Thinks I Think

If I wrote a book, this is how it would start.

There is a road that travels from the far southern tip of Gaston County, through hill country and farmland over small rivers and along dry creekbeds, cutting up north and east until it runs out into a great highway and disappears. It widens as it snakes through open land, and gradually narrows to make way through small towns: Eaton, Bradford, Sain, Denton. Through towns that are only towns by virtue of a roadsign and a long forgotten cemetary - Pineway, Fork, the ill-named Babyhead.

Just before the road runs out, it sprouts a half dozen tributaries and picks up the name Main Street. Here, it ceases to be a through way and becomes the place to shop for shoes and groceries and other everyday needs. On Friday nights, it becomes The Place to Be for underaged kids, piled into their beater cars or pick up trucks. The streets are lined with dogwoods that bloom in spring and autumn blaze maples that set the streets on fire every fall.

In the middle of the middle of it all is the square, an open space intended for a bandstand that was never built. Instead, there are four benches spaced oddly apart, flanking the square like sentries. On the far side of the square sits the police station and the courthouse, with a small firehouse behind. On the side opposite is the office of the Crier, the weekly newspaper, and Miller's Famous Burgers & More, home of the Best Burgers in Wellspring.

Home of the Only Burgers in Wellspring.