Daddy, where’s Akron? Is it in Arkansas?
I had to think on it a while. I used to know a lot of cities and where they were, but a lot of time has gone by since I had to know that doggerel.
It’s in Ohio, I think. It’s the capital city, maybe.
Oh.
Why? You planning on moving there tomorrow?
He smiled. Nah. Missus Cornell said she was from there. She’s new here and said the winters in Akron were especially cold and wondered how we fared down here. She didn’t sound like she was from Arkansas, but it’s hard to say, because she teaches math, you know.
Math teachers have their own accent, do they?
I don’t think so. She just sounds so… smart. Like she’s from a big city or something. But Akron sounds like an Arkansas town, don’t it? Or maybe Missouri. She don’t sound like she’s from around here at all.
You should Google it, I said.
Huh?
I said you should look it up in the encyclopedia. Your school still has encyclopedias, don’t they?
Yessir.
And I wondered where we would go next.
Excerpt from Ordinary Handsome. Available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P46ZPA0
Free downloadable Kindle app also available.
Ordinary Handsome 