Black Rock Beauty
By Joe Greco
JohnRed Cloud sat outside his gas station’s office, watching the mint green T-Bird kick up dust.
She climbed out of the driver’s seat, brushing off the front of her skin-tight, flamingo pink capris and cobalt blue tank top. She hurried around the back of the car to the pump, stumbling slightly as her Lucite high heels caught in the gravel. She quickly inserted the credit card, struggled with the nozzle, cursing.
RedCloud stood, walked over. “Need help?”
She looked up through large sunglasses, gold hoop earrings dangling wildly as she tossed back her long, yellow hair. “I can never get these damned things to work.”
RedCloud slid the nozzle into the tank, pumped. He glanced at her, noticed that she was trembling.
She pulled a Kleenex from her pocket, wiped the red, irritated skin under her nose. “How do I get to Gerlach?”
“Gerlach? Black Rock Desert. Pretty desolate country.”
She folded her arms over her breasts. “I could use some desolation about now.”
“Where you coming from?”
“Tonopah.”
RedCloud shook his head. “I never knew any girl from Tonopah dress like that.”
She smiled, looked away.
“We’re outside Fallon.” He pointed up the road. “Take 50 West to Fernley. Then 427 North, then 447. Got it?”
She repeated his words, nodded.
He finished pumping, started walking away.
“Wait,” she called, fumbling with her purse. She held out a hundred dollar bill. “Don’t tell anyone you’ve seen me. OK?”
RedCloud waved his hand. “Keep it. Buy some hiking boots. For the Black Rock.”
***
The tall man, scowling, slammed the door of the black BMW 750, walked toward RedCloud. He wore gray snakeskin cowboy boots, black suit pants, white dress shirt open at the collar. “You see a chick in a green T-Bird?”
RedCloud squinted into the afternoon sun. “I see a lotta ladies.”
“Not like this one you don’t. Listen, chief,she’s my wife. We had a little spat. I just wanna take her home.”
RedCloud nodded slowly. “You should tell her to wear her wedding ring. Fellas could get the wrong idea.”
Hescoffed, pulled a silver money clip from his pocket, peeled off a fifty.
RedCloud took the bill. “You chase her all the way from Vegas?”
“Where’s she headed?”
RedCloud shrugged. “I didn’t pay much attention.”
He peeled off another fifty, handed it over.
RedCloud took it. “Said she’s headed out to Elko.”
“Elko? Christ.” He spat into the dust.
“Better get on your horse. She’s got a good twenty minutes on you. Take 95 North, then I-80 East at Lovelock.”
Hejumped into the BMW, roared the motor, screeched out of the lot.
RedCloud scrolled his iPhone contacts to “Cops.” “Hey, Jimmy. I got one for you. Headed toward Elko. Probably be doing 120 by the county line. California plates, 6-Romeo-Tango-Delta-5-3-8. Bet you a hundred he’s hauling mucho blow. Just a hunch, but I’m feeling lucky today. Besides, I’m playing on the house’s money.”
END
Joe Greco grew up in Sacramento, California, where he graduated from Christian Brothers High School. He obtained an undergraduate degree in Economics and International Relations from Dartmouth College. He received his law degree from Stanford Law School. He has practiced intellectual property litigation in Silicon Valley for 30 years. He presently is an attorney in the law firm of Beck, Ross, Bismonte & Finley LLP in San Jose.
Joe and his wife, Roslyn (Moschan) Greco live in San Jose and Shell Beach, California. Their two sons, Jason, 31, and Justin, 27, are California public school teachers.
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1) Why did you decide to write your story?
Quite a while ago, I went to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada with my friend and law partner, Bob Morrill. He grew up in Nevada and owned some property near Gerlach. We had sons who were about the same age (10 or 11 years old), so we took them, stayed a few days and explored the desert. Both the vastness of the landscape and its physical beauty were unforgettable. When I started writing fiction, I always thought about incorporating the Black Rock into one of my stories.
I first conceived Black Rock Beauty a few months ago, when I was reminiscing about that trip, and the characters and plot started to come alive. When I was imagining the female character, I consulted my son Jason’s girlfriend, Andria Shearer, who this month is getting her B.S. degree in Apparel Design and Merchandising from San Francisco State University. Andi gave me ideas for how the character would dress. Don’t you love those Lucite high heels? Thanks, Andi!
2) Do you have any projects you’re working on right now?
Yes, I’m working on three short stories that are in various forms of progress. I have a few others that are finished and seeking publication. I have a half-written “lawyer novel” that needs a lot of rewriting and rethinking. I hope to pick up work on that sometime in the near future when I’m not so busy with actually being a lawyer.
