The People of Backwater

The People of Backwater were one with the land. As the land went so did these folk. If there were hard times it showed in the way people would act to strangers. Now the people of the small town never much quarreled with each other. They’d go about doing things as they always have and paid no mind if their neighbor got in their way. The ones they took a strong dislike to were the visitors. Off-worlders who came in on their fancy shuttles and rockets could just stay in their cities and leave these small town folk be. When asked about why the people of Backwater hated visitors so much, the only one to not grumble and walk away, giving you looks that would kill a cat, was Tom the barkeep.

Tom was a nice enough bloke and never did mind the visitors, so long as they kept to themselves and paid their tabs. So when asked about how the visitors were treated by the locals, as they were called by the visitors, Tom would chuckle slightly and begin a tale that would cause their eyes to bulge and their jaws to drop. Now none of Tom’s stories were ever the same and the town folk could tell you that there was “not lick of truth in any of ‘em”. That never seemed to matter to visitors and they still kept on asking. Tom knew that if he told them the real reasons why, they would likely just finish their drinks and leave. He also knew that he would lose out on a prime opportunity to make some coin. The longer his tales, the more they’d drink and the more he’d make.

When times were good, as they often were, the denizens of Backwater were the friendliest of folk. Now visitors were never trusted in Backwater and rightly so. They would come out of the wood work at certain times of year, but never the same times year to year. So no one could depend on them for any sort of livelihood, but on occasion a townsman or two would milk those city folk for all their worth. Visitors also described things in the oddest way, calling things authentic and throwbacks. The townsfolk had no idea what a throwback was and wondered what something would be if not authentic. All in all, visitors still kept on coming and the people of Backwater kept on living. And Tom kept telling his stories.