Why Do You Think They Call it a Ghost Town?

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Alexander asked. He hadn't really been paying attention, and wasn't sure if his dad had somehow strayed off the main roadway.

"They keep the last few miles rough. They want you to feel like you're going back in time."

"Just go slow," Alexander advised, imagining the car sliding off the road into the valley below. "You're not used to dirt roads."

After a few minutes, they reached the guardhouse, and Bodie finally revealed itself.

Alexander looked dubiously at the scattered wooden buildings below the roadway. The "town" sat on a desolate grassy plain without a single tree. From a distance, Bodie wasn't much to look at—just a jumble of what looked like old, unpainted shacks. He began to have second thoughts.

The park ranger at the guardhouse handed them a couple of brochures and directed them to the parking lot, which sat atop a small hill overlooking the town.

On the way, they passed by the cemetery, but he didn't see Evelyn's angel.

The parking lot wasn't paved either. They pulled in among a couple dozen other cars and SUVs.

The minute Alexander opened his door, a blast of hot air—very hot air—engulfed him.

"It's so hot," he announced, realizing that it was also thickly humid. He looked up in the sky at towering clouds on the horizon.

"Imagine what it must have been like for the people who lived here," Dad suggested.

"Just pace yourself. We're over eight thousand feet, the air's thin," Mom advised.

Alexander looked over the bleak landscape.

They followed a pathway down a gentle incline onto a town street with buildings scattered on either side. Tourists filed in and out of a simple, old-fashioned church, while others peered through the windows of other buildings.

He followed his parents into the church. There was a barrier just inside, so visitors could only peer into the dusty interior. Six or seven rows of pews faced an equally dusty pulpit, and a corroded-looking organ sat nearby. The windows weren't even stained glass.

He followed his parents' gazes upward to the water stains on the ceiling.

Why is everyone so fascinated?

An impatient little boy tugged on his father's pocket. "Are there any rides here?"

Alexander stood staring at the church interior, counted to twenty so his mom didn't think he was ungrateful, then left the church and waited for them on the bottom of the steps. There was a house next door with a broken-down fence, and other houses scattered in all directions, each standing alone amidst scattered ruins of other buildings.

On the far hill, a big wood and tin complex dominated the town. Mom joined him, explaining that he was looking at a gold mill, which actually separated the gold from rocks taken from the mines.

Dark clouds were pushing in quickly behind the mill. The sky had been clear when they were driving up.

"That doesn't look too promising," Dad said, suggesting that it might be a good idea to hurry up their walk around the town.

Main Street really wasn't much to look at. It might have been a mile long once, but it was just two blocks now. Even in that small remnant, most buildings had long since collapsed into heaps or burned, leaving intact just a few occasional structures and empty lots. Some looked like they were ready to collapse.