The Cinema
With the apartment complex drifting away behind you, you approach the old cinema. Something begins to tell you the history to this place, as if the movie is playing directly into your mind…
Back in the day, this building used to house one of the oldest swimming baths active in America. Folk from nearby towns would travel across in their droves to experience what was set under these walls – a beautiful blue Olympic pool, such a rarity back in the day!
‘The Olympic’ was its name, before the costs of running such a business became unsustainable. Not wanting such a wondrous historical site to be left to crumble for too long, the town banded together to create an independently run cinema in it’s stead, the slope on the pool being a natural fit for a movie theatre.
… How do you know all this? As if the town looks to reply to you, from above, you hear a whirring and clicking- to your right, opposite the cinema, an old Townhouse has it’s bedroom windows thrown open and a projector is pitching the history of the town into glorious technicolour on the cinema wall!
The movie changes to a brownish, black, delving even further back into the town’s past… a young girl sits at a lake, glowing skin and soft lips. She peers over her sunglasses at the boys, throwing themselves into the water. A commanding voice barks from the screen – “Dare you find the truth of youth and young romance down by Valentine Lake? A simple step into the Townhouse will yield the answers to this decades old love affair!”
It continues – “Or will you give in to the charms of our local cinema complex, the home of a million stories? On tonight’s bill – Trippin’! A decadent documentary on travelling the world, as narrated by our very own citizens! Savanna! Atlanta! Just where will you end up!?”
To the left, a journey across the world… to the right, a journey through time itself…
Walk left, past the cinema to the corner of the town square