by Tony Nalley
And so there I sat. Mama was done cleanin’ and everybody was eatin’ again and yet my glass of milk had somehow managed to remain completely empty! I didn’t even have anythin’ whatsoever to drink!
“Can I have some more milk Mom?” I asked as politely and as innocently as I possibly could.
“No Son. I think you’ve had just about enough!” Mama answered as she scooted up to the table a little closer.
“Can I be excused then?” I asked all callus like.
“Not until you are done eating.” Dad replied as a kind of reinforcement for my mom.
“But how could I possibly finish eatin’ without any milk to drink or nothin’?” I thought to myself. “This was absolutely unheard of! Me and Anna hadn’t even gotten to the ‘blamin’ the dog for stuff’ portion of the meal!” I thought again. “But since I didn’t have any more milk to drink, I considered myself done eatin’! We’d have to blame Candy for stuff some other time!”
“But I am done, see?” I said as I showed my Mom and Dad my freshly cleaned dog licked plate.
Mama scowled and shook her head at me as she looked up from my plate. My dad laughed.
“What?” Dad asked as he looked at Mama and shrugged his shoulders.
Mama knew what I had done, but I had my ‘puppy dog’ face on. It was second only to my ‘innocent’ face, which was nearly fool proof but could only be used when I was asking for somethin’ like at Christmas time. I couldn’t use it when I was trying to get out of stuff; or it would lose its power.
I watched my mama as she looked up at the ceilin’. She looked up as if she about half way expected to see a bolt of lightnin’ come out from up there and strike me down right where I sat!
“All right then.” she sighed as she ushered me up from the table and gestured me towards the door.
I looked up at the ceilin’ myself as I got up from the table. But all I could see were some dumb old cracks. So I just went on back outside and sat down on our front porch swing
***
If I had to pick a time and place for when it happened, I’d pick that time. Cause it was then and in those moments that life changed for me; sitting there upon that porch swing; those moments as I saw Cricket ridin’ her horse out through the fields. For reasons unknown to me, she was different somehow; no longer just a girl who lived down the road. She was beautiful, with clear blue eyes and legs kissed by the sun.
Cricket seemed as free to me as the wind blowin’ through her hair …as she rode her horse out across the way; a free spirit ridin’ by the woods and through the meadows of grassy green.
And then she smiled at me and raised her hand as I waved.
***
May 1864
Twilight had all but fallen as he worked alone by lantern’s light, stoking the burning embers to raise the temperature of the ash; the melting point of the metal, at over seventeen hundred degrees. He saw it in his mind’s eye before the work had begun, the finished product shining brightly in his hand.
Special tools had been created to handle the heat as he placed the metal into the melting pot, and returned it once again into the fires. Lead had a lower melting point; it could be heated over an open campfire. That’s how it was done in the field. Soldiers didn’t always come equipped with enough ammunition to complete their tasks and keep them alive, so they would have to improvise. Expended bullets, metal toys and other objects could be melted down and recast into new rounded bullets. But this metal required special tools and conditions.
He reached into the fires again with a pair of long pincers and retrieved the molten metal in its pot. The mold had handles similar to a pair of pliers but with a small hole at the far end to pour the metals through. He poured the shiney liquid into the mold just before it cooled, and squeezed the handles once the metal had hardened enough, revealing a newly formed ball of silver that popped out upon the wooden table.
There was but one thing known that could kill a werewolf instantly. He knew of this personally, it had been done it before. One might be thought mad having to develop a weapon capable of driving one’s own species and way of life to the brink of extinction. But sometimes in order to preserve life; one must also be prepared to take it.
“Pappaw, I’ve rounded up the cows and all my chores are done.” Jeremiah said as he came into the barn; his Sheppard Collie at his feet wagging her tail.
The barn door swung closed behind him.
“Thank you Son.” His grandfather said smiling, motioning for him to come in further. “Come in for a minute, boy. Stand here by the fires and let me show you something.”
Jeremiah came in and stood close to the forge as his grandfather requested and watched him repeat his metal works. He listened attentively as he was instructed in the fine art of the smelting of the ore and in the creation of silver bullets.
“These are not as accurate as lead bullets.” Obadiah explained as he placed three cold round balls of silver into Jeremiah’s hands. “A projectile requires ‘spin’ when it is fired through the barrel of a gun. When a lead bullet is fired the barrel cuts grooves into the surface of the metal and forces it to spin. Silver is a harder metal and the barrel cannot cut the grooves into them. So it doesn’t fire as straight or as accurate, making it wobble through the air at its target.”
“So, you must be in close proximity to your target when you fire a silver bullet.” he said.
“But Pappaw?” Jeremiah questioned. “What animal would we hunt with a silver bullet?”
