Sadie's Mountain

by Shelby Rebecca

  Kimball Brown, thank you so much for your help in finding just the right scriptures for Sadie’s momma’s funeral. I’m glad that you’ve found a church, even though it’s too far away.

  To my brothers, Wayne Norton, Chris Davis, and Joe Davis, I love you guys, even though you’ve picked on me my whole life (and still do) you guys are still cool and always, always have my back. You are my home base, and I hope I’ve made you even a little bit proud. Pam, Nathan, and Coty Norton, Shaun and Tyler Davis, Tina Laboa, Alix Davis and Mae Mae, Craig and Kendall French, I can’t ask for better a family. My only regret is that my dad and Mitch aren’t here to see my dream come to fruition. Thanks for reminding me they’d be proud.

  To my in-laws, Luisa Rodriguez, Joe Rodriguez, Leah Rodriguez, Genielle Rodriguez, and Ashley Reeves who read my book not just because they are related to me and they love me, I think they actually liked it! I’m proud to be in this family and thank all of the Rodriguez’ from Texas, California, Alabama, and Arizona for your unconditional love and support; no matter where we’ve been, no matter how far away we go, we always love each other.

  To my Aunt Sue Sue, aka Susan Jones. I want to thank you for reading faithfully every week, even reading re-writes and always being honest with me. I think writing this book brought us together in a new way. I know we have some similar experiences. I thank you for sharing those with me. I’ll never forget our phone conversations during the six-months I was writing. Your thoughts and encouragement helped me finish this book. I love you.

  To my cousins Melissa Banian, Calvin, Cori, and Wade Fox, thank you so much for supporting me, liking my statuses, asking about the progress toward publication. I feel a family reunion in our future. What’ta ya say to that?

  To Aunt Truth Ashby Moulton, I think I got the writing bug from you—just like the chicken knick-knack collecting. Thank you for reading and for your encouragement. The times I’ve spent with you at your house will never leave me. There’s no one in the world just like you. You’re so unique Facebook doesn’t even believe you’re real. I love you more than words can say.

  Donna McDonald and Carol McDonald, you two were the first women I shared my idea for the book with. You were there urging me on even before one sentence was written. Thank you for listening and for helping me with plot ideas. P.S. I won’t bring so many baked potatoes to our next barbeque ;-)

  Lindsay Lopez, thank you for all of your help on West Virginia. You spent endless amounts of time listening to me talk about Dillon and Sadie, helping me research facts to get just the right details. I value your opinions more than you know. Thank you so much. P.S. There’s no one else I’d like to take a Los Banos detour with on the way to Disneyland—but we made it, eventually. *Wink*

  Heather McCormick, like we always say, we’ve lived the same life, just in different bodies. Thank you for reading even when you had morning sickness. Your comments made me feel like I might have something here. Kiss little Ariana for me!

  John Telles, I wanted to say thank you for reading as much as you did even though this is definitely not your preferred genre. There were many times when you came forward with much needed advice and I really do appreciate it.

  Ladies, Janell Troy, Brenda Spears, Robin Wibbels, Nakia Davis, and Melissa PavlikAtencio, I’ve known you girlies for over half my life. You are some of the best friends a girl can ask for. The fact that you’ve not only kept in touch with me for all these years, but you read my book, too. I’m so lucky to have you all in my life. Now I owe you one.

  To my bestie, Lakisha DeVone Cortinas, we’ve grown up together. We really have. Your spunk and creativity has shaped me as a writer. I bet you don’t know that, but it’s true. Thank you for being a part of this time in my life so we have another set of memories to add to the rest. Like, how many other besties even have their own language? We were using the word “Vanilla” long before Fifty Shades of Grey (And it has a whole different meaning to us). I’m so glad I got to hug you for almost a whole half an hour this summer. You are my Dale...right? Or are you Chip??? Love you, girl.

  Some of my newer friends have been so supportive as well, Kat Brooks, and Amy Sue Fields, I mean. What can I say? The support you two have given is priceless. Kat, you have been so honest with me. I think the ending would be a lot different had you not been willing to tell me the truth. I am so grateful for that. And Amy, geez. I think you hold the record for reading it the fastest of all. Two hours. Yes, you read that right. She read the whole book, all 105,ooo words, in two hours. Thank you both so much.

  All the way out from Manassas, Virginia, Ray Madonna, you have been so supportive I just might have to drive out there next summer and visit you and the family. You’ve always been such a great friend and a heck of a drummer. Thanks, man!

