I took this picture last month in a small town in America. I had no reason to be there- the train I was on had stopped because there was a fire on the tracks ahead, so I was stuck for a while and wandered around.
The town was more or less quiet, even empty. Nothing was happening, except the fire on the tracks. I found myself looking at this building- a little run down, empty, and for rent. 
Then this man on a bicycle came around the corner. I grabbed the picture- it was the only sign of any activity I had seen. The man rode away and the street was empty again.
This isn’t an unusual situation in small towns in America. Many people have left. Large sections of the country have become depopulated; there just isn’t any way to make a living in these towns.
Local farms have been consolidated by large corporations, and machines do most of the work. The nearby factories that used to make furniture or textiles or typewriters closed long ago, their products outsourced from China or somewhere else.
Boys and girls graduate from high school here and look at empty buildings, down empty streets, and have no reason to stay. They go away to college, or move to the nearest city, and they don’t come back.
Some of the older people remain, like this man on the bicycle. Maybe he’s managed to hold on to the job he’s had for years, knowing he won’t be replaced if he leaves, still living on in the house he bought forty years ago.
Or maybe he’s even a newcomer, someone from the city. Some people decide to move out to quieter locations as they near retirement. They are tired of the noise and speed and expense of city life. Their children have grown up and moved away. They’re looking for something different.
They’ve thought of a retirement condo in Mexico, or Florida, with palm trees and beaches, but some of their friends tried that, and it didn’t really work out for them. Too foreign.
And this town, even empty, is still very attractive. You can see grand old houses on the hills around the train station, the streets are shaded with beautiful trees, and close by, a wide river flows peacefully toward the sea. It feels like a place waiting patiently for everyone to come home.
