The Ghost of Tobacco Road

by Dale Young

  His face turned an ashen color. For a moment Logan thought the old man was going to faint.

  “I see,” was all Harmon could manage to say after Logan finished with his story. There was a long pause before either of them spoke.

  “So what does it all mean, Harmon?”

  “Logan, I wish I knew. I would tell you if I did. Honestly I would. The legend of a slave’s soul haunting the fields is the only, uh, ghost story, as you called it, that I know about the land.”

  He sat still in his chair and studied Harmon’s eyes. The old man seemed to be telling the truth. “Well, okay Harmon. Maybe then you can answer another question for me. I know I could probably ask someone else in town, maybe someone down at the diner, but I’d rather hear it from you.”

  Harmon lifted his pipe and took a long draw. He knew what question was coming and he knew he was going to need a shot of nicotine to be able to answer it truthfully.

  “Ask me anything you like, Logan.”

  He shifted in his seat and leaned forward towards Harmon’s desk.

  “Can you tell me how my great-grandmother died? Did she… Did she die in the fields?”

  “Heavens no, Logan,” Harmon said sharply. “She did not die in the fields.”

  “Then how did she die?”

  Logan watched as Harmon took the longest pull from his pipe that he had seen him take during their conversation. Clearly the old man was rattled.

  “She…” Harmon then paused before he spoke again. Finally he said, “Logan this is very difficult for me.”

  “Please, Harmon. She was my great-grandmother. I might not have known her but that was not my fault. But I still have a right to know. Don’t make me ask someone at the diner.”

  Harmon looked at Logan for a few seconds before speaking.

  “She killed herself, Logan. You’re great-grandmother Rosemary Abigail Shaw killed herself. She took her own life.”

  Logan pushed away from the desk and leaned back into his chair.

  “Killed herself? How?”

  Another long silence followed. Finally Harmon spoke.

  “She hung herself in the attic.”

  He took a long breath. He had just explored the attic with Colby last night. When he looked at Harmon, Logan could see that it seemed that the old man still had something to say.

  “Harmon?”

  He put his pipe down in the ashtray and then turned to look across his office at the road outside of the windows. Then he slowly turned his head back to Logan.

  “I was the one that found her, Logan.”

  He drew in a sharp breath.

  “You found her, Harmon?”

  “I found her, Logan. Swinging from a rope hung from one of the rafters. A chair was lying on its side under her feet. My dear friend Rosemary… She had become a bit of a recluse these past years, and I was one of the few people that went out to see her. You’re great-grandmother was quite wealthy Logan, as you can probably tell from the house, and I was trying to help her with her last will and testament. It was just easier to go out and see her than it was to bring her to the office. She stopped driving over a decade ago and pretty much just stayed in her house. She would call her doctor when necessary, and she had accounts at some of the stores in town and they would deliver the things she needed. There was really no need for her to leave the house.”

  He didn’t know what to say. He had never met his great-grandmother and felt it was inappropriate to try and offer an explanation as to why she became a recluse in her final years. But he wanted to say something, anything.

  “Old people get like that, I guess. I mean, really old people like my great-grandmother. Maybe she just didn’t feel comfortable in public.” Logan knew it was a feeble theory but it was the best he could do.

  “I think something else was bothering her, Logan. Something from her past. Maybe something in the house, I don’t know.”

  “Something in the house?” Logan replied.

  Harmon took a few puffs of his pipe and then leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling above his desk.

  “Something in the house or on the land. Like I’ve told you Logan, there are some people, including me, that believe that land harbors a dark secret. Something evil has staked a claim in those tobacco fields. I must say, I don’t envy you.”

  Logan felt a brief flash of anger.

  “You’re mood sure has changed from our first meeting, Harmon. You didn’t tell me all of this yesterday. You talked about how those fields produce the best tobacco in the state, and you did talk about the land being cursed or something but not like you are now.”

