When I was a kid I enjoyed the National Geographic our parents bought for us, and loved the maps they'd put inside every few months. A map is essential for navigating. I still have the ones I used for my summer of travel on the motorcycle to South Dakota Utah, Arkansas and Wisconsin.
Maps are cold things. They are efficient and single-purposed. They provide you a way to get from here to there. It is a one-dimensional exercise putting on paper what lies in front of you. They record places, but not people. They plot homes, but not hearts.
The map above charts the village of Seaton. It sits in the water shed on the East End of town where the town's water guy, the Wombie, has his daily work. The symbol on top right says "Not to Scale". All the homes, streets and alleys are on this map.
1. Our house, known as the East End.
2. This was where an old fenced hutch was that was the home of some sheep. It is where bro Phil found some brown M & M's.
3. This is an empty lot - was back when and still is. This is where we would (on holidays and family get-togethers) grab a club and golf balls and have a driving contest.
4. This was the garage at Roy and Mabel's place and Phil kept his nice convertibles. It was where we (the Wombies) would scare him when he walked home.
5. This is the Frey's house which no longer exists. It was where I ran away from home. Evelyn took me in and gave me cookies. They had the coolest lamp: There was a shade inside that rotated when lit as a kind of diorama thing.
6. This was the creek the Wombie and I would go as kids and hunt crick critters like frogs and crawdads. Funny, I wouldn't do that now for anything for fear of snakes. Didn't stop us back then, though.
7. This was dad's elevator. It still is there but now terribly dilapidated.
8. This was the grade school we all went to and also the ball diamond.
8. Yeah, there's two. Don't know why - pilot error. This was Mina Seaton's house, tucked back behind trees and bushes. Hard to see - was always mysterious and and a bit scary.
9. This was where someone put a donated a chicken coop as a playhouse for us East End kids. The fire department came and washed it all out with their pressure hoses.
10. This si the bank and the flag pole we raised a road-kill badger with a Seaton Bank check attached to its paw.
11. Every small town has its characters. This is the place where Dick Douglas had his house on stilts. He was a brilliant guy able to fix anything and usually seen with more than one pair of glasses on to get just the right prescriptive power.
12. The elevator weigh house. What a place to sit and just listen to the farmers who come in. Lehman, Frank, Boyd, Poverty Paul, a host of others and let's not forget VG who'd come in and pound his stuffed chair ranting about the "goddamn democrats".
A map will tell you the best way to navigate a one-dimensional area on paper. Indispensable tools for navigation and travel. But the next time you see a map think of the lives that lived it - trod it - made it.
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