Back to Newtonberg

By David Emprimo

All That Remains only told half of the story...

A mysterious stranger has arrived in Newtonberg, asking for Madge Bennett and seeking information about Billy and Vernon Powell.

In order to help her, Mike Baldridge and Janet Carmichael will embark on a journey that will take them even deeper into the history of Newtonberg, the Powell family – and into Mike’s own hidden past.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leopold Press
• Release date: Nov 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311656452

David Emprimo

Leopold Press is a small publisher located in East Texas specializing in children's books, cozy fiction, and faith-based publications.

Book preview

Back to Newtonberg

by David Emprimo

SMASHWORDS EDITION

LEOPOLD PRESS

Tyler, Texas

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical and public figures, are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical or public figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2014 by David Emprimo

All rights reserved.

This edition published 2023 by Leopold Press.

For contact information, please email [e-mail]

ISBN-10: 1-311-65645-6

ISBN-13: 978-1-311-65645-2

Cover design by David Emprimo.

Author photograph by David Wingard.

DEDICATION

To Barnwell and Annabelle Anderson.

"There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature."

― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

"In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future."

― Alex Haley

"You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you."

― Frederick Buechner

CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

BONUS SHORT STORY:

Rick Murchison Goes Home Again

Acknowledgements

About the Author

CHAPTER ONE

It was the purple hair that caught his eye.

Father Louis Nichols hadn’t really been paying attention. He was on his way to the Library Board meeting, and he was more concerned that he’d forgotten to bring his copy of the agenda with him. He was walking past Swensen’s Café, on his way back to the car to see if it was in the back seat, when he caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye. He stopped in his tracks and walked back to make sure it wasn’t a trick of the light.

It wasn’t.

Sure enough, a young woman, probably somewhere between eighteen and twenty-three, was sitting at one of the tables. She had some type of tablet computer in front of her (a Nook? Kindle? iPad? – he couldn’t tell). She was drinking a cup of coffee, and she did indeed have purple hair.

Or perhaps it was more violet or fuchsia than purple. Father Lewis wasn't the most artistic person in Newtonberg and had no eye for shades of colors. As far as he was concerned purple was purple, with varying degrees of intensity.

Her hair wasn’t the only distinctive thing about her. She also had multiple piercings in each ear, and she wore a knee-length denim skirt, black leggings, Doc Marten boots, and a black net vest over a white long-sleeved T-shirt that read DA 2011.

Puzzled, he shook his head and headed for his car. It’s not that he was shocked by the young lady’s appearance. It just wasn’t the norm in Newtonberg. The closest thing to exotic hair colors until now had been when the new stylist at Mrs. Lucas’ Beauty Parlor misread the directions on a bottle of bluing back in the late 1970s.

He checked his watch. It was 11:45. The meeting was at noon; a special lunchtime meeting since Mike Baldridge, the Library Director, would be out of town on the usual date. He was taking Cap Blakeney to Houston for his treatment at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

He found his agenda under a stack of church bulletins and headed back toward the library. As he passed the Café again, John Swensen stepped out of the front door.

Hello, Father Louis, he said.

Hello, John.

Everything okay? I thought you were coming in.

No, no. I’m on my way to the Library board meeting and I forgot something in the car.

John nodded. Ah, yes. I’ve done that myself many times. How is everything at the library these days?

According to Mike, things are pretty good. Father Louis checked his watch again. I’d better get going or I’ll be late.

Good to see you. Stop by after the meeting. I’ve got a pecan pie in the oven.

Will do. They shook hands and John went back inside.

Before leaving, Father Louis glanced inside the Café again. The young lady was still there. She smiled and waved as she caught him looking, then went back to reading.

* * * * * * * * * *

He entered the library a few minutes later and quickly realized he needn’t have hurried. Only three other board members were there, making four of a total eight. Cliff Magnuson (President of the Board), Big Tom Wallace (Vice-President), and Harriet Johnson – the Widow Missus – sat at a table with their copies of the agenda, talking about the previous week’s football game. The Widow Missus served as the Board’s secretary, but she also ran the local paper, so the football game was of special interest to her readers.

Afternoon, Father Louis, Cliff said, looking up.

Hello, all. He nodded towards the empty seats. Where’s everyone else?

Gladys Thompson will be here shortly, the Widow Missus said. Al had an eye appointment in Koval that he couldn’t get out of. Gladys had to go so she could drive him back if they decided to dilate his eyes.

Steve Michaels is on his way, too, said Big Tom. I stopped off at the bank on my way here and he was with a customer. One of the tellers said he’d be here, though.

That just leaves Sharon Lucas and Mavis Nelson, said Father Louis.

Sharon Lucas ran the local hair salon, which she had taken over when her sister-in-law, Peg, had retired. Peg had inherited it from her mother, Thelma.

Mavis Nelson was the wife of Orville Nelson, one of the twins whose grandfather had owned Nelson’s Pharmacy. Orville and his brother Oliver had no interest in running a drug store, and neither was good enough in science to become a pharmacist anyway. The store had been sold to the Cahill family, who kept the name. Scott, the oldest Cahill brother, ran the pharmacy; Sean, his youngest brother, was the Newtonberg Fire Chief.

I’m sure Sharon got tied up giving someone a perm or something. And I think Mavis is out of town, said Cliff.

She is, said Mike Baldridge as he entered the room, pushing a cart with a coffee urn and a plate of cookies. She went with Orville and Oliver for a wrestling convention.

While Orville and Oliver may not have shown much aptitude for science, they had both excelled in athletics at school. Both of them had received football scholarships to West Texas State University in the late 1960s. While they were there, they had trained under Dory Funk, Sr. to become professional wrestlers, appearing in tag team matches as The Wright Brothers, a play on Orville’s name and the famous brothers who invented the modern airplane. (Just imagine, Mavis would say when asked about it. "If they’d waited fifteen years or so, they could have been ‘The Redenbachers.’")

Although they were two of the nicest guys you’d ever want to meet, the promoter decided to portray them as bad guys, or heels as they were called in the industry. The crowd loved to hate them, so they did their job well.

While they worked best as a tag team, occasionally they would wrestle as singles; although even then, the