After Christmas

Jerome was looking truly like the ghost town it has been called. We retailers were mulling around the streets like vultures, smoking too many cigarettes and searching for something to talk about as cabin fever sat in with litle business to tend to. Because the town is stacked, built on a hillside, I can stand on my porch and see Main Street. This means I can also hear conversations, observe the nonactivity, see how others are fighting their boredom. We waive and go about out business as if we were outside for good reason - sweeping up after customers, rearranging patio furniture, something important of course. Hah!
But business is now picking back up. Christmas is over and tourists are pouring back into our small town of 400 people. Those with timeshares and second homes in Sedona are taking a daytrip to Jerome, some bringing family members and friends. Then of course are those from Phoenix who always are searching for an excuse to get out of that god-forbidden city. Why not Jerome? It's fun, its different, its quaint and hip. The people are eccentric and there is always good music at the Spirit Room.