The Ghost of Tobacco Road

by Dale Young

  “Starlight? Why do you want to go there?” Her eyes then walked down Logan’s body from his face to his belt buckle before returning his eyes. “Not much left of that town, if you can even call it a town now.”

  Logan frowned. “Really? It’s that small?”

  “Used to be a damn sight bigger. Fifty years ago that town put out more of the leaf than any other town in these parts.”

  He knew she had to be talking about tobacco when she said the leaf. He quickly surmised that she had probably lived around tobacco for most of her life. And if she didn’t grow it, she obviously used it. He fought the urge to cough as she exhaled another cloud of blue smoke. This one hung above the counter directly over his soda and candy bar.

  The woman handed Logan his change and then put his things in a small paper bag.

  “Yep, used to be a damn sight bigger. That road out there goes right through what’s left of it. But I’d stay away from it if I were you. There’s something bad in that town. Always has been. And they don’t even put it on the map anymore.”

  He frowned at the woman and looked out of the window of the store at the road. He was trying to figure out if the woman was just messing with him because he obviously wasn’t a local. The last thing he wanted to do was to get drawn into some sort of weird conversation even though he could tell that the woman wanted to talk. Logan knew he was probably her first customer of the day and might be her last. He had not seen a lot of traffic on the road before getting to her store. The big green and yellow tractor had been the only other vehicle he had seen in over an hour. But he couldn’t resist asking the obvious question.

  “So what’s bad about the town of Starlight?”

  He had apparently read the woman wrong. She wasn’t nearly as chatty as he had thought. Instead of launching into a long story about Starlight, she merely smiled at him and gave him a wink through the blue smoke floating in front of her face.

  “Just bad, that’s all. If you’re hell bent on going there you’ll find out soon enough.”

  He knew the woman wasn’t going to say much more. And he was suddenly glad of it. He wanted to get back on the road and have his soda and candy bar. He thanked the woman for her time and was about to walk out of the door when he realized that he should probably hit the restroom again. The coffee he had earlier was still working on his bowels.

  “Say, do you have a restroom?”

  “Out back, behind the building,” the old woman said before taking a long pull of her cigarette.

  “Is it locked?” Logan replied. The woman chuckled when Logan asked her this.

  “No,” she said, trying not to laugh. “It’s not locked.”

  Logan smiled and thanked the woman and then went outside and put his bag in the passenger’s seat. Then he walked around to the back of the store to use the restroom. Once he saw it he realized why the woman had tried not to laugh when he had asked if it was locked. The restroom was nothing more than a wooden outhouse sitting on the edge of the field that bordered the store’s parking lot. Just like most of the fields he had seen earlier, the field beyond the outhouse was full of row after row of tobacco plants.

  Logan used the restroom and was dismayed that he could not wash his hands. Then he returned to his car, screwed the lid off of his soda and took a long drink. As he pulled onto the road he tore the wrapper open on his candy bar while thinking about what the woman had said about Starlight. Now his curiosity was really going into overdrive.

  As he brought the car up to speed he began to roll the question around in his head.

  What in the world could possibly be wrong with the town of Starlight?

  8

  After leaving the gas station, Logan drove at least ten miles before he noticed an approaching sign up ahead by the side of the road. The sign was covered by Kudzu preventing him from reading it as he drove past. After he passed the sign a thought hit him causing him to put on the brakes. He stopped his car and then began to back up before maneuvering his car onto the shoulder of the road in front of the sign.

  He got out and walked up to the foot of the post holding the road sign. He reached up and pulled at the vines of the Kudzu until he could finally see the words printed across the green metal sign. In faded white letters was the word Starlight and underneath it Population 356. Logan frowned. He expected Starlight to be small but not that small.

  “There’s only three hundred and fifty six fucking people in this town?” Logan’s own voice almost startled him. Just then the loud air horn of a tractor trailer sounded and almost scared Logan out of his pants as the truck drove by coming from the direction of the town. It was the first vehicle he had seen since the green and yellow farm tractor. He cursed the truck as the wind created by its passing rearranged his hair and lifted sand into his eyes.

