The Stone of Blood

by Tony Nalley

  “I didn’t make you follow me!” I replied. “You came out here all by your own self!”

  “So you don’t want me to be here?” she said while placin’ her hands on her hips.

  “I never said them words Mary.” I said as I reached down and picked up a stick for breakin’. “Why is it that talkin’ to girls is always so complicated and stuff?”

  “So now you’re calling me complicated?” she said, all actin’ like she was gettin’ mad at me.

  I was startin’ to get flustered.

  “See! That’s exactly what I was talkin’ about!” I stated.

  “And just how many other girls have you been talking too?” she questioned me further.

  I just rolled my eyes around in my head, cause I just didn’t see much point in answerin’.

  The old barn stood ominously before us; cold and grey. The darkened stalls and beacons of light summoned us from within its empty belly. Its door swung loosely upon its hinges and creaked loudly as it moved in the wind, like a mast swinging to and fro on a wavering ship. The old boards were weather worn; broken and rotted; as it was with the ladder nailed to its front that led up into its darkened eaves.

  We stopped for a moment; becoming silent …as beams of light penetrated the barn! And as a ghostly apparition illuminated in its hold before us! With solemn stride the spirit walked through the darkness of the loft! And as it knelt by windows edge, it stared down upon us; lights emulating from within! I felt a cold chill run down my spine and the blood drain from my face as I looked upon its form! The ghostly manifestation of a Confederate Soldier! My heart pounded rapidly as my eyes met its gaze!

  Voices filled my mind then; haunting words of forewarning and whispers telling me to run!

  So we RAN!

  We ran through the field as fast as our legs would carry us!

  Runnin’ forward! Fallin’ down! Gettin’ up and runnin’ forward again!

  Faster! Faster! Faster we ran! Poundin’ dirt beneath our feet! With adrenalin coursin’ through our veins! And all rational thought leavin’ our minds! It was like a horrible dream we were never to awaken from!

  “Mary Stop! Hey wait for me!” I yelled.

  Mary ran faster than me and I wasn’t too happy about that neither! But I reckoned that gettin’ away from that barn and that ghost made my losin’ a race to a girl not seem so all fired important at the moment! I was powerful glad that there weren’t no boys around to see it though! Cause I would never have been able to live it down! Me gettin’ whooped in a race by a girl! And with her wearin’ a dress and all!

  Mary ran through the field, climbed over the fence and continued to run straight into our backyard! She ran up to our moms, fallin’ down before em’ as they sat in the shade underneath the leaves of a huge maple tree!

  Heartily excited, she told em’ of what had happened and of what she’d seen!

  She told em’ of the apparition in the window!

  We hadn’t had time to speak about it; we’d been runnin’ to save our lives!

  But the stories we told were identical!

  “It was a ghost of a Confederate Soldier!” Mary told em’.

  “And it looked down at us from the window loft!” I said as I pointed to the old barn with one hand as I held my side filled with pain with the other. It was hard explainin’ everything while I was all out of breath and all!

  “He had a long grey beard; that kind of came down to here!” Mary stated as she held her hand about a foot down below her chin.

  “And he was wearin’ a hat with riffles crossed on it on the front!” I said makin’ a sign of an X.

  “And there was no color in him at all except for a kind of bluish grey!” Mary interjected. “I could see right through him too!” she continued while lookin’ scared. “And I could see his cold gray eyes!”

  “I could see the back of the barn loft through him too!” I stated as back up. “And I could see the light from the other side of the room comin’ in through those old boards up there!”

  The grownups went out to the old barn, and they looked around.

  By now my dad had even been told of the story and he’d come out and looked around too! He climbed right up into that old barn loft all by himself! He wasn’t afraid at all! No sir! Not my dad! And he searched the whole place as we stood outside watchin’! He searched all over, both upper and lower levels of the barn, inside and out as we continued lookin’! But he said that ‘there wasn’t nothin’ or no one in the barn loft that he could find, and that there wasn’t no evidence or nothin’ showin’ otherwise!’

  I know the grownups believed we saw somethin’. But what we had saw I believe they just dismissed as kids imaginations.

  I mean, we were kids after all. And sometimes, well …kids will just make stuff up, you know? Not all of us mind you, but there are those of us that do! And cause of it, those of us that tell the truth have to suffer for it! We get a bad name! And take the blame for it!

  But if ya think of it, I mean really think about it …a kid’s word is all he has. He doesn’t own nothin’ …all he has is his word! So he ought to be believed no matter what! At least that’s what I gotta say about it! I know I believed us. It wasn’t a figment of my imagination! And it wasn’t so of Mary’s neither!

  If it was, then how could we have imagined exactly the same thing? You tell me that!

  But I can understand how hard it is for grownups to believe.

  So I won’t go holdin’ it against em’.

  I’ve looked for the ghost to appear many times since then, but I haven’t ever seen him again. And I’ve searched for clues around the old barn too, but I haven’t found nothin’ there neither, at least nothin’ that has led me to the answers anyways.

