The People in the Town
A young man was moving to a small
town - one small enough that the general store still had a porch where people
could sit and shoot the breeze. There was an older man, evidently a long-time
resident, reading the paper and drinking a cold drink. The young man sat down
close to him and, after a while, a conversation was struck. Along the line the
young man asked, "So, what kind of people live in this town?"
The older gentleman looked at him
long and hard and asked, "Why do you want to know?"
"Well, you see, I really want to
move to a small town like this but I am very reluctant to move away from my
friends and the people I have come to know in the city. They were wonderful -
friendly and caring - good people, really good people. But my heart is in the
land and I want to farm. I just want to find good people like that to settle in
with."
"Well," the older man
replied, "I think you'll be very happy here. I don't know of a bad person
in town. I can honestly say these are some of the finest people on earth.
Yup...I think you'll fit right in and be very happy here."
Well, the young man was so pleased
and settled back for some more chat and to learn some of the folklore of the
area. As they were talking, a car pulled up with a family inside. They all hit
the store for cold drinks and refreshments and the parents wound up on the
porch with the two men. "So, what kind of people you got around here,
mister?" he asked.
The older man looked him over and
asked, "Why do you want to know?"
The father replied, "Well, we're
looking for a place to vacation for a couple of weeks. Have to get away from
our neighbors and bosses. Talk about a bunch of losers."
"Not your kind of people,
huh?" the old man asked.
"Let me tell you..." and
both the husband and wife launched into a five minute diatribe about what was
wrong with everyone back home.
Through it all the older man just
nodded knowingly and when they were done he said, "I know what you mean.
Well, I hate to admit it, but you will find a lot of that around here too. That
all sounds like the same kind of people you'll find here."
Upon hearing this the family piled
back into the car and drove off.