(Flash fiction piece prompted by carrot ranch, the theme of this one is hometown, which stirs up lots of memories in most people. Do you still live in your hometown? Did you move away? Or maybe you’re someone who moved around a lot growing up? My hometown is a big American city, but I focused on my old neighborhood. The strip mall in the featured image is in the old neighborhood, but it looked very different when I was living there. Link below.)
July 22: Flash Fiction Challenge
“Where’s the old UA Cinema?”
“Closed about twenty years ago.”
“Too bad, saw a lot of cheap movies there.”
“We sure did. Now it’s a church.”
“Really. How about Grocery Village?”
“It’s now some place that sells deck chairs and barbecues.”
“So where do people buy food, the Safeway down the street?”
“That Safeway moved a mile north into a bigger location.”
“On the last patch of open land?”
“Yep.”
“So what’s left?”
“Not much, but it’ll always be our hometown, even though it doesn’t much resemble what it was.”
“Time marched on… but at least we have memories.”
©2021 Robert Kirkendall
Robert Kirkendall 
Very good
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Thank you, Kelly 🙂
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This is the case for so many “home” towns now. You captured the change in our towns perfectly. ❤
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Thank you, Colleen! Incidentally there’s a Chesbro Ave in my old neighborhood.
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How interesting. My husband is from southern California and there is a Chesebro canyon. His original name was Cheesebrough, and his grandfather shortened it. Quite the mouthful! LOL!
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I wonder if that’s the origin story of the Chesbro in my old neighborhood? 🤔 Spelling is a little different, but not by much.
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It could be. The name is old English. Do you remember the company Cheesebrough Ponds? I always wondered about that connection too.
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I’ve heard of them now. 😁
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Good one. We hold to the sweet memories.
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Thank you! I think the key to happiness is to end up with as many good memories as possible.
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That’s right.😊
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Few things resemble the image we hold in our minds from times passed. Hometowns and people alike. It feels good to cherish those memories and be able to accept and respect the changes we find. Great take on the prompt Robert.
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Thank you, Rebecca, and those are some very true words about how we learn to live with change.
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Memories are the best and only way to keep a hometown the way it once was
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