  I also want to thank my writer friends who have been so supportive and have helped me, by being beta readers, and giving me content advice, self-publishing advice, advice on copyrights and trademarks, book covers, editors, tattoo script, present tense versus past tense, you name it. You all are so selfless and have made this book so much better. Karen Mueller Bryson, Lea-Ellen Borg, Erin Walen, Dani Greer, S.E. Duncan, Sue Jerrems, Mia Ellames, and Tammara Webber, I owe you so much and I hope that I can help you all in the future, in some small way.

  I must thank Fiction Press. There are some awesome beta readers over there that followed me, and tuned in every week. You gals give me hope that my book will reach others and make its mark in the world. So many of you contacted me and shared your stories. That’s something I hadn’t expected but truly appreciate.

  There have been artists that have been so inspirational to me during this process. Michal Madison, your art moves me in a way that is life-changing. Thank you for the work you do to raise awareness about sexual abuse. If I had more money in the budget, your art would be on my cover, but you know that. Thank you for helping me believe my book will be healing for other survivors.

  Lisa Lambert of Lj Photography, I have three of your photographs of landmarks from scenes in Sadie’s Mountain hanging in my hallway. And even though I’ve never been to your neck of the woods, I feel like I go there a little bit every day. You have a way of capturing and sharing West Virginia that I’ve never seen in any other person’s work. Thank you.

  If you’ve read Sadie’s Mountain, you know just how important songs from Adel were to the plot. I listened to the Adele station on Pandora while I wrote many times, and her words always seemed just right because they come from a real place. Your voice is my panacea—my cure all. Thank you.

  Thank you to David Jacome from Peers Music for helping me secure the rights to use lyrics from “You Are My Flower” by M.P. Carter. I love that song and am glad I didn’t have to part from it. It’s so symbolic to this story and to what Sadie means to me. I hope I get to deal with you again because that means I’ve sold 10,000 copies.

  I want to thank my editor Stephanie Lott. Without you there would be a lot more rosebuds and knotted wood in Sadie’s Mountain. You taught me that there can be too much of a good thing. You bring out the best in my writing. Because of you I feel good putting my work out for the world to read.

  My book cover designer, Dafeenah Jameel at Indie Designz is so amazing. She was able to pull out ideas from my brain that I wasn’t able to fully communicate. I’m proud to have your work on my cover. Thank you.

  I want to thank Ansted and Fayetteville County in West Virginia. So many supportive people out there have liked the Facebook page and supported me in my journey toward publication. I really want to make it out your way soon to see the beauty of your part of the country for myself.

  Last, but not least, I want to thank the people who are out there raising awareness about mountaintop coal mining, especially the folks over at ilovemountains.com, Elizabeth Stephens, Bob Kincaid, and also Ashley Judd. I don’t know Ashley Judd personally, but it was her dedication to the cause for ending MTR that led me to choose Ansted, West Virginia, and Gauley Mountain as the setting for Sadie�
�s Mountain. There are so many men and women out there fighting the good fight every day, making changes, and stopping these real mountains from being raped and emptied when they don’t have to be. In real life Gauley Mountain wasn’t saved, but there are others out there that can be.

  I thank all of you for your continued dedication, and I hope that my novel is a help in some small way to raise awareness and make changes to the laws that allow the complete devastation of some of the oldest mountains in the history of the world.

  If you’ve gotten this far, it means you’ve read my book. So thank you for supporting me and please keep in touch.

  Table of Contents

  DEDICATION

  Chapter One—That Day

  Chapter Two—The Shed

  Chapter Three—Come Home

  Chapter Four—Goldenseal Roots

  Chapter Five—Jerky Jake

  Chapter Six—His Flower

  Chapter Seven—The Rules

  Chapter Eight—Sadie’s Mountain

  Chapter Nine—Chemical Affinity

  Chapter Ten—Beautiful flaws

  Chapter Eleven—The Hell Mouth

  Chapter Twelve—Good Boy

  Chapter Thirteen—Hawk’s Nest

  Chapter Fourteen—To Me, You Are

  Chapter Fifteen—Between Awake and Asleep

  Chapter Sixteen—A big white house

  Chapter Seventeen—I Am The Lily

  Chapter Eighteen—Splinters

  Chapter Nineteen—For My Momma

  Chapter Twenty—A Fiery Peace

  Chapter Twenty-One—Don’t slip away

  Chapter Twenty-Two—Wake Up!

  Chapter Twenty-Three—The Link

  Chapter Twenty-Four—The Overlook

  Chapter Twenty-Five—Pearls, Pearls, Pearls

  Chapter Twenty-Six—What Justice Will Feel Like

  Chapter Twenty-Seven—Like The River, They Say

  Chapter Twenty-Eight—Does This Feel The Same?

  Chapter Twenty-Nine—Full Of Lessons

  Chapter Thirty—Across The Mountain

  Epilogue

  ABOUT SHELBY REBECCA

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS