How all this started

the long version

"Abilene and Austin are a sister and brother named for the Texas towns where they were conceived during their parents' footloose years. But their parents traded those traveling days to raise their family, settling on an isolated patch of desert in the shadow of an abandoned World War II bomber base, a place so desolate that Abilene and Austin grow up relying on each other to escape.". "To overcome the stark immensity of the West Texas landscape, Abilene pins her hopes on making Austin a pitching phenomenon - a "fireballer" who will eclipse even the legendary Nolan Ryan. Abilene's seductive exuberance, however, soon takes on a darker cast. As she drives them beyond the edges of sanity, it becomes uncertain whether Abilene and Austin will survive her manic dreams."--BOOK JACKET.