One of those Small Towns

It was one of those small towns in which sons regularly became just like their fathers, grandfathers and so on. And daughters became their mothers, grandmothers and so on down the line. And if you couldn’t point to the stone memorializing one of your ancestors, in one of the three town cemeteries—Methodist, Anglican and Catholic, or point at a decades-old two storey office building and say, “That is where the old bowling alley used to be.” or nod your head in knowledgeable agreement to does make the point, then you did not really belong to the town. You were clearly an outsider.

Some left the town, in search of work, but most returned, willing to settle for the less ambitious. Very few came to town except for the odd ‘foreigner spouse’ who had met their intended on a trip somewhere, as if the local talent wasn’t good enough for them.

When a new family came to town, they would likely receive a ‘welcoming’ that was anything but ‘welcoming’. Fireworks late at night were usually involved. And it wasn’t just teenagers that led the welcoming committee.

The Bentleys Arrive

The Bentleys came to town as a job had come up in a tech firm and no one in town was anywhere near qualified for it. Dad, Brian Bentley had a lot of appropriate experience, and he was a tech wizard. It was obvious to the open-minded that he deserve the job. But some of the local unqualified who worked in lower positions and wanted an increase in pay and status were deeply resentful, “Why hire a ‘foreigner’ for a job that should go to a local?”

           These folks joined the fireworks display that greeted the Bentley their second night in their new house. Family members weren’t all that disturbed as they had been warned. 

The Father

Brian Bentley was a geek, an he always had been. He had been picked on as a pre-teen and a teenager, and he learned to just take it, and then, at home, zap the bullies with his personally programmed video games. So, during the first week or so of work, when he heard the talking behind his back concerning the ‘intruder techie’, he just let it roll. Then he zapped some of them when he got home. He did not see any of his workmates socially, and when they ignored him quite conspicuously in the grocery store, he wasn’t aware of it. He would not be the one to lead his family to be accepted by the community.

The Mother

Melody Bentley loved three things in life, her family, her rose garden, and her hair, not always in that particular order. Her locks were her only vanity. She had extensions interwoven into her natural growth. She thought no one could see. But the women, some of them wives of the men at her husband’s workplace, could see it. And with their sarcasm swords at the ready, they spoke of her with jabs of ‘putting on hairs’ whenever more than one of them saw her in a store. She might have heard them, but said nothing. There could be no response. She wasn’t the one to lead her family into being accepted by the community.

The Boys

The boys, Bob and Bill Bentley were athletes. Football was their game, Bob had been the star quarterback of his high school team back in the city where they used to life. With him as pivot and his brother as his main receiver, their team won the city championship two years running

           They had no problems making the town’s one high school team. The old quarterback had graduated, finally, and no one else wanted the position. The old quarterback had been hit hard too many times. The coach had no problems adding the brothers to the team. He was tired of his team always having a losing season.

           The brothers made the team, but the team did not really accept them. They tackled the brothers harder in practice then they did their opponents in an actual game. And the brothers made loud references to the differences between the ‘loser team’ they were on currently, and the ‘winner team’ they had played on for two years. They would not be the ones to lead their family into acceptance in the community.

Then There Was Granny

Then there was Granny. She got tired listening to the complaining of her family in the new town, so she decided one day to take a walk to the local Senior Centre. When she entered, she saw small groups sitting around a table. At first, they stared at her and then looked away. One table had a single resident, so she walked over to it, and said “hi”. The woman looked at her unknowingly, and asked her “Do I know you?”. Ever a clever one in conversation, and eager to make a new friend, she said, “Yes, but we haven’t seen each other in the longest time. My name is Marilyn. With my bad memory I forget yours. Sorry about that.”

           “Oh, that’s okay. My name is Susan. I forgot your name too. Please come and sit with me. We can catch up.”

           “I’ll get you something from the cafeteria. Do you want tea or coffee?”

           “Tea, please.”

           Once Marilyn returned with two teas, she sat down, and the two old ladies talked about several subjects dear to them: grandchildren, how they disliked how their hair looked now, and couldn’t seem to do anything about it, and how packages of crackers now had two crackers in them instead of the traditional three. Time flew.

           When a few people from the other tables walked by, they gave Marilyn a look of questioning, and Susan helped them by saying, “This is my old friend Marilyn. We haven’t seen each other in many years. We’re just catching up.” 

           Over the next few weeks Marilyn made more and more friends at the Senior Centre. At one gathering when the band hire did not show, she stood up andled them in a few sing songs of the old songs. Two weeks later, she got her techie son and big strong grandsons to set up the equipment for a karaoke for them to have on Thursday nights. Her daughter-in-law brought flowers from her precious rose garden to decorate the place on those nights, and do her imitation of a long-haired Crystal Gayle that only her family had heard her do before.

           Granny was the one who led her family to acceptance in the community. Even when Susan eventually learned that her good pal Marilyn was a new friend, and not an old one, she didn’t mind at all. In fact, she laughed.