7.22.2006

Waxing More Nostalgia


From the time I was four until about age ten, I lived with my family in a little brick ranch on Hiram Lithia Road in Powder Springs, GA. The neighborhood was a row of six or seven houses just like ours, sandwiched between the busy two-lane in the front and an old dirt road in the back. Most of the families had kids, and most days, the pack of us would walk the mile or so down the dirt road to Reece's, a little general store/gas station (quite similar to the photo above but without the mountains) to spend the nickels our moms bribed us with to go buy their cigarettes.

If we kicked the dry Georgia red clay in front of us as we walked, it looked like our feet were on fire. The dirt road was lined with honeysuckle and wild rose bushes, where we'd find things like kittens or snakes or old Penthouse magazines. Sometimes, we heard strange sounds from the deep woods, and we'd plan the seance we were going to have when we got home. Just within sight of Reece's, we'd hide, either behind the trees or in some bushes, and pray to get a glimpse of the dwarf family who lived in the basement of the store. And oh, to spot the baby dwarf! Mom, dad, sister, brother, sometimes the infant in one of their arms. They were so "other" in a small town where everyone looked alike.

We had all the elements of the ideal adventure: an interesting journey, grave danger (If Mr. or Mrs. Reece caught us spying, they wouldn't let us get our Zero bars and Chico Stix.), and the possibility of discovering that treasure at the end.

5 comments:

minus five said...

did you not have to be 18 to buy cigarettes in powder springs?

i didn't know any dwarfs. only midgets. the ones i know are famous midgets. they were in the wizard of oz and the man midget was the original buster brown boy. they go to my church at home and we used to compete with each other to be taller than them. it seemed to take forever to grow bigger than the midgets, but now i tower over them. i'm about two man midgets high.

Tania Rochelle said...

We called them midgets too. But I found out they prefer to be called dwarfs or little people, even if, technically, they aren't dwarfs. So here I called them dwarfs.

I didn't want to. I like the word midget.

I also like Gidget.

minus five said...

yeah, i agree. midget sounds much cooler than dwarf.

Anonymous said...

why did you have to bring up Reece's store. i feel so guilty. i still owe them $1.75 (they let me run a tab and pay weekly.)

Tania Rochelle said...

Next I'll bring up the public library, Mamoo. How much do you owe them?

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