  “I’m sorry, Logan. I was afraid you wouldn’t even want to see the house if I told you everything about it right up front. You are the sole heir and if you don’t take the house then it will sit vacant. And then it will be even harder to keep it out of the hands of the McPhales. I couldn’t bear to see that bunch get their hands on Rosemary’s house and land. If it’s the last thing I do, I will make sure that band of hooligans never lives in Rosemary’s house or plants one single tobacco seedling on her land.”

  He exhaled and then rubbed his temples with his fingertips. Then he looked at Harmon.

  “It’s okay, Harmon. I can see where you’re coming from. It is a nice house but it needs some work. I have no plans to let it sit vacant no matter who is rattling chains in the attic or wandering around in the fields.”

  Harmon smiled at Logan. “Good man. You’re great-grandmother would be proud of you.”

  Logan gave Harmon an appreciative look and then looked over just as a truck passed by the window. The town of Starlight was coming to life for the day.

  “Word around town is that Colby at the diner is sweet on you.” Harmon folded his hands across his chest and grinned. He desperately wanted to change the subject.

  He turned his head back and looked at Harmon. He had to remind himself again that he was in Starlight and not Wilmington. He knew it was impossible to keep anything a secret in this town.

  “Does everyone in town know?”

  “Yes, they do Logan. Word travels fast around here, especially among the women. My guess is that Sandy spread the word. I love her to death but she loves gossip like she loves a nip of bourbon at lunchtime. She thinks I don’t know.” Harmon then gave Logan a wink that conveyed to him that the bourbon thing was to remain just between them.

  “I could only hope that a girl like Colby would be sweet on me. Fat chance. I’m just an old used car salesman who can barely pay his rent. I live in a trailer park with a bunch of merchant mariners and I live off of hot dogs and TV dinners.”

  He smiled. “That was the old Logan Shaw. The new Logan Shaw owns an antebellum home, several hundred acres of land and a bank account with five million dollars in it.”

  He felt his heart stop in his chest. It seemed like several minutes passed before he felt it start beating again.

  “Excuse me, Harmon?”

  “Five million dollars, Logan. That is the amount of your great-grandmother’s liquid assets. It belongs to you now, and like I’ve already said so does the house and the land.”

  Logan was feeling a new range of emotions flash through his body. According to Harmon he was now a rich man. And not just on paper. He had hard cash in the bank.

  “See Logan, everything is not all bad. Yes, the house and the land have their demons and my guess is that they are now stepping forward to introduce themselves. I would imagine Rosemary finally made her peace with them and that is why I found her hanging in the attic. But at least you won’t have to eat hot dogs and TV dinners while you’re dealing with it.”

  “Harmon, if you think I’m going to end up…”

  “No no, Logan. I know you will not end up like Rosemary. She was old and weak. You’re a strong young man. You’ll be fine.”

  Harmon looked at his watch. “I’m sorry, Logan, I have another appointment in just a few minutes. We can continue this later. Stop by tomorrow and we’ll draw up the p
apers so that you can access the money. Rosemary did leave stipulations on the account but nothing too severe. Some of the money is reserved for taxes and maintenance on the house and land, that sort of thing. But most of it is free for you to have.”

  Logan pushed himself away from the desk and stood up. Then both men shook hands. Just as Logan was turning to leave, Harmon spoke.

  “Oh, Logan, by the way.”

  “Yes?”

  “Just in case you’re wondering, I mean I’m sure you’re not but just in case you are, I can promise you that no one knows about Rosemary’s wealth. Of course everyone knows she wasn’t exactly poor just because of her house and land, but, well, no one knows about her liquid assets. The money, I mean.”

  “So?” replied Logan.

  “So if someone is friendly to you, then…”

  “I get it, Harmon. What you’re trying to tell me is that Colby isn’t a gold digger.”

  “Exactly,” replied Harmon. Logan could see the wave of relief wash over the old man’s face.

