In the end, I guess it all comes down to how you look at things. First time I laid eyes on that place the words wisped out of my mouth without my even thinking.
"What the hell?"
It was the last thing I expected to find hiking through lush green woods near my late brother's land, miles away from the nearest town or church. The closest landmark was a dirt road that didn't even have a name. I had walked through these woods with my brother before, but this was my first time back since…well, since he was gone. Somewhere along the line I must have taken a wrong turn. No signs gave warning, no fences or paths marked the spot. Set in a small clearing it had all the looks of a place lost in time and not meant to be found again.
Yet there I was, looking at a gathering of tombstones.
Seven in all. Choked off from the rest of the world by tall trees and untamed grass. Not one of them stood straight. Some were cracked, one cleanly broken in two.
The dirty white slabs appeared at first glance to have no markings on them. Though it was a late summer afternoon with not a cloud in the sky, the light and warmth of that
God-given day hardly seemed to reach in here. Maybe that explained the slightest of chills that crawled up the back of my neck like an evil whisper as I stared at those stones. What were these things doing out here?
Right away I caught a whiff of something sour in the air. Maybe a dead rabbit. Maybe some wild mustard weed growing nearby. Whatever. What struck me next was the noise – there was none. Was it just my imagination or was there nothing of what you'd expect to hear in the woods this time of year? No birds or insects buzzing, no rustling of leaves in the trees. All replaced by a quiet that went from subtle to eerie in the space of two or three hushed breaths. The spell was soon broken by something over to my right. Moving down there in the—
Son of a bitch.
A long thin snake, black as oil with no markings, slid its way slowly over the broken stone and a bare spot of ground. I watched it stop for a moment, lift its head up briefly, then continue on and disappear in the tall grass.
Of all the crazy things…a snake?
My body tingled as though I'd just touched a live wire. I held my breath waiting to see if it might reappear. When finally I felt it safe enough I did move carefully, treading as lightly as I could over the hard ground toward the nearest markers. The chiseled letters on the tombstones were speckled with moss and so weather-worn as to be almost invisible unless you were right on top of them.
Mathias Petersen Hans Petersen
Fodt 27 Sept 1862 Fodt 27 Sept 1862
Dodt 12 April 1869 Dodt 13 April 1869
Fodt? Dodt? What the hell kind of old world language was that? Then those dates. Eighteen Sixty-nine.
Damn.
Only with a second look did I catch other peculiarities. Twins – born on the same day and dying at a tragically young age. Buried one day apart.
A tepid breeze blew out of the north, and I might have been relieved to feel it were it not for something else, a strange noise it carried. It was faint and seemed to swirl in the wind, but for a few seconds I swore I heard it: horse's hooves. It could have been coming from any direction, or none at all. I'd heard tell of an Amish settlement a few miles west of here, so the idea of a horse and carriage traveling down the nearby road wasn't so far-fetched. No sooner had I begun to wrap my thoughts around that idea than the breeze died down and any sound of a trotting horse, if ever it was really there, vanished as well.
Silence returned.
I shook my head and stepped toward the next two tombstones. Same last name. Same date of death.
Johanna Petersen Engebret Petersen
Fodt 10 June 1849 Fodt 6 Mar 1846
Dodt 19 April 1869 Dodt 19 April 1869
I looked over at the next two.
Albert Skaarsgard Greta Halvorsen
Fodt 25 June 1848 Fodt 17 Oct 1847
Dodt 19 April 1869 Dodt 19 April 1869
The final marker, the broken one, lay face down in the dirt, and visions of that snake crawling over it moments earlier kept me from reaching down and lifting it up to read the name inscribed.
It struck me that I was standing on hallowed ground. A final resting place for seven souls long ago departed. Just because it didn't look like your typical manicured cemetery didn't make it any less a final resting place. But why then was there not so much as a single crucifix or peaceful symbol carved anywhere in this place? Why not even a word of grace. No hint of anything holy here. And then there was that god-awful snake, coiling back and forth over the ground like some devilish sentry guarding its post. Add it all up and, well, what if this place was different? What if this place was somehow unnatural and these people were meant to be forgotten? What if—?
Oh, for Christ sake, get a hold of yourself.
Obviously someone thought enough to make these headstones; maybe that was how they did it back then. Just names and dates. No big deal.
I stared again at the names of the twins. Then it came to me – the image of two grinning boys wearing scruffy trousers, dirty cotton shirts and wide-brimmed hats. These immigrants to a new land. Happy despite the hardships and too young to know any better. Walking down a dirt road or through a tall cornfield on a hot summer day, laughing and playing the way all kids should. That quaint little snapshot lingered for a moment until I started thinking about what could have happened to them – to all of them – to make them end up here.
I heard something: a whispered, chattering sound coming from beyond the trees. I looked all around me but saw nothing. A few seconds went by before I heard it again – this time longer and louder. That's when I realized what I was hearing wasn't a bird, it wasn't an animal, and it sure as hell wasn't the wind. It was the unmistakable sound of children giggling.
My heart was pounding in my chest like a tiny fist as I now had the inescapable feeling I was being watched. My mind said no, that's not possible, but the hot tingling on my skin said otherwise. I wasn't alone. Then something fell into the grass near my feet. An acorn maybe, or a small pebble. Almost like it was being thrown at me.
