mining, it was prostitution.
As a boy, I learned to swim at a whorehouse. Nobody in town had ever seen such a fancy inground tiled pool in their lives as the pool at the El Rey. Or any pool at all, for that matter.
...We had a little tree in our yard for a while. It died.
