Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

I still cannot find it. I know I saw it early in the walk, so it must be in the northern section of the Shenandoah Valley. It seems like it was north of Harrisonburg, Virginia. I went looking for it one day, but I didn’t find it.

It still haunts me.

It was on the east side of Route 11, my right as I was walking north to south. I recall stones set into at least one wall. Beige and tan stones running vertically. Those were all nice features, but that wasn’t it. That wasn’t what haunts me.

It had the shape – the protruding point of a Vauban star or “star  fort” design. The outermost part of the point was covered with stone. The rest of the point was glass – glass floor to ceiling. I had to imagine what was inside, but

I see in my mind a cash register of a general store and restaurant. The register would be inside the building at the tip of the point. If a person stood in front of the cash register, in view of the windows, that person could easily see  Route 11 in both directions. That is the beauty of the Vauban design – the points of the stars. They permit seeing in all directions. I had never seen the star used this way, with siding and windows.

It was brilliant. Someone who knew what they were doing designed it.

That is what burned in my mind – the brilliance, the this-doesn’t-really-belong-here brilliance of the designer. Who was the designer? Why did the designer put this here? When? How?

If only I could find it again. I would stop and study it. I would photograph it dozens of times. I would learn the answers to my questions.

Alas, I have lost it – for new. Perhaps one day I will have the time to search until I find it again – a lost place.