October 25, 2012. Harper, Texas. A Local.

This evening we ate an early dinner with Joyce and Robbie at a new restaurant, The Bella Pita, in Kerrville.  As is usual, Joyce looked lovely while I wore a black skirt and a cowboy type shirt covered with ranch brands.  Joyce looked elegant while I looked just fine.  When we arrived, I noted a child and her Mother having dinner.  I smiled at them and said hello before sitting down, across the restaurant from them.

Five minutes later, the little girl came over to our table and said to me, "Are you from Harper?  I told my Mother that I had seen you in Harper".   Of course, I told her I was from Harper, but I asked her where she had seen me.   She is a charming polite child named Hannah, who is five years old and is in Kindergarten at Harper Elementary School.  She thought she had seen me at school, which was not the case.  We four introduced ourselves to her and we chatted for a few moments, then she skipped back to her Mother saying "I told you she was from Harper."

The four of us laughed.  What was there about me that showed I came from Harper?  It is a tiny dying town.  And it is a ranching community.   Not a bit fancy.  In fact, dull and dusty.  Certainly, the other three adults at my table did not appear to the child to be from Harper.  Just me.  I have become a local, finally, at least until I open my mouth.