Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Where's PENGUINELLA?

Where's Penguinella?
Assuming you begin your trip on Route 95 above the Mason Dixon Line, and eventually travel south on route 4 long enough to see a decorative brick wall, on your left~ yonder in the grassy divider~ which bears this greeting: God Bless Y'all Real Good ..... where are you actually?
The town is small, about 1,400 year around residents. Lots of swans here, bald eagles, wildlife in general.
It has a well known museum, a well done river walk, and a medical facility. It is the home of Woodburn's Gourmet Market. The town is home to several marinas, boat related stuff, and a US Naval Facility. There is also a research complex.
That's just a sketch of the obvious stuff, there's lots more if only you ask. Or walk around guided by those free cartoony maps that are so readily available at the banks, at Woodburn's, and the Post Office. Or try the newly renovated Info Center.
This town is just off the largest, and arguably the most threatened estuary in the United States. It's a great place to be for so many reasons, until the mote is lifted.
So, where's Penguinella?

3 comments:

raven mad said...

The town of which you speak lies near other, broader towns. Populations are hidden off any road I ever traveled on when I was there. Residents came out only to be in a particular place like a grocery store, JCPenney's, or Sears. They seemed to eternally be present in a wooden chair at a Philly cheesesteak joint with trains on the walls, bagging soup cans, walking with green ski-caps on holding a soda bottle with no label on it, rowing in a tube with a golden retriever, wandering down the docks with a can of paint, standing on a loading dock with a piece of paper in their hands.
One of these eternal shadows was named Allen. He was one of the oddest people I ever saw as he was both a black man and an albino. He had mainly red eyes that darted back and forth in their sockets in a flickering way when he spoke.
Being from California, MD and actually living there his whole life, he married an extremely large woman, was a dj at weddings, and raised dogs. He worked at Sears with me and everyday needed reassurance that I liked him in some way and would pay attention to him - he had a lot of confidence but it was his way to be Southernly flirtatious. He also had gout which caused him great pains in his block-like feet; being a very large man he would almost drag himself around the store with refrigerators and his blue squishy lunch bag that said "Allen" on it. Throughout the day as his energy level wanned he would begin to look hang-dog then pass his red chapped hands over his face and begin to seek out chocolate and soda.
We had many a discussion about life in general and our own lives. For some reason we didn't have any issue discussing some revealing things. Allen would say that we all had skeletons in our closets, that perhaps his was getting pretty full. He would peer at me and ask if I had any in mine. I would say yes and he would laugh, his eyes staring and darting. My mind would somewhat recoil as I stood there always a little perplexed. Like the land on which he lived - his gaze existed, but I never really saw it.

Roger Owen Green said...

Where did WIBG broadcast from?

Penguinella said...

WIBG, better known as WIBBAGE, transmitted from Philly. Their hugely popular DJ was Joe Niagara. Joe's signature line was "That was so nice, we're gonna play it twice." He got fired as a result of the kickback scandals.