Garden City smelled like cattle. I had no knowledge of or respect for the Wild West that predated our settling there, but instead spent my days swimming in the world's largest outdoor municipal concrete swimming pool and trading baseball cards with my friends.

We moved to Onaga, Kansas when I was ten. My favorite baseball player was still Andy Van Slyke. I cannot recall all of the records I had by age ten but among my favorites were Prince's Purple Rain, the Fat Boys' Crushin', Michael Jackson's Thiller and Stacey Q's "Two of Hearts." I remember going to Sam Goody and buying Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits on cassette but was sorely disappointed to discover that it was actually the Eurythmics' version of "Sweet Dreams" that I was seeking. A nice woman in our church took sympathy and bought the Patsy Cline tape from me.