Review 79: Tales of a Texas Boy

Tales of a Texas Boy
Marva Dasef
Copyright: © 2007
Paperback $12.50
E-Book $2.50
110 Pages
ISBN: 9780615152400

Reviewed by Special Guest Reviewer: Linda Welch, author of Along Came a Demon

I did enjoy Marva Dasef’s charming Tales Of A Texas Boy, with its bonus insight into past events and lifestyles. Based on her father’s reminiscence, these appealing stories take us back to 1930s Texas during the Depression era when life was very different. Each tale begins with an explanatory paragraph and is embellished with wonderful old family photos appropriate to the story. Modeled on Dasef’s father, “Eddie” narrates with a touch of dialect so natural it was as if I could hear his voice inside my head:

It’d been raining forty days and forty nights is what Ma said, but I only counted up eleven days myself. She did tend to put things in Bible sayin’s, so I won’t say she was lyin’, just exaggeratin’ for effect.

Still, me and my sister, Dorothy, who we called Sister, had to go to school, whether the creek was high or dry. We’d spent Saturday and Sunday hopin’ the rain would at least slow down some, but it didn’t look like it was going to. On Monday, we put on our rain slickers and ran to the barn quick as we could to saddle the horses. Pa cut out oiled canvas to cover the saddles and most of the horse as well.

Tales Of A Texas Boy is crammed with memorable anecdotes; some amusing, some quirky, some sad as Eddie shares memories of his childhood and teen years. One tale is his father’s, who served in France with Black Jack Pershing during World War I; another is his mother’s as he thinks she would have told it. Another, “Frank Norfleet – Detective” is admittedly a tall tale.

“In “Rattlesnakes and Jackrabbits” Eddie goes with local men on a hunt to kill those two pests who were the bane of Texan farmers:

A big part of this expedition included moonshine. The hunters would head out in the early afternoon and start drinking right off. By dusk, most of ‘em couldn’t hit much of anything, but was havin’ a lotta fun anyways. The hardest part of the trip was avoidin’ being shot by someone else. Mostly, though, these men knew what they was doing even when they could hardly see straight. I was glad Pa wasn’t a drinker as I’d see how stupid the men would act. I guess that would be one more reason why I respected my Pa.

One of Eddie’s adventures, “The Cattle Drive”, begins when he rides to meet a small herd approaching the farm and is surprised by what he sees:

Yep, I’m here to tell ya and ya know I don’t lie. Every last animal in the herd was a bull. This puzzled me no end, as much as it puzzles you to hear it. Course, the herd was no more ‘n twenty Hereford bulls, but . . . well, I can’t think of what that would be. Mostly herds are made up of steers and cows. Bulls ain’t usually included as they cause troubles wantin’ at the cows and all.

And before long Eddie is on a cattle drive to New Mexico.

Go back in time to visit the County Fair and meet Dad Boles and his bear Sophie. Take a trip to an auction and come home with the biggest, meanest jackass you’ve ever seen. Collect old bones to sell to the bone buyers and meet James Ridgley Whiteman, who discovered Clovis Man. Meet the smartest chicken, the finest dog, a prizewinning sow and a couple of feuding twin brothers. Find the body of an elderly lady who died alone in her prairie home. Meet a desperate family displaced by the dust storms in Oklahoma.

One of my favorites is “Chance Encounter”: In 1937 Eddie and his football team, the Salem Wildcatters, were on their way to Dallas for the State Championship when they stopped at a diner for lunch. They could not help but notice a pretty blond-haired, blue-eyed woman in a fur wrap. In fact, Eddie says, “it was hard to see anybody but her in that booth.” Eddie is invited to sit with her and is embarrassed when she touches and flatters him. The other boys seem to know who she is, but not Eddie.

“Well now,” she said as she stood up. “I guess you all’d like to see some of the real me.” With that, she put her hand on her hip and kind of jutted it out.

With a whole different voice, she said “Come up and see me sometime, boys.” Then she sashayed out of the diner while I stood there with my mouth hangin’ open. I felt really stupid when I realized I hadn’t recognized Mae West.

I think Tales Of A Texas Boy by Marva Dasef will appeal to both children and adults. In fact, the large print is particularly suited for children and senior citizens whose eyesight is perhaps not as good as it once was. Marva Dasef skillfully brings her colorful characters to life, “a different life than any of us will ever know”, and I could have happily read another one hundred pages and another twenty Tales Of A Texas Boy. I’ll just have to read it all over again. And again.

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