Saturday, March 13, 2010

You know you're in a small town when--

-you walk in the front door of the Wal-Mart and you can see the back wall.

--you are crossing the parking lot of said Wal-Mart and you walk past a pickup truck with a trailer. And in the back of the trailer are three dogs. And a horse. Saddled, bridled, ready to ride. Lariat hung on the saddle. Three more hanging on hooks in the trailer walls.

--you wander past a restaurant and look at the fliers taped to the window. And you wonder. What's a hog baying? You're invited to one next week.

I'm sitting in a truck stop parking lot, looking across the highway at cattle grazing on rolling hills. This is Atoka, Oklahoma, in the Choctaw Nation. After reviewing the other things I saw before I settled down for the evening, I have come to the conclusion that I'm probably in a small town.

Believe it or not, this is not sarcastic. I live in Atlanta, and I'm comfortable there. But I grew up in a town like this. In Tennessee. It's almost like coming home.

Except for the hog baying. Not sure what to make of that...

2 comments:

Daniel said...

According to Wikipedia, hog-baying is "a sport in which bay dog/dogs are put into a pen and attempt to contain a wild hog for a defined amount of time."

qt said...

'Preciate that, Daniel. That fits the picture on the poster, and it's nicer than I was afraid it would be...