Minor

Two 'Population 200' towns
Three minor characters in my story

Wheatland, Wyoming
A know-everybody farming community
A place where you're judged by the size of your belt-buckle
Where you're respected by how much muck covers your boot
Where Aunt Glyda lives in a marbled house with a horse barn and pasture out back
My great aunt, purple sweatpants, souvenir sweatshirts, turquoise jewelry


Who stores jelly-jar water glasses in the pantry


Who brings out the '12 for $1' water glasses for Thanksgiving


Who with no TV, survives with just a radio from '63

Kimbelton, Iowa
A 'your turn to go entertain the old folks' type of town
A place where the people above 60 out number the younger ones 3 to 1
Where everybody is a Good Samaritan, attends church every week
Where Great Grandma and Aunt Pearl play Rummy all day in















their sanitized nursing home
My Great Grandma, dark blue sweater, gold jewelry
Who loves to sit in her recliner and watch her Chicago Cubbies on TV, 'Do Not Disturb' sign tagging the door
Who gives out a Ziploc bag, dollar bill and Hershey's Kisses inside, after every visit
Who loves the Kimbelton Inn, always eating at the community table on Sunday afternoons, the scent of not quite fresh bread in the air
Whose funeral was the closing of a good book for my family

My Aunt Pearl, not really my Aunt, Great Grandma's lifelong companion
My Aunt Pearl, elaborate jewelry, vibrant clothes
Who leaves maroon lipstick stains on my cheek
Who has almost transparent skin
Who loves to do her hair up into 70's hairstyles
Whose hair styles about double her in height
'Honey, I'm sorry, but Aunt Pearl has''

Two settings that have more words on my pages than people
Three significant characters in my story.