  Logan smiled and shook his head. Harmon Blackwell the third was a character indeed, he thought to himself as he turned to leave Harmon’s office.

  “Thanks, Harmon. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Logan said as he walked into the hallway.

  Once Harmon heard Logan say goodbye to Sandy and leave the office, he put down his pipe and reached into his desk drawer. He then retrieved a small bottle of whiskey and poured a shot into his empty coffee cup. He quickly downed the shot and poured himself another. Then he put the bottle back in the drawer.

  “God help that poor boy,” he said as the whiskey burned in his throat.

  17

  Logan was sitting on the steps of the front porch of his house enjoying the hot sun when he saw Colby’s car emerge from underneath the canopy of tree limbs covering the driveway to the house. She pulled up slowly and then parked her car. When she got out of the car she squinted in the bright sun as she looked at Logan.

  “Hey there, city boy. You look lonesome.” Logan smiled and watched as she walked around the front of her car and then towards him. She was wearing a pair of white denim shorts and a pale pink T-shirt. Logan could not remember the last time he had ever seen a more attractive woman.

  “City boy? I’ll have you know that I am now officially a country boy, and not only that, I’m a tobacco kingpin. Just look at my fields. I feel like I should be sitting here smoking a pipe and wearing straw hat.”

  “Smoking a pipe is the last thing you want to do,” Colby said as she walked up to Logan and sat down on the steps next to him, so close that the sides of their legs touched.

  “Why? Harmon seems to enjoy it. And besides, look at my supply of tobacco. I’d never have to buy any. It’s all out there just waiting to be smoked.” Logan then waved his arm towards the fields behind the house.

  “Oh, so you’ll just go out there and tear off a leaf, chop it up, put it in your pipe and smoke it? That’s funny, city boy. I’d love to see you do that.”

  “What’s the big deal?” Logan knew he had once again ventured into a topic he knew nothing about. He had no intention of taking up smoking; he was just trying to be funny.

  “I’ve heard stories about people that try that. I’ve even seen a few people do it. Watching someone do that is more fun than free circus tickets,” Colby said as she laughed.

  “Okay, I admit it. I have no idea what I’m talking about.” Logan then looked into Colby’s eyes as he felt her leg up against his. “Educate me, country girl.”

  “You can’t just go out there and rip off a leaf and roll it up into a cigar and smoke it. Or put it in a pipe or anything else. It doesn’t work like that. I had a friend back in high school that tried that. We were all out riding around one night and he decided that he wanted to start smoking. So we pulled over and he walked out into a tobacco field that bordered the road, tore off a leaf, rolled it into a homemade cigar and then lit it up. After a few puffs of his homemade cigar he turned green, fell down on his hands and knees and started moaning and groaning, saying the world was spinning around him. Then he puked up his cheeseburger and fries. We all laughed so hard that we almost pee’d in our pants. After that night he never tried smoking again, either with homemade cigars or store-bought ones.”

  Logan began to laugh. “So I take it they do something to the tobacco before you can smoke it.”

  “Yep, city boy. It has to be picked and cured. It takes a while. You can’t just smoke it right out of the field.” Colby then rolled her eyes and smiled at Logan. It was all he could do to not grab her and kiss her.

  “I was only kidding. I have no plans to ever start smoking,” Logan said.

  “So since you live in a haunted house, I’d thought I take you on the official ghost tour of Starlight. Sound good?”

  He thought anything sounded good if it meant being with Colby. As far as he was concerned even a game checkers would be enjoyable with her. Anything that involved spending time with her was okay with him.

  “Sure. Where are we going?”

  “It’s a secret. I’ll tell you when we get there. We can take my car but you can drive. Where we’re going isn’t far from here.”

  “A cherry-red 1969 Chevelle. Where in the world did you get it?” Logan said as he looked at Colby’s car. Colby’s mouth dropped open.

  “How did you know the year?” She looked at Logan and then at her old car.

