Marvin Gardens
I just finished this wonderful essay by John McPhee. McPhee is playing a game of Monopoly with a friend of his, an old monopoly competitor from years of yore, a time when life was simpler and everyone played board games. As MePhee plays the game, he reminisces about his time visiting Atlantic City, the town the monopoly game board is based on. His reminisces mix history with his own imaginings of how things must have been at one time living in Atlantic City. What is remarkable about the essay is how fluidly McPhee mixes history and imaginings into the game he's playing. McPhee is in search of Marvin Gardens, one of the squares -- the last yellow square to be precise -- on the game board. All the squares are streets and locations in Atlantic City. He has been there and found each and every one of those streets and places, except, of course, Marvin Gardens. Marvin Gardens he can't find anywhere, and no one he asks has ever heard...