( Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign on South Las Vegas Boulevard, by Bill Debevc)
Following a long weekend trip to the magical city in the
barren desert known as Las Vegas there was a group of four friends who were
facing an almost impossible task at hand as they attempted to make their way
home to Oklahoma. The four friends, Ody, Hector, Homer, and Don had the mistake
of gambling away the money they had saved to pay for their trip home. All four
had lost their cell phones during the week long trip and were unable to phone
home requesting a money transfer to be sent their way to alleviate the issue at
hand. Realizing what lay ahead the four men began planning a series of
strategies for how to best make money as soon as possible in order to return
home. The group realized the only way they would be able to return home is by
picking up short term work in Sin City and saving to make their way home, or
the more daring option of offering work services to individuals passing bye in
exchange for travel to the next town over or potentially bus fare. After wondering down the interstate for few
miles holding a sign along the way with “will work for travel” written across
its face there finally approached an old truck with an elderly man driving. The
driver began asking the group their names and how they came to be in the
situation he found them in. Upon hearing their story he began to softly
chuckle, explaining that he had found himself in a similar situation before
during his youth when visiting Las Vegas. He offered the four men a ride to
Boulder City in exchange for some work in his diner there as busboys upon their
arrival. The men agreed and settled in for a bumpy ride. This exchange of work
for travel agreements continued as the men would work all day and then travel
at night. They made their way from Nevada to Arizona and continued into New
Mexico. The men had been working their way home for a week now, each feeling as
if they would not be able to make it through the next work day without an
actual nights sleep, but knowing this was their only way of making it home. Once
they made it to New Mexico the jobs became more labor intensive, with the men
eventually finding their way to ranch in need of additional labor. The men
would be helping with the construction of a fence on the property, nothing new
to the boys from Oklahoma. During this construction though Don threw out his
back and was unable to continue working, forcing the others to pick up the
slack. The jobs continued and the men continued making their way toward the
Texas panhandle, with Don still sidelined due to his injury. The manual labor
continued with each additional stop in west Texas until only Ody was left
standing as the last healthy member of the group. He continued being the only
working individual of the group as they closed in on making it home, hardly
sleeping, working long days to earn the group a chance ride home. Ody
persevered and eventually was able to bring his friends home safely and just in
time to begin working on their ranch, with no rest granted his way.
Author’s Note: The original tale that was the basis for this
homeward bound trip with different obstacles along the way was Homer’s Odyssey, a Greek Epic Poem that
was the sequel to his more famous work The
Iliad. The Odyssey tells the
story of a Greek king name Odysseus, who is attempting to sale home with his
crew following the Trojan Wars, but alas the trip does not go as planned and
the men end up being tested along the way by the gods. The group eventually
returns home, but not without hardship and losses along the way.
