Strange Things

by Eric Lynch

Ten-year-old John Taylor's nickname, given to him by his grandfather, is Barbo. He called him this until he died. He was a loving old man, and this made John feel special. As I slowly crept up to Grandfather having his afternoon nap under the large oak tree by the kitchen, he opened his eyes as I approached. "Hello, Barbo. Why are you creeping up on me?" I said nothing. "Come, sit, lad," he said, and reached into his shirt pocket for his white clay pipe and tobacco and placed them on his lap. He picked up his cup of cold, black coffee that Grandmother placed beside him when he was half a sleep. He took a sip and looked at John again. "Grandfather, sir, can you tell me why no one is allowed to go down the valley alone?" Barbo he said, and paused as his grandfather took a puff on his pipe. "Barbo, keep out of the valley, son." "Why, sir?" "Barbo, don't you ever go into the valley alone. There are strange things in that valley." "What strange things, sir?" Barbo whispered. "The ghosts of evil dead pirates are still in the valley." He paused again as if searching for the right words to tell me. "Barbo, they passed away a long time ago but they do not know it. They are evil, son; they have a strange way of coming back and taking people." He paused again for a long time. As I watched, Grandfather closed his eyes and his fingers slowly released his grip on his pipe and it fell from his hand. He was asleep again, so I walked away very slowly, wondering, What strange things does he mean? Surly he does not mean the blond pirate who visits me in my dreams. "Mom, can you tell me what is in the valley and why it is haunted?" "John, no one knows, because anyone who has ever seen it never lives to tell. For years people who visited that beautiful place alone just disappeared." "Disappeared, Mom? How, Mom?" "John, you ask too many questions. You are too young to know." "Mom, if you don't tell me, how will I know?" "John, go outside and play; leave me alone. You heard me; you are too young to know." Haunted by dreams that are real, he could not get anyone to believe him, no matter how hard he tried. So he rebelled, defying his father and all his elders, and searched the valley for the treasure the blond pirate in his dreams told him to take. After a while, he started to find doubloons on the little beach he was told never to visit.

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004