six o clock silence of a new day beginning is heard in a small texas town like a signal from nowhere the people who live there they re up and they re moving around cause there s bacon to fry and there s biscuits to bake on the stove that the salvation army won t take and you open the windows and you turn on the fan cause it s hotter than hell when the sun hits the land walter and fanny well they own the grocery that sells most all that you need they ve been up and working since early this morning they ve got the whole village to feed they put out fresh eggs they throw bad ones away that rotted because of the heat yesterday the store is all dark so you can t see the flies that settle on round steak and last monday s pies sleepy hill drugstore and the caf they re open and the coffee is bubbling hot and all the folks that ain t working gonna sit there till sundown and talk about what they ain t got someone just blew a clutch in the old pickup truck it seems like they ve been riding on a streak of bad luck the doctor bills came and the well has gone dry seems their grown kids don t care whether they live or die