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A FEW DAYS IN WEASEL CREEK by Joanna Brent

A FEW DAYS IN WEASEL CREEK

By

Pub Date: March 31st, 1980
Publisher: Seaview--dist. by Harper & Row

Family objections notwithstanding, Beldon Stokes means to leave Georgia in his pick-up truck and head for Texas to start a crop-dusting business--no matter what. On the road, he meets a girl named Locksley Claiter, who's been around (a circuit that's included the company of midget wrestlers, Bible salesmen, medicine show hustlers, even married sugar-daddies); and at the moment Locksley is dreaming of California. So, since Locksley has got a house-trailer (a gift from one of her men) and Beldon's got a truck, it's only natural they should team up. But first they've got to stop off in Weasel Creek, Arkansas, so Beldon can deliver some money from his pa to an aunt. And, as Beldon and Locksley hang around Weasel Creek a while, there's a change in their attitudes about just striking-out for someplace and something new, even if they themselves stay pretty much the same: Beldon remains strong, stubborn, a little slow, but affectionate; Locksley is always a harder cookie than she really knows herself to be. Nothing very original here, then, but Brent is comfortable with her material and precise too. At a local ""HOLY ROLLER RINK"": ""Inside the tent were ladies skating around like crazy. The record player was blaring out gospel music and the ladies skated along, arms airplaning for balance, grey hair held in place by little lace nets and scarves, big polyester rear ends poked out to serve as counterweights."" So: a pleasant two-on-the-road diversion, its places and people put forth with clear, specific affection.