DILLEHAY CROSSING
Chapter 1
Abi
donned her running clothes, laced up her running shoes, and rushed
downstairs. The lavender early morning
lit her way as she approached the gravel trails that meandered along the
creek’s edge. At first her stride was
short and her pace slow; but as her heart pounded harder, the blood in her body
heated, and her tight muscles loosened.
Abi lengthened her stride and quickened her pace. Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead,
stung her eyes, and blurred her vision.
So, when the trail turned sharply, Abi didn’t see the broken tree
branches in front of her.
She stumbled and
landed face first in some underbrush. She stood up, wiped the dirt and sweat from
her face, and caught a glimpse of something just around the bend. What
are those old structures off in the distance?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen them before. She shook off her fall and resumed her run,
curiosity and adrenalin surging through her body. Abi ran across a narrow, shallow bend at
Dillehay Crossing where an old dilapidated ranch house, Texas wind wheel, and
crumbling red barn came into view.
She approached the property and ventured
inside the decrepit red barn. She ran
her fingers over a rusty, turn-of-the-century tractor. Who once lived in this ranch house and drove
this old tractor? Abi strolled up the
dirt and gravel walkway that led toward the discolored, broken-down ranch
house. The crumbling and sagging
structure beckoned her inside; so, she crept up the rickety steps onto the
front porch. Using her shoulder, Abi
shoved open the front door and found that—although the wooden house was
decaying—the floors were not rotten and actually looked sturdy enough to bear
her weight.
She entered the
house, turned right, and discovered the parlor had a fireplace with an
adjoining kitchen and an antiquated four-hole wood cook stove. Abi picked up the empty cast iron cooking pot
from the stove and pretended to stir its contents. How long have you been waiting for the woman
of the house to return?
Abi retraced her
steps then made an immediate left toward the stairs. At the base of the steps, Abi saw her—the
cloudy figure of a woman. Abi’s eyes
traveled up looking for some semblance of a face, but
smoke—gray smoke—filled in the places where the woman’s nose, mouth, and eyes
were supposed to be. The woman
turned and floated up the stairs, the morning light passing through her like
sunlight through smoke. Abi followed her.
Did the woman know Abi was there?
At the top of the
stairs, the woman disappeared as she faded through one of the bedroom
doors. A young woman’s frantic voice begged
from behind the wall. “Hurry! Fetch the doctor right away! Something’s terribly wrong!” The woman’s voice made Abi’s skin crawl and
the hairs on her neck bristle.
She jumped back,
reversed her course, and scurried back through the house. Once
outside, Abi retraced her steps and ran back down the dirt and gravel road. She raced across the shallow end of Dillehay
Crossing and ran along the creek’s edge until her own front porch was in
sight. She stopped and caught her
breath. Questions whirled through her
mind. Who was the woman I saw? Whose voice did I hear? Just who were the ranchers who had once cared
for the livestock and land on the other side of Dillehay Crossing? Were they in any way related to her husband
and the Mason family? Why did they
leave? Hmmm. I’ll have to ask Howie. Will he believe me if I tell him about the
woman I saw. Well, maybe I shouldn’t
tell him about her just yet. To be continued......
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