Obadiah took off his leather gloves then and ruffled his young grandson’s hair. “They’re used for protection only, not for hunting.” Obadiah answered. “Silver is a pure, white and lustrous metal. With a silver bullet…,” he said as he lowered his voice to that of a whisper. “With a silver bullet we kill ‘werewolves’.”
Jeremiahs eyes grew wide.
“We have to protect ourselves from all kinds Jeremiah, even from our own.” Obadiah continued. “A chemical reaction occurs when the silver metal enters a werewolf’s bloodstream.” he said as he placed his hand upon his chest, “Stopping the heart.”
He smiled then at his grandson and said, “Now, you go on inside and get yourself cleaned up. I’ll be along in a bit and we’ll all sit down and have some food.”
Jeremiah exited the barn and ran along to the house with his dog barking happily beside him.
Obadiah stayed behind and put away his tools, and filled his ammunition pouch with his newly made silver bullets.
“Even …from our own kind.” Obadiah whispered to himself as he shook off the memories that inevitably would return to him; centuries old memories from the town of Valais.
Obadiah got down on his knees then, in the stillness of the barn.
And he prayed
.
Part Two
Awakenings
Isaiah 11:6
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
And the calf, and the lion, and the fat beast together,
And a little child shall lead them.
Ten
That Unforgiving Sky
Me and Colby were cousins; more than that though really. It wasn’t like we were brothers or nothin’ cause if we got mad at one another, we’d just send the other one home! With brothers you were just kinda stuck. I didn’t have any brothers, but I knew that’s how it was with sisters so I just figured it was the same way and all.
Me and Colby hung out alot and did stuff that nobody else wanted to do; like playin’ soldiers out in the woods and things like that. I was the oldest. I was twelve years old! And Colby, well he was just a little younger than me, but we were both older than most of the other kids we knew.
We mounted knives to the end of our pellet guns like bayonets, usin’ black electrical tape to match the color. And we dressed in camouflage with makeshift shoulder straps to carry our gear!
…On a top secret mission deep inside enemy territory, me and Colby
sought refuge amidst the jungle underbrush. Many good men had been lost in our imaginations durin’ that mornin’ barrage of machine gun fire! Good men whose lives had been suddenly ceased while fulfillin’ their calls of duty. These fallen comrades deserved better! But now was not the time to grieve.
Satellite images pinpointed the enemy’s base as south by south east of their current location. Orders had been transmitted and received. Get in close, sabotage defenses and destroy all avenues of escape!
This was our area of expertise. Chaos was our specialty and we knew it well! What we didn’t know was that our mission had been compromised…
“Hey Colby …let’s move over the hill towards the pond.” I whispered.
There was no reply.
“Colby?” I whispered again.
This time only the wind could be heard as it rustled through the trees. The silence became deafening; for every tree limb that crackled …every fallin’ leaf that touched the ground and every creature that walked upon it became thunderously louder!
“Colby!” this time I shouted.
Without answer the message had been delivered. There had been a mutiny! The war had been escalated! My friend was now my enemy!
As the camouflage shielded him from view, Colby disappeared into the wooded background. He had become a chameleon; lyin’ in wait, a predator stalkin’ its prey. And I was now that prey!
Concealin’ the trail as I moved, I disappeared behind fallen brushes, limbs and trees as I attempted to regain my fortitude. I scoured the horizon as I lie there in wait without sight or sound of enemy movement.
The minutes passed like hours, lyin’ there upon that ground; petrified wood covered the terrain, products of an underground spring.
The still soft quiet of the forest permeated from within, my heart beatin’ now as if it would be my last! I could not wait any longer! It had to end now!
…With malice aforethought I arose from my position as the feelin’ of bein’ watched enveloped me, and I stood upon my feet as the bullets tore through my body!
I fell in primordial slow motion as the metals pierced my soul!
And I died there upon that foreign soil as the bullets took me beneath that unforgiving sky…
“I got you! I got you! I got …I got …I got you!” Colby sang as he ran.
“I got you didn’t I?” Colby exclaimed as he jumped up and down and headed towards me where I lay. “I’ve been sitting over there for the longest time just watching you!” He continued laughin’.
Colby was laughin’ so hard by this time that he wasn’t makin’ any noise at all! He had to stop to breathe in some air just to keep his self from passin’ out! I was laughin’ too! The site of him was hilarious! He could always make me laugh! Even if he had turned on me durin’ the battle like he’d done and had waited to ambush me!
It was hard to stay mad at him for too long. There were times when he didn’t have to say a word to me at all and I would just burst out laughin’ at him! Many a New Years Eve was spent with him standin’ on our rooftop at midnight ‘pissin’ into the wind! “Look! I pissed all the way from one year into the other!” He would exclaim! Colby was my best friend but he could also be a complete nut!
