Bitter Creek, Wyoming had been stuck on the sidelines for more than fifty years, cruelly refused admittance to the only ceremony that mattered.
Down in Mexico, the five oilmen held captive by the cartel were told that in a few days, they would be reunited with their families. Only a few formalities remained.
The broken-down oilmen appeared unsurprised to learn of this previously unmentioned hurdle. Each tired face revealed the despair only a defrocked bully can experience.
In an abandoned bomb shelter just south of Bitter Creek, Wyoming, seven coyotes who had driven up from Hollywood that afternoon drifted off to sleep.
