So I went to a funeral Sunday with my brother. My cousin Lindsay Pettus passed away. Lindsay was a big deal in Indian Land SC and Lindsay was also a big deal in Lancaster County SC which is where Indian Land is located. Lindsay was not one of those people that if you Google his name you have to scroll and scroll and be lucky to find. No sir you Google Lindsay Pettus and BOOM, first thing listed. I’m saying if your name pops up first thing you have done probably something special. Lindsay was truly special. This isn’t a blog about Lindsay or its not a blog about my brother and I being in a car for 4 hours total and politics never really coming up. Maybe at the end just a little but we were almost home so we really didn’t have time to get pissed off at each other. So that was a good thing.

What I am going to share or blog with the tens of people who may read this is about a bookmobile, kind of. Okay the less than ten of people who may read this. Nothing says excitement and riveting reading than a blog about bookmobile. I have lost what was left of my audience. That’s okay, this is therapy for me. When you go home for a funeral, it’s more like a family reunion than a funeral. In my case when I go home to Indian Land, it doesn’t resemble the place I was raised. It is South Charlotte now but there are little places in IL that still resemble my home town. Belair United Methodist Church is one of those places that resembles old Indian Land. Belair is the church of my upbringing. Belair is where my parents are buried, my grandmother, my cousins, which consist of every Griffin, Wilson, Rodgers and Pettus that takes up what seems like 80% of the graveyard. Only time I go back to Belair is a funeral. I digress. Lindsay and his brother, Hall Pettus or Junior as we all called him had a old country store. Pettus Store to be exact. Pettus Store is where I spent a lot of my time when I was a child. Many memories from that place. My dad who was about 5 ft 6 jacked up a man who stood about 6 ft 5 because he cursed in front of me. I was impressed. I met Arthur Smith. For those that don’t know, he actually wrote “Dueling Banjos.” Deliverance…….Burt Reynolds……you know, “He’s got a real purty mouth” or “I bet you can squeal like a pig.” That movie. A classic. I met Johnny Weaver and George Becker. I don’t have to explain who they are. Maybe I do. Mid Atlantic World Tag Team champions? Come on people. I stole my first pack of cigarettes at Pettus Store.

My greatest memory of Pettus Store is the Lancaster County Bookmobile that would make monthly visits. My grandmother would get my cousins and me and we would hightail to the bookmobile. Lindsay’s death as in anyone’s death you always go back and reminisce. For some reason that bookmobile will always be etched in my mind. The excitement of getting a new books to read. The Hardy Boys, Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Rookie First Baseman, by C Paul Jackson, how I remember that one I’ll never know. My grandmother instilled that in us at a early age the importance of reading and writing. She journaled back before anyone knew what journaling was. Reading is something I love. Books are so much better than the movies. With reading you can use your own imagination. One of the greatest joys of reading is that we can literally become another person whom we have never met, possibly admire, for an extended amount of time. There is nothing more relaxing sitting beside my fire with my finest scotch in hand and reading the latest novel by Ace Atkins about Quinn Colson, Sheriff of Tibbehah County, Mississippi. Reading stimulates the brain and I hear it helps prevent memory loss. Personally, I think that is BS. but you are never to old to learn. Why I just found out that El Paso Texas to Los Angeles is closer than El Paso to Houston. See….books.

I loved the old Lancaster County Bookmobile and I love that it made its stop at Pettus Store and all the memories that I have of that innocent part of my life. I’m sure bookmobiles like actual newspapers and probably hardback books are becoming a thing of the past which is a shame. we have computers now. Life is soooo much better. Right?

Rest in Peace, Lindsay.