Fort Hope is by far the oddest place I’ve been. Admittedly I haven’t been to too many places. I’ve never seen a desert or a castle. Never heard the people speak something other than English. Since moving here I have seen a horrible grey box which once served as an Army fort during the second world war. I’ve seen the town that was eventually built around it. It’s a bit like a ghost town but nobody ever had the courtesy to tell everyone to leave. They continued frequenting the local watering hole, which by now I’m sure is molding to the ground. The endless tap of Rainier beer rotting holes straight through the old oak counter. A one eyed taxidermy moose saw everything from his dark, dank corner, Christmas lights around his antlers. They enjoy their second run movie theatre where you can pay top dollar to a fellow in the midst of a gender change to see a flick that comes out on DVD next week in a dump that hasn’t been remodeled since the 70’s. In fact they held on to the last Harry Potter movie for damn near a year since no one wanted to head to the next town to buy a copy. No one told the fine people of Fort Hope their dial up internet connections have become outdated. They sit through five minutes of that sound, the digital banshee attacking your senses. God forbid you get a phone call while you’re checking your Facebook. In fact how strange is it to use a land line at all? These are not the things that make Fort Hope odd however. The structure of Fort Hope is not so different from any other small town. You get a few dozen families who have been feuding for the last century and let them mingle with the folks who came in from the real world. If your last name doesn’t match a local street name you’re an outsider. If you’re an outsider you have better packed a job with you because there’s no chance in hell old Mr. & Mrs. Wevelivedhereforeversowerebetterthanyou are gonna give you work at the old candy shop. There’s one old married couple who dictate Front Street Fort Hope. You open up your quaint vintage store because they want you to. If you’re not in cahoots with these people there’s no way your Twilight Theme Shop is going to succeed in selling generic Forks High School t-shirts to gullible tourists. Consequently Forks is a couple hours west of us and is inhabited by several Twilight Theme Shops, a replica of the girl’s truck, and the hospital has a spot reserved for Dr. Cullins or something. A space that could probably be held aside for a real doctor but they’ll be riding the Twilight bandwagon for the next hundred years at least. A couple decades after it aired North Bend is still cashing in on their Twin Peaks fame. Why couldn’t we have a Twin Peaks theme shop? I digress, these are also not the things that make Fort Hope so odd.
It should be mentioned that Fort Hope does not have a record shop. It’s funny, Fort Hope is a village that calls itself a city. Turns out all you need to become a city is the desire to be called a city. Obviously with no record shop it’s not fooling anyone. Since the internet connection is too slow to steal music this leaves the good people of Fort Hope trapped somewhere between the top 20’s of 1965-1985. Essentially leading into the popularity of the cassette tape and that’s pretty much where it stops. It’s worse than it sounds, some sickly mix of Jackson 5 and Metallica. My neighbor was alive in the 70’s but doesn’t know who Ray Davies is. That’s just the kind of place this place is. There’s a travel brochure that reads, “Fort Hope is a quaint town from the past, preserved in the future.” This is true in all the worst ways. Sure there’s a record shop in Port Townsend, not 30 minutes North of here but when you live in Fort Hope you learn to never leave Fort Hope. It’s the kind of place with everything you need to survive but nothing you need to live. These people never leave. I asked this guy, when was the last time you made it down to Seattle? He answered, I don’t make it into America very often. People here are totally segregated from the real world and they like it that way. But this is not what makes Fort Hope so odd. What makes this place so odd is it’s soul. There’s a darkness to this place. It’s not just boring I think it might be evil. I don’t know if soul is the right word but it’s the best I can think of. You know it’s vibe. It’s energy. Whatever you want to call it something’s off. There’s this owl that sits outside of my window every night. I think he’s trying to warn me. I look out the window and he just stares at me with those giant eyes. Some folklore will tell you owls represent wisdom. They give you wisdom of the soul. Others say the owls bring death. Maybe it’s both. Maybe she’s some kind of goddess. All I know is every time that thing looks at me every fiber of my being screams at me, telling me to get out while I can. Still I stay. OK so staying here isn’t really much of a choice. I’m in my senior year of high school and realistically can’t leave for another year or so. I’m crossing the days off my calendar though. Till then I’ll document all the curiosities of this place. A guy was murdered last week. Everyone’s talking about it but no one seems to care. The town’s dinky little newspaper doesn’t seem to cover any news. A long list of obituaries and an opinions page full of old guys griping about fishing spots or something. I think it’s important that someone collect these bits and pieces. Someone document all the weird things that happen here. Find out why there’s a constant flow of paranormal investigators and Sasquatch hunters and ghost busters. I couldn’t tell you why but it seems important. Maybe it’s my owl wisdom kicking in.
That’s Feather. She came and went real quick. It’s weird. I used to see her every day. I could hear her footsteps from the other side of the room and know it was her. She’s been gone for like two months and I’m totally sure I’d recognize her on the side of the street if I saw her walking along.
A sort of kindred soul too good to last I suppose. I like to think she’s on a train someplace looking out on the American countryside. She told me she’s heading East. Says she’s never been East. Probably passing through Idaho right now.
That’s the last postcard I got from her while she was in Seattle. Says I’ll hear from her when she hits a place called Pinehurst. I asked if she’s running away from here or to somewhere.
Feather says when you see a person running the answer is always both... No use getting lost in nostalgia now. Things in Fort Hope got really strange shortly after Feather left. This is where it all started. I have no idea if it’s true but this is how Mary swears it happened. I can’t really tell if there’s one truth here. Maybe it’s all relative. Maybe we’re all nuts. Who’s to say really.