  Logan got back in his car and pulled out onto the road and headed towards town. The first thing he saw was an abandoned factory on the outskirts of town with a large water tower sitting in between the factory and the road. The water tower at one time had been painted silver but was now mostly covered with rust. Logan could just make out the faded word Starlight painted across the large tank. Across the street sat a small building with a plate glass window and a sign above the door that read “Video Rentals”. But the store had long since closed down.

  Up ahead Logan could see a few small houses on each side of the road. The houses looked like someone lived in them, and then again Logan thought that they could also easily pass for abandoned as well. The windows were boarded up on one of them but two of the other houses had cars in their driveways.

  Before long Logan came to the intersection with Main Street. Every little town had a Main Street, he thought to himself and he leaned forward and read the words on the sign. He brought the car to a stop at the intersection and quickly pulled the envelope from his console that had come from the law office. Then he read the return address.

  “Magnolia Avenue…” he whispered as he looked both ways down Main Street. Then he took a gamble and turned right.

  Only a few stores were open for business along Main Street. The rest were closed up and vacant. Logan saw a pawn shop, a consignment store, a small Karate studio and an old 1950’s-era movie theater that had probably once looked like something out of Norman Rockwell painting. The large marquee over the front entrance sported the words “Jesus is Lord” in the place where the names of the movies playing had once been placed. Now apparently the movie theater had been converted into a church.

  He didn’t see anyone coming or going on the sidewalks on each side of the road. After he traveled a few more blocks he noticed a diner on the corner and decided that it was time for lunch. Maybe he would be able to ask someone inside if they knew where Magnolia Avenue was and the law office of Harmon Blackwell.

  Across the street from the diner sat a small Post Office. The word Starlight was engraved in stone above the front door. Just like the movie theater, Logan realized that the Post Office building had seen better days.

  Logan parked his car in the small lot next to the diner and checked his look in the rearview mirror. He had a case of road buzz from driving all morning and felt groggy. The heat was oppressive and the air conditioner on his car had stopped working months ago. Plus, he was coming down from the sugar high that he had gotten from eating the candy bar and drinking the soda. His stomach was beginning to rumble and he knew that he should probably eat before going to see this Harmon Blackwell fellow. Logan knew there was no telling how long he would be in the lawyer’s office. His past experience with lawyers had taught him that they loved the sound of their own voice so this Blackwell guy would probably want to talk all afternoon, billing by the hour as he went. Who was paying him was anyone’s guess, Logan thought, but he imagined that it was probably being drawn from the estate of the Rosemary Shaw lady.

  ***

  Sheriff Tom Patterson sat in his cruiser on the edge of the parking lot of Starlight’s only remaining feed and grain store, just a block away fr
om the diner. He watched Logan Shaw get out of his car, adjust his shirt and pants and then walk to the front door of the diner.

  “Now who the hell could that be?” he whispered as he took a sip of his stale coffee. Then he typed in Logan’s license tag number and waited for the report. When it appeared, it was short and showed no record of Logan’s vehicle being in the system. The sheriff was relieved at this. The last thing he needed was trouble.

  Sheriff Patterson watched Logan disappear into the diner. Then he looked back at Logan’s car, an old, dilapidated Chevy sedan.

  “Doesn’t look like he has a pot to piss in,” Patterson said as he took one more sip of his coffee. Then he opened the door and poured it onto the sidewalk. It was time for a fresh cup, and this would make the perfect excuse to go into the diner and perhaps say hello to the newest visitor to Starlight. Being an old-school Southern sheriff, Tom Patterson knew it was his job to keep watch over the town, and just like any smart sheriff he was leery of new people in his town no matter how small it was.

