The Thing in the Pit

by Cameron Joseph

  The Thing in the Pit

  Cameron Joseph

  7/29/2017

  Copyright © 2017 by Cameron Joseph

  All rights reserved

  Contents

  The Blackstone Family

  Mr. Potter’s Barn

  Danny

  Jared Forsyth

  Colt Justice

  Triple Deuces

  The Dark Woods

  The Old Road

  Secrets and Potions

  The Pit

  The Adderley Place

  Face to Face

  The Blackstone Family

  This story begins on a hot and hazy summer day, near the tiny town of Sunset, Kentucky. Set deep in the Kentucky wilderness, a hardware store, a honky-tonk, a general store, and farm supply, served well the two hundred-eighty-four souls living in Sunset. Several new homes under construction lined the east end of town. While several long-abandoned cabins dotted the town’s outskirts. Many of the fifty homes built during the 1970s stood empty.

  The Blackstone family moved into one of the older houses. They lost their home to foreclosure before coming to Sunset. Harrison Blackstone was out of work, angry at the world and desperate to feed his family. Betty Ann Blackstone 38, hoped starting over would bring back the man she married. Harrison was drinking to cope with losing their home. He was hateful and physically abusive to their sons. Tommy 15, and Dana 12, were both rowdy and found ways to get in trouble. Harrison was a strong, big man. He had a bad temper and loved to fight. He liked to beat the hell out of other men. He was six foot, three inches tall, weighed two hundred and sixty pounds. His waist measured twenty-nine- inches. Harrison did not work out, he just worked hard all his life. His steel blue eyes were often bloodshot from the drinking whiskey.

  He was 42, but his time in the mines left him short of breath. He was now drawing disability, which was another reason he wanted to kick somebody’s ass. The disability checks were not close to enough to provide for his family. If he turns in work, he will lose his checks and health insurance. Harrison knew he could find jobs around the town. They would let him take a drink anytime he wanted it, work flexible hours, and pay him cash.

  Betty Ann was five foot, five inches tall and though life had been tough for several years, she did not look her age. She had beautiful, long auburn hair, halfway down her back. Betty had an hourglass figure but her hands were rough from hard work. She often raised a garden as big as two acres. Betty canned food for tough times throughout the winter. Tommy and Dana were her life, and her precious little Sarah. Sarah Lucas, was 10 years old, she had been with the Blackstone family for two years. Sarah’s parents were both in and out of drug rehab. Betty Ann always wanted a little girl and Sharon, Sarah’s mom, asked Betty to take her until she could get her life straightened out. Harrison loved little Sarah too, she calmed him down.

  Harris and the boys should be back soon. They went to the store to pick up milk, eggs, and bread. Sarah was asleep on the couch, and Betty was putting on a pot of beans. She would add part of a ham to them and make some cornbread. That was one of their favorite meals. Betty heard a knock on her door and stepped in there to see who it was. It was that damn Mr. Potter. She did not like the way he drooled at her. He stared directly at her breasts with is tongue hanging out. She hated to go to the door without Harris there. Betty just cracked the door open. “Hello Mr. Potter.” Said Betty

  “Hello there, Mrs. Blackstone is Harris around?”

  “He should be back any minute.”

  “Well, I heard he was looking for some work, and I have an old barn I want someone to tear down. He can have the lumber that’s good, and if there’s anything in the barn, he can have it too.” Betty opened the door.

  “Oh, Mr. Potter, I am sure he will do a good job.”

  “Well, honey, here is my number. Tell him I stopped by, call me and we will discuss a price.”

  “I will tell him and thank you so much.”

  “Okay, I will be going now. Betty, if you ever need anything, you have my number.”

  “Okay, I will give my husband your number.” She quickly shut the door. She hoped they would make a little money but she was not letting him close to her. Mr. Potter was 62, his wife passed away five years ago. He could be okay, but his attraction to her was obvious, from the first time they met. Harris had not said anything, but he probably noticed it. Oh well, she thought, let Harris deal with him. Hopefully, he would get a good offer for tearing down his barn. Now the ham and beans were starting to cook. “Betty, momma Betty is that ham and beans I smell?” Asked Sarah.

  “Yes, it is, sweetheart.”

  “Mm! I love them. I can’t wait!”

  “Cornbread too baby.” Betty said as she hugged Sarah and smooched her cheek. “Daddy Harris and the boys should be back soon. You want to help mommy pick up around the house?”

  “Yes, I will dust the bedrooms.”

  “Okay baby, take your time.”

  Betty sat on the couch and thought of her little angel Sarah. Those big blue eyes, and her blonde hair was so fine. She was not their child, but she would pass for it anytime. Harris and Dana both had the blonde hair and blue eyes. Tommy looked like mommy, auburn hair, except Tommy was going to be a brown-eyed handsome man. Betty Ann had green eyes. There was another knock at the door and this time it was the boys. Tommy and Dana were all excited about something. Betty unlocked the door Tommy rushed in, “Look mom! Look! New fishing rods! Dad got us new fishing rods!!”

  “Oh, Tommy, they are great, and look at yours Dana.”

  “Dad said we would go fishing out there by Mr. Potter’s place.”

  “Oh, you talked to Mr. Potter?”

  “Yes, we saw him in town. Dad’s going to tear down his barn.”

  “Oh!!, that’s so wonderful!”

  “Where are you Sarah? Look what we got!” Dana shouted. Sarah came running in there.

  “Can I fish too?”

  “Sure you can, baby. Come here give daddy a big hug. Oh, that’s my sweetheart.” Harris kissed Sarah’s cheek as he set down on the couch. She was hugging him. “Oh boy, what do I smell?”

  “Ham and beans!”

  “Ham and beans! Sarah, you can’t have any ham and beans.”

  “Yes, oh yes, I love them!”

  “Well, I do too. I think I will eat them all. Mm, boy that’s good.” Said Harris, “Boys, I want you to get out there before dinner and weed that garden. I don’t want to see any weeds, not even a single weed, understand?” The boys both said yes and headed to the garden. Sarah wandered back to her bedroom to play. Harris and Betty Ann sat together on the couch. “Well, I guess ole Mr. Potter slipped up here and showed you that love muscle of his. Didn’t he?” Harris said grinning.

  “Oh for goodness sake Harrison, No!! I dare him to try that with me!”

  “Ha-ha, well, I never thought you’d leave me for an older man. Did he rub it on you?”

  “Oh, shut up! I will never leave you, Harrison Blackstone. You’re stuck with me forever, understand?” Harris put his arm around Betty and kissed her.

  “Fifteen Hundred bucks Betty.”

  “Fifteen Hundred? Oh, Harrison! I’m so happy.”

  “Me too honey, me too.”

  Mr. Potter’s Barn

  Harris and the boys got up early the next morning. Mr. Potter’s place was a quarter mile out of town. There was a sign at his driveway, which was off to the left of the road. Dirt tracks through grass for a hundred feet or so, then you could see his house.

  Harris was driving his old Ford truck. He sold Betty’s car so they could move into their house. The boys were so excited to fish in Potter’s pond. Mr. Potter’s barn was huge. As they approached, Harris looked around the place. “Da
d, that’s a big barn.” Said Tommy

  “Yes, it is, son. You get to fish today, but I am going to need your help.”

  “Okay dad, it will be fun.”

  “I doubt you will say that after a few hours, but we will get it done. Now boys, ease down to the pond be quiet, it’s early. I will look around the barn then go over and see if Potter is up. He should be looking for us this morning.”

  “Daddy, what should I use? The night crawlers or a topwater bait?”

  “Dana, I would try the top water since its early. If you don’t get any hits, then go to the crawlers. Tommy, you watch him and watch for snakes.”

  “Okay, dad. You going to come down for a little while?”

  “I will come down and look around with you later, I have work to do. I’ll come down for a few minutes after I talk to Potter. If you catch anything, holler at us.” Harris pulled up to the barn and parked his truck. They got out.

