The fellow ahead of me at Walgreen’s was a big guy and he spoke with a heavy Southern drawl. He had a bit of trouble at the checkout and he told the clerk that he was “down here because my sister passed away.” The clerk was a young fellow, seemed a bit befuddled, not completely present.

The big guy must have hesitated outside the door because he was there when I stepped out. As he checked his small paper bag for whatever he’d just bought, he looked over at me and said “Well your weather down here is a lot warmer.” We just had the coldest day of the season, a low of 21 the night before. He said, “It was nine degrees yesterday.”

I asked him where he was from, expecting he would name some northern Mississippi town.

He said, “I’m a country boy, from the mountains of Virginia. My town is so small that if three cars park together at night, you know that there was a meeting and the taxes are going to go up.” Heavy drawl.

Bay St Louis has a population of about 8,200 people, the adjoining town of Waveland is slightly smaller. Folks along the coast tend to have a very soft, not heavy, southern accent. And people from New Orleans, which has a prominent influence here, have an almost Bronx/Brooklyn accent, with a touch of Canadian (the word ‘out’, pronounced something like “owoout” the way Canadians do).

I was speaking in my northern voice, maybe a tad less western new york nasal than a year ago. I said, “Well if you’re here a few more days, it will warm up.”

He said he’d be here for three weeks. His sister was 93, and he had just seen her at Christmas. Another sister had also died recently. I expressed my condolences. He said, “Things are too busy here, too much traffic.”

I said, in essence, “You’re kidding.” He enjoyed the brief conversation, as did I, and we walked slowly to his car which had a Virginia plate with a disability designation. He evidently thought I was a local. Which I am. Sort of.

I tried to say something nominally encouraging. As I slowly moved away toward my car I said, “Well, you’re taking care of business.” Doing what you need to do. Doing the right thing.

He would have been happy to talk longer. His immediate response to me was, “I gotta say this, I like your food here.”

Enough said.  His summation.  We exchanged friendly waves, and life resumed.