Welcome home!

As John ate his lunch he gazed outside the window of the diner and saw someone who looked very familiar to him.  He thought, "Why do I know her?"  He couldn't dismiss the uneasiness it gave him to not know her name or know why she seemed so familiar.  Again memories started pouring in and he knew her name.  It was Shelly, his sister.  Sister?  "How could I forget I have a sister?"

Shelly began walking across the street and was now heading toward the diner to welcome her younger brother home.  John was remembering her now as though he had never forgotten her.  This was beginning to become unsettling now.  How much did her forget and how many more memories would flood his brain the longer he stayed?

Shelly entered the diner, walked right up to him and gave him a huge hug and sat down in next to him.  She started chatting as though he'd never left and in an odd way so did John.  Kelly returned to pour more coffee and asked, "You two know each other?"  Shelly replied, "Of course silly, this is my brother John.  Who did you think he was?"

That question meant more than you would think.  You see only residents, past residents or like minded people from the outside were able to find their way to Roseville.  Kelly welcomed John home and gave her condolences regarding their father's passing.  "So, you'll be living in the old house?" she asked.  Shelly, turned to John hoping to hear the right response and instead he replied, "I'm not sure."

Quite Rooms

How could he forget Quite Rooms but he had?  Suddenly the room seemed to zoom in like you see in movies.  It was his memory coming back and filling his senses.  He was young back then and young when he moved away.  He thought he had made it up and dismissed those memories.  But now they were right there for him to recall.  Now, it seemed, he understood.  With all that he's seen in life he now can see the purpose and reasoning in it all.

There was always that Quite Room in every town building, even the churches.  The Court House, Restaurants, Hardware Store, Insurance Company, manufacturing company buildings, you name it every building in town had them.  Curious too was that as he was remembering things from his past he remembered that when he moved away his memory of the town faded the farther he drove.


Kelly returned with John's lunch but as she placed his food in front of him he had a different perspective than when he first saw her.  Now he noticed that she wasn't wearing any rings on her finger and that meant she was single.  In Roseville that said a lot and was not to be taken lightly.  Everything had a meaning no matter how simple and obscure it might seem.

Going Home 3

As John opened the door to the diner the smell of good home cooked food bellowed out onto the sidewalk and seemed to carry him inside as he sat down at the first available booth.  Before he even had his jacket off a young waitress, Kelly, was already greeting him as she poured water into a glass.  With a smile she handed him a menu and said, "The Pot Roast is our special today."  She asked him if he wanted coffee and his reply was, "Yes, please."

Kelly said, "I'll be back to take your order when you're ready."  And he replied, "The Pot Roast sounds good."  So she wrote up the order, went behind the counter, rang the bell and said, "Order" as she clipped the ticket to the stainless steal wheel.  As John glanced around he couldn't help shake the idea that he'd been there before.  He knew he had eaten there many times before but it was like nothing had really changed.  It didn't look old and warn it just looked the same.

As he was eating his eyes roamed the diner and memories began to come back.  There was a picture of the High School football team in the same place as his team's picture was when he was young.  Then his eyes caught something he had seemed to forget.  There was the sign "Bathrooms" and another sign "Quite Rooms" with arrows pointing to the back of the diner.

Going Home 2

As John parked in front of Mayfield's office, the town's one and only lawyer, he couldn't help think about how little the town had actually changed.  The barber polls, hardware store, the Diner and even the street lamps looked like they were brand new and straight out of the 50's.  The only thing that seemed progressive in the town were the vehicles on the street and the style of clothes being warn by the assorted people in view.

Of course those who witnessed John pull into town were to say the least curious about who he was and why he was there.  Was he lost?  There weren't a whole lot of ways to get into the town, let alone find it.  It was so off the beaten path that the only way you could get there was to intentionally seek it out.  There were to many signs on the road to the town that would re-direct any lost driver back to the highway.  Roseville was barely on the state map and if you tried using a GPS to find it you'd probably end up driving in Whitefish Creek.

Mr. Mayfield had watched John drive up and about the same time John stepped onto the sidewalk Mayfield opened the door to greet him.  Pleasantries were exchanged and Mayfield's deepest condolences on the passing of John's father were made on behalf of the town.  John signed all the papers needed to be signed and was asked how long he'd be in town.  "Not sure yet," was his reply.  "I'm going to stay out at the house for now and wrap things up."

John decided to get something to eat before heading to the house and asked if he could leave his car parked where it was while he walked over to the Diner.  Mayfield gave a chuckle and told John his car was the first car to park in that spot for over a year, so, he didn't think it would be putting anyone out.  The air was clean and the town had a simple silence that filled John's senses as he casually walked over to the Diner.  It was so reminiscent of his youth.  Most towns change as time goes by and we get older but this town was the same.  For John it was like going back into time and he couldn't shake that feeling.

Going Home

Going Home

John grew up in a small town and moved away to attend college.  But that was years ago and the big city no longer appealed him.  His mother had passed away a few years back and now his father was gone.  After being notified of his father's passing by his uncle, the town lawyer, he was told there were legal documents to sign and a decision needed to be made regarding the home John grew up in.  This was almost perfect.  He was wanting to get away for awhile but was sad that it took his father's death to prey him away from it all.

It had been too long since he'd been back there.  It wasn't as though he was running away from anything just running to his future.  The last time he had been back there was for his mother funeral but that was only for the day and had to get back later that evening.  John's life was like most.  Rushing to get here and there, make the deal, spend the money and make more money.  Going back this time meant spending more time there so John told the office he'd be gone for a week vacation, packed up his 2012 Lexus LS and took off for his home town.

Only 100 miles from Seattle but do to the location and winding roads it would be a 3 hour drive.  It gave him time to think about his childhood and growing up in a town that has one main street, no traffic lights and a 3 staff police department that only carries their weapons during the annual Pumpkin festival when the small town is invaded by thousands of tourists in October.  He hadn't been back for any extended period of time to see how much the town has grown or not grown.  Not knowing what to expect he naturally assumed that the town would have more of everything.  More stores, people, homes, churches and cars even but pulling onto the main street made him feel like he had gone back in time.  The only thing that seemed to have changed were that the trees had grown taller.