Mackey, Texas

Written for my novel. A description of the place where most of the action takes place.

Mackey, Texas is a town that seems stuck in time. Driving into town on the main street, which is, of course, called “Main Street,” the first impression is that one has stepped into the past. Mackey is like every cliché description ever written in any book about small towns.

The first thing a stranger notices driving into Mackey, whether entering from the north or the south, is the Town and Country convenience stores which stand like bookends on either end of the town. Everything about the Town and Country stores is outdated, from the buildings to the gas pumps, to the sign by the street. Even the pickups parked in front of the store aren’t new and they all look the same: dusty and road-weary, the kind of pickup a working man would drive. Outdated as these stores look, they are always bustling with activity—the gas pumps have cars or pickups at every pump, men in jeans and cowboy hats or ball caps stream in and out of the doors of the store, and for every vehicle that pulls out of the parking lot, two more pull in. Inside, the store shows the same signs of wear and tear with a thin layer of dust on the floor, a sticky do-it-yourself soda machine and rows of last-minute or in-a-hurry items stocked haphazardly on the shelves. The clerks call everyone by name and there is a lot of idle chatter in the nature of how’s that new grandbaby doin’? or you think that new coach up at the high school is gonna amount to anything?

Further down Main Street, in the heart of downtown Mackey, sits the Courthouse, an imposing structure built in a time when a man’s word was his bond and people had a reverence for the law and believed in “doing the right thing.” The courthouse is surrounded on three side streets by the title company, a bank and a real estate office—a very convenient arrangement for anyone looking to settle in Mackey and for those who have lived there all their lives and are buying their third, fourth of fifth home. The courthouse lawn is lush and green, despite the arid climate in Mackey where the annual rainfall is between twelve and fifteen inches a year. Two huge oak trees adorn either side of the front lawn, shading the narrow sidewalk leading from the neatly striped parking lot to the oversized, ornately carved wood doors with brass fittings that open into the cool air of the green-marble-floored foyer. A hush descends upon the air as the heavy doors swing shut behind anyone venturing into the courthouse. Inside the various offices that branch out in every direction from the main lobby, people speak in hushed tones and phones chirp rather than ring as if everyone and everything works in concert to preserve the quiet inside the courthouse. The atmosphere inside the courthouse is reminiscent of days gone by when business was transacted in a civilized manner and life moved at a slower pace.

Continuing down Main Street, either side of the street is lined with independently-owned shops of every description—another throwback to a different era. Mackey is not home to any strip malls or warehouse stores. Mom and Pop stores abound and are frequented by the citizens of Mackey who prefer to spend their hard-earned dollars in their hometown rather than traveling to Odessa or Midland where they could find convenience and competitive prices. It is as if Mackey is stuck in a time-warp, almost as if progress marched up the highway to the outskirts of Mackey and halted at the city limits.

All of these components have worked together over the years to make Mackey a very tight-knit community, some might even say that Mackey is unwelcoming to progress and to newcomers because either of those could disturb the delicate balance that keeps the town suspended in time. The city council of Mackey can’t be bothered with legal precedents or legislation that would usurp the “way things are done here.” Local policemen know the law as well as they know the citizens; they know which laws apply to which citizens and when to look the other way. The bankers are up-to-date in their knowledge of banking regulations and newly-enacted legislation dictating business practices, but they don’t allow any of that to get in the way of how banking is conducted in their town.

The citizenry of Mackey has changed very little over time. The same families live there that have always lived there—just different generations. Any newcomer is quick to learn that he will never be fully accepted into the fold. Newcomers are at a distinct disadvantage in every situation and most of them don’t stay long; they move on to more welcoming places like Odessa or Midland. There is an unwritten code in Mackey that is branded on the heart of every “true” citizen. It is unwritten because it could be challenged were it to be read and analyzed. The citizenry of Mackey like it this way and city leaders have become leaders because they understand that they are charged with protecting the code. Those who keep Mackey suspended in time have been granted absolute power—the kind of absolute power that corrupts absolutely.