The charm, the innocence, the wonderfulness of a small town.
In my old hometown, when I was growing up, there were only two restaurants and one of them was Chinese.
WING’S Restaurant was a great place to eat and have fun. Really good food and jukebox selectors on the wall right at your booth.
Years after I left town, the big “W” from the WING’S sign fell down and was never put back up. Whenever I visited the town, and saw the restaurant, I thought it had changed hands and that, conveniently, the new owner’s name was Ing.
So they didn’t bother putting up a new sign, I figured. They just went with the happy coincidence that their name matched the partial sign above the restaurant.
But I was wrong. Ownership hadn’t changed.
So for years, although the “W” was gone, everyone still called the place WING’S. Now, however, the “W” has been gone so long that the restaurant is called “ING’S.”
To younger residents who know no different, it has always been ING’S.
But even long-time residents, who know full well the place is really called WING’S, now call it ING’S too.
Hopefully, no more letters fall down as new variations might be hard to get used to. “NG’S” wouldn’t work too well. But maybe “G’S” would be okay
©2014 Jim Hagarty
