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The best things in life are free.

One day a few years ago my mother and I drove up to Smethport, Pennsylvania just to see the town and to enjoy the Allegheny Plateau scenery along the way. Smethport is an interesting little town with lots of well-maintained Victorian mansions near a beautiful little lake. It’s also the McKean County seat and there’s a magnificent stone courthouse across the main street from Smethport’s unique business district that lies almost exclusively on one side of the main drag.

We were eating lunch in the old part of the Smethport Diner, the part that faces the street, when four senior citizen men walked in the front door and just stopped dead in their tracks, right in the middle of the floor. They were well-groomed and fairly well-dressed so I didn’t suspect that any kind of robbery or nastiness was forthcoming. They briefly surveyed the few diners and then they broke into song.

The song was Zippity Do Dah and they rendered it with a barbershop-quartet precision that took us both by surprise and transported me back to a yesteryear that I had only read about in books. Mom put down her cheeseburger and watched while she listened in surprised fascination. I set the spoon back into my chili bowl and gave them my full attention, enjoying every moment of their impromptu summer serenade. I felt like I 'd been transported back in time to the Swanee River on a lazy, hot summer afternoon where I might be enjoying a picnic lunch of corn on the cob and southern fried chicken.

Then the senior quartet finished singing and a hearty round of applause erupted. Mom and I joined in the applause and, before I could reach for my wallet to extract a couple of bucks in case a hat was passed around, the four gentlemen disappeared into the back of the diner for an encore performance in front of the diners there.

On the way back home to Centre County we saw a mother black bear playing with her cub in the state forest along the side of the road. It sure was a nice trip and great day that I’ll always cherish, one that will always make me think that yes, indeed, the best things in life are free.