Interview: Klecko, author of 3 a.m. Austin Texas.

Interview: Klecko Author of 3 a.m. Austin Texas.

BY ANTHONY CARINHAS

3 A.M. AUSTIN TEXAS IS ANOTHER CANDID TALE ABOUT YOUR LIFE. WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO WRITE ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE FROM 1982?

K: To me, Texas is holy, I’ve always believed it’s the most confident place on the planet. The people of Texas planted an attitude of confidence in me that I would never have found had I remained in the North. I’ve always wanted to write about Texas but to be honest, I realized I owe Texas a debt I don’t know how to repay. I guess before I took on this topic I wanted to go into the literary world and prove myself. I wanted to pay tribute to Texas as an established player.

AS LIBERATING AND DARING AS IT WAS TO RUN AWAY FROM HOME WHEN YOU DID, THE MESSAGE IN YOUR STORY IS A POSITIVE ONE. LOOKING BACK, HOW FORTUNATE DO YOU FEEL KNOWING YOU GOT TO SEE THE OPEN ROAD OFF-GRID WITHOUT A CELL PHONE?

K: Nobody enjoys being on the run, but some people are better suited for the trials. Some people are just wired to handle isolation better than others. In fact, I’m guessing you’d see the beauty, Anthony, since you don’t own at TV. That says a lot about you. People who prefer books to television are more likely to listen, or find satisfaction and beauty in any surrounding.

YOU MENTION HOW YOUR MOTHER’S SECOND HUSBAND GAVE YOU CASH BEFORE DROPPING YOU OFF AT INTERSTATE 35 IN THE DEAD OF WINTER. IT’S IRONIC HOW HE TELLS YOU “PROBLEMATIC SITUATIONS HAVE A TENDENCY TO BE FORGOTTEN WHEN THE DUMB ASS WHO STARTED THEM STAYS FAR AWAY.” HOWEVER, BY THE TIME YOU COME BACK, HE’S GONE. WAS THE IRONY SEEN THEN, OR LATER AS AN ADULT?

K: (Laughing) That may be the brightest question I’ve ever been asked. You’re right, Anthony, to point out the irony. It’s obvious, in plain sight. But I never saw it, or realized it. My heart was broken. I loved my mother’s second husband, but our family was so dysfunctional.

A FEW REFERENCES TO JACK KEROUAC’S ON THE ROAD ARE CITED, BUT WHAT I FOUND MORE INTERESTING IS THE REFERENCE TO S.E. HINTON’S RUMBLE FISH AND ITS COMPARISON TO THE OUTSIDERS. A BOOK YOU SAY IS AN “ENTRY LEVEL STORY” FOR ANYONE QUESTIONING THEIR EXISTENCE. BUT YOU GO ON TO SAY RUMBLE FISH “IS THE BETTER CHOICE” BECAUSE IT OFFERS “MORE GRIT AND TRUTH” ABOUT THE CHALLENGES WE ALL FACE IN LIFE. EVEN NOW – DO YOU STILL RECOMMEND IT?

K: I’d shave a year off my life to spend two hours with S. E. Hinton. She served as an ambassador to every young person who felt hopeless. I do like The Outsiders – it’s a gateway book – but Rumble Fish cracks the code. It uses concepts just out of reach, but with a promise that if you take the time to consider, you’re going to evolve. As much as I enjoy The Outsiders, it can come across as dated, but Rumble Fish is still ahead of its time.

AFTER VIEWING DAVID CRONENBERG’S SCANNERS WITH TERRI, AT A MOVIE THEATER, A GIRL YOU MET IN KANSAS CITY, KANSAS. HAS THE FILM BEEN SEEN SINCE, AND IF YES, WHAT DO YOU THINK BECAME OF HER?

K: (Laughing) Yeah, I’ve seen it a few times, and still enjoy how it remains consistently bad. I’m a big Lou Reed fan and every time I hear the song “Baton Rouge” it reminds me of Terri because it’s a song about missed opportunity. God, I wanted to have sex with her. I’m not supposed to say that, I’m supposed to tell you I was searching for intimacy, but I wasn’t. At this point, I was living as an animal, and I knew it. It made me ashamed, so that’s why I left.