  I even went to the library once and I checked out a book on the Civil War; a book detailin’ the battles that happened around here. And I discovered that soldiers from both the North and the South traveled up and down Hwy 31E through Kentucky durin’ that war. It’s the same road that runs not more than a mile east of my family’s farm! As the crow flies, our mountain would’ve been seen from that road just as it can be seen from it today! And I’ve been told that we are located on one of the highest points in all of NelsonCounty. So they would’ve seen us!

  I’ve also gone through some old documents and maps, to detect any changes that may have occurred in the placement of that road. I guess maybe to see if there could have been any changes made. Cause it could’ve been that 31E south once connected by way of Cardinal Hill down there by that bridge near the BeechForkRiver. And if it did, then our farm would have lain directly along that path.

  Both armies would’ve marched right past here if that had been the case! But even if it didn’t happen that way, they could’ve taken that route anyways. If nothin’ more than just to keep off of the main road! Our mountain could’ve been used as a gatherin’ place; a place to scout for oncomin’ troops, or a place for their wounded to be doctored on …or even for use as a cemetery to bury their dead!

  “Toby! Did you hear what I told you young man?” Mama shouted as I jumped at her voice! “Now you get down off of that fence and get up there on the porch like I said! It’s starting to rain!”

  “Okay Mom!” I answered as I regained my composure and jumped down from the fence. And then I walked across the graveled driveway to the front porch.

  I picked up a rock along the way and I skipped it across the driveway just for fun! And then I hurried up on the porch and sat down in the swing!

  It was a comfortable old wooden swing that screeched and groaned when you swung in it. The view from which was an awesome sight, as we were all high up on a hill facin’ eastward towards the sun, with wide open views that went on for miles!

  It was a great place for thinkin’, if there wasn’t nothin’ else for ya to do.

  I waved at Cricket as she rode her horse through the fields across the way. She was a girl who lived just down the road a ways. And I watched her as she trotted her hor
se faster, just as the skies opened up with larger sprinklin’s of rain! And then as a small clasp of thunder broke before the heavy rains began to fall, with dark clouds blockin’ out the light.

  The rain fell in long strands like curtains of beads, like you could just reach out and part it with your bare hands. I always liked the rain. It made me feel like I was alone on a tropical island somewhere, with nobody comin’ over to visit and nowhere that I needed to be.

  The sound of water splashin’ upon the ground was really peaceful. It could lull you off to sleep if you weren’t careful about it!

  Mama came to the screen door then and looked out and checked on me as I was swingin’ back and forth. I guessed she just wanted to make sure that I wasn’t still out there in the yard gettin’ wet!

  Like I’ve said before, Mama was always lookin’ out for me and stuff.

  It was really rainin’ hard now.

  So I sat there in the swing for a while and I watched it fall.

  ***

  June 1864

  The night was dark and wet as the rider rode the back country.

  He traveled fast! As fast as his horse could carry him!

  They were chasing him! He could feel it!

  A cold chill ran down the base of his neck as his horse trembled beneath him!

  He crossed the creek to cover their scent, but still they followed! Closing fast!

  The rain was unrelenting as he made his way home!

  “Pa!” he shouted to the house as he brought his horse to a stop and dismounted. “Pa! They’re coming!”

  Obadiah and his grandson came out of the house, with rifles loaded and lanterns lit and ushered Caleb and his horse across the field and out back into his shed. Once inside Obadiah hung the lantern up and pulled open a door that lay beneath the floorboards. And he helped his injured son climb down into the chamber.

  “You stay put now! You hear me?” Obadiah demanded. “No matter what you hear boy, you don’t come out for nothin’!” he stated as he shook his head and looked down upon his son’s wounds. “We’ll be back to doctor ya up once it’s over.”

  “I’ve got it Pa!” Caleb said excitedly as he patted his haversack. “I’ve got the stone!”

  His father’s eyes welled up with wonder, but there was no time to discuss it now. The riders were coming!

  “Stay down! Stay low!” Obadiah said as he closed and concealed the door.

  The thunder rumbled across the darkened sky with blinding warm summer rains. But for the lightening of the storm one could all but see.

  “Hey there!” a rider called out as two darkened figures crossed the grassy fields. “We’re lookin’ for a’ Grey Back’ that just came ridin’ through here. Have you seen him?”

  Jeremiah and his grandfather raised their rifle barrels, pointing them squarely at the one who had spoken with an arrogant tone of familiarity.

  “You’d better ‘toe the mark’, Nate!” Obadiah said. “You’ve got no right to be on my land! Be gone with ya, or these’ll be the last words you’ll ever hear!”

  “Well look at what we have here!” Nathanael exclaimed sarcastically. “Are you boys seein’ what I’m seein’?” he said in amazement as he looked around at his men. “It looks like this might turn out to be an interestin’ evenin’ after all!” he remarked as his men smirked and began dismounting their horses.

