The Big Table at Ellens-2

Small towns idolize their local heroes, probably inordinately so.

  But they do. 

 This is a statue of the baseball player Jimmy Fox.  Gave the locals something to talk about for weeks when it was unveiled. They all knew his statistics, where he played and a couple were even old enough to have claimed to have known him.  That may have fallen into the "Tall tale" category, but nobody could prove it.

Other fodder for conversation was of course, big local  events of any kind.  Such as this controlled burn of a local building.  Old wooden structure which would probably have been torched by some thug anyway.  But it did give several volunteer fire companies a chance to show off their rigs.

  Before I was invited to join the big table, I remember listening to Pat and someone else arguing the Civil War.  They know their stuff.  If one closed his eyes and simply listened, one could just "Feel" being there.  They knew every battle.  Every river that needed crossing and every player of any significance.  One of the fellows was the town drunk, reformed.  The other, Pat, was and is a collector of tow soldiers and other town and county memorabilia (aka pack rat).  It was just a fascinating conversation if I remember correctly.  They knew the politics and players of that war so well, or so it seemed.

  They always told the truth .... or as close as they could get to it.

Local happenings were always good topics for the table.  But other more pressing issues also came up to be digested and regurgitated.

One conversation with Bobby, a self made millionaire who runs the local laundromat, went something like this as I recall.

 "Bobby, are you so successful because the government in Washington helped you out?" 

"Nah....only help I ever got was a friend who bailed me out of jail in high school for fighting on the street"

"And a local farmer that loaned me $500 to get started.  The bank wouldn't, but he did.  I paid him off right quick too"

"Life is good twenty five cents at a time"

"Course those Goment boys is always right there ready to take half of what I do make"

"Now I understand the IRS is hiring 4,000 or maybe it's 16,000 new people just to make sure I stay healthy.  They tell me I got to buy health insurance or pay a fine.  For me and my employees.  And even after I pay the fine, I still don't have insurance.  Hell, I might just start drinkin again.  Guess they figure they need that many to figure out who ain't buyin and who needs fining.   They's callin it a tax now.  Maybe if they told the truth once in a while it might be easier on the businesses.   Thinking of sellin out and "retaring".  Just gettin to be too much"