Mayberry, USA

It has been over a week since I returned from Alabama for my annual family reunion. My mind keeps turning back to Mayberry USA – I will use that name to refer to the small town where we were.

I have known Mayberry all my life. My earliest memories of it are visiting Granny and Popa, who lived just outside the town limits, having moved from the farm on the outskirts of town before I was born. It was a sleepy little town back then and it hasn’t changed much in the downtown area. There is still a dime store (remember those?), small shops, a church here and there, and at the end of Main Street stands the large brick Court House in the middle of the traffic circle. Just a block or two to the east of the Court House there was a small ice cream shop where my cousin, Gwen, and I used to go for banana splits. I haven’t had a banana split in decades! Once we stopped by and the couple behind the counter had maybe a little too much to drink and they gave us our banana splits for free!

My aunt and uncle used to run a small mom and pop gas station and grocery store. These types of stores, long before the present day convenience stores, were common in the South. Sitting at that store on any given day, one would witness a cast of colorful characters coming and going. Most of these folks, black and white, had lived their entire life within the state of Alabama without venturing out to the rest of the USA. They were farmers or employees at the old glove factory. Most never finished high school.

There were Mutt and Yvonne. Mutt was a heavy drinker. Yvonne, whose smile showed several missing teeth, was about as wide as she was tall and never heard of cosmetics and beauty products for women. But she could easily throw Mutt over her shoulder and carry him home when he had too much to drink.

Mutt and Yvonne, along with most of the other customers, would come in and pay last week’s grocery bill and put this week’s groceries on credit. There was a charge book for each customer and most all of them paid their bill sooner or later.

I guess you could say the store was a gathering place for the locals to catch up on the latest gossip or to generate more. In front of the store were metal patio chairs where customers would sit and chat awhile as they drank bottle after bottle of Pepsi or Royal Crown Cola.

My cousins and I often followed the dirt road behind the store that led to a big open field. In the spring and summer it was covered in wildflowers.

On the north end of town there is now an exit from the Interstate highway. I couldn’t believe I was really in Mayberry several years back when I returned after an absence of many years. Dozens of hotel and restaurant chains had sprung up on what used to be nothing more than cow pastures or pine forests. There is a Wal Mart Superstore! There are people from diverse ethnic backgrounds working here.

Yes, civilization and a new era have come to Mayberry. But there is still that sense of genuine Southern hospitality from days gone by.