After going straight through Louisville, the road leads all the way to Indianapolis, where just thirty-five minutes west is a small town called Belledge. In Belledge, there are close to 61,000 residents, all born and raised practically, and they are all familiar with each other; mostly family friends and children going to school together. Approaching Belledge, there is an entrance coming out of the bordering town of Reamsville, then through a tiny blue bridge—crossing the Reams River—is Belledge in all of its steel glory. Belledge is split against the river into two peninsulas, creating East and West Belledge; there are rival high schools who play twice a year for football and basketball, along with one other high school each on both peninsulas. Approaching Belledge from Indianapolis, East Belledge greets you with a pleasant array of classic diners, bookstores, clothing boutiques, antique shops, printing shops, and other knick-knack-y pop-up shops that seem to stick around for longer than welcomed for. Belledge East High School sits just inside the city limits, housing 1500 students divided non-equally in four grade levels. East Belledge, according to the West part of down, are the slums of rural Indiana—the roads are greasier, the shops are dirtier, and the apartment rent is cheaper. Nothing too pleasant if entering from that side, but across another bridge is the West side, glittering in polished relish and refinery. Penbrough Avenue feeds through the bridge, all along the middle of the West side, tending to all of the morning and afternoon traffic; schools have implored the Belledge City Hall Councilman to expand on deliberate backroads that link up with the main road for faster traffic, but money has never been a strong asset of Belledge. Belledge High School, much like most of West Belledge's attractions, sits right on Penbrough, shining like the restored showpiece of a school it is. It's like picturing a decaying Corvette, only to see it with new paint, upholstery, tires, and dashboard chrome. There are five different churches within both sides of Belledge; three are Catholic and the other two are Southern Baptist, started by mobile members of a Mississippi retreat that ended with both elderly preachers retiring in Belledge and creating the churches as a form of southernism in the Midwest. Ordinarily now, the two SB churches are empty, rotting, being eaten and drilled away by the spring carpenter bees and healthy termites. Both descents of the elderly preachers reside in close proximity to the church, having had their houses basically built on the parking lot, near the entrances. There are enough food restaurants, bars, and diners to choke New York City; nobody in Belledge ever goes hungry, unless they've not gotten on the good side of their neighbors. Belledge thrives on tidy jobs, full stomachs, and worth-while high school sports. There are also enough supermarkets housing enough food to last a hundred years with all 61,000 citizens: the majority is cans and frozen vegetables, respectively. Diligently blasting down Penbrough Avenue, is the start of the neighborhood district, chalk full of one and two-story houses no more expensive than $400,000 at best. Recently, the City Hall has sponsored drastic initiatives to build more apartment complexes near the restaurants to milk the money from newcomers; Belledge has one of the highest population growth rates of any Mid-Indianan city. Belledge has a newspaper called The Belledge Journal doing a lot of local stories, and Indy stories, but no live broadcasting yet. Although booming with hungry (literally) newcomers, Belledge lacks entertainment of a lesser food variety; most of the going out events involve eating and talking about where to go next. Belledge has a bowling alley just south in West Belledge, across the train tracks going outside of Belledge and into Lloydmont, and through down into Southern Indiana. Besides the bowling alley, and a few elementary school playgrounds open to the public after school gets out, there isn't much to do that doesn't cost more money than is digestible by a teenager. Belledge, in all honest-to-God realness, is a beautifully strung together city of lights, live, and livelihood both physically and mentally. Even though unexciting to the Indy residents and rest-stop travelers, Belledge serves the only purpose a city needs to accomplish: to provide for the people in it. Whether the land is wet or dry, Belledge covers land and tends to the land and cares for the people caring for the land; Indiana is lucky to have such a lovely city of all of its 61,000 inhabitants. God bless Belledge, Indiana!