The Lighthouse Keeper
BY DANIEL W. DRAKE
Hawkeye was waiting on the low branch of the pine tree nearest the back door. As soon as he saw me, I was greeted with "Happy New Year." It sounds a bit different coming from a bird, but, nonetheless, the sentiment was clear.

"Happy New Year to you, I replied. "Did you have a good holiday?"

"I did," the raptor answered. "The weather was fantastic and that means there was plenty to eat. I had a great holiday feast."

"Spare me the details, please," I said. "We will continue to disagree about what constitutes a good meal."

"What are you going to write about this week?" Hawkeye asked.

"Do you have any ideas?" I responded. "I am struggling a bit."

"You could write about your road trip to Raleigh. That would be a lot more appealing than those silly predictions you made last week."

"There isn't much to say," I protested. "We drove more than 1700 miles, but that's nothing special. The trip was without incident."

"What about your flat tire?"

"How did you know about that?" I was a bit surprised. "It was just a nail and the hole was plugged over in Hyannis and on we went."

"Didn't you find a great place for dinner along the way?"

"How do you know all this?" I asked. "Yes, we decided to spend the night in Fredericksburg, Va. and we drove into the old part of town away from the highway and found a wonderful family-run Italian restaurant. It was just what we needed after a long drive."

"What else happened?" Hawkeye inquired.

"Well, we had eight great days with children and grandchildren. It poured rain on Christmas day, but that didn't really matter because we were inside. We divided Christmas morning between the two families' houses, so we got to share some of the excitement of each. It was really fun, but hardly worth writing about. People don't want to hear about that."

"You would be surprised," Hawkeye said. "People like this kind of stuff. It's a nice break from the serious things you are always talking about and, besides, perhaps they are a bit nosy. I don't understand it myself, but it's what readers seem to want."

"Well, I am a bit uncomfortable writing about such things. It gets kind of personal and my family doesn't really like it when I write about them. I have to be sensitive to that."

"All right," Hawkeye said, with some disgust. "What great life lesson did you learn on this trip?"

"That's more like it," I said. "There was no 'life lesson' but one thing happened that brought home, once again, Nantucket's uniqueness."

"All right, tell me if you must." Hawkeye ruffled his feathers and settled in.

"I needed to re-attach a towel rack to the wall at my son's house. All that was required was a simple wall anchor, but it needed to be a certain kind of wall anchor. I asked about hardware stores. I got a blank look in response, along with the suggestion that I would have to go to one of the 'big box' stores. Not relishing that prospect for a simple wall anchor, I first went to one of the chain drug stores, which sells everything. In its meager hardware department there was a wall anchor, but it wasn't the type I needed.

"On the way back from taking the girls to a fabulous science center in Durham, we drove by a small, relatively-nearby shopping center and saw a sign for a hardware store. I went back later that afternoon, only to find the store's premises vacant."

"I then consulted the Yellow Pages, which were of the most recent vintage, and picked two other possibilities from the meager listing of hardware stores. Again, my forays to find them were futile. I found nothing; no trace of these stores."

"So sue the Yellow Pages," Hawkeye snorted. "What did you do?"

"I got in the car and drove ten miles - or more - through really bad Friday afternoon traffic to the nearest Home Depot. And you must believe me, finding wall anchors in Home Depot is as close as you will ever get to looking for a needle in a haystack."

"Don't get dramatic," Hawkeye said. "I am sure you found the wall anchors and I am sure you also thought 'I have come all this way to buy a wall anchor for 39 cents. That doesn't make sense. What else can I buy while I am here?'"

"You are absolutely right," I responded. "I spent about $20 to buy a 39 cent wall anchor."

"So what's your point?" Hawkeye said.

"The point," I said, "is that in many communities on the mainland, even the prosperous ones with welldiversified economies, the big box stores have driven the local competitors out of business, and continue to do so. Neighborhoods are missing some of the retail components which keep them vital as communities. You have to drive miles and miles to get the small things you need."

"It's called free enterprise," Hawkeye was quick to say. "You believe in that."

"I do, fervently, but sometimes the consequences of free enterprise aren't always easy to rationalize.

"Nantucket's size and isolation makes it somewhat immune from the effects of the changing retail landscape on the mainland" I continued. "If we need a nail, a paper clip or something else, we can still run down to the corner, so to speak, and find most of what we might need. And we can go back four times during the day if we have to, since we don't ever think about what else we can get while we are at the store. It is very convenient.

"There is clearly a cost to this convenience. Nantucketers pay a price for it in several different ways. But, in the final analysis it's worth it. I hated chasing all over Raleigh after that darn wall anchor and I wasted a lot of time which I could have spent playing Go Fish."

"You make a good point, Hawkeye said. "Nantucketers' ability to access local retail establishments is something they should be grateful for and support. But, truly, it's not as much fun as hearing about your trip."

"And by the way, I need to talk with you about your dog. He sits under the bird feeder all day when you're away and keeps the rodents away. That's just

not right!" I

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The "Lighthouse Keeper" reflects the views of the author and does not necessarily represent the editorial position of The Nantucket Independent. Please send any comments to drake@nantucketindependent. com.