Wynngurg Grocery – Trick on Ann
By Joyce Caughron Rhodes
Sometimes, your memory can consist of something told to you and especially if you heard the same thing from more than one person. It is filed in your mind and becomes a part of your memory. I was thinking of the many things that went on in The Wynnburg Grocery. This store was like many other small town grocery stores. The building was and is stucco. There is still a wooden canopy built on front and the gas pumps (two) were lined up in front of the store.
Strangers were told to watch for “The Chocolate Soldier” sign on the side of the building and that would be Wynnburg Grocery. The store was always well stocked and very clean. Most of the time when you entered the store you could hear Harry Lee whistling. This was the place where the kids gathered to catch the school buses.
Farmers would come in to catch Lake County: Full of history up with the latest news and visit, while taking a break and having a snack. Then, of course all the regular customers were in and out, buying their groceries or gas. This was almost the half-way stopping place for travelers, between Tiptonville and Ridgely. By the time they got to Wynnburg, they thought of something they needed from the store. This was always one busy place.
I believe everyone liked the atmosphere of the store. It just seemed like a good place that people like to go to and they never knew who they would run into. Harry Lee kept things lively with the many tricks he liked to play. There’s the time Ann (last name unknown) came into the store and was shopping around. She walked to the counter and told Harry Lee, “I want you to cut some meat for me.” Harry Lee told her, “Just go to the back and my twin brother will cut it for you.” Ann checked other things as she slowly walked down one aisle. Harry Lee rushed to the back, several aisles over, put on an apron and was standing there waiting for her. “You and your brother sure do favor,” she told Harry Lee, while he was cutting the meat. “Yes, a lot of people tell us that,” he said. When he finished cutting the meat she wanted, he rushed back to the front, after taking off the apron. He was at the checkout when she got there. “Man, you and your brother sure do look alike.” She went home and told her husband, “I didn’t know Mr. Harry Lee had a twin brother.” He told her, “He doesn’t have a twin brother! He was playing a trick on you.” The next time Ann was in the store, she just grinned at Harry Lee, letting him know that she knew he had played a trick on her.
This is just another tale of many, that popped into my mind. Strange, how things like this can re-appear in one’s memory and then one thing leads to another.
