Further on, we find the Old Broadway hotel. An abandoned flea market sits in what was once the downstairs ballroom. A defunct arcade version of Tetris, a game designed in Russia, stands idle in the corner. The magnificent dance floor is covered up by doormat-sized acrylic rug remnants. This is a hard place, not unlike the ancient Sparta.
Comforts are few and hardships are many.
Discussion with the owner of the mall reveals the change from an agricultural community to a service economy is not proceeding smoothly. Grin and bear it. A small shop operated out of the corner of a home is the only sign of living civilization. I step in to ask for directions to the historic court house were Dred Scott was imprisoned and Abraham Lincoln once did some lawyering. Out of the back room a woman comes from the ebb of a television's glow.