Normal

Here on the mountain things are starting to look fit for human habitation again. Illustrious Mayor came by yesterday to give Belle the Swell a treat and update us after comments made at the Town Hall meeting the previous night. Ol' Abner stood up near the end of the gathering and suggested that those moving here from elsewhere shouldn't change our little town to resemble the old hometown...just go back to the old hometown. His comment drew applause from one side of the crowd and horrified Illustrious Mayor since he hails from same old hometown as the target of Ol' Abner's disdain. IM wanted us to know that "Tin Can Telephone Co" was still cruising the streets to see if repairs should be attempted yet. Meanwhile Ol' Abner had pulled the dangling telephone lines out of the trees and raised them high enough to allow us to exit the driveway. Bare wires were still showing, but the missing dialtone was restored. Just minutes later, said telephone company called to see if we had a working phone...duh...did I lose them at "hello". I asked that the service order not be cancelled because of bare threads of wires transmitting our voices. She promised to keep it open but advised that we would be dropped to the lower priority. Ol' Abner had plenty to say about that. Herein lies the paradox. The "old hometown" we came from was served by a "real telephone company"...maybe we will just enjoy the (almost) service provided by Tin Can Telephone Co. The truck drove slowly by several times today, didn't stop, but the driver looked our house over really well. I waved, he waved back. Maybe we won't have to follow our own advice.