  Just then Sheriff Patterson looked back at the screen of his computer. Then it hit him – Logan’s last name was Shaw. Could it be possible that this was the kid he had heard about? Everyone in town knew that old lady Shaw had passed away. Could this be the member of the family that Harmon Blackwell had been looking for? Sheriff Patterson grinned at the thought of how much Sandy, Blackwell’s secretary, liked to gossip. He knew all about what was going on with the estate of the late Rosemary Abigail Shaw. So did just about everyone else in town.

  Sheriff Patterson cranked his cruiser and drove a block up the street, pulled into the diner’s small parking lot and then parked right next to Logan’s car. Then he got out and walked into the diner.

  Logan was sitting at the counter talking to Colby. Sheriff Patterson smiled at her and tipped his hat. It was no secret to anyone that he had been sweet on Colby since high school, but he had never been able to get her to return the affection. But it didn’t mean he had stopped trying, and it also didn’t mean that he liked the sight of her talking to some stranger that had just blew into town in an old beater.

  “Hey Colby,” Patterson said as he closed the door behind him. Colby forced a smile and nodded at him. Then Patterson walked over to the bar and sat down next to Logan, leaving just one stool in between them.

  “Coffee please, to go,” Patterson said as he looked at Colby. She was just as beautiful as ever and this caused him to wonder why she had never left Starlight. Why would a beautiful girl like her stay in Starlight to work in the diner? I just made no sense to him, but then again, it wasn’t like he wanted her to leave. That’s the last thing he wanted to happen. Patterson knew that one day she would give in to his advances. Then they could ditch this little town together and run off into the sunset, or something like that.

  He turned his head to Sheriff Patterson and nodded. He read the patch on Patterson’s sleeve and then said, “Afternoon, Sheriff.”

  “So you’re Logan Shaw. Welcome to my town.”

  He frowned. How did this sheriff know his name? Patterson picked up on Logan’s apprehension and answered before Logan could ask the question he knew was coming.

  “Ran your plates when I saw you park at the diner. Just wanted to make sure the Feds weren’t looking for you or anything like that.” Sheriff Patterson then chuckled at his joke just as Colby sat a large Styrofoam cup full of coffee in front of him. She was glad he had ordered a to-go cup. Maybe he wouldn’t stay long.

  “Cream and sugar?” Colby asked as she slid a small bowl of creamers toward the sheriff. She already knew what his answer would be.

  “You know better than that, girl. Real men drink it black.”

  Logan looked down into his coffee cup. He had put more cream and sugar in the cup than coffee.

  “You must be in town to see old Harmon Blackwell. I hear he’s handling Rosemary Shaw’s estate. You must be what, her nephew maybe? Or grandson?”

  He didn’t like the sheriff asking so many questions. What business was it of his? And besides, Logan had no answers for the sheriff. He had no idea what his relation was to Rosemary Shaw.

  “Gosh, Tom, why are you giving him the third degree? The poor guy just wants some lunch,” Colby said as she smiled at Logan. Then the smile disappeared as she turned and looked at Sheriff Patterson again.

  “I’m just looking out for you, Colby. It’s my job.”

  “I don’t need you looking out for me, Tom. Go look out for the rest of the town. Go see if you can find Jimmy Hoffa’s body or something.” Colby then turned to look at Logan again. “Your BLT will be right out.” Then she winked at Logan and walked out from behind the counter to a table in the middle of the diner where a new customer had just sat down. When Patterson saw her wink at Logan, he felt a little flash of anger heat his face. He knew right then that he didn’t like Logan Shaw.

  “Uh, look sheriff, I’m just having some lunch and I really don’t know much about Rosemary Shaw. I got a letter saying to come to town to meet Mr. Blackwell and that’s about all I know. I’m not a troublemaker so you don’t have anything to worry about.”

  “Let’s keep it that way, Mr. Shaw. By the way, welcome to Starlight.”

  With that, Sheriff Patterson tipped his hat again, pulled a five dollar bill out of his wallet and left it in place of his coffee cup. He always tipped Colby a lot more than he did the other waitresses. Then he turned and walked out of the diner. Just then, Colby returned with Logan’s sandwich.

