A Tale from the Hills by Terry Hayden Read Free Book Online Page B

home as fast as he could to get their daddy. When Tom saw him running toward their tiny house, he knew immediately that something was horribly wrong. Tom ran down the track to meet his son, and when they did, Joseph collapsed in his daddy’s arms. He was crying and shaking so violently that Tom had to squeeze him tightly to keep him from falling onto the cold, hard tracks.
    When Joseph was finally able, he screamed, “Alice! Alice! Fell from the footbridge! She’s gone daddy! We couldn’t see her! All that we saw was her shoes! Hurry Daddy! Hurry!”
    Tom gathered his oldest son into his arms and ran down the track toward the footbridge. He did not understand how Alice could have fallen, especially since he had repaired the bridge on Saturday. Every conceivable reason came into his mind in the few minutes that it took to get back to the bridge. Everything that is, except the broken eggs. A Halloween prank had cost him the life and love of his precious child.
    Tom picked up William and carried him, along with Joseph, to the place where their brothers were standing. All of them except William were crying hysterically. He was staring at the churning, muddy water, and taking short, choppy breaths. The shock of what he had just witnessed with Alice was more than his mind could comprehend. He saw her fall from the footbridge and he knew that she was gone, but it would take some time before he would realize that she was gone forever. The heartbroken family walked slowly back to the little house on Jewel Ridge Mountain to grieve alone.
    Not too far up the tracks another family was grieving for a lost son. The Halloween pranks that unknowingly cost one family a precious daughter and sister, had cost this family a mischievous but loving son. A son who was doing what teenagers do on Halloween. Pranks that went a littletoo far had caused two families to pay the ultimate price.
    Monday started like any other day for Mrs. Boatwright at Mountain School. She was always first to arrive and last to leave each day. She made routine checks to the grounds, turned on lights, and built a fire, if needed. If Carl and the other boys had been there to witness the toilet check, and the mailbox check, they would have been disappointed. The snake had crawled through a hole in the mailbox, that was made by a Halloween prank several years ago, and the rats had escaped through a crack in the floor boards.
    Carl and Sam did arrive at the school earlier than usual, but it was to inform Mrs. Boatwright about Jay’s untimely death. She became very upset at the news, and she could tell that Carl and Sam had been crying. Deep down she suspected that the tragedy would make the boys finally realize that delinquent behavior could only hurt everyone involved. She decided that she would contact the minister, in hopes that his words might somehow comfort the students.
    The minister had not been as lucky as Mrs. Boatwright in regards to the blacksnake. When he opened his mailbox door, the snake became startled. It struck at him, and even though it was not poisonous, and even though it missed its target, it did however, fulfill its purpose. The minister saw the serpent as a sign from God that he was slipping from the fold. He practically ran back into the house and kissed his wife for the first time in months. While she was running errands, he threw away certain items that only God knew that he owned.
    When the bell rang for classes to begin, the teachers noticed that none of the Hill children were at school. Since cold and flu season had arrived it was not unusual for students from the same family to be absent together. However, Miss Coalson knew that Alice would not miss school, especially with the results of the contest to be announced. She spoke to Mrs. Roberts and finally Mrs. Boatwright, who agreed that something must be wrong. They decided that at the end of the school day, they would visit the Hills. If all of the children were sick, Mrs. Boatwright was sure