I have never known of any place more like Mayberry than the lovely community where I was raised and that is Shady Grove, Mississippi. Our parents worked, but a neighbor woman looked out as best she could for my brother and me. I mean, she didn't come to our house or anything, but she was home next door if we needed her. It was, as they say, a much more informal time. Children picked up empty soda bottles and sold them for two cents to buy a real Coke for six cents--then a dime. A family of Smith Brothers stood in for the Darlings and nobody would think of missing church. Your only choice was which one of the two community churches to go to, the Baptist one or the Pentecostal one. Either way, you went to church. It was just your decision if you got to wear a little makeup or not. Everybody knew everybody else and their "ways." Their timid ways, their loud ways, their sweet ways, their gossiping ways, their know-it-all ways, their loving ways, whatever. You name it. But everybody had a "way." My beloved person says I ought to write a book. But I'm just lazy. That, and I'm waiting for enough of the people to die out so I don't get sued. Laura Lee Hobbs, Dime Store Clerk and Gold Truck Watcher and yeah boy, do I have some "ways" "Barney, you are a good son." "I try." ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com. _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://mail.wbmutbb.com/mailman/listinfo/wbmutbb_wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
