Parallel Universe

Time for a road trip. We had to check out this town Mexia, Texas. You know, the place where Anna Nicole met Billy Wayne while working at Jim's Krispy Chicken, got married, had Danny, and you know the rest. The town motto turns out to be; "A great place, no matter how you pronounce it," although no news flash as everybody knows it's 'mee-hay-ya,' just like it's spelled. Anyhow, driving North on I-35 from Austin, TX we took a wrong turn somewhere between Troy and Lorena thanks to stopping for coffey at a (in)convenience store which fumed of curry or the proprietor who offered us a short-cut. Looking for the easy way out, and not profiling here, but curry in Texas? Shoulda known better.

Yeah, we got lost, but not too bad going 80 +/- with no bother from our "fuzz buster". We way-layed ourselves about 50 miles South in the Town of Calvert, Texas, and while asking for directions came across this.

Seems there was this teenage dood that was finally buried, but not before his mummified body became a fixture in the back room of a local funeral parlor for about 80 years. The real details of his death were not given, but as his body was found near the railroad tracks, everybody knew he fell off or was bumped by a passing train. Before authorities were able to figure that the body was a fifteen year old runaway, the funeral director embalmed and put him in a pine box. For some reason, the mortician did not seal the coffin and covered it with chicken wire. Go figure. Well, when the dood's family was finally located and contacted they were told that they owed the funeral home $108 for the services. The family being poor and embarrassed by the bill according to the newspaper account, told the director, "Well, for $108, you can keep him." So, for 80 years the dood's body was kept in that back room of the parlor. Ever so often, this room was the hangout for "spirited" poker and domino games. Since the mummified body looked as if he was smiling, many of the gamblers thought that he brought them good luck. Not knowing his real name, they called the boy "Mojo" (pronounced 'mo-jo'), meaning good luck, and he became Calvert's "mascot". Although the funeral parlor was sold a number of times over the 80 years, Mojo stayed in the back room, until one of the owners decided to lay the body to rest. Approximately 60 people attended Mojo's funeral we were told.

Anyhow, we are gassing up and getting back on the highway with good news for Mexia when we get there. It might take a while the way things are going with the Anna Nicole deal, but maybe you'll get your "Mojo" back someday. Thank you, Calvert, we enjoyed it. And oh yeah, Calvert is the "Antique Capital." That's right.

"Everybody Is Up To Something." sm