  “Dad said to be quiet.” Dana whispered to Tommy as they walked down to the pond. Harris stepped towards the barn and he heard Potter coming out the door. “Harrison, Harrison, come on over, let’s have a cup of coffee. Then, I will show you around the place.” Harris headed towards the house.

  “Okay, I did not know for sure if you were awake. I did not want to disturb you, Mr. Potter.”

  “Call me Fred. Come on over here and let’s have a cup of coffee.” Harris walked towards Fred’s house and the gas fumes from his old Ford gave way to the smell of fresh brewed coffee and bacon sizzling in the skillet. They had skipped breakfast and planned to have lunch at home. “Come on in and have a seat. I’m not much of a housekeeper. Just move what you have to.”

  “Boy, that coffee does smell good.”

  “I got to have my morning coffee. Harris, I’ve got plenty of bacon and biscuits in the oven. I got some homemade strawberry jam. We can go get the boys and they can have some breakfast. I can’t cook like my Martha or Mrs. Blackstone, but it’s not bad.”

  “Fred, I’ll have coffee. Those boys are so excited to fish. They don’t want anything to eat.”

  “Well, there’s fish in that pond. Big large-mouth bass and catfish, and some huge bluegill. I hope they catch a big one or two. We stocked the pond, and I fished in it once or twice. Martha and I were only here a few months. I’ve been here almost six years. We moved out here, and she started having dizzy spells. I took her to see a doctor. He could not find anything. She got worse, they did more tests. She had her first heart attack, and then another one. A week later I found her in the kitchen floor. The Love of My Life, gone forever.”

  While Fred was talking and cooking, Harris was looking around and noticed an older picture on the wall. He knew it was Fred and Martha but Fred was hard to recognize. They were a handsome couple in the picture. Time and a broken heart had taken a toll on Fred. Fred had dark skin and was five-foot-nine-inches tall. He was round and sagging like an older man. “I am sorry Fred.”

  “Oh, no need for that. We had twenty-five years. I count my blessings. Look at this.” Fred opened the oven door. “A pan of hot biscuits!”

  “I believe I will have one of those.”

  “The strawberry jam is just delicious. Have some, and some coffee. Then we either take one down to the boys or bring them up here. Fresh homemade butter, mm.”

  “Fred, it smells like you’re a darn good cook.”

  “Well, Harris, nothing like Martha, but I try.” The men were eating when Dana came rushing through the door with a nineteen-inch bass. “Look Daddy! Look! It was just like you said. I caught it on the hula popper.”

  “Dad, they are tearing up the topwater baits down there. That pond is full of bass.”

  “That’s a big fish Dana. I am so proud of you.”

  “There’s much bigger fish in that pond boys.”

  “Thank you so much Mr. Potter, for letting us fish here.”

  “That’s okay I hope you catch ten more like that. You boys go wash up and have some bacon and biscuits. I’ve got some jam here. Step right this way, then off to the right, there’s the bathroom. Have some breakfast and then go back and fish a while.” The boys cleaned up and then feasted on strawberry jam, butter and biscuits.

  Harris and Fred finished their coffee and walked out to the barn. They walked through it. The barn was full of car parts and an old Ford truck was in there. There were tillers and plows. Farm tools dating back to the 1950s, and crates setting around. There would be loads and loads of good lumber. Fred opened the back door and revealed a farm tractor and an old dozer. There was a Cat D-8 setting there. Harris immediately went over to check it out.

  “You run a dozer Harris?”

  “Yeah, a few years ago, I ran a dozer like this at a strip mine over in West Virginia. This one has been sitting, but it looks like it’s all here.”

  “Well if you want to try to get it going, I may have more work for you. When I bought this place, they said it ran well. Harris, I am a retired accountant. I don’t know shit about any of this. I bought five-hundred acres and all this stuff came with it. I have never touched any of it.”

  “If I could get this dozer to run, it would make it easier to clean up this barn and what’s in it.”

  “Okay, we will get some fuel and see what we’ve got. I might just have you clean these two fields up for me, clear them off.”

  “Fred, that dozer will do it. We flattened mountaintops with dozers like that.”

