They- The Beginning Read online

  When Manuel sat up and opened his eyes baring fangs from his mouth, they set the flames. They endured the rasping screech as the "thing" (that thing is not Manuel!) caught fire and burned. It was a fright to witness, but now they were sure. Each subsequent death and the ritual that followed became easier to accept until it became customary.

  ****

  Marita told Julio all about it at his gravesite one day.

  "I could say that we have no choice. But Dr. Santos told us it was the tea or the syrup, or both. So, we do have a choice. We could go back to the way we were, but no one wants to do that. We have only to look at our children and grandchildren to know that we must fight not just for life, but for the best life possible. It is the human way. The future generations must endure the consequences of what we have done; how many repercussions have we ourselves endured from decisions made before we were born? Have we made a pact with the devil? Is God still on our side? I ask these questions every day and receive no answers. I like to believe we have been given a gift, but not a free gift. There is a price to pay. I wonder what you would think. I miss you my darling. I will come again soon."

  She blew a kiss to the earth, said a little prayer and left the cemetery.

  Chapter 5

  Gerro decided one day to start off for the ocean again. He woke one morning to find that Sabrina had died during the night. This filled him with such sadness that he felt the need to move on. The village held a party for him at the hall. Father Muniz arrived towing a large burro as a gift.

  "You can trade him for a boat when you get to the ocean."

  Gerro gave the speech he had prepared.

  "This is my dream," he told them. "When my family was alive, we dreamed we'd go together, but that was not to be. On her deathbed, my wife told me to go alone. She said she'd wait for me there. I have kept her waiting long enough. Thank you all for making me welcome, for giving me a second home. I am deeply sorry I cannot stay, but my wayward heart is pulling me away. I will miss you each and every day. I leave my chess set to my friend Father Muniz, and I leave my humble abode to my friend Marita Maduro."

  This brought tears to Marita's eyes, though this had been decided days ago. He insisted she take the house.

  "It means much to me to be able to picture you here, while I fish. Besides, Kenro's house is too full, and here they can come often to visit you."

  He asked her to go with him, knowing she could not, and she asked him to stay knowing he could not.

  Everyone cheered after Gerro's speech. There was dancing and gaiety, but sorrow too. No one wanted him to leave. Some thought Henori had broken Gerro's heart with his angry words.

  ****

  The next morning the villagers walked with him far past the edge of town and wished him the best. Marita could not hold back her tears as she watched him lead the burro toward Sao Cachito. She watched until she could see him no more, hoping he would change his mind and come back. She prayed he would find the ocean as wonderful as he dreamed.

  Chapter 6

  Time marched on for the village of Jai` Doro. The town continued to prosper.

  Father Muniz, Pedero and a few other men played card games a few evenings during the week.

  The women met for sewing sometimes in the afternoons. They talked at such gatherings.

  "Should we give up the syrup?"

  "Maybe it's the tea?"

  "We should do something."

  "We pay the price," said Marita. "We have cheated death many times over these past years and the reaper demands restitution."

  She no longer lived with the dread of her sons developing the cough that took Julio. They were strong and healthy men. Her seven grandchildren thrived.

  "So, this be the price we pay. For our health, for our family's health, and for our well-being. It's not so bad. The hard part will be passing the information down through the generations. Someday when we are gone, someone must tell the coming generations about the storm and the tea and why we must continue these rituals. Our dead are dangerous. They must burn the dead!"

  Do you still remember me?

  You carved my name into the tree.

  You carved your name into my heart.

  Why ever did we have to part?

  - Stavvick

  Dalton, Pennsylvania

  1841

  Chapter 7

  "We are lost in darkness searching for the light. We are born in innocence destined for sin in a world filled with temptation. From where else would come our strength but from God the almighty? Heaven is on our side. Heaven watches over us and rejoices whenever we overcome. The devil grows ever mirthful whenever we fail. Let us pray for strength."

  Seth McMahon sat in the pew with his wife Brie and his three young children. It was January 1841. He bowed his head and prayed for the strength to get through another Pennsylvania winter. Seth was feeling unsure about a lot of things. What did Pastor Logan mean by temptation? Temptation did not live here in Dalton Pennsylvania. The brutal Pennsylvania winters squelched any said temptation and covered it over with snow and ice. Perhaps there were two separate Hells. One hot and burning with fire and the other brutal and cold like winter in Dalton Pennsylvania. Didn't Pastor Logan realize they had already fallen through to the gates of Hell? To freeze or to burn seemed their only choices.

  "Amen," said Pastor Logan.

  "Amen," repeated Seth and the rest of the congregation.

  Seth looked back up at Pastor Logan whose eyes blazed as he looked over his congregation.

  "I have an announcement to make."

  Seth watched and listened.

  "I am leaving the congregation."

  Disbelief swept through the parishioners. Seth was stunned.

  When the emotion dwindled to silence, Pastor Logan continued.

  "I prayed over this difficult decision many times these past weeks. Please allow me to explain. These last months, these last years even, I watched the faces of my parishioners change to defeat. I see sorrow. I see hardship and I see real fear. What I do not see is hope. I do not see joy. I do not see peace or contentment.

