Chapter 1 The Discovery

When you say the words out loud, “57 years” seems like a long time. It’s no time at all in the scheme of things. I know. I’ve lived them.

It was July, a week after my 10th birthday. I received a Barbie doll and an Erector Set. Barbie seemed more complicated; I choose the Set

Cool in the shade of the County’s version, the Set & I were wasting time dreaming of the bridge we’d build across the stream.

The water was at its summertime low & made crossing easy. I was about to do just that when I noticed the deepening red stain in the water.

“A fish kill” I thought. A trout or a gar had met its fate in the claws of a hawk, or one of those elusive cougars that I had yet to see.

As I picked up my toy and hiked up my jeans to cross, I noticed that the red stain was getting much bigger – way too big to be fish blood.

I wasn’t scared. I’d seen a deer bleed out when it was dressed by my Dad and, even though it’s not a pretty site, it seemed natural to me.

“Some stupid city-boy hunter!” I thought in disgust. They never paid attention to their kill; just “shoot & hoot” as my Dad used to say.

I didn’t step into the water. I just stood there waiting for it to clear. But it didn’t. It was then that I first heard the sound.

Even now, all these years later; being accustomed to that sound, as we all are, I still feel the terror it ignited in me that first time.