P is for Pearson

I knew there would be some tough choices to be made when I started this project. I knew some letters wouldn't have as many authors as others. I'm still not to the really dreaded letters of Q and Z, but I'm getting there. I thought there would be more choices for the letter P than there were, but I'm oh, so glad I had this choice. Our P novel hits close to home, I mean really close to home. "A Short History of a Small Place" is a novel by Winston-Salem native T.R. Pearson.

In this novel, Pearson takes us to the fictional town of Neely, North Carolina. Ok, Neely is about as close to Reidsville, where I live, as you can get. He talks about the ice house, which has now been torn down, he speaks of Scales Street and Lawsonville Avenue. He even mentions from time to time the statue in the square. While other parts are truly fictional, you can see that Mr. Pearson modeled Neely, at least loosely, on Reidsville. This made the story more vivid for me. Now, if you don't live here and have never visited Reidsville, it wouldn't clear things up any for you, but believe me, it's kind of cool. Let's get to the story, which is very entertaining.

"A Short Story of a Small Place" is narrated by young Louis Benfield, but it's the story of the life and death of town socialite and eventual eccentric Miss Myra Angelique Pettigrew. We learn about Miss Pettigrew from watching her through the iron fence that surrounds her yard. Young Louis is not alone in watching Miss Pettigrew's life through the fence. He is joined frequently by his father, Louis, Sr., who is allowed by young Louis's mother to smoke, but not carry matches. He is also joined by other interesting and sometimes hilarious characters like litigation happy Pinky Throckmorton, Casper Epps, the plumber turned preacher and Mrs. Phillip J. King who knew everything about everyone in Neely. Of course every good story needs a monkey, right? Well, this one has one. Miss Pettigrew has a companion in Mr. Britches, a monkey who takes pleasure in shimmying up the front yard flag pole to relieve himself on the bushes and sometimes people below. This is the story of a small, southern town and its quirky, sometimes downright strange residents.

You'll laugh at the antics of the Neelyites while also thinking that you probably know someone just like many of them. Pearson has written a wonderfully entertaining book. Even if you've never visited Reidsville and don't know the Bypass from the Boulevard, you'll get a kick out of the residents of Neely and the wonderful tale spun by T.R. Pearson.