Nostalgia and Sadness

In Clarksville, Arkansas, there was a flea market. It was right off of the highway and I remember it well...

Just before starting seminary, my Committee on Preparation for Ministry liason wanted to finally meet my wife. We arranged to meet in Clarksville since it was close to halfway between Fayetteville (where we lived) and North Little Rock (where he lived). We decided to meet in the flea market parking lot and find a restaurant once we got to town.

The place was huge, there was a ton of stuff. Marie even found a couple of Nancy Drew books to take send to her younger neice in Michigan. The chain link fence separating the store from the interstate was used by the local high school kids to put up messages with styrofoam cups in the mesh of the fence.

As I said there was a flea market. All that remains of the flea market is the faded sign that points down the road by a gas station on the main street. It's almost hidden in the mess of signs on that corner.

Now it's Clarksville's biggest Porn Emporium. Nostalgia and sadness--and no, we didn't go in this time.