Small towns are different. I went home on Sunday to visit my mom and was reminded of this fact.
JoAnn’s sister lives about a mile from my mom. JoAnn had ordered some Girl Scout cookies from her niece. The cookies had arrived and JoAnn asked me to pick them up. She said that if her sister wasn’t home, the cookies would be hanging from the door.
I stopped at the house. No one was home, no cookies, and JoAnn wasn’t picking up her phone so I continues on to my mom’s.
JoAnn called a little later. She had called her sister and apparently her sister had left the cookies on the kitchen table with the expectation that I would come in and grab them. Now keep in mind that I barely know her sister and I’ve only been in that house once in my life. Also, she didn’t tell JoAnn that the cookies were on the table. They left their doors unlocked so some guy could stop by, wander into their house, and search it for boxes of cookies.
My mom just started a new job. Waupaca county just created the new Northern Waupaca County Joint Municipal Court. The newly appointed judge selected my mom as his clerk. Just a couple of weeks ago mom was looking forward to the end of tax season and the start of gardening season. Now she is buying judge robes, organizing an office, having lunch with the police, and all kinds of other unexpected adventures. All because my dad worked for the company that the new judge was a board member of. Small towns…
The incumbent mayor of Clintonville, Rich Beggs, is facing reelection. He has a couple of challengers. The local paper sent the three of them questions and printed their responses exactly as they were submitted. Beggs’ answers are fairly typical of a small-town politician but the responses of the other two are, well, interesting. Some of my favorites are, “They established a city with the name Clintonville…” (the city was established as Pigeon and the name was later changed to Clintonville), “After these cuts are made, we can make it work. Have a plan and make it work. Thanks, Clintonville, we can make it work,” (all in a row, not spread out or anything) and “Life reminds me of a battery.” These are the written and considered replies of Clintonville’s potential future leaders. For the true effect you really should read the whole thing (page 1 and page 2).
The drive home is about an hour long and it’s almost entirely through countryside. There are a couple of small towns along the way. It was about 1:30 am and I was a couple blocks from downtown Iola when three deer casually wandered across the road into someone’s driveway. A block later a rabbit darted across the road. I made my turn and covered the few blocks that made up the downtown, then I turned off to continue on my way. A block later my headlights caught an owl at the edge of the road. He looked about as startled as I was and then took wing leaving his prey laying at the side of the road.