REALITY: Change

Change is okay, change is good, they say.  But sometimes it’s not so good for everybody. 

This is a relatively small town, with Ron’s Agway’s, Susan the framer, and Ray’s at Village Food Mart.  I go into town hall and everyone knows me.  I beep and wave at several neighbors passing on the road every day.  Saw the trash man uptown at Ron’s the other day, and we stopped and talked a bit.  I go to Ray’s for little things almost every day, sandwich meat, fresh Harvest Bakery delivered  rolls an bread, the best chuck roasts and homemade sausage.  It’s been part of my life for almost fifteen years.  My brother-in-law owns the Dunkin Donuts across the road, and Cumberland Farms is next door to Ray’s.

The faces at Cumberland Farms change regularly and though I go for gas there every week, it’s rare to get the same cashier.  Today Sharon, Ray’s wife, told me they’ve sold out to Cumberland Farms.

I couldn’t help it; I teared up.  Sharon thought it was because she didn’t have my brand of cigarettes, though she promised that if the delivery came in before she left, she’d drop them off when she came by my house later in the school bus.

I don’t think Cumberland Farms delivers.