My wife is always getting on me for not taking the kids anywhere. Anywhere special. Other parents take their children to islands in the sun, purple mountains, alabaster cities, museums, symphonies, zoos.I saw her point.
So I took ’em to Puckett.
Mississippi.
Now Puckett is one of those places where you have to be going to get there. With some 350 folks tucked into the southeast corner of Rankin County, about midway between Polkville and D’Lo, the town is below the state average in just about every category — which can be good when there are categories like unemployment, population density and moving on. Puckett people stay put.
We went to visit the Bentons, beach buddies who live in the Puckett suburb of County Line, and my cousin Benny (you remember Benny) who lives west of there near the Pearl River.
The purpose of the visit was to celebrate New Year’s at "The Shop."
Let me explain.
For some time now, the Bentons — Bob the fireman, Genie the teacher, Beth Ann and Hollis the softball-playing sisters and Mary Jo the youngest — have been urging us to come see Puckettians in their natural habit. And on New Year’s Eve, that habitat would be Guy’s "Shop."
Guy is Genie’s cousin. When his family got out of the chicken business (which is big in Puckett), Guy took the farm shop and turned it into a place where he and his friends could unwind. And he has plenty of friends.
As I told you, in and around Puckett are folks who never left or if they did, didn’t go far. They have known each other since high school or before. They work together and play together. Their kids hang out with each other’s kids. Many of them, like Guy and Genie, are kin.
And they were gathering at "The Shop" to ring in the new year.
Guy was ready. The floor was swept. Only a few oil spots to remind us of what it once had been. Colorful lights strung round. A couple of tables. A few chairs. A small stage, a karaoke machine, neon beer advertisements and a rope-light sign, glowing red, that said, simply, "The Shop."
Everyone brought food and drink, and everyone shared.
The party was already underway when we got there.
Revelers ran heavily into professional folks — local education and local business in the majority. (A late-arriving young lady who had obviously shown up at the wrong place was overheard on a cell phone to a friend complaining "every teacher I ever had is here." She didn’t stay long.)
Boots, jeans, camisoles and black hats were in fashion — sometimes on the same person. Puckett women are better dancers than Puckett men. Puckett men are better singers, though not by much. There are no wallflowers in Puckett.
Space prohibits a detailed description of the doings — which is probably for the best. The arrival of the lady-lawyer who represented Benny in his divorce and represented Benny’s companion’s ex-husband in hers could have created a tad of tension, but good humor prevailed and the evening went on without incident.
OK, one incident. Later I learned that an ex-wife poured a drink on a current wife (or maybe it was the other way around) and they had to be separated, but that’s about it.
We left around 1 a.m. The hard core stayed a few more hours. Then Guy closed it down.
The next day was Sunday, and some actually made it to church. (Others stayed home when they learned their preacher had found a substitute and gone deer hunting. There are priorities in Puckett.)
So let me say this.
Throughout our nation are small towns like Puckett. And most are struggling to maintain their identity. Jackson, Mississippi’s state capital, is less than 50 miles to the north of Puckett and creeping that way. About 10 miles south, a major four-lane is drawing development and people.
There are lots of reasons for Puckett to disappear before the next generation of Puckettians arrives on the scene. But I don’t think it will. You see, in most small towns, folks like those at "The Shop" are the ones who start the exodus — leave for the big city and don’t come back. But in Puckett they have stayed.
And I bet that if you asked them why they stayed, they’d tell you because Puckett is the sorta place where a Guy can have a "Shop."
Yessir, if Puckett gave community service awards, Guy and "The Shop" ought to get one.
Like my buddy Bob said as we left that night, "Every town needs a Guy."
Truer words were never spoken.
