Alabama Excursion - Part 2

In Monroeville, Alabama...home of author Harper Lee and Truman Capote, it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. It is not, however, a sin to think that every little gray-haired lady that crosses your path is Harper Lee herself. (is that sort of like so many years of bad luck? I hope it's not 50 since this is the 50th anniversary!)

We arrived in Monroeville (a.k.a. Maycomb) at about 6:30pm with no brisk hotel check-in. Apparently Expedia and Days Inn of Monroeville do not communicate well. After dinner, we relaxed in our room and I tried to be strong and not rip any pages out of the phone book as souvenirs. Alas, I did not come home with the page of L's from the Yellow Pages.

I was eager to get into town the next morning. We headed straight for the courthouse and were surprised that we were, in fact, the only visitors! We had the courthouse all to ourselves! We took picture after picture of the courtroom. You would have thought my husband was a professional photographer as many ways as he had me posing at the judge's bench. As I was taking a gander at Truman Capote's typewriter, I saw a short gray haired lady stomp into an office a few feet away. I thought I was going to have an "episode" for I thought that this woman was Harper Lee (or Nelle, as locals call her). The resemblance was uncanny. I was NOT trying to convince myself that every elderly lady in town was a famous author, but this woman could have been Nelle's twin. A couple walking through the building stopped and spoke to the lady, about town goings ons and I later asked them if that was actually Harper Lee. After a little stumbling around, they told me no, that Harper was in an assisted living facility in town. I was bummed but have found myself analyzing the photos I snapped quickly of the older lady in the office since I returned from the trip. Maybe she and Elvis are hanging out somewhere having coffee.

Of course I bought enough souvenirs it felt as if I were carrying around a bag full of bricks. We bought books at the Beehive book shop in the square and had buffet lunch at the Mockingbird Grill (your quintessential small town diner). On the way out of town I took photos of the rock wall dividing what was once the Lee property and the Faulk property (Capote's aunts lived here). You can now buy ice cream at a place called Mel's Dairy Dream, directly on the spot that the Lee family called home. On a lucky day, you can even catch Nelle's sister Alice in her pant suit and tennis shoes going into work, a lawyer at age 98.