“You didn’t see me?” He questioned again as he nearly laughed himself silly!
I couldn’t see a thing without my glasses on. I had left em’ in the house before we’d come outside. And I was nearly blind in the woods without em’! But I sure wasn’t gonna tell him that! It was not a good thing to show your weakness in the face of an enemy.
If he knew I couldn’t see without em’, he might take advantage and hide em’ from me! I couldn’t let that happen!
“Okay, you got me. You got me.” I answered and congratulated him on his victory.
…Post traumatic situations brought men together on fields of battle. White flags would fly as both sides carried their brothers from the fields. Every detail would then have need of bein’ recounted. Every thought, every action and every misstep would need be recalled and recanted as it had been played out to fruition...
It was then and only then, after the stories of my bein’ killed in battle upon that foreign soil had been told, that we could have an honest truce and bring about a peaceful agreement after which, we took a break and went inside for refreshments, and I put on my glasses.
“Ask your mom if we can go on a camp out.” Colby whispered to me, as we sat at the kitchen table eatin’ a sandwich and drinkin’ somethin’ cold in a glass that mama had fixed for us. I didn’t know if I really wanted to or not. But I would never hear the end of it if I didn’t ask.
“Mom, can me and Colby go on a camp out tonight?” I asked.
Mom stopped washin’ her dishes, and turned around and slung a dish towel over her shoulder.
“Where are you two going on this camp out?” She asked.
Mama knew that we were practically grown up, I saw it in her eyes as she looked at me.
“The old rock quarry, back the road.” I replied.
“The rock quarry!” My mom exclaimed. “It’s a long way home in the middle of the night if you camp out there!” She continued. “But I guess …as long as you know that …and ya’ll be careful, then it would be okay for one night.” She agreed.
It had been decided then, by a show of a decidin’ vote that we should partake of this army game in the field; the decidin’ vote bein’ my mama and the in the field part meanin’ the old rock quarry.
After all, we’d had a successful venture into memorable territories earlier this afternoon. And an overnight camp out could be successful too, right? To be honest I had my reservations.
Colby was an expert in the art of spyin’. Which means that he was an expert at gainin’ information or papers that were considered to be top secret or confidential, without the owner knowin’.
Or rather, he could sneak stuff that he shouldn’t. And he was good at it!
His dad had a massive collection of items that could not politely be discussed around the grownups. Colby had taken some of those items and had brought em’ across the invisible fences to my house. Not only were they taken without permission but they also might bring about a sudden death to the both of us if they were ever caught on our person!
Though it could be argued that this was a rite of passage, we would suffer our weight in gold nonetheless if our mission was to fail!
Definition:Colby brought some of his dad’s girly magazines and if we got caught with em’ we would be killed! Killed dead! It was simple, get in, get out and no one gets hurt.
…Innate skill and tactical surprise were required for smugglin’ items into a premise, while a certain degree of chance was also required for smugglin’ those same items out.
Armed guards stood watch as we approached the checkpoint. But tightened security measures would not detain ones so thoroughly trained in the fine art of spyin’...
“Bye Mom.” I said. “We’ll see you in the mornin’!”
I walked out the door with my pellet gun strapped over my shoulder, fully decked out in camouflage gear and carryin’ what had to be the heaviest suitcase ever created in existence!
“You boys be careful out there!” Mama said as she eyeballed our cargo. “You never know what you’re gonna run into.”
Mama handed us both an overnight care package filled with food, kissed me on the forehead and sent us off! A wave of excitement swept over us as our mission’s success had been realized.
With our objective in hand and evasion of capture realized, we made the long trek down the darkened gravel road to the old rock quarry.
Like sharpened blades of light protruding through the trees, the sun slowly set upon the path we walked. Our diminishing vision brought with it uneasy feelin’s of fear. Wild creatures howled in the distance! Someone or somethin’ was watchin’ us! We could feel it in our bones! It was not safe here.
The old rock quarry had been abandoned for some time. Its empty buildings and rusted machinery came
into fuller view as we rounded each curve, with gigantic structures standin’ out against a darkening sky. Towerin’ into the heavens like ancient dinosaurs, these skeletons of the past triggered terrifyin’ visions of a future age; an age whereby a sparse population, weary and heavy laden would dwell upon the land; scavengers who lurked within its darkness like disfigured creatures feedin’ upon human flesh! They moved now like the shadows that danced at our feet, ever changin’ as we walked. We called em’ Monsters!
“Do you hear that?” Colby whispered. “It sounds like music coming from the woods.”
