Josh made his decision to give the trade-off a try. He took a deep breath, then stared intently at a center point in Marty's forehead. Calm yourself, he commanded.
Marty gave a shuddering sigh. “Why doesn't everybody just calm down and leave me alone?” he grumbled.
Josh studied Marty. Was he getting through to him? The key words seemed to be reaching Marty, even if he didn't get the message straight. Before Josh tried to reach Marty again, he reviewed every step of the ritual Sergeant Holter had explained to him.
Mrs. Lane suddenly appeared in the doorway. “Marty,” she said, “Sammy's very disappointed that you aren't with us. Won't you come?”
Marty growled, “Everybody's always telling me what to do. All the time. I don't have to take orders.”
“I wasn't ordering. I was requesting,” Mrs. Lane said. She looked at her son and sighed. “Marty, dear, your family loves you.”
“All my family does is bug me. Especially Sammy. Especially you and Dad. You all drive me crazy.” He glared up at his mother and said, “I can't wait until I'm old enough to get away.”
Josh stood still… listening…hoping.
Mrs. Lane shook her head, mumbling, “Oh! For two cents, I'd …”
“For two cents you'd what?” Marty taunted.
Without another word his mother whirled and stalked out of the building.
Josh took a deep breath as a ray of sunlight touched the pennies on the windowsill. Could he do it? Could he manage it? Silently he picked up the pennies and stood directly in front of Marty, waiting for him to say the words.
Marty's lower lip curled out, and he scowled. In a mocking tone of voice he muttered, “For two cents I'd get away from them right this minute and be on my own and never come back.”
Josh smiled. Here it was. A mutual agreement. The deal was done. He dropped the two pennies into the pocket of Marty's shirt. “Here's the two cents,” he said. “You're paid off. You can go now.”
Josh quickly dove into Marty's body. The last trace of Marty was ejected with a whoosh. A flurry of dust flew up at the doorway, whirling outside as it was picked up by the breeze. The room was left in complete silence.
Josh took a couple of deep breaths, delighted at the trade-off. He wasn't worried about Marty. Sooner or later Marty would find someone to teach him the ritual of trade-offs, and by that time his attitude toward the people around him was bound to have improved.
But there was one more thing Josh had to do.
At the edge of the field where the longhorns were kept, Josh found Marty's family leaning on a rail, watching the cattle. He took a deep breath, enjoying the familiar, pungent fragrance of the grass in the hot sunlight.
“Mom…Dad?” he said. He liked the way the language that had been stored in Marty's brain slid across his tongue, and he wasn't afraid to use words that were new to him.
“When the trade-off happens, it will all come natural to you,” Sergeant Holter had said, and he'd been right.
“I'm sorry for the way I acted,” Josh told the Lanes.
His new father's mouth dropped open, and his new mother's eyes widened with surprise.
“I've been a jerk,” Josh said, “and I'm sorry. I'm not going to act that way again. I promise.”
Mr. Lane clapped a hand on Josh's shoulder. He gulped, too overcome to speak.
Tears came to Mrs. Lane's eyes, and she whispered, “Oh, Marty, we love you.”
“I love you, too, Mom,” Josh said. He reached over and ruffled Sammy's hair. “I love you, too, pest,” he said, and grinned at the joy on Sammy's face. “What else do you want to show me?”
“They've got a living history program,” Sammy shouted. He grabbed Josh's arm and tugged. “It's down at the museum. Come on!”
As Josh left with Sammy, he heard his father ask his mother in a strangled whisper, “What just happened?”
“I don't know,” his mother answered. “But it doesn't matter. Just enjoy it.”
Josh wished he could tell them, “From now on you'll have a son who will make you happy, and I'll have a real family to love me. Marty…well, Marty will be on his own, just as he wanted. Don't worry about the trade-off. We're all going to like it.”
He looked around at the other groups of people who were touring the ghost town. Were any of them trade-offs, living in someone else's body? Could be. As Sergeant Holter had told him, “Trade-offs don't take place often, but they do happen.”
Fort Griffin was located on a military reservation established by the United States Army in July 1867. It was one in a chain of forts designed to protect post–Civil War settlers from attacks by Plains Indians.
On a meadow that lay below the fort, the town of Fort Griffin began as a satellite of the army post. Because of its location on the flat land, it was nicknamed The Flat.
During the 1870s, The Flat had more transients than citizens. It soon became a lawless place, filled with gamblers and fugitives from justice. For a while the commander of Fort Griffin put the town under government control and expelled the troublemakers.
But Shackelford County was established, control of The Flat was taken out of the commander's jurisdiction, and the bad element quickly returned.
Buffalo hunting brought hunters and skinners. And the Western Cattle Trail, which led to Dodge City from Texas, passed close by. Cowboys enjoyed stopping off for a break in a place where they could be as wild as they wanted and had to answer to no one.
