River Rocks: A West Virginia Adventure Novel

by Steve Kittner

  “Can’t bum from a friend!” Tiny smiled. “Come on off there. Let’s go up to the house.”

  Josh said, “Tiny this is Burl Otis, a friend of ours. We’re giving him a ride upriver too. Burl, Tiny Brooks.”

  The two gripped each other’s hands tightly and looked into each other’s eyes, Burl still looking for any recollection.

  “It’s good to meet you Mr. Otis, come on up and welcome to my place.”

  “Thank you very much Mr. Brooks. It’s a pleasure!” Are you of the Brooks family that has been here on the river a while?”

  “Oh yes, sir. As a matter of fact this house was my grand-pappy’s. Of course I’ve had to do some work on it through the years, but yes we have been here since the early days of Red Creek.”

  “It’s always nice to meet a local!” Both men laughed.

  The three boys shook their heads and all stepped onto the dock and proceeded up the stairs to Tiny’s humble house on the river.

  As they stepped onto his front porch, Tiny asked, “How about you, Mr. Otis, are you from a river family?” Tiny halfway knew the answer to that.

  “Well, not right on the river like you are, but up Tater Holler. My family settled that area back in the mid 1800s when there was nothing anywhere around here except a lot of wildlife to trap and hunt.”

  Standing on the boat dock by the Elk River the two old men got to know each other just a little bit. Tiny was letting go of the rumors that he had heard about the Otis family and decided to make his own character judgment.

  “Yeah, same here. My folks have been here for ages! This old river just gets in your veins, ya know?” He smiled and paused.” Tater Holler, ya say? That’s really hard to get to from here, right?”

  “Yeah from this side it is. But from the back side of Tater Holler it’s not. There are roads that run into there from Hickory Fork. It’s way easier than climbing the hills from this side,” Burl said.” I use a bunch of old trails when I need to go somewhere. Pretty self-sufficient on the mountain up there, but occasionally I’ll wander down to the market and get a few things. What money I need I make trappin’. I just like the lifestyle of not having to depend on anyone for anything.”

  “I have the same passion, Mr. Otis. The simpler the better. Come on in, guys, let’s get something cold to drink.”

  The three thirsty adventurers stepped into the house, a small river shack with a front room that went across the full width of the front and then a hallway down the middle with a kitchen to the right that looked across a small bar into the front room and a couple of bedrooms to the left off the hallway. The bathroom was at the very end of the hallway on the right.

  The home was simple and clean on the inside with framed family pictures on the walls and end tables. An antique steel fishing rod and reel hung over the front door, an obvious relic of a previous Brooks man. A large, oval throw rug was laid down on top of hardwood floors and a modest couch and a couple of chairs made up the furniture of the front room, along with a coffee table and two small end tables by the couch.

  “Make yourselves at home, guys. You’re in luck; I have a fresh pitcher of sweet tea made up for ya,” Tiny said as he stepped into the kitchen.

  “That sounds perfect,” Eddie responded.

  The three were looking at the pictures and the Brooks memorabilia hanging on the walls from many years ago. An old fishing creel hung by a front window, a very old rusty oil lamp was on a small shelf, some antique fishing lures were mounted to a board and hung by the front door, along with an antique South Bend octagon fly-rod. Josh then noticed a small box of loose pictures on one of the end tables.

  Josh said, “Ya know, if you took your house, Tiny, and Mr. Otis’ house and put them in a museum, you would have the history of Red Creek for the last one hundred fifty years all put together.”

  Burl Otis laughed along with Brooks, “No museum would want my old junk,” he said.

  “Mine either!” Tiny laughed, looking through the rectangular opening that separated his kitchen from his front room, not believing that anything valuable was being displayed there. “No, when I die they will just push this whole house down into the river,” he continued jokingly.

  Burl said, “It’s a nice place you have here, Mr. Brooks. And the location is perfect.”

