HAUNTING STURGEONS: Chapter Two

Previously in this blog serial...

(Click here to read Chapter One) 

Now the HAUNTING continues...

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    I am sitting in my two-door hatchback, taking one last glance at the serene beauty of Lake Pontoon in the rear view mirror.  There is a sensation of leaving a piece of myself behind as I pull away.  A fragment of innocence lost by growing up in the shadow of tragedy.

WELCOME TO STURGEONS 

Population 2,622 

The Good Life Begins And Ends Here! 

    I pass the colorful display, nearly identical to the original one, but this sign isn’t just a marker for the city limits.  It’s a reminder that I am entering old but new territory.  The population decrease tells the story of destruction, even while the town’s morbid slogan remains unchanged, as if nothing ever happened.  I wonder why no one has defaced this piece of contradiction.

    A residential area unfurls around my car as I consider what I would like to do to the sign.  Suddenly, familiar houses, with a tree or two in nearly every yard, catch my attention.  I circle the block and gaze at my reconstructed old neighborhood.  It looks so much like I remember, but something is different.  Something only obvious to people who lived here ten years ago. 

    The trees are young, just like the houses and buildings of Sturgeons.  What little remained standing after the destruction was completely leveled.  The remnants torn down and hauled away so life could begin anew.  An entire town resurrected from the ground up so all who fled could return.  Some did.  Some didn’t.  Some couldn’t.

    I continue slowly driving through the streets, remembering wanting to move back to Sturgeons when rebuilding was complete.  My parents said it was too soon, that the memories of Tommy were too raw.  They said a lot of things.  Things about what happened to Tommy.  Things about the lawman.  Even things about Eddie, but it didn’t matter.  I was just a kid without a choice, but I have one now.  Maybe more than one.

    A burst of siren rattles me out of my thoughts as red and blue lights flash in the mirrors.  I anticipated a police greeting because no one enters Sturgeons unobserved.  Besides residents peering from behind curtains, it’s standard small town practice for officers to keep watch for out-of-state plates.  Trying to stay focused, I pull over to the curb and stop, expectations twisting me up inside.

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The HAUNTING continues in...

  

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words! 

Freak Out, 

JLH 

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The Collective Eye interview for August is on...

👁 

(click the pic ⤵️)