\u201cYou need to understand that I live in a town of eight men. No women. Out of the other seven guys, six are alcoholics. The maintenance guy is an alcoholic. The guy who runs the post office is an alcoholic. The sheriff and his \u2018friend\u2019, they\u2019re alcoholics. So I don\u2019t fit in too good. But I estimate that three hot chicks pass through here every week. It almost makes it worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacob is in his early twenties and runs Roy\u2019s service station in Amboy, population 8: \u2018the ghost town that ain\u2019t dead yet\u2019. Amiable, plump and a little stupid, Jacob is exactly the kind of lonely gas-pumper who gets blown away by the villain in the opening scenes of a Coen brothers movie. Like many of the other ghost towns that litter the floor of California\u2019s Mojave desert, Amboy stands on the old Route 66 and was founded to feed and shelter the millions of migrants who headed west along John Steinbeck\u2019s Mother Road to escape drought and famine in the thirties. But when Route 66 was bypassed by the interstates, the traffic dried up and the towns died. Amboy might not be dead yet, but it\u2019s not looking too healthy.<\/p>\n\n\t\t