Photography, 11” x 14”, Unframed

It Wasn’t Labor Day

By Carlynn Trout

It wasn’t Labor Day, but American flags lined the streets of each little town I crept through. Every door, window box, and fence post had a flag poking out of it. I was heading north from Missouri, driving right up the belly of Iowa on a two-lane highway. The golden rod and wild aster were in full bloom. The cows were grazing in the pastures. The corn was all picked and the apples were in season. The sky was cornflower blue. And the crows—long lines of them—were sitting on top of the wires, watching over it all.