toni stone
wonder works studio
401 buck hollow road
fairfax, vermont 05454
Pottersville July 2, 1998
all I remember is Jimmy Stewart in an old black and white film. he has an overcoat, a hat, a sad face and snow falling on him. that’s it. i know its a kind of Christmas movie, people watch it over and over, a cult film. i can never remember the name of it . why would i want to?
i don’t even like the film.
he is yelling. my husband is banging the dashboard. “what?” i say to him, turning the magazine page. he is pointing to a highway sign. i look up and out the car window in the direction of his jabbing finger. “Pottersville” he screeches. “okay” i say nodding at him. i know there must be something more of this, that he wants to tell me. “Pottersviille” i repeat it “Pottersville”
he is smiling, “yeah, Pottersville.” i look at him driving. he is waiting for me to tell him something or remember something about that place. i am failing the test. i scan my memory. “have we been here?” i ask myself, “i think not” I answer .
“does someone important live here?” i run through the mailing list in memory.. nothing computes. what is pottersville?
now he is not so happy. he keeps glancing over, waiting to hear something. i don’t know what sound to make. i have no memory of the place. he seems to have one and wants me to join him in it I cross my leg, the sign is gone now.
Mullein plants, chicory plants and guard rails are flying bythe window. we head down the highway to Saratoga Springs.
it’s sunny. it’s hot. it’s not our exit yet.
“Pottersville, you know Pottersville!” he repeats in a not so friendly voice. did he ask me to marry him there?
was he in boot camp there? does some hero live there? “what is Pottersville?” i ask to his disbelieving face.
he says, “I can’t believe you don’t remember” he seems to be right. i tell him. the grin is gone.
“this is from that movie”, he says. “what movie?” i ask. “It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart…how could you forget?”
“I can’t believe, you can’t believe this”, i say.
he says, “this is the town he comes back to, after he is dead, it’s Pottersville, it’s Pottersville.” i say, “Oh.”
i am writing this, so i can remember, Pottersville.
