Archive for the ‘small town’ tag
Through an Unlocked Door
A portion of this piece originally appeared in the South Loop Review, Volume 12, Fall 2010. This version is an adaptation of my master’s thesis for the Northwestern University Masters in Creative Writing program, which won the Distinguished Thesis Award.
AN OLD, TWO-STORY, WHITE CLAPBOARD HOUSE used to sit on a gravel lane just off Indiana State Highway 165, south of the town of Poseyville. On any given summer evening, you could stand outside the house and see the lights from three separate baseball fields. Strains of “Hey batter, hey batter, hey batter” might have wafted over from Robert E. Hunt Little League Field on the edge of town to the north of the house, competing with the churning, cyclical whine of cicadas. Over the corn and soybean fields to the southwest, the lights of North Posey High School burned into the night, illuminating games between junior high, varsity, and American Legion teams. And to the east, the lights of the St. Wendel community diamond would glow in the distance like a real-life Field of Dreams, enclosed on all four sides by phalanxes of corn that part for just one lonely gravel road. The spot where this house stood, at 8100 Indiana 165, was quiet even in daylight, the solitude unnerving for those used to the hum and throb of the city. Years ago freight trains hauling grain and livestock on the Illinois Central line past the edge of town occasionally punctuated the silence with a wail, but the track is abandoned now, and the only sounds come from passing cars or the wind, blowing through the massive maple and cottonwood trees that surrounded the house and lined its driveway.