It is heating up again in Little Egypt. Summer is in full swing. Life is calm. Thoughts are pleasant. Amazon Prime Days are here. There are good sales for a discerning shopper. We buy many things online. Our Mall is empty. Full of liminal space like the movie Backrooms. We are becoming a nation of liminal spaces. ‘Because these spaces are meant to be bustling but are completely devoid of people, they often evoke feelings of eerie surrealness, intense nostalgia, or a quiet dreamlike unease.’ Ghost Towns are eerie. We both remember them when the people were there and fear where the people went.

At times, we have liminal spaces in our heads and hearts. Vacant places of people that we loved and laughed with. When did the change happen? Why didn’t we see it coming? In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, the Old Man thought the University Mall would be vibrant forever. He, MJ, Aaron, and Jonathon went on a road trip to the Mall and had lunch, a movie, and some treasures. The Old Man and MJ bought their wedding rings at the Mall in 1978. It was packed with people.

A few years ago, after the pandemic, I devoted more than a year to taking photos of many towns in Southern Illinois. The architecture was similar in the former coal mining towns. They had been thriving little meccas 50 years ago. Storefronts of Dress Shops and Suit Stores dotted the main streets. Many towns had more than one movie theatre and many family-owned restaurants. All of them had a Ghost Town feel. Where commerce had once been, and pride of appearance now was left broken windows or window frames with no windows. Twenty or so years ago, Antique Stores seemed to be the ticket of revitiazation for our villages and hamlets. Some remain, but many closed.

The Old Man walked through long hall after long hall. There were stairs and smaller rooms at the top of them.
There were classrooms empty of desks, no chalk in the blackboard trays. The stairwells and foyers were going ever upward to nowhere in particular. A massive room had been the auditorium 100 years ago. If you listened closely, you could hear the kids laughing. The ghosts of women wearing white blouses and long dresses with their hair up on their heads. There was a presence of absence. Just walls and halls. Once there had been joy, and everyone was talking at once. Little spaces filled with people, big spaces filled with people. Singing happened here. Band happened here. Art happened here…

There was the place the Old Man had whiled away the hours, lost in another world of cinema. The Orpheum Theatre was full of mystery. There were young lovers and old codgers. The kids laughed and hooted when Frankenstein came on the screen. The Lions Club gave away Christmas Baskets to the kids after the Christmas Movie. The air was cold and bright and full of hope…