It's amazing how 12 men, four brooms and one compressor can impact the traffic flow of a small town. We're not used to gridlock, but with this crew standing around the middle of our busiest street, traffic backed up from the drug store all the way down to the Sonic Drive-In.

Caught somewhere in between, my daughter and I watched from the local pizza place as the slow parade of cars and trucks waded through the roadwork.

While my reports are not scientific in nature, it seemed to me there were about two trucks for every car that passed by, with Chevrolet being the front-runner. There were fewer smokers than I'd expected and most vehicles would have qualified for the HOV lane with two or more passengers aboard.

I saw one Mercedes and one Jaguar, but as expected there were a slue of Cadillacs. All in all, General Motors seems to have our small town locked down pretty tight.

Now as for the crew, mostly they just stood around. The head guy parked himself just behind the flashing arrow, talking on his cell phone, while a couple of his crew members used their tools as makeshift pogo sticks. They appeared to be having a good time, but that wasn't true of anyone else.

A few local businesses had a little explaining to do. I saw plumbers, florists, electricians and repair trucks of all kinds waiting in these long lines. You could tell the veteran drivers for sure, though, as they knocked over a few of those orange cones in a rush to navigate the side streets.

One truck came by flying an "OU" (Oklahoma University) flag from his truck window. My question is, "Who let him in?" And then came a white and shiny stretch limousine. They must have made a wrong turn in Dallas somewhere.

The noise from a small, low-flying airplane harmonized with squeaky brakes as our town's citizens made a small splash on Ferris Avenue.

When I was sure there were no signs this was letting up, I too took to the side streets, where I saw a few locals peering around their yards as if to say, "What the heck is going on around here?"

But when they opened the afternoon paper, the headlines read "Road repair season arrives," so I know many a mind was set at ease.

Yep. It was a big time in the old town, today.

Copyright ©2001 Jeanne Moseley