|
Talk of the Town / By Elizabeth Anne Massa
She returns every year for a visit to the little town where her mother was born and raised. She comes alone to breathe the sweet memories. Now that she's old, and anxious with family problems that never seem to ease, this contact renews her spirit.
The community looks much the same, but the houses have different occupants now. The door knobs she used to turn without knocking, and sills she used to step over into welcoming hellos, are stranger-guarded now.
She stays with her widowed cousin Janet, settles in and asks, "What's the news?"
"Oh, I saved a stack of Heralds so you could catch up," says Janet. The weekly newspaper has been a chronicle of events and people for a hundred years. "There was a train wreck last month just south on old St. Mary's Road."
Sure enough, the Herald had two pages of pictures and vivid accounts from eye (and ear!) witnesses of the derailment.
"Want to go see?" asks Janet.
"You mean it's still there?"
"Oh sure, you know how slowly things move around here."
She spent over an hour walking around the unusual sight. The engine was gone, but eight freight cars were toppled and jack-knifed into the creek, and looked like pre-historic elephants. Stuffed elephants at that, because the freight had been cotton, and recent rains had swelled the broken bales into gigantic "insides" spilling out all over.
She wasn't alone. Folks came and went, slowly walking around. It was the biggest show in town.
Everyone said a quiet hello. In small towns all contacts are excuses for a visit, so pretty soon she had to answer questioning eyes with the phrases used over and over through the years.
First it had been, "I'm Mildred's daughter."
"Oh yes," they'd say, "I remember your mother."
Later it was "Vera's niece." Everyone knew Vera. Then she too passed away from the town's life.
Now it's, "I'm Janet's cousin." Everyone knows Janet, who works at the bank. Satisfied, they all stand around and visit, exclaiming at the sight.
She knows who she is and where she came from and when she hears the distant church bells chime the hour, it feels like home.
|