3) What things are you doing to improve your writing?
My goal is to cut my writing until it contains only the essentials of the story. One of the reasons I like writing flash fiction is that it forces you to make every word count – or you’ll never meet the word-count restriction!
I frequently write briefs in my law practice. Court rules always impose word or page limits on briefs. So I get that discipline from my job. Good legal writing has a lot in common with good fiction.
Still, when I finish a story or a brief and let it sit a while, I’m usually astounded by how many unnecessary words remain. They must be cut. This is what I understand Hemingway meant when he urged writing the “one true sentence.”
4) What tools do you feel are must-haves for writers?
First, you have to devote time to sitting at the computer (or sitting with a pad and pen, if that’s how you compose). You can’t just think about it. You have to bang it out, even when the words don’t come easily. In copyright law there’s a fundamental distinction between ideas and expression: expression is protectable; ideas aren’t. There’s a huge gap between an idea and its expression. You have to work hard to bridge that gap.
Second, you have to get used to rejection. You can’t get discouraged. I’ve been writing fiction for about ten years, but only have made serious efforts to seek publication in the last three years. When I first got rejection notices, I couldn’t believe it. How could someone not want to publish such a wonderful story? Then as I got more rejections, self doubt crept in: was I not a good writer? Luckily, I started getting a few acceptances and that helped build my confidence. I say “luckily” because no matter how well you write, some people are not going to like your work, and some of them are going to be editors. I saw one journal that stated on its website: “We don’t want anything like Raymond Carver wrote.” I see. So if one of the greatest short fiction authors of the Twentieth Century submitted a story, you’d reject it? I see. That really put rejections into perspective for me.
5) What author do you admire, living or dead?
My favorite authors of short fiction are Flannery O’Connor, John Updike and Raymond Carver.
6) What recent book made an impression on you?
I’ve recently discovered (through the recommendation of my son, Jason, who is an English teacher), the work of a Twentieth Century American author named John Fante. He was a Hollywood screenwriter, but also wrote fiction, including the novel Ask the Dust, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I’m now reading a book of his short stories. Some have said that he was a precursor to the “Beat” writers (Kerouac, Ginsberg and that crew). But I think he’s much better.
7) For what one accomplishment would you most like to be remembered?
Ultimately, when all is said and done, I believe I will end up looking on my accomplishments in raising a family to be the most important. Everything else sort of fades to black. My sons (Jason, 31, and Justin, 27) are both public school teachers in California. My wife, Roslyn, and I are quite proud of them.
8) Tell us about your family.
My wife, Roslyn (Moschan) Greco, and I met in college and have been married for 31 years. Roslyn is a retired Registered Nurse. We live in San Jose, California, and have a second home in Shell Beach, California. As mentioned above, our son Jason is a high school English teacher in Mountain View, California, and our son, Justin, is a middle school science teacher in Arroyo Grande, California.
I’m a descendant of immigrants from Southern Italy (Calabria) on my father’s side and the Azores (Portugal) on my mother’s side. My father, who was a high school and community college teacher, has passed. My mother, Shirley Lewis Greco, is a retired school teacher who lives in the Sacramento area, as do my sister, Susan Greco Carter (a pharmacist), and my brother, Jeff Greco (a high school teacher). My nieces and nephews are Jeff Carter, Stephanie Carter, Micah Greco and Luke Greco.
9) What would you like our readers to know about you?
I now have written close to 20 short stories, about half of which have been published. I’d like to publish a collection of my short stories, knowing full well the uphill challenge that presents in the current literary market.
10) Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.
I have a friend, Michael Berberich, whom I’ve known since grammar school. Mike teaches English at Galveston College in Texas. When I first started writing fiction, he gave me many helpful pointers on how to write better and he (gently) critiqued my drafts. He writes fiction and essays, and we often exchange our work. We also email regularly on a wide variety of subjects, but it’s a tradition that long predates email. When we were in college, he at Notre Dame and I at Dartmouth, we regularly would exchange “snail mail” letters, as neither of us could afford the long distance phone charges. I still remember his accounts of Notre Dame football games, raving about this skinny, third-string, Sophomore quarterback who would come off the bench and save the day for the Fighting Irish. The kid’s name was Joe Montana. I wonder what ever became of him.
11) Is there a message in your story that you want your readers to grasp?
Yes. One of my favorite short stories is Raymond Carver’s “A Small Good Thing.” Not only is it a beautiful story, but the title is such a wonderfully concise description of its content. I’ve always thought that if I can make one small good thing happen in a short story, it’s worth writing. I hope my readers think my main character, John Red Cloud, performed one small good thing (as well as exacting some righteous revenge, which always is interesting, too!).
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