  “He’s such a dickhead.” Colby said this before she could catch herself. She quickly put her hand over her mouth and apologized. At that moment Logan looked at Colby and realized she was one of the prettiest girls he had ever seen. And here she was working in some run-down diner in a backwater town he had never heard of until just a few days ago.

  “I mean, he likes to give strangers a hard time, that’s all. Forgive my language.”

  “It’s okay,” Logan said. “I’ve been known to cuss like a longshoreman every now and then. You’re in good company.”

  Logan had suddenly lost interest in his sandwich. Here was a woman standing in front of him with an attractiveness that was almost disarming. He could barely keep a thought in his head. She had sandy blonde hair tied in a ponytail and pale blue eyes full of kindness. Logan looked into those eyes and then tried to regain his composure by focusing on his sandwich.

  “Thanks for the sandwich. It looks well. I mean, it looks good.” Logan felt his spirits suddenly drop. Why did he have such a hard time talking to women?

  “You’re welcome,” replied Colby. She thought it was sweet to see Logan fumbling with his words like a shy teenager. “So is it true? I mean, I don’t want to be nosey, but is it true?”

  “Is what true?” Logan said as he took a bite of his sandwich.

  “That you’re the long lost relative of Rosemary Shaw that they’ve been looking for? It’s all over town.”

  “It seems that way. But I don’t know anything else. I just got a letter saying come to Starlight and that I would be told everything once I got here. The letter said they couldn’t tell me anything over the phone and that I had to come to the office in person. I live in Wilmington so I just decided to drive up here and find out what the deal is.”

  He had already surmised that Colby, as well as the sheriff, obviously knew more about Rosemary Shaw than he did. Maybe he could get Colby to tell him more. Just when he was about to ask, Colby looked down to the end of counter at a customer who apparently wanted their coffee cup refilled. He was a young man wearing a dirty bib hat and old overalls. His hair was the color of dishwater and his dark eyes were studying Logan intently from under the bib of his hat. Colby exhaled as if irritated, then smiled at Logan and said she would be right back. Then she walked down the counter and tended to the customer before returning to Logan.

  Logan couldn’t help but ask about the young guy at the end of the counter.

  “Who’s Mr. Bib Hat?” Logan said just as Colby r
eturned.

  “Oh, he’s the town…” Colby then looked over each of her shoulders before leaning towards Logan. “He’s the town asshole. Comes from a long line of assholes. His family has lived in this town for generations. Their land borders Rosemary Shaw’s. His name is Chip McPhale.”

  “The town ass…” Logan then lowered his voice as well. “The town asshole?” he whispered. “What’s his beef with me? He hasn’t taken his eyes off of me since I came in here.”

  “Well, you’re new in town for one thing. And you’re talking to me for another. Both of those things are probably pissing him off.”

  “You seem to be pretty popular,” Logan said as he grinned and took another bite of his sandwich. “The sheriff is after you and so is Mr. Bib Hat.”

  “Lucky me.” Colby gave Logan a crooked grin. “What more could a girl ask for?”

  Logan suddenly realized this was the first conversation he had had with a woman in a long time that lasted more than a minute or two. It felt good. Logan thought about Sarah but knew that when he was with her that they didn’t do as much talking.

  Chip McPhale continued to stare at Logan from the end of the bar. Logan tried to ignore him and concentrate instead on Colby. He still could not get over how sweet she was. If this was what a typical country girl was like he was suddenly sorry he had grown up in the city. Then Logan decided to change the subject. He didn’t want Colby to get bored with him and walk off to other customers.

  “Can you tell me about her?” Logan asked as Colby began to refill his glass of water.

  Colby smiled. “Rosemary? Sure. Everybody knows about Rosemary Shaw,” Then Logan noticed a strange look in Colby’s eyes, but only for a brief second.

  “She’s a fixture in town. The house she lives in has been around since the town was founded way back before the Civil War. She lives out on the edge of town. Her land runs right up to the Skeleton River.”