Texans Are Really Pretty People

[Kay Thompson Fields]

Sometimes stereotyping reflects a prejudice..Other times it is just plain true...Tennessee locals look different than Texans...Not in a particularly good way.. Let us just say"hybrid vigor"is lacking...I forget this until I have a day where it becomes really obvious..Wednesday I was mall walking in the late afternoon.. Completely rethink the concept of mall.. I was in Morristown, Tennessee which is about 15 miles from Dandridge..The high end store in this mall is Belk.. They have a Bath and Body Works also.. Maybe a total of 20 stores with an old school pet store...(not PetSmart).. As I briskly walk for my one hour I encounter 4 mall Security officers and 2 Morristown police officers visiting with this individual.. He is way pale white,emaciated, covered with tattoos and various piercings.. He is also very obviously high.. The Morristown police officer is on the phone.. The individual comments as I speed walk by to the police officer"Hey man you got me.. You don"t need to call".. My next lap at this exact spot was empty.. He was either being busted for meth or had stolen something..So after this walk, I head to Walmart...In Texas I was so not a Walmart fan.. I was a loyal Target shopper.. However: in order to shop Target one must drive to Knoxville.. From my driveway a one way drive of 43 minutes..So I adapted.. I use Walmart and Amazon.. I arrive at Walmart and the parking lot is full.. I then realize school starts all over the area on Thursday morning.. I bite the bullet and do my shopping dodging families with lots of kids shopping for school supplies..I notice an individual who is extremely thin.. Actually emaciated with some type of deformity on his foot.. He walked awkwardly.. He was dressed in black shorts and a black t-shirt with a South Carolina logo and black sneakers..He wore a bandana on his forehead  woven intricately in his very thin long stringy hair.. It was not very clean either.. He was tattooed all over and pierced which is common here among men and women.. When I reach the checkout line I realize he is in front of me...He purchases a black t shirt(maybe he favors an all black wardrobe) and a pair of shocker !!! black shoes... I think the total was in the neighborhood of $42.. He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a check.. The clerk says,"Who wrote this?" he replied,"I did".. Then he said he had ID.. He pulls out a South Carolina drivers license.. She looks at the check and his ID.. He says to her as she is looking at his ID.."I look way older than that,don"t I?"  Then she explained really slowly that Walmart did not accept checks for more than $20 over the amount of purchase... There was some back and forth dialogue and then she called over a supervisor who was a little girl who looked about 12.. She SLOWLY explained again that Walmart could not accept checks for more than $20 over the amount of purchase.. There was more dialogue and she repeated again the Wamart mantra re checks..This entire process took at least 20 minutes..There were seven people behind me in line(I counted).. Noone was the least bit disconcerted or seemed to find the wait unusual.. Finally the supervisor took him to an empty register to read something from a manual.. Possibly she was showing him where in the manual Walmart"s POLICY was not to accept checks for more than $20 over the amount of purchase..So Thursday morning I drive to Tellico lake to visit my friend,Nancy, who was camping there in her travel trailer.. The route takes me down I-40 through Knoxville.. I-40 is a huge trucking route on the east coast.. I am enjoying the drive and it is about 10:30 A.M. Suddenly in downtown Knoxville traffic is stopped dead.. Truckers are on my right.. I am in a middle lane.. The truckers start pulling over farther to the right and the people in the far left lane are getting through.. So I pull over to the left also..When we finally reach the problem I see highway service guys putting out cones behind their truck because in front of the truck a car has broken down and will not run..The vehicle in question was driven by a young lady..The vehicle was possibly 20-25 years old and was rusted beat up,etc..There are no safety inspections in Tennessee so you see amazing sights on the road.. I love this place,but native Texans and some Texas transplants look WAY better.