The strangers say hi at the Piggly Wiggly grocery stores, compliment my gold necklace, tell me I’m as beautiful as a Southern Belle, ask where I got my Gucci shoes. “Wow, New York!”

            “The people here are too fucking nice,” I say to my mom.

            “They’re not really nice, hun,” she says, handing me a glass of whiskey. “They’re just Southerners.”