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You Are About to Begin a Great Adventure

9/25/2021

by LAUREL BECKLEY

The Oregon Trail by Portland Center Stage | Flickr

You started from Independence, Missouri. It is 1848.

There should be other starting points, but right now this is the only one. Later, maybe, there will be more places to choose from. More years from which to depart even, as though you are a time-traveling pioneer treating dates like a rolodex, flipping past each one to find the perfect month, the ideal year, the best location.

Unfortunately, in this version you only depart from Independence, Missouri, and only in 1848.

At least you have options on the month.

Okay, not you. You don’t choose anything.

Your fearless leader does. They make all the decisions, and you are along for the ride, whether they decide to leave in March when it is freezing or August when the plains boil and you’re certain to die of exposure in the Rockies. They choose what supplies you bring, how fast you go, how much you eat and they even have the option to rename you.

Sidewalk Saint Louis

9/11/2021

by MEREDITH KURZ

Sleeping on a Concrete Bed by 2C2K Photography | Flickr

It’s 8:50 p.m. and the Eternal Flame Diner closes at nine. Although the lights are still on, they seem to dim as the last customers head out. Saint Louis waits outside for that moment between near closing time but not too close to lights out. She’s smoothed down her pants and plucked up her shirt collar. A tall woman with a good collar gets respect. She’s wiped her teeth with her finger, run a hand through her short hair. On the way uptown she washed up, giving her armpits and shirt pits a scrub, drying both under the blower. She puts on a little smile, because a full smile would seem aggressive and also reveal all the crevices of blackness, of missingness there.

The boy, it's always some young boy, gets ready to throw away the bakeries behind glass and the milk that's stood all day on the coffee accessories bar. Louis gently opens the diner door and says, "If you're going to throw those away, I'd sure appreciate them." She stands far away from him, from his worry.

You Are About to Begin a Great Adventure

Sidewalk Saint Louis

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