  “Yeah, for an old river man like me it is. I never get tired of waking up and hearing that water running past outside my windows, getting out of bed and having that morning coffee on the front porch or the dock. Starts my day off just the way I like! I got an old muskrat that comes up here in the evening begging for apples! Every evening.”

  “Like a pet,” Brad commented.

  “Like a pet,” Tiny repeated, smiling big.

  Tiny returned from the kitchen with a tray of glasses filled with ice and then returned to get the pitcher of tea. As he started filling up the first glass he noticed the boys still looking around at his displays of Brooks possessions that had surrounded him for so many years, surprised at their continued curiosity. He filled all the glasses and joined his guests in a refreshing glass of ice cold sweet tea. He began thinking again about the boys’ trip up Tater Holler and now their returning with Burl Otis. He couldn’t help wondering what was up, especially with what he had always heard about Tater Holler. He decided to throw a line out and see if anybody bit on it.

  “But I do agree there is a lot of history around here. Interesting stuff, too,” he said, and then paused to let it sink in. “My people moved into this area in the middle 1800s from Georgia. Underground Railroad, ya know? Escaped the slave trade and found a place to hide up here until the war ended. And then my great grandfather did what he could for work; helped on farms, worked on a riverboat for a while, worked as a bartender up there on the island. Whatever he could do to make money, he did it. He established a home for the Brooks family and here we stayed.” Tiny smiled again. Proud.

  Everyone liked the story and commented on it. Eddie and Josh knew that would put Tiny’s family in the area solidly during the time of the train robbery and they couldn’t help but wonder if he had any clue at all as to the whereabouts of the missing gold. The only problem with bringing Tiny in on the secret was Brad. At this point Brad knew nothing about what was going on and the boys weren’t sure if they knew him well enough yet to let him in on the secret. He did have a good means of transportation which could become valuable in the search. But it had only been a few days. Could they trust Brad? It crossed Josh’s mind again that Brad’s problem was with his dad and not with them or even himself. Josh decided to redirect the conversation for the time being.

  “Tiny, Mr. Otis saved our lives up there on the mountain. Mountain lion.” Josh nodded his head. “It was close.”

  A look of great concern appeared on Tiny’s face. He knew what prowled these hills at night. He had seen them before, too. He also knew that they had all avoided his comment about local history.

  “Ya don’t say. Seems to be more of them these days than there used to be. Bear, too. You guys need to be careful. I see a lot of tracks by the water in the dry season,” he said, pointing his finger their way as to drive his point home like a father.

  “I was just lucky to have a good clean shot on that one,” Burl said, “otherwise…”

  They paused, thinking of what could have happened.

  Tiny recalled hearing the unmistakable thunder of a muzzleloader a few evenings ago.

  “So, Tater Holler, what brings you down our way?” Tiny asked, smiling. Curiosity was killing him.

  “Well I thought I would escort the kids out of Tater Holler and while I was at it spend a couple days at my trapping cabin. Do some repairs before season this fall.”

  Ah, good idea. And get a raft ride before Brad starts charging a fee, right? Tiny smiled.

  “Good idea!” Brad jumped in.

  Josh and Eddie laughed and gave each other a glance. This was nice camaraderie but what was on their minds was the treasure. The gold. They wanted to move forward and see wha
t else they could uncover--what facts, what clues--and get to the bottom of this myth or mystery. Whatever the outcome. It had become their passion since that day on the sand bar by the trestle.

  Shade flowed quickly through the living room as only a rain cloud can and darkened the room slightly. The men sipped their tea.

  “Looks like a summer shower?” Burl commented.

  Tiny looked out the window and nodded his head in agreement. He was an authority on the river and its climate.

  “A quick one, I think, but yeah, looks like you guys might have a delay.”

  No sooner had he said it when a faraway rumble echoed down the river. The room lightened again and then darkened, this time even more so as the wind began to move the thin curtains in the front room.

