Big words
I had a window seat on my flight from Dallas to Tucson but I didn’t look out until the battery ran low on my laptop and I had to turn it off and stow it away in the backpack under my feet. As I sat back up, I glanced out the window and down at the earth. There, carved out of the dusty, Texas soil, or maybe it was New Mexico, in letters big enough to see from miles high, were the words “Eat Pecans.”
I have to admit that I was rather shocked at seeing words down there. Mesas, arroyos – yeah, sure. But words, uh, no. I started wondering. How big would those words have to be for someone to read them from a jet airplane? I don’t know what our altitude was, but we hadn’t started our descent so it could easily have been fifteen or twenty thousand feet. All I know for sure, is that we were at the height where houses look like specks.
I wondered how the letters were formed and with what? How did they get them so straight? The fill of the letters had a textured appearance, reddish-brown in color. Could they be pecan shells? How many pecan shells would it take to fill up words that big?
I wondered who thought to do this? How well was the idea received? Did people laugh at the mere suggestion? (“You want to do what?”) Were there meetings to discuss the project? Was an engineer contracted? A typesetter? Was there a ribbon-cutting ceremony? Did a politician give a speech?
Was this prized pecan growing country? Just a mile or so west of the words on the ground a thick swath of green snaked along on either side of a thin stream that was trying hard to make it through the desolate landscape to the Mexican border and beyond to the Gulf. Do pecan trees draw from these waters? Would they survive without the irrigation system that nourishes their roots? Is this the best use for this water?
What are the odds of me – or anyone – looking down and seeing those words? Eat Pecans. Why didn’t they put an exclamation point at the end? Eat Pecans!
Is this an effective means of advertising? Have these words on the ground boosted sales?
While in Tucson, I recounted this story to a friend. We were sitting around drinking a Scotch. He disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a jar of candies. Each piece was encrusted with pecans. I took a piece from the jar and popped it into my mouth. It was delicious. I wondered if I should go out and buy some of those pecan candies to take home. I didn’t.
I wonder if I will ever see those words again.
10:43:58 PM  Stories
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