Friday Night Lights, Odessa

“Friday night and the whole town is at Ratliff Stadium. You can see the lights from three miles out. Dust rising off the field into the floods. The band blasting fight songs that rattle your chest. Concession stand nachos — that fake cheese that tastes like nothing else on earth. Everyone you know is here. Your dad standing with the other dads, arms crossed, living through these boys. The star quarterback throws deep and twenty thousand people hold their breath together.”