Conversation with a Ghost

I was sitting in a remote corner of the public library the other day when a ghost from Ark City's past appeared. He was dressed in a white short-sleeve shirt and a tie and he looked mad.

"What's this I read in The Traveler?" the ghost said. "Someone said in a column that someone else said 'Winfield is a nicer town.' We never thought so."

Who's we? I asked. "All the town's movers and shakers of old. What do today's movers and shakers think? Who are the movers and shakers?"

I was tongue-tied, couldn't come up with an answer. All I could think of was who was on different boards, such as the Arkalalah board, the city commission, the hospital board, the Strother board, the economic development board, the county board, the Burford board, and so on. It was all very perplexing. I couldn't see how it all fit together.

That was quite a shock, seeing that apparition. He went on to say other stuff, about how the town was "tighter" now. Lots of needless rules and regulations, nobody smiling, lots of griping, people not wanting to work together, no common vision. Everyone out for themselves.

Later that day, I took a drive down B Street, from Fifth Avenue north to Kansas Avenue. I saw some really nice houses, and others that weren't so nice; they needed a paint job or the lawn mowed or stuff removed from their front yards. I counted six "For Sale" signs.

After I got my lunch, I drove back on A Street, south from Kansas to Fifth Avenue. Same state of affairs with the houses — some nice and others not so nice. I counted 10 "For Sale" signs.

That's a total of 16 houses for sale in what, just a few decades ago, was a primary real estate area of the town. There used to be great neighborhoods on North A and North B streets. Bankers, doctors, lawyers retail store owners, presidents of local industries, newspaper editors, insurance company people, car dealership owners — these and others, just ordinary workers and retirees, lived on these streets.

They kept their houses painted and their property cleaned up and their lawns mowed.

Don't know if I'll see that ghost again. If I do, I'll ask him what was the secret to keeping up a nice town.