  "I understand. I myself share your very feelings. I, myself find God's joy most difficult to find as another bitter Pennsylvania winter sets down upon us. Life has been difficult. We have lost too much, and we have lost too many.

  "Every winter blizzards and severe weather lay siege upon us, keeping us away from our church and our neighbors. Every spring we discover with sorrow that someone ran out of wood for heat and perished in the bitter cold. We face starvation and we face poor health. We experience hopelessness when we lose yet another loved one.

  "We have lost our spirit. Is this God's work? I asked myself. No, I think not. I think the devil himself is searching for souls right here in Dalton Pennsylvania. He seeks souls to harvest in Hell and torments us, attempting to turn us away from God and the path of righteousness.

  "I walked the streets of Dalton a few months back, after our small harvest, just when the weather turned cold. Please direct me Lord, please show me the way, I prayed out loud. I bowed my head. I closed my eyes. When I looked back up, my eyes fell upon a poster nailed up in the square.

  "It was an advertisement for people to join a company that plans to move west and mine for gold. Gold! It said in big bold letters. I scoffed. I wasn't looking for gold. Whatever would I do with gold? The advertisement asked for women as well as men and held a picture of a map with a large area of uninhabited land, far south of Oregon Country in Mexico. Alta California. The advertiser speculated that this area would soon be part of the United States, and those who came first, would have their choice of land. I returned home, but a seed had been planted, and it grew into the answer to my prayers.

  "I researched Alta California, and this is what I found.

  "The weather never freezes. It never snows. The wind is warm. There is hearty grass for our cattle, horses, goats, and sheep to graze. Wild game runs abundant. The trees swell with fruit that goes to rot for there is no one to ea
t it. In Alta California, one would never be hungry or cold.

  "I began to believe that this was God's country, and it is there that God waits for our arrival. Come this April, I am moving my family west."

  Pastor Logan held up a map.

  "Here," he pointed. He pointed to land close to the Pacific Ocean.

  Murmurs riffled through the congregation.

  When the quiet came, Pastor Logan made the parishioners wait before continuing.

  "I am inviting everyone to join me. It is my hope that you will come. I realize this gives you much to consider. If you decide to come, please let me know.

  "Let us pray."

  ****

  Seth took his family home through bitter cold. They slept on the floor in front of the fire of the stove for warmth. Baby Sara coughed all night. They woke up cold when the fire went out. Seth and his two young sons, Matthew and James confronted the weather to gather more wood for the fire and feed the few animals they owned.

  What would happen if they ran out of wood or food before spring? Breakfast was simple porridge, but Seth found a hen frozen in the snow that would do for their supper. As he gathered wood from the woodpile, he thought about the things Pastor Logan said.

  He thought about moving west throughout the day. As they ate a meager dinner together that night, Seth knew Brie was thinking too. He hadn't seen her smile for some time. Ever since last year when they lost baby Elizabeth to that cold and fever. As they left the table to do evening chores, Seth knew his boys were still hungry; he, himself was still hungry.

  He now knew what temptation was. Temptation was telling him to go west, to Alta California. He and Brie had worked hard to build this home in Dalton. Giving it up would not be easy. Was he selling his soul or taking a leap of faith? He prayed.

  That night when he told his wife Brie of his decision to move west with the pastor, she nodded her head in silent agreement; but Seth glimpsed the light of hope dance in her eyes before she turned away.

  ****

  Come April, roughly two hundred and fifty men, women and children set out on the Oregon Trail with Pastor Logan. By the time they reached their new settlement, their number had dwindled to one hundred seventy-five.

  The journey to the Pastor's God's country took them through hell first. It began with endless rain and mud, followed by hot dry lands. Natives or wolves and coyotes stole some of their animals during the nights and there was no way to stop them despite posting guards. Illness swept through the people claiming more victims every month. The path to Alta California was stained with grave sites of loved ones. Nearly everyone lost someone. Seth and Brie came close to losing little Matthew. Even now he remained weak and pale. A doctor who traveled with them said the illness had weakened his heart.

  They would not turn back. Home was no longer behind them. They kept going. They had to.

  When they came to Fort Hall, they turned onto the trail that led southwest. This California Trail was rougher. They crossed over two mountains until at the trail flattened. Seth began looking for those swollen fruit trees but found none. Maybe they grew a little further west.

  A few days later the trail ended, blocked by a third staggering mountain range. The horses and other animals stopped to drink from the creek that ran at the mountain's foot.

  It was the women who decided to settle on this spot. They were tired, hungry, and low in spirits. This was Alta California and here was this beautiful land next to a water source. They refused to suffer through another desert or lose anything else to unfriendly territory and began unloading the wagons.

  The men helped them, daunted by the size of the mountain range.

  But there are no fruit trees here, thought Seth frowning.

  Chapter 8

  The western sunshine departed before they arrived. Clouds built up, obliterating the blue of the sky and the air was heavy and hot.