  “We better get our packs off the raft,” Eddie said, “and your plant, Josh”

  The three boys moved quickly to get their equipment and Josh’s rhododendron off the raft and Brad secured the vessel a little better with an additional line. The two older men had come outside with their drinks to supervise and to offer assistance if needed, but the boys had everything handled well. They bounded up the stairs with their gear and, when reaching the top, Josh and Eddie peeled off their backpacks and tossed them up against the front of the house on the wide front porch. Eddies landed with a clank!

  Josh and Eddie had spent a little time on Tiny’s front porch before but had never noticed until just now that right there on his porch lay the perfect twin. A perfect match to the old red milk can that they had found stuck in the mud down by the sand bar a few days ago. This one was painted white and blended with the house somewhat, but it matched theirs to a T.

  Eddie reacted and Josh’s head turned his way. A look of curious astonishment covered his face.

  Burl looked at them both and a slow smile came to Tiny’s face. His eyes went back and forth from the boys to the old milk can as he wondered. Could it be?

  They paused.

  “You like the old can?” he asked.

  Burl looked back and forth between the boys, and Brad stuck his head in as he reached the top of the stairs. The boys didn’t say anything. Josh raised his eyebrows and nodded his head. Tiny looked at them both and then at Otis.

  “It’s a milk can. They used to haul milk in these. There might be fifty of them on a wagon or in later years on the back of a truck, and they would go around and deliver them. I found this one about twenty-five years ago.”

  Josh and Eddie looked curious but uncomfortable.

  Eddie said slowly, “Yeah, we found one. We found one down by the sand bar in the mud. Filthy, had to pull it out and clean it up.”

  Eddie looked at Josh. Had he said too much? Josh didn’t know and didn’t react.

  Burl looked between the boys again and then to Brooks. Thunder rumbled a little closer now and it got a little darker once again. Tiny removed his hat to scratch his head and then sat down on a metal chair on the front porch. There were three more chairs and all except Josh took one. Josh sat directly on the porch floor.

  Tiny went into thought for a little bit as everyone surveyed the clouds and coming storm.

  “Did it have a lid on it?” Tiny asked looking at Eddie then Josh.

  “It did.” Eddie replied softly.

  There was a long pause as rain could be heard starting to fall in the distance, large drops cracking the leaves as they came down. The boys and Burl knew that Tiny was going somewhere with this and all three wondered why. Brad was oblivious at this point, looking down at his raft which had begun to move as the wind picked up.

  “Ya know,” Tiny paused and leaned forward in his chair. Once again thunder rumbled, following a distant crack of lightning. “I guess there is one of these things still floating around the river here somewhere that is kind of……important.” He took another sip of iced tea.

  Blown away! Josh and Eddie couldn’t believe it. They couldn’t believe that there could very well be another person who knew the legend and knew about a document hidden in a milk can. Now, what to do? Should they take the conversation and go with it? See what they could learn? If so they would have to be confident in Brad. They knew Tiny well enough to know he could be a real asset in finding something missing on the river. He knew every drop of it. Tiny could have a piece of the missing puzzle that could be very important to locating the treasure. But what about Brad? Josh and Eddie were thinking the same thing about the dilemma as Eddie looked at Brad, who was still looking at his raft. They wanted to trust Brad. They knew the challenges that he had to deal with every day of his life. And it was not about being greedy and having to share money, because the boys weren’t even that caught up in a reward for finding it. It was just the search, the hunt that had captivated them so much the past few days. But a little reward money could change Brad’s life, his future. At this point in his life he had no hope of going to college or even learning a good trade. He would most likely be a prisoner of cheap labor.

  Brad turned around and looked straight over at Josh and then Eddie and grinned proudly at his raft. Something so simple and Brad was a different person. The boys saw it in his eyes. There was good in his heart and he was a victim of his fathers’ bad habits. If fate was on their side, they would trust him and help to change his life. Brad would become a member of the team.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The five guys sat on the front porch as the rain intensified and the skies grew even darker. Intermittent flashes of lightning and claps of thunder flashed and boomed all around them. Josh received a text message from his mom and he responded promptly. Burl was looking at the boys. It was their call. It was their discovery. He would just wait and see what they decided. It wouldn’t take long.