VARIOUS PASSAGES DEFINE ALL THE HUNGER AND UNTRUSTWORTHY PEOPLE YOU ENCOUNTER DURING YOUR TRAVELS. NEVERTHELESS, YOU STILL END UP ENCOUNTERING MORE RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS THAN NEGATIVITY. DID THAT SORT OF COMFORT KEEP YOU AFLOAT WHEN FEAR CONFRONTED YOU? K: If you are complacent on the road, more than likely you’ll get raped, robbed or worse. Lots of craziness happened that winter. I received a state trooper beat-down. Got flashed by a half-dozen predators and had weapons pulled on me. But for reasons unknown to me, I came out of these episodes unscathed. I’ve never been a fan of playing the victim card. If an audience is gracious enough to give me their attention, I want to leave them edified. That’s why I framed this book in an optimistic light.

ELLIOT CHAZE’S NOVEL BLACK WINGS HAS MY ANGEL POPPED INTO MIND WHEN YOU COMMENT ON HOW A “HOPELESS ROUTINE” IS “VOLATILE” AND “FUELS FRUSTRATION.” ELLIOT CHAZE TALKS ABOUT THE SAME CURSE HIS CHARACTERS WRESTLE WITH AS THEY REBEL AGAINST MUNDANE-LIFESTYLES AND RESPONSIBILITY THAT COMES FROM MAKING THE SELF- MADE MAN. BUT ONCE YOU’RE BACK HOME AND ENROLLED IN COOKING SCHOOL YOU– LIKE THE CHARACTERS IN BLACK WINGS HAS MY ANGEL– SEE THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY ONCE THEY’VE COME FULL CIRCLE. WHAT MAKES RISK AND REBELLION IMPORTANT FACTORS WHEN SOMEONE IS BEGINNING TO TRANSCEND THROUGH THE RITE OF PASSAGE?

K: Wow, what an honor to be compared with a book off Gold Medal Press. I’ll bet I read that book twenty years ago. An escaped convict and an East Coast hooker? What makes risk inevitable when somebody is trying to get clean? For me, it was a simple choice. I didn’t have any aspirations. I didn’t want to be good. I just didn’t want to be bad.

WHEN YOU VISIT TEXAS, IT BECOMES APPARENT YOU RAN AWAY TO RECONNECT WITH A GROUP OF VERY CLOSE FRIENDS. NOW THAT YOU’RE SETTLED IN ST. PAUL, ARE THEY STILL PART OF YOUR LIFE?

K: I wish they were. I wish I knew how to do that, but that would require intimacy. I find it easy to be brave on the page. Or presenting in front of a large crowd. But if I love somebody, I don’t like to use words. I prefer to share silence. Over the years, I’ve found this isn’t a strategy that yields fruitful results.

I’VE NEVER HITCHHIKED, BUT I CAN DEFINITELY RELATE TO THE SCENE WHEN A STRANGER FROM CORPUS CHRISTI ULTIMATELY BECAME THE CATALYST FOR YOU TO GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR MOTHER AGAIN. A GUARDIAN ANGEL, IF YOU WILL. DID IT EVER CROSS YOUR MIND WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED HAD THAT INTERVENTION NEVER TAKEN PLACE?

K: That’s the “big money” question. A question that deserves to be supported with empirical evidence I can’t provide. But yes, I believe a spiritual force paved the way for me. Interestingly enough, at this point in my life, I was a white suburban kid who never experienced diversity until this journey when most of my guardian angels were people of color.

WHAT ADVICE CAN YOU OFFER THOSE TOO FRIGHTENED TO BECOME THE PERSON THEY WANT TO BE?

K: Recently I was lucky enough to have George Saunders help me on a book project. Throughout our conversation, he shifted from our topic to Buddhist principles. He spewed all kinds of wisdom but the one thing that stuck hard was when he said, “when you make a mistake, if you are brave enough to renounce it and move one, you can return to a place of beauty, immediately.” Like Texas, George Saunders has been a blessing I will never be able to repay.

Anthony, thanks for swinging the vine my way. If you ever find yourself in Minnesota, I’ll turn you on to walleye tacos. �

3 A.M. AUSTIN TEXAS is based on a true story of the author, Klecko. In 1982, when he was a young Minnesota man, still in his late teens, he threw away his life only to reclaim it while hitchhiking to Texas in the dead of winter. Long before the days of cellphones, this journey, made in abject solitude, save for a few people he met along the way, taught him how to be resilient and gain confidence.