Skip to content

Street Talk

Please, Oh Please! Let School Be Open

By Coulter Fussell


It’s been kind of a weird week on Main Street. First of all, as I write this it’s 12 degrees outside. That’s odd. Last night while I was pacing the cold floor in a panic hoping against all hope that schools would be open today despite the high potential for icy road conditions. I was never so thankful for the teachers, administration, and staff down at DES and Town Creek Learning Center.
I was thinking about volunteering to put chains on my tires, sprinkle salt over all the roads in the county myself, and personally give all the children of Water Valley a ride to school in my mini van if they decided to cancel school. I’ve been with my children constantly since a week before Christmas and, well, let’s just say it was time to return to normal. It might not take a village to raise your children but it definitely takes a village to raise mine. And this village does a very fine job of that.         Thankfully, the schools are open this morning and my child is safely in the arms of his surrogate parents at the wonderful Davidson Ele-mentary School.
But, in typical fashion, my three-year-old is out sick today. As a mother, this means I stay at home today. And as a Main Street business owner with no staff, that means my store will be closed. But the atmosphere on Water Valley’s Main Street kind of allows for that. When one of my kids is sick I usually put a little note up on the door saying we’re closed due to illness and I leave my phone number if anyone needs me. No one’s ever called cussing me out for being closed. Usual-ly, someone who read the note asks about my sick kid the next day. Al-though I have the same frustrations as any parent who works outside the home, Water Valley’s Main Street has been quite accommodating to me as a working mother.  
Another strange thing that happened on Main Street this week is that DeDe’s This $ That put up a huge, pink spray-painted sign saying that they were auctioning off everything on Saturday. I went into a state of shock and depression at the thought that Dede’s was going out of business. I laid out mourning clothes and was prepared to wear all black for the rest of 2014. But when I went to the auction on Saturday to say my final goodbyes I was told that Dede is still going to sell furniture. I was confused and still am. Either way, Dede’s This $ That has been a really fun business to watch grow.
Always different, always changing. I was their first customer back when they were in the little grey building by the eye clinic. And my business partner, Megan, went in to shop once and wound up working there for a few minutes while Dede ran to pick up his lunch. Lucky!
Well, this is my last column filling in for Mickey as “Street Talk” writer and it has been an honor to be published alongside the great Betty, Charles “Reflections” Cooper, Jack and Mr. Gurner, David  Howell, the praying and visiting crews from Tillatoba and Mt. Liberty, and the ever mysterious Staff Reporter. Thanks for reading!

Leave a Comment