  Josh said solemnly, “Tiny, you know about the legend?”

  Tiny smiled slowly, not the big iconic smile of his but more of a smile of trust and security.

  “Oh, yes sir, I do,” he said softly, never breaking eye contact. “That story goes way back with my folks and I know it’s true. I am certain of it.”

  Burl Otis was slowly nodding his head in agreement and Tiny acknowledged him. Two old timers on the river whose families both had ties to the legend.

  Eddie said, “Can you tell us what you know?”

  Tiny breathed in hard through his nose and sat up tall in his chair. The trusting smile came back to his face and he took just a second to think about it.

  “Oh yes, I can.” He paused briefly, “But why don’t you tell me first what you have found and then we can go from there.”

  Josh began. He told Tiny about fishing down at the sand bar by the trestle and finding the can in the mud over on the bank. He went on to tell him of the document that was in the can and their attempt to decipher it in the garage. He told him of their trips to the library to uncover local information and about the train robbery article and about Giselle and Mansfield and how he scooped up their copy of the legal pad document.

  Tiny thought for a minute when they mentioned Mansfield.

  Eddie picked up the story about the internet search for the “Southern Jewel” and what they had found. They told him about the article Giselle found about the wallet being the only clue ever found at the scene or anywhere else. Josh then explained how they went to the Town Office to get information on a man named Art Otis, the guy whose name was on the wallet, and how that had led them to Burl Otis, the man on Tiny’s front porch right now. Between the two of them they explained how they bumped into Brad at “Brads Landing” while he was building the now-famous milk jug river raft.

  Tiny cringed when Josh told him about Collins coming to the house and stealing the deer-hide document out of his garage so blatantly, and then went on to tell the details of going down river, almost getting eaten by a cougar, meeting Burl and having the best wild rabbit they could imagine.

  Tiny smiled big about that.

  And then Burl chimed in about his details on the legend. Tiny listened intently as the dark clouds continued to roll overhead
. Occasionally they would make comments back and forth to each other about something that was said, but mostly Tiny just sat quietly and let Burl and the boys do the talking. Burl told what he knew of the meetings that Clyde Franklin and Art Otis had on the island on those nights so long ago. None of this surprised Tiny; he knew that story well. They explained about the red can being on the Franklin’s front porch for years after Franklin died, with nobody knowing the valuable contents within, and then the flood of 1936 that took it away. Burl told of the man named John Hopes who found Clyde Franklin’s Bible and the note that told about the red can and its contents. They talked about Franklin’s “loose lips” after the robbery and how people started to suspect him, and how the gun, the lantern, the gold and Art’s body were all never found. And then Josh told Burl’s side of the story about Franklin killing Burl’s great-grandfather and moving the body and how that wallet was placed on the tracks to make it look like Art Otis was the only criminal and that he had worked alone.

  Tiny took it all in slowly, shaking his head at times at the depth and size of this legend, which apparently was not just a legend anymore but a true story and part of the history of their little town.

  Burl told Tiny how Sheriff Collins was related to the Franklins and of his obsession with the hunt to the point of thievery! And that Mayor Bilingsworth had an interest in it as had every ayor before him.

  Josh went to his backpack and pulled out the copy of the document that was written on the legal pad and they all showed Tiny what they collectively had deciphered:

  “Where steel horses run

  Streams flow from hills high

  A Southern Jewel rests

  From a rainy night.

  Sand is a vault

  Key from the door

  In an Island bank”

  “And that’s about it. Now we are to the point where we have to decode this riddle one line at a time and we think that it will lead us to the gold! And we figure the way you know the river and the way Burl knows the hills, you guys could maybe help us out,” Josh finished.