The Way It Was

It was a sunrise and a nightfall since he’d left Virginia Street for Geiger Grade. Declan recalled how hopeless he’d felt as he pushed the hand cart, filled with supplies, up the narrow dirt trail, and along the mountainous slope.

Now he was less than a day away from Virginia City, his new assignment. He was to join the remaining twenty-nine people stationed in the town, all there to help maintain its upkeep.

Above him, he saw a battered and worn red and yellow sign and recognized the word ‘museum.’ Whatever else it said, he couldn’t read it, the thing was so neglected.

“I haven’t seen that old sign since I was a little boy,” Declan smiled, letting the memory wash over him, like a warm wave.

As he stood looking up at it, he wondered, was the sign an advert for a museum in the town, or was it for the surrounding land, filled with untamed scrub pine, rocks, and dirt. He couldn’t recall and being tired and hungry, he had no desire to even try.

It was then that Declan realized that no one would miss him and turned the cart off the trail, guiding it up the hillside.