“If there’s anything you need, you let us know,” his father warned him.
“I will,” Nicholas replied absently.
His eyes scanned the station. He thought for sure he’d see Alice. She had to be up there with the mayor and her father. He’d seen Robert all right. Robert looking better than he had in years. But Alice was nowhere to be found. All those years of friendship and she’d deserted him like a leaf stuck to the bottom of your shoe.
A warning signal that the train would soon be leaving. Nicholas gave his parents one last hug and then bent over to pick up his cases. It was then that he became aware of the commotion.
At first, he thought someone was trying to break through to get to the president. He watched in confusion as the people around him shouted angrily, pushed one another aside, and scolded those that accidently touched them. “What in tarnation?” his father declared.
But then he heard her. “Wait, wait!”
It was Alice, moving through the throngs of people, pushing them aside and clamoring over them to reach the platform. As Nicholas watched in awe, Alice reached up, grabbed the station clock, and swung herself out over the last small group of people. She landed on the platform beside him, her dress billowing around her like a parachute.
They had only seconds left. Without thinking, Nicholas grabbed ahold of her and brought her to him. It was suddenly all so clear. “I am so sorry,” he cried. “I didn’t know.”
She moved back, stroked his cheek, and smiled. “I love you. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”
The sound of the whistle and the train was leaving. Nicholas bent down and kissed her squarely on the mouth, grabbed his bags, and bounded for the train.
“I’ll come back,” he called out to her. “I’ll come home!”
But Alice only smiled sadly.
It no longer mattered. They had completed their courses. Furnace Mountain had changed; Alice had changed.
Chapter Forty-Four
LIFE WOULD CONTINUE ON, as it is prone to do. There would be changes, both good and bad. Sometimes those changes would start with a whisper, sometimes they’d start with a shout.
Later, everyone in Furnace Mountain would remember that day, the day President Roosevelt came to town. It was the ones that remembered the days and weeks preceding it that carried the flames of hope with them. And knew where to find it.
Afterword
The town of Furnace Mountain is make believe. However, it was strongly based upon the town of Ravenna, Kentucky (located in Estill County). Ravenna was also a railroad town, built by the company. In addition, it has a long and varied history that includes iron furnaces, lumber yards, and more. Hartside Morgan is loosely based on Carharrtt, which came to Ravenna during the Great Depression and is still there.
And, yes, the townspeople really were able to raise money to bring the factory to town-$200,000 in fact.
The idea for Furnace Mountain came to me while visiting an old train depot in Stanford, Kentucky. They’d turned it into a little museum and, in one of the corners, they had an old wheelchair.
“What’s the wheelchair about?” I asked.
“Oh,” the woman in charge replied. “They had that built just in case President Roosevelt ever came to visit.”
All the characters are entirely fictional.
About Rebecca
Rebecca Patrick-Howard is the author of more than a dozen paranormal books, including several true haunting accounts. She lives in eastern Kentucky with her husband and two children.
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Rebecca’s Other Books
To see a complete list of Rebecca’s books, and for ordering information (including signed paperbacks) visit her website at:
www.rebeccaphoward.net
Taryn's Camera Series
Windwood Farm (Book 1)
Griffith Tavern (Book 2)
Dark Hollow Road (Book 3
Shaker Town (Book 4)
Jekyll Island (Book 5)
Black Raven Inn (Book 6)
Muddy Creek (Book 7)
Taryn’s Pictures: Photos from Taryn’s Camera
Taryn’s Camera: Beginnings
Kentucky Witches
A Broom with a View
Broommates
A Broom of One’s Own
True Hauntings
Haunted Estill County
More Tales from Haunted Estill County
Haunted Estill County: The Children’s Edition
Haunted Madison County
A Summer of Fear
The Maple House
Four Months of Terror
Two Weeks: A True Haunting
Three True Tales of Terror
The Visitors
Other Books
Coping with Grief: The Anti-Guide to Infant Loss
Three Minus Zero
Finding Henry: A Journey Into Eastern Europe
Estill County in Photos
Haunted: Ghost Children Stories From Beyond
Haunted: Houses
Abandoned: A Grayscale Adult Coloring Book
Furnace Mountain
Furnace Mountain: or The Day President Roosevelt Came to Town Page 23