  Pastor Logan got right down to business. There was a massive old beech tree beside the creek. He pulled up a stool he brought from Pennsylvania and stood upon it. He brought out a knife and reached up high carving out the words "Remember Me" in large clear letters into the trees' bark.

  He carved the name "Rebecca Anna Logan 1841" within a carved heart. The pastor's four-year-old daughter died of fever along the journey here. When he finished, he encouraged those who lost someone dear; either on the trail or back in Dalton, to carve their names into the tree. It took several days to complete.

  Seth stood beside Brie as she carved "Elizabeth Martha 1839" inside a teardrop. They both cried when she finished, but now they felt her spirit was here with them.

  When everyone finished, the Pastor held a service for remembrance and to ask for blessings for their new beginnings. They christened the creek, Remembrance Creek.

  All the while, the clouds grew darker, and the air grew heavier. Their only shelter was their own covered wagons. The animals huddled out in the open field. The storm that followed the sermon was unprecedented.

  Seth watched the storm rage from an opening in his covered wagon while Brie and the children buried themselves beneath blankets behind him. The heavy rain could not hide the dark clouds that circled and churned the sky when the lightning flashed. The blaze illuminated the entire camp from the plains, where their animals huddled defenseless, up through the mountains. Explosions of thunder fought to obliterate all other sounds.

  As he watched the storm batter the mountains, Seth sensed that something had sneaked in on an explosion hidden by the thunder. He noticed odd lights slipping through along with the streaks of lightning that arrowed down from the sky. Those other lights continued burning long after they landed. Soon, there were lights burning all over the mountain like lanterns or little fires. But the rain should have doused any fires caused by lightning. Seth wondered if anyone else noticed.

  We shouldn't be here, he thought to himself. We shouldn't have stopped here. We should have settled further on, somewhere with fruit trees.

  Seth was certain that lightning would strike their covered wagon ending their lives. He promised himself that should they survive the storm he would pack up Brie and the children and move on. As he watched the storm and the lights on the mountain, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something out there watching him back.

  ****

  Seth woke from sleep. It was still dark and still raining, but the storm had ended. This was just normal Pennsylvania rain. The thunder and lightning had stopped. He peered out toward the mountains. There was nothing to see but nothingness; there were no lights. He checked on Brie and the children. Brie woke and helped remove most of the wet blankets from the children, but there was not much they could do. Nothing would dry until the rain stopped. They settled into an uncomfortable sleep, Seth wondering where they would go from here and how they would manage.

  ****

  It rained for the next ten days stopping only for short periods. The men labored to move the wagons and livestock to higher ground before the creek flooded and everything got swept away into the current.

  Seth found himself stranded along with everyone else in the mud and rain. It was too wet to make a campfire. He knew he could not leave under these conditions. Others must have spoken their concerns to Pastor Logan because he spoke to reassure the settlement.

  "This will pass. The rain will stop. The ground will dry. We can build a shelter right away. We have the tools. Let us give our thanks to God for showing us where to place our homes and buildings. The rain lets us see where floodwaters will rise. I see no reason to wait. We'll build a simple structure with a roof while the ground is soft. We can add walls later."

  ****

  After close to two weeks of rain, the settlement wakened to a clear blue sky and a warm September day. Children played while the women gathered the wet belongings and took them down to the swollen creek to wash. Men strung up rope for clothes and blankets to dry. By the end of the day, everyone was clean and dry.

  The next morning, they assembled a hunting pa
rty. Men had spotted deer and pronghorns running across the mountain clearings from their wagons.

  Seth stood among the assembled men, as Brie handed him a basket and asked him to bring back any berries or fruit he might find. Seth reddened, but any mirth disappeared from the others as soon as the other wives produced similar baskets for their husbands.

  Seth was eager to begin. He wanted to look for those lanterns he saw land during the storm. Over the last days, Seth questioned others about that night and what they'd seen. Most never looked outside, keeping as dry as possible beneath layers of blankets, and just listened to the storm. A few men said they peeked out from time to time; but no one else noticed the lights or heard anything other than thunder, rain, and wind. No one mentioned feeling watched, so Seth kept that to himself. He didn't even tell Brie. It was most likely his imagination—at least that's what Brie would tell him, so he kept silent.

  When the line of men began to move, Seth looked up into the blue sky and prayed.

  ****

  Seth was lost, separated from the others.

  Deer and other game were sighted early on as they trekked up the mountain, but the men decided to explore first and make their kill later. They huddled beneath the tall trees of a forest and made their plans.

  Joshua Turner said they should look for berries.

  "The wives want berries," he said. The men followed as Joshua set off into the wild.

  They found raspberries growing along a dry ravine, but the men devoured most of those while the baskets went hungry. They struck out in search of more.

  No one thought about the passing time as they explored the wilderness. They marveled over alien trees intermingled with Pennsylvania trees and never-seen-before birds, as they filled their wives' baskets.

  "We may be the first men to set foot here," said Ed Brogan. "We are the mountain's founders. The wildlife will pick up our strange scents and wonder what we are."