HELP! Need city map- mid-1980s

Ever read a story that had people driving down a street that hadn't been created yet...or no longer existed at the time of the story?

That's what I'm trying to avoid...so if you know of a source of online or other maps of Wichita Falls in other decades it would help a lot.

(Excerpt) Threat to Graduating (v.4- 4/3/14)

Jay’s home room teacher handed him a note, folded in half, with ‘Mr. Harris’ written on the outside in spidery handwriting. Unfolding it, he read, “Pls see me ASP re grad reqmnts.”  It was signed “P. Phelps.”

Miss Phelps (nobody knew what the ‘P’ stood for) was the academics counselor for his part of the alphabet. At five-foot-nothing and a hundred pounds, she looked afraid of her own shadow. Looks, in this case, were definitely deceiving. Rumor had it that she had already been a school counselor when Mr. Tubman, the principal, had gone to this same high school. More than once Jay had seen Mr. Tubman turn tail rather than argue with her.

Jay knocked gently on her office door. From the other side of the door a raspy voice screeched, “Well don’t just stand there, come in, come in.” As he entered, Jay could barely see the top of her blue-tinged hair over the stack of year books and folders on her desk. Two vein-streaked hands parted the piles and Miss Phelps came into view. She stared at Jay, cocking her head first to the left, then to the right. She closed her eyes and appeared to drift off.

“Uhhh...Jay Harris, ma'am.”

Her eyes opened and blinked rapidly. She looked down at the large calendar pad on her battered oak desk, then back at Jay. “You must be Mr. Harris.”

“You sent for me?”

She looked up at the ceiling in thought. “Yes…of course I did. Can’t imagine you’d just drop by to bring me chocolates or pass the time of day.” Her face crinkled into a smile and a cackling sound escaped from her throat.

God, was that a laugh or is she choking? Jay felt light-headed and realized he was holding his breath. He exhaled slowly as her face returned to normal. “You wanted to see me about something? Perhaps graduation?”

“Yes…yes, of course. Let's just see here now.” Jay saw his name on the folder she flipped open. “Hmmm.” She ran her fingers down a list of his classes that had a grade next to each entry. “Hmmm…A…B…B+….A….” Her finger paused at the last class in the list. “Ah, here it is…yes.” She looked up at Jay, who was still standing. “Well sit down…sit down…hurts my neck to be looking up at you. Lands sake!” Jay sat in the ancient wooden chair in front of her desk.

“Better…much better. Now about your grade in Physics. A grade of ‘D’ won’t do, Mr. Harris, won’t do at all. If you expect to walk across that platform with the other Seniors, you need at least a ‘C’.”

Jay felt his face and neck getting blotchy and sweat was dripping down his sides. “Sorry, Miss Phelps. I’ve tried and tried to learn the stuff Mr. Montgomery is teaching us. I use the same formulas as other kids. But my falling bodies never hit the ground the same time as theirs do.” Jay added, “And my boats never reach the opposite river bank at the right point either. Same river current, same wind as everyone in the class. My boats go too far downstream…or not far enough.”

Miss Phelps made a scolding sound that reminded Jay of frogs mating. “Well, we can’t have that can we. World would be a disaster, wouldn’t it? Falling bodies and boats acting willy-nilly and breaking the laws of physics. I shall get you a tutor from Midwestern College.” She scribbled a note in his folder, then threw the folder into the Out box.

When Jay didn’t immediately leave, she stood and leaned across the desk towards him. “Is there something else, Mr. Harris? You aren’t going to propose marriage I hope. Really would be quite unsuitable…more like January-December than May-June, wouldn’t you agree? You may return to class.”

Jay stood up so quickly he knocked the chair over. “Sorry ma’am. Thank you ma'am.” He righted he chair and retreated from the office, forgetting to close the door. The sound of giggling followed him down the long hallway.

 © 2014, Charles Edward (Chuck) Pierson. WORK IN PROGRESS. Except as provided by the Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.

HELP! Anything else??

Are there other things I should know about life in Wichita Falls in the 1980s? Please feel free to leave a comment here.  Or you can email me at-
incurableoptimist@chuckpierson.com.  

HELP! High school prom info needed

I've never been to a prom and have only the vaguest ideas of what goes on. So I don't know whether the people who go are a cross-section of the student body or just certain groups of students. I don't know whether the atmosphere tends more toward fun, ceremony or 'we're outta here' (or something I haven't even thought of yet). 

A few details I'm needing at the moment are-

• which Sat. in April 1988 the prom would have been held
• the approx. hours (8:00-midnight, etc.)
• about how many people would have attended
• the 'agenda' for the evening
• live music vs. DJ
• anything that made this particular prom stand out from previous ones
• planned or scheduled events before or after the prom that were in any linked to the prom (or attending the prom)

NOTE: My book is purely a work of fiction. I am not researching actual people who attended as a basis for any characters that will appear in the book. Any info you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

If you know someone I should be contacting, I would really appreciate that also. (Please specify if I may or may not tell them you referred me to them.)

Please leave a comment on anything you think would be helpful. Or email me at-

incurableoptimist@chuckpierson.com.  

HELP! Texas Pawn shops in the 1980s

One major setting in my novel is the 'Lucky-R Pawn & Jewelry' in Wichita Falls. 

I once owned a 'buy-sell' store in Portland, Oregon that included jewelry and the occasional gun. But we didn't have a pawn license and we were a much smaller operation than the Lucky-R of my story.

So there's lots I need to know about Texas pawn store law, business operations and day-to-day activities. For example-

• Size (sq. ft.)?
• Space allocation between sales & operations/storage
• Firearms-
• Rifles/shotguns vs handguns
• How secured when store closed (locked 'in place' vs gun safe)
• How old employee must be to show/sell firearms (18?  21?)
• Pawn vs outright purchase
• Percent of overall sales
• Jewelry
• Pawn vs outright purchase
• Percent of overall sales
• Taking inventory
• How often (weekly, monthly, etc.)
• Method used in mid- to late-1980s (pre-bar codes)
• Paper (by hand)?
• Computers by simple spreadsheet?
• Computers with some type of inventory program built-in?
• Other?
• Anything I haven't thought to ask?

Please leave a comment on anything you think would be helpful. Or you can email me at-
incurableoptimist@chuckpierson.com.