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The doctor’s waiting room was crowded but silent. Everyone was letting their fingers do the talking.

The sudden sound of my name startled me. I was herded into a holding pen with hopes of seeing the doctor soon.

“Don’t I know you?”

The sound of a voice surprised me.

“I’m from Brundidge,” I said to the stranger.

“Don’t guess so then. I’m from Samson.”

Proud to have someone actually talk to me, I said that I have relatives in Samson.

“Tura Wise …Peggy and Joann? The Caldwells?”

He knew them all. Bobbie had just celebrated her 90th birthday, he said,

“Samson, Alabama …. Snuff City,” said another man. “How we got that name was ol’ man Faulk owned the general store and put in an order for two large boxes of snuff — Rooster, Peach, so forth. When the train came in, Faulk had two boxcars of snuff. Nothing he could do but push open the boxcar doors and sell the snuff right there on the rails. Sold every can in no time.That’s how Samson got to be Snuff City.”

Back then, most every country town was known for something, another man said.

“Headland was known for Ed’s World Famous Hotdogs.”

“Never been a better hotdog!”

“Ed boiled the weenies didn’t he?”

“Didn’t put ] one drop of ketchup in his chili sauce, though.

“Looked like weak dishwater. But gooood!

“Steamed the buns and added a dab of mustard.”

“Been 40 years and I can taste ‘em right now.’

A lady appeared from around the corner.

“Who in here’s from Brundidge?”

“Do you know Kathy and Andy Sheffield?” “Spent a lot of time in the intensive care waiting room together. Got to know them and love them dearly. Tell them you saw me. They’ll remember us.”

About that time another lady spoke up.

“I went to see that play in Brundidge  and I laughed ’til I cried,” she said.”That was the best thing I ever saw.”

The nurse called my name. I sighed, disappointedly.

For just a little while, I was back in time. Back in Dr. Stroud Jackson’s office in Clio where folks congregated, sick or not, just to sit and talk.

Thomas Wolf was wrong. Sometimes, you can go “home” again.