by Vivi Holt
She pulled the car into the driveway of their small bungalow and shut off the engine with a frown. It was the middle of the day and Jen’s car was in the garage. It was unlike her friend to be home at this time of day. Jen worked five days a week at a quarter-horse ranch in Walton County, just outside of Atlanta. She headed inside, the kitchen door swinging shut behind her. “Jen! Jen, are you home?” she called.
Her voice echoed through the quiet house. Jen usually cranked her favorite country tunes through a Bluetooth speaker when she was home, but the house was ominously still. Hazel leaned her violin against the wall of the study and dropped her shoulder bag in the kitchen.
A moan from Jen’s room caught her attention and she ran down the hall. “Jen?”
Her friend lay on the bed on her side in a fetal position. She moaned again.
Hazel rushed to her, knelt next to the bed and laid a hand on Jen’s face. It was flushed, and a trickle of sweat ran down her temple. “You’re burning up,” said Hazel, running her hand over her friend’s damp hair. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “It hurts.”
“We should get you to the doctor, sweetie.”
She shook her head. “No, I’ll be fine. I might just take some Tylenol.”
Hazel frowned. “I know you don’t like going to the doctor, Jen. But I’m afraid you have to this time.”
“No, I… ughhhh!” She moaned and rolled back and forth, her face contorted in pain.
“Okay, come on, stand up. You can lean on my shoulder.” Hazel tried to help her to her feet.
Jen fell back onto the bed with a cry. “I can’t!”
Hazel stood for a moment, her hands on her hips, watching her friend. What should she do? Then Jen moaned again, and she knew she’d have to call an ambulance.
Keep reading…
Also by Vivi Holt
Paradise Valley *
Of Peaks and Prairies
Winds of Paradise
* Available in e-book, paperback and audio book
Cutter’s Creek
The Strong One
The Betrothed
Cherished
Season of Love
Captivated
Beguiled
Orphan Brides Go West
Mail Order Bride: Christy
Mail Order Bride: Ramona
Mail Order Bride: Katie
Mail Order Bride: Holly
Visit my website at www.viviholt.com for an updated list of my books
Historical Note & Author’s Remarks
The legend of the Red Ghost, as included in Pearl’s story, though seemingly unbelievable, is based on actual events. I’ve changed some of the details, but the essentials are grounded in the truth.
In 1855 the idea took off that camels would fare better in the southwestern United States than horses, given the dry and arid landscape. Two years later, the U.S. Military imported 75 camels and formed a U.S. Army Camel Corps.
Even though the camels did even better than expected in the hostile climate, the camel importers were faced with both resistance from mule breeders and the outbreak of the Civil War. These obstacles meant that it wasn’t long before the importation of camels into the United States came to an end.
Since the camels were so well suited to the desert environment, and since most people in the area had never laid eyes on a camel before, those that weren’t sold off roamed the southwest reasonably uninhibited until the 1890s, and spawned a series of strange tales.
The Red Ghost was the subject of one of those tales - a terrifying beast with an even more terrifying rider strapped to its back. The legend, passed around between miners, cowboys and townsfolk alike, said that the beast could devour a bear, disappear into thin air, and stood thirty feet tall. It was claimed that the Red Ghost trampled a woman to death, and charged a man on his mount - nearly killing them both.
Several years later, a rancher spied the Red Ghost grazing in his tomato patch and shot it dead with his rifle. The creature’s reign of terror was over.
All of the camels in the area were eventually captured or killed, and the last feral camel, Topsy, died in a Los Angeles zoo in 1934.
When I read about this one feral camel, with a dead rider strapped to his back, able to successfully terrorize the southwest for so many years without anyone realizing or believing it could possibly be a camel, it sparked my imagination. And so, the tale of Pearl and the Red Ghost was born.
I hope you enjoyed this tall story, and the entire Cowboys & Debutantes historical series. This is the last book in the series, and so we say goodbye to Della, Hattie and Pearl Stout as well as their cousins.
I hope you’ll join me as I dive into more fantastic adventures in the future.
Warm regards,
About the Author
Vivi Holt was born in Australia. She grew up in the country, where she spent her youth riding horses at Pony Club, and adventuring through the fields and rivers around the farm. Her father was a builder, turned saddler, and her mother a nurse, who stayed home to raise their four children.
After graduating from a degree in International Relations, Vivi moved to Atlanta, Georgia to work for a year. It was there that she met her husband, and they were married three years later. She spent seven years living in Atlanta and travelled to various parts of the United States during that time, falling in love with the beauty of that immense country and the American people.
Vivi also studied for a Bachelor of Information Technology, and worked in the field ever since until becoming a full-time writer in 2016. She now lives in Brisbane, Australia with her husband and three small children. Married to a Baptist pastor, she is very active in her local church.
Follow Vivi Holt
www.viviholt.com
[email protected]
Facebook
Twitter
Copyright © 2018 by Vivi Holt
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
References
http://mentalfloss.com/article/84343/7-strange-tales-wild-west
http://arizonaoddities.com/2010/03/the-legend-of-red-ghost/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/whatever-happened-wild-camels-american-west-180956176/?no-ist
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/whatever-happened-wild-camels-american-west-180956176/#Okgtk5q1CrWYETo3.99