In this scene, Steve is grieving the death of his best friend, Gus Lederer, when he receives some news.
Steve sat at a booth in the far corner of the café. Everyone, including Lydia, was letting him have his space. Death comes to everyone. Steve knew that. But for some reason, this one was grieving him more than most. Was it because Gus was his earliest and dearest friend in the desert? Was it because Gus had a heart of gold? Always willing to help anyone, even his burros—flapjacks every morning for each of them! Or because he was such an encouraging friend to Steve?
It was all of them, of course. He was angry that a mere spider bite did him in. After all those years living and prospecting and working in the desert, it was a little spider bite. Had he gotten help earlier, Gus not be dead.
He picked up his third cup of coffee and downed the rest of it. Perhaps better than most, he new that it was okay to mourn. Proper, in fact. But then he had to get up and get back to work. There were plenty of things to do. While the country was beginning to come out of the depression, it was only the beginning, and who knew what would happen. They were now calling it the Great Depression, the worst ever in the country’s history. So much suffering and death.
He took a deep sigh and looked around the café. There were a few patrons this afternoon, but not many. He glanced over at the counter. Rosie caught his eye and indicated the coffee pot with a questioning look. Steve shook his head.
The door opened and Daniel walked in from the garage next door. He’d been working on a customer’s automobile. He strode over to Steve’s table and slid into the seat across from him.
“Did you finish that repair?” Steve asked, ready to lay into him if he was taking a break.
“Yeah, pretty easy fix. Lot of sand up in the engine compartment. Matter of blowing it all out, draining the oil, and refilling it, checking fuel lines.”
“ Good.” Steve looked down at the paper that was laying beside him and picked it. “I prefer being alone right now.”
“ I know you do, boss, and I’m sorry to intrude. But I just heard some news that might affect us.”
“Yeah? What’s that?” Steve was tired of ‘news.’
“Apparently, there’s some guy named Joe Chiriaco who just bought some of the land along the freeway about 25 miles from here.”
“So?”
“Rumors are he gonna open a station, and a store, and perhaps a café.”
Steve didn’t say anything. Daniel sat for a while, starting to get uncomfortable. “I just thought… maybe you’d want to know…we gonna have competition.”
Steve scratched his beard. “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. We’ll see how he does. I know what it takes, it’s not easy. If we get out of this depression, they’ll be a lot more cars coming through here. Enough for everyone. Do you know anything else about him?”
“He’s from Alabama, though been living in Los Angeles the last few years. Apparently he came across that land, and with the roads continuing to improve, and how cheap the land was, he thought it was a good idea.”
“He came to the same conclusion I did—15 years later. Where is the land?”
“It’s Shaver Summit, you know, the high section of Box Canyon Road.”
“That’s only gravel right now. But I did hear talk they’re going to pave it. It runs parallel to the Bradshaw Trail. Good spot. That was actually on my list for another spot after we open Shaver’s Well.”
Daniel frowned. “So you’re not worried?”
Steve shrugged. “Not really. We’ve got a big head start on him, he has no idea what’s ahead of it, and everybody knows who I am and about Desert Center. Nobody knows this Joe Chicory, or whatever his name is.”
“Chiriaco.”
“Whatever. Thanks for the bad news, I wasn’t getting enough of it.”
Daniel flinched, but brushed it off. He knew his boss could be a demanding and harsh man, and his best friend just died. “Sorry if I shouldn’t have brought it up now, I just heard it myself.”
“It’s fine, Daniel. Would be nice to get some good news. Government idiocy, the great depression, fuel prices going through the roof…”
“Father!” Thurman burst through the café door and came straight to the table-side.
Steve looked at him, unmoved. “What are you so excited about?”
“I got some great news that’s gonna be great for us!”
Steve looked sideways at Daniel, then back at his son. “Go on.”
“They’re going to build an aqueduct!”
“What?”
“Aqueduct! Don’t you know what an aqueduct is?”
“I know what an aqueduct is, son, why don’t take a seat and calm down and tell us what you heard.”
“Okay, okay.” Daniel made room, and Thurman slid in beside him. “You know in the last couple years they formed the Metropolitan Water District. Trying to get better water through the desert. Los Angeles is growing and needs more water.”
“Yes, I am aware. What about it?”
“Well,” Thurman said dramatically, “President Roosevelt has decided that there needs to be an aqueduct across the desert. It will solve the water problems in Los Angeles for years to come, it will bring water here, and it will give employment to thousands of men as they build it.”
Steve looked at Daniel and again and back to his son.
“That actually sounds like a good idea. I hate to admit it from that moron in Washington.”
“They just announced the route, and it’s gonna go through the mountains north of here.”
Steve set up straight. Daniel and Thurman could see his mind working. “It ain’t just gonna be the men. Many of them will have families. And they will need places to live for a few years,” Steve said. He smacked the table. “We need more cabins! Expand our workforce at the café, garage, and the general store.”
Thurman beamed, glad to be the bearer of good news to his grieving father. Steve reached over and clapped him on the shoulder. “That is excellent news, Thurman. It means the end of our economic problems. We’ll be ahead of the recovery.” He looked at Daniel again. “And this Joe guy? He’s a drop in the bucket compared to what I can do for Roosevelt aqueduct workers.”
He stood and walked to the counter, shouting back into the kitchen. “Lydia, we’re saved! God’s ways are mysterious—because we’ve been saved by the President! I think hell must have froze over!”
Coming in 2024
Desert. Sun. Sand. And no roads or human settlements within 50 miles in any direction. The perfect place to found a town?
That’s what Steve Ragsdale believed. So he and his wife bundled up their four kids in their 1915 Ford Model T, bought a local prospector’s shack and well, and built a fuel station (a 50-gallon drum), a repair garage, and café. He advertised “Free food on days the sun doesn’t shine” and “No drunks, no dogs—we prefer dogs.” He was the mayor, sheriff, rockhound, author, naturalist, desert guide, and Santa Claus at Christmastime. He became one of the local “Desert Rats” and earned the moniker “Desert Steve.” Along the way, he became part of history: the construction of the first State and National highways, the invention of prepaid healthcare, General Patton and World War II, the largest iron mine in the United States, flying saucer sightings, and much more.
Based on a true story, this is the tale of a quirky, clever, and bold man who pursued a dream, wrote bad poetry, and found ways to survive when many would have perished or packed it in.
