THE AMBULANCE ATTENDANTS HAD ALREADY disappeared inside the dismal little bungalow. Ed Bragg, camera in hand, pursued them up a short flight of stairs to the front porch; at the same time a cop scurried out of the house and down the stairs. "It's a family matter," the cop said without breaking stride. "If they don't want me, I don't want them." Evidently, an argument between brothers had ended when they went after each other with knives. It was 11 o'clock at night.
EVERYBODY KNOWS LAST YEAR WASN'T the best of times; the only question is, was it the worst? Air conditioners at 78, heaters at 68, gasoline at 45 cents a gallon, steak at $3.50 a pound: with all that, how could times be good? On the other hand, there were no major scandals in state government, and the other good thing was...well, there was the time, uh...
WITH SOME NOTABLE EXCEPTIONS, DINING out in Texas has not yet reached the status of a high art. Compared to the East or West Coasts', Texas restaurants are a pedestrian bunch, afflicted by gimmicks and uninspired cuisine.
ONE ASPECT OF MOTHERHOOD (AND there are several) I won't miss when my nest is empty is the unending search for babysitters. Finding them is only part of the problem. My relationship with babysitters has always been a little absurd. I am willing to bear almost any indignity to keep them—and they know it.
Since its establishment in Dallas 6 years ago, the Janie C. Lee Gallery has been known for showing the most celebrated of contemporary American artists. In mid-December, they opened a Houston branch that promises more of the same.
ON OCTOBER 9, FEDERAL JUDGE A. Sherman Christensen dropped the second shoe in the Telex-IBM case, and the thud confused Wall Street more than the deadline for negotiated commissions.
Judge Christensen, sitting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, announced that he had erred in his original decision to award Telex $352 million from IBM, which had been accused of unfair competition and restraint of trade. He said there were substantial errors in the computation of damages in the case, prompting one wag to remark:
IT'S BEEN CREEPING UP ON us over the years, this inter-media spillover that gives us new movies that are old-hat television. Broadway productions that sweat and strain to be cinematic and television that is nothing more than quickie-flickery. And the single-hatted critic, coming from the age of puristic expertise. is in trouble, let alone way behind the layman of more catholic interest.
TEX-MEX IS A GASTRONOMIC EXPERIENCE as commonplace as a friendly "hidy y'all" to the native Texan. Homesick transplants in the North have been known to wire home for cans of green chiles—" Airmail, Special Delivery" to Grand Central Station. Green chiles are the magical secret ingredient which can transform even the lowly egg into an Event. Uncle Bob Kleberg of the King Ranch carries a silver snuff box of the little devils at all times and can Tex-Mex any meal with a flip of the lid.
LIVING IN A CITY WITH kids can be like not living in a city at all. I'm convinced that my friends who opted for smaller towns envy my urban existence only because they breeze into Dallas on the weekend-without their children. They have their hair cut in jazzy blow-dry salons. (I get mine cut free at the neighborhood barber shop because the barber knows he's robbing me at three dollars a head for two small boys, and because I like to hear about fishing in Mt.
