Atlantic, Iowa
Atlantic is the “Coca-Cola Capital of Iowa.”
I am told this at midnight on a rural train platform in Nebraska where the Amtrak conductor has stopped to stretch his legs. We are a backpacker, a teacher, an old man, a Nebraskan, two Mormons, and a Coca-Cola collector sharing a cigarette. An hour ago we were a backpacker, teacher, old man, Nebraskan, two Mormons, and a Coca-Cola collector listening to a basketball game on the observation-car radio.
The Collector tells us that Atlantic’s annual Coca-Cola Days celebration is the second-largest in the nation, behind Atlanta. He attends every year from Boston. His collection is mostly Coca-Cola lunchboxes.
“Why lunchboxes?
He doesn’t know.
He tells us the name “Atlantic” was a coin-toss. The town sits halfway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and they flipped a coin to decide which name to take. Atlantic won (tails). In fact, he says, Atlantic is actually about three-hundred miles closer to the East Coast than the West.
We nod. The air is cold and the conductor is missing.
Jackson McGrath is a writer and artist based in Chicago, Illinois. He received a BFA in Studio Art from the Cooper Union and holds an MA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing from Northwestern University. His work has appeared in Blue Arrangements journal and at Mana Contemporary Miami, among others.
See more of Jackson's work in 13.3