Junction Box

Dixie went into the kitchen. "There's orange. There's cola," she called out. "Orange, thanks," I said. It had been Dixie's father's house. She generally rented it out, though it was currently unoccupied, and kept only a room for herself. Most of the time she lived in the mountains near Grand Junction. On a chair was a box and Dixie picked it up and held it close to her. In it she said were Dean's letters and some tapes. It was pretty much all she had of Dean, who had told her that he loved Renate, but that he did not want to die in East Germany. It would be hard for Renate to work in America. Dixie had said she would help find Renate a job. He talked to her about his need for America, about the movie he was making, about peace and love. From the box she took a few ballpoint pens with the legend: "Colorado is Dean Reed Country." "Have some," she said. "I guess you could say they're a rarity now." She gave me the pens then turned to the jumble of audiotapes in the box. Dixie had taped all of Dean's telephone calls ...»