Regarding Niobrara, Chapter 4

The people of Niobrara are mostly good, decent folks. Many of them welcomed us like old friends and treated us like family.

Rayder Swanson would drop whatever he was doing (including eating) to help Eddie with that cantankerous ice machine, leaks in the basement and any number of other things that required tools & patience. Ann Dather, our Sunday waitress and bookkeeper extraordinaire, become a surrogate mother to both of us. When I would call to check on things on Sundays she would comfort me, describe Eddie's mood and basically do what mother's do best - made me feel better.

When our cook decided to quit with little notice during the busiest time of the year, Jodie Reynolds came on board and took over the kitchen. She even brought her teenage daughter, Savannah, in to help. Savannah and Eddie were like a comedy team. The one liners they threw at each other during the craziness of a busy Friday night were hilarious.

Mary & Dan - wonderful, regular customers who had a knack for showing up with home-cooked meals on the days when Eddie & I hadn't had a single minute to fix ourselves something to eat.

Kim Swanson, Rayder's beautiful wife. Out of the blue she would show up, sit, chat and commiserate about how hard it is to run a business like The Two Rivers. She should know since she & Rayder ran it for years.

Then there was Dennis DeJong, a farmer/bartender from Springfield, SD (just across the river). Dennis worked at Norm's Bar in Springfield. Dennis and Eddie became friends and would take turns "serving" each other. Dennis would show up at The Two Rivers one or two nights a week to hang out with Eddie. Other nights Eddie would shut down a little early and go over to Norm's to get something to eat and raise a few Dr. Pepper's while Dennis worked behind the bar.

And of course, Arlene Liska. Eddie was thrilled that he could see Arlene pretty much any time he wanted. It bothered him that he was so busy he couldn't spend more time with her, help around her house, etc. Arlene joined us for Thanksgiving dinner that year along with friends who came down from Minneapolis. We knew by then that we were leaving but no one else did. It was a bittersweet day for us but I am so thankful that Eddie & Arlene had at least one Thanksgiving together.

I mention all these wonderful people because it is important to understand that they are there and they are good and they are kind. They are the sort of people you would want to have as neighbors.

Eddie and me are "city people". We came from large metropolitan areas - The Twin Cities & Atlanta. It would be easy to say that we had a hard time acclimating to life in a town of 400+ but I learned one very important lesson.

As far as people go - the only difference between Minneapolis and Niobrara is the number on the population sign.

Big cities and small towns are made up of people. Good ones, bad ones, happy ones, sad ones, friendly ones, unfriendly ones. People who drink a little and people who drink a lot. People who do drugs and people who would never consider it. People who are honest and people who lie and steal as a matter of course.

The difference is that in a big city you can be yourself in almost total anonymity. In a small town, your flaws are hard to hide.

So, the flaws in Niobrara were pretty obvious, pretty early.

The morning after our closing, Eddie woke up to a banging on his bedroom door. Screaming, cussing and threats to his personal safety soon followed. We later found out that Pat had some misgivings about selling his business. So he decided to let Eddie know by letting himself into the building before dawn, waking him up and then threatening him. He was "out of sorts", shall we say.

Remember the bad cell phone coverage? Well, for some reason at that exact moment, in that exact spot, Eddie got a signal. Being a true city boy, he dialed 911. And it actually worked.

Doug, the one and only policeman in Niobrara was woken up and he came right down. By this time Eddie had managed to sneak out of the room while Pat was banging around in the bar. He let himself out the side door and met Doug in the street.

Doug went in, got Pat and escorted him home (ok, so that wouldn't happen in a big city). He came back, sat down with Eddie and told him about the bad side of Niobrara. They were sitting right in the center of it.

The Two Rivers Saloon.