  Logan looked at the car and then back at Colby.

  “You’re not serious, are you? I am a used car salesman after all.” Logan then winked an eye at her.

  “And a tobacco kingpin,” Colby replied. “My dad left me the car.” She looked down at her feet. Logan knew what that meant and decided not to ask her about her father.

  ***

  The noonday sun was directly overhead as Logan and Colby drove down the road. After leaving his house they had driven along the main road and then turned onto an adjoining road that led into the countryside away from town.

  “I take it we’re not going into Starlight?”

  “Nope. Normally a place like we’re going would be in the middle of town but because this is tobacco country it’s located outside of town.” Colby rolled up her window and began to fiddle with the air conditioner.

  Just then they drove past an old warehouse that looked like it hadn’t been used in fifty years. Grass was growing up through the broken asphalt that surrounded the solitary building. Up ahead Logan could see a bridge approaching.

  “The river?”

  “Yep. The Skeleton River,” Colby replied. “I hated that name when I was a little girl. It just scared me for some reason. I would never swim in that river when I was little because the name of it just gave me the heebie jeebies.”

  “Where did the name come from? That’s a pretty strange name for a river.” Just then they drove onto the bridge crossing the Skeleton River.

  “You don’t want to know,” Colby replied.

  “Come on, tell me.”

  Colby sat for a few seconds while she watched the river pass underneath them. Logan could tell that she wasn’t lying when she had said the river bothered her. She seemed to be lost in thought as she looked down at the water passing under the bridge. After a long pause, she spoke.

  “Legend has it that the slaves that worked the surrounding fields back before the Civil War were buried in the river when they died. Their bodies were weighted down with rocks and rope and then tossed into the river. It makes me want to cry every time I think about it. After enough time went by their bodies would decompose and the ropes would rot away. The bones would then wash up on the banks of the river. They say the river had some other name originally but when everyone in town started calling it the skeleton river the name just stuck.”

  Logan suddenly thought about the story Harmon had told him about the soul of a slave wandering the Shaw Fields. It seemed that Starlight had a dark history

  Just as they left the bridge, another old abandoned warehouse drifted
by.

  “What’s with all the old warehouses?” He could tell she was still upset about telling him the story behind the name of the river. He wanted to change the subject.

  “Back in Starlight’s heyday they were all full of tobacco ready to go to market. And other stuff too. Lots of cotton was grown around here. Now they all just sit empty.”

  “So where are we going? Are you gonna make me guess or are you gonna tell me?” Logan then took his finger and poked Colby gently on her leg.

  “The old train station. It’s been abandoned now for decades. Spooky as all get out. We used to come down here at night when I was in high school and tell ghost stories while sitting inside the old Pullman parked on the tracks.”

  “Starlight’s train station was out here and not in town? That makes a lot of sense, country girl. In the big city where I’m from, the train station isn’t out in the boondocks.”

  Colby raised an eyebrow at Logan and smiled. “It makes perfect sense if the main thing the train hauled away was tobacco. Why would they haul all the tobacco into town when it’s grown out here?”

  “Good point,” Logan conceded.

  “Turn here.” Colby pointed to a narrow road up ahead on their right.

  Logan turned the car onto the road as Colby had directed. It was paved for the first ten feet or so and then turned into red dirt. Logan felt a bump as they left the pavement and before long the road began to get even narrower as it led deeper into the woods. After a few minutes, another wooden bridge appeared.

  “The river again? That thing must turn and snake its way all over the place,” Logan said as he looked out of the side window as the car moved onto the short bridge. The river wasn’t as wide as it had been when they saw it before and the water below them was still and the color of mud.

  “Makes me shiver to think what might be at the bottom of it.” Colby folded her arms across her chest and then looked down into her lap to avoid seeing the river below them.

  “Hey it’s okay,” Logan said, trying to comfort her. “That was a long, long time ago. There can’t be anything left after all these years.”