  “Good! So where do we start?”

  “First, we will have to charge the battery. Then see if it’s any good. We will need a few gallons of diesel fuel and I will check the oil and fluids. Also, since it’s been sitting so long, better check for dry rotted hoses.”

  “Just make a list of what you need. Here is $750. That’s half the money for the cleanup. I will give you the rest when you finish. Now, if you need more than half that money Harris, let me know.”

  “Fred, this will be fine. I will get right on this Fred. Thanks.”

  “I feel blessed to have you Harrison. It’s been a true pleasure meeting you, my friend.” Harris went into town and got some fuel. The next day he had the dozer running.

  A week passed by the boys fished every day in the pond. The boys caught many fish and threw them back. Harris got the farm tractor running. He looked around in the barn; so much stuff. He found open crates and sealed crates. Some the same size but dated different years. He asked Fred about it and he had no clue.

  He noticed an odor in the barn. It smelled like a gas leak. Fred said there was no gas in the barn. Those crates were heavy. He moved them with the tractor. Tommy just was not strong enough to lift most of the clutter. He was trying his best.

  This job could go on for weeks. Fred told him, since he had the dozer running, to clean up the fields behind the barn. Harris could do that in a couple days with that big dozer. He cleared the first field, then started on the second. He noticed a fence, but it was not Fred’s property line, so he decided to talk to Fred about how far he wanted him to go. Fred came out to the fence line. “Well, Harris, this looks great. I never thought I would see these fields clear to this point. You are doing a great job.”

  “Thanks Fred. I wanted to ask you how far past this fence should I go?”

  “You see where the ground starts to drop? Don’t go down in the hollow. Stay out of there. Harris, don’t let the boys go past that fence, okay.”

  “Okay, they are too busy fishing. They won’t bother it.”

  “Harris, I don’t think they would bother anything. I don’t want them getting lost, or maybe hurt. When I first moved here, I hunted this land. I used to have horses. My cousin and I were on horseback. We decided to go down in the holler just to see my land and maybe jump some game. Well, we got in there, and strange events occurred. First, the horses refused to go up the holler. They would not budge, we had dogs with us, they whined and refused as well. I noticed a foul odor and my stomach churned. They warned me about an old pit, on part of my land. We did not go any furt
her, I went home. That’s the last time I was in that holler.”

  Danny

  Dana sat by Potter’s pond watching his fishing line. He and Tommy caught more fish and Harris made them throw them back. Today Tommy was helping Harris as he had been for weeks. Harris had ordered the boys not to go beyond the fence on Potter’s second field. He gave no reason, he told them not go past it. The temperature was seventy-two degrees that beautiful afternoon.

  The water was still and clear. Dana stared into his reflection on the still water. He loved it here, and dad was not drinking. Mom seemed happy, and they had money for anything they needed. When money was low, mom and dad fought and argued. Sometimes Daddy yelled at Tommy and whipped him with his belt. Dana was holding his fishing rod and almost drifted off to sleep when he felt a tug. He jerked the rod back, setting the hook. The fish was a big one, Dana could feel the weight on the line. The fish swam into the bank towards him. He reeled the line in to keep the slack out of it and flipped the fish up on the bank. It was a twenty-three-inch bass. The fish’s mouth was so big he could stick his fist in it. He put the fish in their fish basket and back in the water. Later he would show Tommy and Harris.

  Dana was so excited; all smiles from ear to ear. It was the biggest fish they had caught so far. "That's not that big," said Danny. He startled Dana. Dana did not know he was there. He looked to his left to see a tall thin boy. Danny looked to be a year or two older than Tommy.

  “It measured twenty-three-inches.”

  “So, that’s not that big, I’ve been catching fish over two feet long. This pond has nothing that size in it.”

  “How Do You Know? Do you know Mr. Potter?”

  “I see him around.”

  “Oh, okay, what’s your name?”

  “I’m Danny. What’s your name?”

  “I’m Dana. My dad and my brother Tommy are up there at that barn. They are working for Mr. Potter, tearing that barn down and cleaning up what’s inside it.”