Fargo
Behind the Glitz and Glamour
by
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A Los Angeles transplant turns the Midwestern, coming-of-age story on its head with a macro lens fixed on his former life in Fargo, North Dakota, where zaniness is as abundant as grains of wheat.
One of the more hindering elements for my sex life was living under the same roof as my Mom. First off, Mom has gas. Bad gas, and gas is not conducive to bringing over the ladies. Ron Popeil is her God: Veg-O-Matic, Mince-O-Matic, Dial-O-Matic,. If it’s “O-Matic”, it’s in her cupboard. Mom will buy anything off the television that fries food. But her pride and joy is the Fry Daddy. First it was the Fry Daddy Jr., then when I was in high school she upgraded to the Fry Daddy Sr.—the Cadillac of Fry Daddy’s, which led to the Cadillac of gas. Even though the fryer was a staple in our family, it was the bane of her health problems.
“Oh Gosh, I’m having a hot flash. Why do I keep having so many hot flashes?”
I shrug sarcastically and say, “Well, perhaps it’s from stooping over a vat of boiling lard all day.”
Then, after dinner, “Uff dah, I’m bloated. It’s that darn fried food, it’s so good but I get so darn bloated.”
And “bloated” means she’s minutes away from gassy, and I’m minutes away from nausea. But Mom doesn’t fart, mind you; she lets “boomers”. Boomer is her cute word for passing gas. We’ll be walking through Kmart, Wal-Mart, any mart, pick a mart, she doesn’t discriminate when it comes to flatulence. Suddenly I’ll hear, Phhtt! And they’re so loud that she is obligated to acknowledge them, “Whoops,
I just let a boomer.”
“Mom!”
“Oh, boomers don’t smell. Its just air.”
“Yeah, air that comes from your ass.”
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About the Book
“BUY IT. READ IT. PISS YOURSELF.”
- Anson Mount (Star of AMC’s Hell on Wheels)
FARGO - where a day seems like a week, a week like a year and a bullet to the brain like a blessing. A place where people hope their weeknight bowling leagues will improve a little each year, enjoy living in the midst of rainbow sherbet and the chance at a “Bingo” every weekend.
Unbelievable as it sounds, at age twenty-three, Fargo native Scott Nankivel decides he wants more. As the dreamer packs up his Dodge Dart and heads down Main Street for Los Angeles, he reflects on the youth he spent in small-town America. He shares stories about his gaseous, bingo-obsessed mother, who tried to cure his latent bedwetting with electric shock; the local prostitute, whose services could be secured with a shiny quarter; and the Lutheran minister’s son who decided to become a woman.
Nankivel offers an amusing and heartfelt glimpse into the zany characters who shaped him into the “man” he is today. He revels in the memories of Fargo and its people and ultimately realizes they’ve permeated his heart forever. If the Coen brothers put the town on the map, he plans to take it back off.
About the Author
Scott Nankivel was raised in Fargo, ND. He received a Masters Degree from Columbia University in New York City and has previously published one other book entitled, Beautiful Freak.