An Empty Station Park, Leonia, New Jersey (June 2011) I drove by Station Park the other day. She was freshly mowed but the dew did not arrive on this sweltering, late spring day. I’ve always thought the park gets lonely about this time of year, when softball season ends with a loss for every team except the champion and little girls in sparkling softball uniforms no longer come to the field because suburban life has called them on to the swim club or early soccer practices. Station Park used to get two glorious months a year of softball, but now not enough girls in Leonia sign up to have their own league. So they play their games in New Milford , and Station Park only gets a few boys’ teams’ practices or starter league games. The girls are there no more. It is the saddest thing in the world to see a field grow lonely. You expect winter’s frigid air and snow to let the field rest and renew in winter’s solitude, but when spring and summer only bring a few ball games and some sol
by Chris Rainey. This is a blog of my journaling, essays, opinion pieces, religious satire, and creative writing.