What the fuck?
"Who's there?"
The laughing stopped.
"Come on, who's there?"
Another object skipped on the ground and bounced off one of the headstones. I didn't have to wait long before it started up again. This time it was coming from those trees over to my right. Children laughing. Swear to God.
I should have run while I had the chance.
"You looking for something?"
I jumped when I heard his voice. I didn't know who he was or how he got there. Suddenly he was just there, standing behind me at the edge of the clearing, a thin old man with stringy white hair and an unruly beard.
I put a hand to my chest and waited for my breath to come back. "Jesus Christ."
As soon as I said that I thought I caught an angry glint flash in his eyes. Like fire. Then it passed just as quickly.
The bib overalls and red plaid shirt were as smooth and worn down as an old saddle. And cradled in his right arm, pointed to the ground but menacing nonetheless, was a shotgun. The damn thing looked positively antique.
"This is private land," he said calmly, like so many around here a man of few words. A trace of Scandinavian accent hung in his voice.
I thought about going up and offering my hand, introducing myself, but the unblinking stare – not to mention the gun at his side – held me back.
"I'm sorry if…I was just hiking through the woods. My brother's place is…was over that way. Guess I got lost."
"You best get on back then."
"Wait a minute. Hold on. You're the owner here?"
His answer was slow in coming. "You might say that."
"So what do you know about these headstones?"
"Why?"
"No reason, just curious. My brother never said anything to me about a cemetery back here."
"Don't figure many folks knew about it."
"How come?"
"Happened a long time ago."
Tell me, damn it.
"Please, I'd like to hear about it."
Another long pause before he answered. "Story is a family of Norwegian homesteaders passed through this way once, looking for good farm land to set up stakes. God-fearing people. Never caused nobody trouble. But then the whooping cough come around and the two boys took sick to it. Weren't no doctors or nobody to help. The young ones died real fast. Father had to dig the graves and lay them down with his own two hands. After that he got tore up with anger. Cursed God for taking his boys."
His bony hands tightened around that shotgun.
"Some say he lost his mind. Others say he made a pact with the devil himself to get his boys back. Believe what you will. But one night while the rest of the family was sleeping he loaded up his gun and put the barrel to each and every one. Saved himself for last."
The old man let out a sigh and lowered his head. "Does terrible things to a man when he has to bury his only two sons."
Two giggling little boys in wide-brimmed hats?
"So who buried them here? I mean, if the whole family was dead..."
He looked up but all he did was shrug his shoulders. His sad gray eyes wouldn't leave me alone as we stood facing each other, me in the sun, he in the shade. Finally I had to look away.
"That's quite a story," was all I could think to say.
The old man stood there, saying nothing, doing nothing. That unnerved me as much as that shotgun he was holding. Yet at the same time I could almost feel the hurt leaking out from that old man. A feeling to which I could relate.
"My brother he…uh…owned land back there," I said, pointing quickly over my shoulder. "Maybe you knew him – Josh Barton?"
The man shook his head. "I'm too old. Don't much know people around here no more."
"Well, he…he passed away two months ago. Heart attack. Kind of thing you never see it coming. But then, who does?"
"You miss him?"
What the hell kind of question…?
"Sure I do. I mean, yeah. In fact, it's still hard to believe he's gone."
"You got family?" he asked.
The question jolted me a little. "I'm divorced. Got a four year-old girl. Light of my life."
"Good. A man's gotta stay close to family. Don't you worry, won't be long you'll see your brother again."
What in the world is this guy talking about?
Next thing I know he's lifting the gun barrel a little higher, his right hand sliding toward the trigger.
"Now you ought not be here," he said softly.
"Look, I don't know what you're talking about. What is it about this place, anyway?"
"Said it yourself, you only found it 'cause you was lost. Be on your way. You don't belong here."
"Who are you?"
He nodded toward the ground behind me and I followed his gaze to the tombstones. Right away I focused on the broken one lying facedown in the dirt. The one name I hadn't read.
"I'm what you might call the caretaker," he said. "See to it nobody disturbs these graves."
Caretaker? Damn, either this guy's crazy or—
Just then my mouth went dry and a chill ran straight through me.
"That's what you're doing here – staying close to them?"
He hesitated for a second, then nodded.
"You mean all this time, all these years—"
"Each of us got burdens to carry. Some heavier than others is all."
My God, this can't be happening.
I stepped back quickly, almost stumbling over my own feet.
When he spoke next his voice seemed to carry an echo, like it was coming from deep inside a tunnel. "Like I said, this here is private land and you're trespassing. Now you best get going."
All at once a gentle breeze began to blow and I could hear the trees and bushes rustling. That was enough for me. Too stunned to say or do anything else, I kept back-peddling. After taking one last look into his eyes I turned around and started walking away. Slowly at first, then faster and faster until I was running like a scared little kid. When finally I did find my way back to the familiar trail I was sweating and nearly out of breath, though I didn't stop. Not until I was safely across the property line. Back where I belonged.
Only then did I look back at those lush green woods, now alive with birds. And the faintest sound of children giggling.
-end-
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