excerpt
And for Joel, by freeing himself of that other stuff, he was now
able to find some room for the really good things in life and the
things he had been missing and didn’t even know he was missing
until now. Things like peace, love, joy, tranquility, and happiness
were finally able to claim some space in his head and in his heart.
And it felt good. For Joel, right here and right now, in the Hills of
Serenity, life was good. Very good.
Although the rundown buildings of Willow Springs told a story
of past prosperity, they also told a sad story of rapid decline in the
shifting nature of the rural economy and the communities that at
one time had thrived. There was not a single business running in
Willow Springs anymore. Even what had once been a combined
General Store and Post Office had closed several years ago.
It had been different at one time before the railroad shutdown
this spur line. Even then, Willow Springs would have survived
the faster transportation system of trucks and cars that made
travel to the bigger communities that much easier. The final
blow to the community had been the closing of the school. For
years, Willow Springs had been home to a two-room school,
offering grades one to twelve to about thirty students. Now that
the school was closed, there really wasn’t any reason for anyone
to go to Willow Springs, except to retrieve the mail. Now the
modern, shiny aluminum mailboxes that served all of the residents
for miles around seemed to be the heart of the
community—its aluminum heart.
Standing beside his truck on the deserted main street of Willow
Springs, Joel casually sorted through his mail. There was something
different today. Actually, there were two things different.
Two of the letters were looking very official. So darn official that it
scared him. Both letters, one from the power company and the
other from the telephone company, were stamped “Final Notice.”
Joel knew that he had been putting off these folks for the last few
months but he had been hoping that they would show him a little
more latitude. He had told them that he planned to catch up on
the bills, but it seemed that neither the power company…
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