A Whisper of Secrets
This is just a peek at what you will find inside this book
Preface
This
story was written in memory of Jimmy and Carrie my
grandparents who instilled within me a
love for storytelling and
mountain lore. These two were born in the
last part of the 1800’s and
grew up in an area where education was
not of the greatest importance
and both still spoke in the old dialect
of their parents. They lived in
much the same way as their parents before
them had in a deep cove
located in the wild and beautiful
Appalachian mountain range.
This story was built around a story
Grandpa told of a time when
he was a child. A time of superstition
and mystery, a time when the
dusk just before dark was called the
gloaming, a time when shadows are
deepest and the unknown spirits roamed
the mountain valleys.
My favorite time was and still is the
gloaming of the day. As a child
the greatest event of my day was spent
listening to the old stories after
dinner was over and chores were done.
This is the time my grandparents
referred to as the gloaming, the dusk
just before dark.
Granny would say, “Come child ye
granddaddy’s gonna tell a story
and you must listen close fur he’ll only
tell it once tonight.”
We would either sit near the old pot
bellied wood stove in the living
room or in summer on the front porch.
Giggling I would climb up
beside Granny saying, “that’s silly
Granny he’s Grandpa not Daddy.”
“Hush child and listen.”
Grandpa would spit either into the stove
or over the banister of the
porch, wipe the dribble of snuff from his
chin and begin in his soft low
voice.
vi
Merlene M. Allison
The story as he told it went like this:
“I remember one time when a haint
follured Papa home. It was late
fall and Papa had gone ta town, Momma and
the rest of us young’ens
stayed at home. Well it got dark and Papa
wouldn’t home yet. I guess
it was getting on to be about nine o’clock
when we heard the awfulest
racket. Hit sounded just like you uz
pullin the lag off some woman.
Momma made us young’ens gather in the
livinroom an she locked all
the doors. Momma never had shot a gun but
she got Papa’s old huntin
rife out and had me and my brother Joe to
load it fur her.We sit there
froze in place fur a while then somethun
run up on the porch and
started pounding on the door. Momma in
her bravest voice called out,
“who’s that.” It wuz Papa and he started
yelling, “let me in hit’s right
behind me.”
Momma run over and opened the door, Papa
run in and closed
the door back. After he had a drink of
water he set down and told us
about it.Papa said this haint started
folluring him just at the mouth
of the cove. He could hear it walking in
the leaves next to the wagon
trail. Finally the moon come out from
behind the clouds and he saw hit
plain as day standing on the ridge above
him. Hit wuz bigger’n a hoss,
hit even looked like a hoss an wuz as
dark as midnight but when hit
rared up on hits hind lags an opened hits
mouth he knowd hit wuz a
haint. Instood of hoofs hit had claws an
when hit opened hits mouth ta
scream hit had teeth an fangs like a
cat-e-mount that’s when he knowd.
We stayed up most of that night an
watched ta see if it was gonna try
ta come in the house.
A note from the Author:
I have tried to make the words sound just
the way he spoke, in my
mind I can still hear his soft voice in
that old dialect. Can still feel the
awe of hearing the old haunting and ghost
stories he told.I have taken
the liberty of changing his story adding
characters and events in a more
modern time.Granny was a Native American
Indian and had many
stories also. Many of her stories
involved the next world to come. Not
wanting to leave her out I have taken a
hint of the world to come and
woven it into A Whisper of Secrets.
Come, come walk with me maybe we too
shall see that which roams
the darkened coves and deep valleys in
yon mountain heights when the
gloaming comes.
©
All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic,
or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval
system without the written permission
of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied
in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All of the
characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this
novel are either the products of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
iUniverse books may be ordered
through booksellers or by contacting:
iUniverse
Amazon.com
Barns & Noble
Books A Million
iuniverse also has an electronic version