On a road in Iowa.

We drove out to this little town west liberty, ia in the middle of nowhere. You could smell the cows as you ziped through the cornfields on the little two lane highway. Arriving on main street usa it was nice to see our destination, the new strand theatre, all lit up in neon, where electricity shouldn't even exist. This town with it's two little streets has a life, a pulse, that many similar towns abandonded long ago. There is a downtown grocery store, a chinese restaurant and a spanish fish resturaunt. We ate a cookie at the Mexican Bakery, next to a puppet theatre. It was only fifty cents and very good. The movie we came to see, wallace and gromit was only 3.50 and popcorn and soda a total of 2.35. It was a step back in time. The wide brick streets, undisturbed by the massive SUV's that crowd our cities. As we were waiting for the movie to begin I thought about the owners of the theatre and how they must love what they do. They can't possibly be making money out there, but they are making dreams. And not just theirs. I can't imagine the kid, growing up in such an isolated place, having the joy of a new movie every week, all in walking distance of his house. It's unheard of in this day of highways and empty downtowns. This must be what America is supposed to be. But was it ever really? Were we ever this content?