The Tiny Pecan Saga

A tiny pecan on a small gas station fork.

I was up in Oklahoma Sunday and into Monday visiting my cousin, Tom, in Ponca City. I stopped at JT’s gas station – although it was more like a smaller travel center – for some beer. I was walking toward the cashier with my six pack when I spotted a display with slices of pie. I thought about the lemon meringue, but I still chose the pecan.

I checked into the hotel and unpacked what little I had. I grabbed a beer, turned on the tv, and started eating the remains of lunch. In between bites of mini hamburgers, I had a bite or two of pie. It’s a sweet and salty thing.

I began to notice how tiny the pecans were. And they were all consistently perfectly shelled. Which made me wonder a number of things. Where did they grow these tiny pecans? And who has to shell the damn things? Is shelling them the “shit shift”?

Then the person in charge of pies had to place all of the damn things on each pie. How many tiny pecans does it take for each pie? Just eye-balling it, the slice had between 50 and 75 pecans. With six slices per pie, you do the math. A lot of freaking tiny pecans.

I get the point of the end result, I think. You are sure to get a pecan in each bite, regardless of the size of the bite. Which is awful sweet of them (forgive the pun), but I don’t mind taking bigger bites to get a whole “regular size” pecan. It also seems like it takes a tremendous amount of extra work to use the tiny pecans.

Was it a good piece of pie? It was great for coming from the same place I can get gas – although there are some “gourmet gas stations.” Would I have another piece when I’m up there next? Absolutely, if I didn’t decide to try the lemon meringue.

But what I still want to know, and want to know most of all out of all the questions I raised, is where do they grow the damn tiny pecans? Do they grow on little trees?

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Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.

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