Chartrand…

The Heartland is Where the Heart Is

David Chartrand

While flying from one coast to the other I have been known to jab the person next to me — the one nearest the window.

“Look down there!” I say. “That’s where I live. The Midwest.”

I usually do this somewhere between Kansas City and Denver, although the sky over almost anywhere will do.

The jabbed stranger always flattens his face against the glass and begins to squint downward. He always looks puzzled. And he always says the same thing.

“Where? I don’t see a damn thing. Everything looks the same.”

While he is squinting I steal his peanuts.