Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I followed Highway 7 south towards Oxford. It took me along the western edge of the
Holly Springs National Forest, which seemed to be mostly swamp and scrubland. I was
disap pointed. I had half expected that as soon as I crossed into Mississippi there would
be Spanish mosses hanging from the trees and women in billowy dresses twirling para-
sols and white-haired colonels with handlebar mustaches drinking mint juleps on the lawn
while armies of slaves gathered the cotton and sang sweet hymns. But this landscape was
justscrubbyandhotandnondescript.Occasionallytherewouldbeashacksetuponbricks,
with an old black man in a rocking chair on the porch, but precious little sign of life or
movement elsewhere.
At the town of Holly Springs stood a sign for Senatobia, and I got briefly excited. Senato-
bia! What a great name for a Mississippi town! All that the old South stood for seemed to
beencapsulatedinthosefivegoldensyllables. Maybethingswerepickingup.Maybenow
I would see chain gangs toiling in the sun and a prisoner in heavy irons legging it across
fields and sloshing through creeks while pursued by bloodhounds, and lynch mobs roam-
ing the streets and crosses .burning onlawns. The prospect enlivened me, but Ihad to calm
downbecauseastatetrooperpulledupalongsidemeatatrafficlightandbeganlookingme
over with that sort of casual disdain you often get when you give a dangerously stupid per-
son a gun and a squad car. He was sweaty and overweight and sat low in his seat. I assume
he was descended from the apes like all the rest of us, but clearly in his case it had been a
fairly gentle slope. I stared straight ahead with a look that I hoped conveyed seriousness of
purposemingledwithawarmheartandinnocentdemeanor.Icouldfeelhimlookingatme.
Ac the very least I expected him to gob a wad of tobacco juice down the side of my head.
Instead, he said, “How yew doin'?”
This so surprised me that I answered, in a cracking voice, “Pardon?”
“I said, how yew doin'?”
“I'm fine,” I said. And then added, having lived some years in England, “Thank you.”
“Y'on vacation?” ”
Yup.”
“Hah doo lack Miss Hippy?” “Pardon?”
“I say, Hah doo lack Miss Hippy?”
