Thirteen Things About Small Towns

1. You really do recognize people by their cars.
2. Often, homes and addresses are referred to by their previous owners. Example: “Oh, you live in the old Smith place?” when the Smiths lived there no less than 30 years ago and has had 3 owners since.
3. Charge accounts at local businesses are just ‘how things work’. “Charge it!” you say, and the clerks write your name at the top of the slip without having to ask.
4. Everyone knows your business before you do. “I heard your mother got a new haircut! What do you think?” *blink* “She did?” Buy a pregnancy test? You’ll be getting calls of congrats before you can read the results.
5. The bars and the grocery store are the only things open on Sunday.
6. Everything is in walking distance… but everyone drives there anyway.
7. It’s strangely common to drive around town just to see who’s at the local bars that night.
8. Everyone seems to be somehow related to everyone else. Creepy.
9. The local cops let the locals drive drunk… as long as they’re just going straight home. After all, you can’t just arrest /everyone/… soon, nobody would go to the bars, and then there’d be hell to pay.
10. You can connect to everyone in town within 2-3 degrees. Guaranteed. “Jane Smith - who’s that?” “Oh, it’s John Doe’s sister. You know John Doe, don’t you? He married Sue Smith - used to be Sue Black?” “Ohh! I know who you’re talking about!”
11. You cannot go have dinner with a friend without someone else in the diner sitting down for a chat. For that matter, you can’t go to the post office, grocery store, or anywhere else without ‘chat’, either.
12. There’s a lot of incompetent people working in various places… but you can’t fire them. That’d just be cruel… And besides, who would take their place?
13. 20 years later, you will still know the names of everyone you graduated with in high school… and their siblings… and their parents… and their high school sweethearts.

5 Comments »

1. What a fun list..these are reasons we would like to live in a small town one day!

   Comment by amy — June 14, 2007 @ 5:11 am

2. Great list!

   Comment by Michelle M Pillow — June 14, 2007 @ 8:08 am

3. Happy TT! What a fun list!

   Comment by Raven Paranormal Blog — June 14, 2007 @ 8:08 am

4. Great list. Sounds like my town.

   Comment by Drew — June 14, 2007 @ 1:26 pm

5. I’ve a story idea set in a small town so your list has given me some nice detail I can include. Thanks :-)

   Comment by Mark Caldwell — July 12, 2007 @ 3:11 pm

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