  Nathanael sat in his saddle for a moment as his eyes met Obadiah’s gaze, and then he spoke again; this time in a foreign tongue.

  “Je pensais que vous étiez mort vieil homme!” Dit-il basculé son chapeau et ajusté son bord avec la pluie battante hors il de chaque côté. “Je pensais que quelqu'un avait sûrement vous découpé en petits morceaux ou monté votre tête sur un mur en maintenant!”

  “I thought you were dead old man!” Nathanael said as he tilted his hat and adjusted its brim with the rain pouring off it on either side. “I thought somebody had surely carved you up into little pieces by now or mounted your head on a wall!”

  “Les rebelles your'n est-il pas?” At-il demandé tout en plaçant sa main à son menton. “Et l'Ordre’, il existe encore?" Il secoua la tête et sourit, puis. “Et ici, je pensais que je'''était le dernier!”

  “The rebel’s your’n aint he?” he asked while placing his hand to his chin. “And ‘the Order’? It still exists?” He shook his head then and smiled. “And here I had thought ‘I’ was the last!”

  Nathanael gestured then towards the guns and chuckled as he dismounted from his horse.

  “Ce que le garçon porte est le mien Abdias, et je vais l'avoir.”

  “What the boy carries is mine Obadiah, and I will have it.”

  "Allez-y et nous tirer dessus si vous devez.”

  “Go ahead and shoot me if you will.”

  “Car vous savez que je ferai ce que je dois! Et rien, pas même vous va m'arrêter!”

  “You know that I WILL do what I must! And nothin’, not even you is gonna stop me!”

  Lightning flashed! And then …all of them changed.

  THE REBEL RAIDERS IN KENTUCKY – NEWYORK HERALD

  From New York, dated June 20th, 1864

  Capture of Bardstown by Jesse’s Gang. Louisville, KY June 19th 1864 Jesse’s rebel gang numbering twenty-five to thirty, attacked Bardstown yesterday morning. The garrison of the place, numbering twenty-five men surrendered. The rebels then moved down the railroad, and destroyed the bridge and water station near Boston. Thence they went across the Nashville Railroad, two miles north of Elizabethtown, and when last heard they were going toward Litchfield.

  Two

  The Halls of the Old Tavern

  I remember a time when I was younger; a time when the world had meaning and everythin’ just made sense. It was a time and place when the world actually did revolve around me and where the sun really did rise and set by the hands of my mama’s clock!

  If it was time to get up, then it must have been mornin’ and the sun would rise up and shine in the east. If it was time to go to bed, then it must’ve been nighttime and the sun would set in the west and the world would go dark. You couldn’t have told me otherwise, cause that’s just how I saw it. I lived in it! I was there!

  I don’t recall my exact ages of course as to when all of this happened mind you. But at least for me, these pages and for all intents and purposes I’d have to guess that everythin’ must have happened along about the time that I was five years old! That’s when time started for me. Before then, time had no consequence or meaning.

  My Grandpa told me when I was five …that life used to be a whole lot simpler.

  “Life was simpler but people were mean as hell back then, Toby!” he said. “By god they were mean!” He continued as he shook his head and tapped his finger hard against the table to drive home his point. I saw the pictures he showed me. Pictures that was mostly black and white.

  According to my Grandpa, Bardstown was once the biggest city in the state! Even bigger than Louisville was at the time; and I guess that since we were the biggest, that’s why we used to get visited by alot by famous people; people like Daniel Boone, Jessie James and even Abraham Lincoln!

  Grandpa told me that Abraham Lincoln once came through here with his family when he was a little boy! Now I don’t know for sure if my grandpa meant that Abraham Lincoln was a little boy when he came through here or if he meant that he came through here when my grandpa was a little boy. But I believe that he must have meant the first one, cause I don’t think my grandpa was even born back then!

  But alot of famous people have come through here! And even lived here too! One of em’ wrote a song about us! His name was Stephen Foster. He wrote a song about a Plantation House located on the other side of town! It’s called “My Old Kentucky Home”!

  We also had a famous inventor livin’ here by the name of John Fitch. He’s the one who invented the first steamboat! And what's more, there’s a tavern in our town square that’s thought to be the oldest stagecoach stop this side of the Appalachian Moun
tains! I reckon that’s the main reason we’ve had so many people come through here. Cause we were the first and last place for people to stop and get somethin’ to eat before they headed out west!

  Our buildin’s and roadways are filled with a kind of livin’ history here!

  Just the other side of the tavern …where a lone coffee tree grows …the old jailhouse whispers its own tales of the past. Most of its visitors consider it to be haunted! The very first hangin’ in our state occurred here, right there at our local county jail. It seems that a man killed his wife’s lover, and then the night before his execution, he and his wife attempted to commit suicide together. But though his wife died …he survived the suicide attempt …and was hung the next day. And after the hangin’, both he and his wife were buried together in the same coffin! It was their final request. Now that’s got truth and ghost story written all over it!