Because of The Flat's reputation for lawlessness, gunmen, thieves, and people on the run from the law took refuge in the town. Indians from the nearby Tonkawa tribe were heedlessly sold liquor, and some people in The Flat bragged that it had more saloons than any other town. Murders were frequent, and lynchings were common. Shopkeepers, blacksmiths, barbers, and other working people and their families lived in constant danger.
In 1880 the buffalo hunts ended. In 1881 the military fort was abandoned, and the newly constructed railroad bypassed Fort Griffin to go through Albany. As a result The Flat was soon deserted.
Although there is nothing left of The Flat but the abandoned stone Fort Griffin school, the fort itself has been proclaimed a Texas State Historical Park. Some of the ruins have been restored or partly restored and are open to visitors. Occasionally historical reenactments are held.
To reach Fort Griffin, travel fifteen miles north of Albany, Texas, on U.S. Highway 283.
To learn more about Fort Griffin, contact Texas Parks & Wildlife, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, TX 78744, or Fort Griffin State Historical Park, 1701 North U.S. Highway 283, Albany, TX 76430. Telephone: (915) 762-3592.
Web site: Fort Griffin State Historical Park: www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/fortgrif/fortgrif.htm
Publications:
Ghost Towns of Texas, by T. Lindsay Baker, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1986, pages 44–48.
A Texas Frontier: The Clear Fork Country and Fort Griffin, 1849–1887, by Ty Cashion, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1997.
Exploring a Ghost Town
While some ghost towns have been preserved and some have even become places of entertainment, there are many more lonely, deserted, out-of-the way places to discover.
Although the West, with its played-out silver and gold mines, is famous for its ghost towns, these clusters of decaying buildings where people no longer live and work can sometimes be found in other parts of the United States.
If you are interested in finding out about a ghost town in the state in which you live, it's not hard to do.
You might start by asking your librarian for help. Perhaps someone has written a book or a magazine article about a nearby ghost town, and your librarian can help you find it.
The librarian can also help you locate the addresses of your state's chamber of commerce and tourist bureau—even a local historical preservation society, if there is one. If you write to the directors of these organizations and ask them for ghost town information, you should get some interesting material.
Wh
en you find a town to explore, find out who owns the property. If the town is on private land, you'll need to request permission to visit.
Before you visit, read as much as you can about the history of the town so you'll know why people once lived there and why they left.
Never go to the town alone; ask adults to take you there. Your safety is important, and you do not want to be alone in case you come across dangerous spots you haven't expected. In abandoned towns old wooden sidewalks and flooring can break under your feet, and if you leave the roads, you'll need to watch out for open water wells or mine shafts.
A slogan used by ghost town explorers—and there are many such investigators—is “Don't touch. Don't take.” While you're exploring, remember you are visiting a part of history, which others may enjoy visiting, too. Souvenir-hunters can quickly destroy what little is left of a ghost town.
When you go exploring, take a camera. You can create a pictorial journal. Include as much information as you can find and describe your own experience in the ghost town. Donate the journal to your library for others to research, or to just read and enjoy.
Perhaps while you're visiting your ghost town, you'll meet someone who seems a little otherworldly … or feel a puff of air against your cheek when there is no wind…or glimpse a quick movement, though no one is there…or hear what seems to be a whisper…
Ghosts? Maybe. But you'll know what to do. Won't you?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JOAN LOWERY NIXON has been called the grande dame of young adult mysteries and is the author of more than a hundred books for young readers, including Nobody's There; Who Are You?; The Haunting; Murdered, My Sweet; Don't Scream; Spirit Seeker; Shadowmaker; Secret, Silent Screams; A Candidate for Murder; Whispers from the Dead; and the middle-grade novel Search for the Shadowman. Joan Lowery Nixon was the 1997 president of the Mystery Writers of America and is the only four-time winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Best Juvenile Mystery Award. She received the award for The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore, The Séance, The Name of the Game Was Murder, and The Other Side of Dark, which was also a winner of the California Young Reader Medal. Her historical fiction includes the award-winning series The Orphan Train Adventures.
Joan Lowery Nixon lives in Houston with her husband.
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Copyright © 2000 by Joan Lowery Nixon
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Nixon, Joan Lowery.
Ghost town: Seven ghostly stories/by Joan Lowery Nixon.
p. cm.
Summary: A collection of stories about eerie encounters in various ghost towns across the United States. Each story is accompanied by an afterword about the actual town on which the story is based.
eISBN: 978-0-307-52794-3
1. Ghost towns Juvenile fiction. 2. Children's stories, American. [1. Ghost towns Fiction. 2. Ghosts Fiction. 3. Short stories.]
I. Title.
PZ7. N65Ge 2000 99-36340
[Fic]—dc21 CIP
The text of this book is set in 13.5-point Adobe Garamond.
September 2000
v3.0
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