The Talking Skeleton: The Mountain Valley Series

By Jean Robinson Wescott

The Talking Skeleton splinters Rad Sergeant and his gang off into several different situations, and introduces Rad's cousin Joshua Myers. The boys dig for buried treasure, but find a skeleton that throws them into an investigation where they face many dangers before they solve the mystery. At school, two spoiled rich boys nearly kill Peter because of his color. The same spoiled boys threaten Rad that if he does not quit the basketball team so one of them can be the captain, he will be hurt.

This story deals with Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and tells us about Max cutting his long red hair, that he had sworn would never be cut, to make a friend who has Leukemia a wig.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Aug 25, 2003
• ISBN: 9781469724027

Jean Robinson Wescott

Jean Robinson Westcott was born and raised in rural Arkansas but moved to Tulsa, OK when she married her husband, Waymon Westcott. She became a cosmetologist and worked in that capacity until her three children were grown, when she began to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming an author.

Book preview

Chapter 1

The whole gang, Rad Sergeant, his brother Ty, cousin Joshua Myers who came to live with Rad’s family after his parents were killed in an automobile accident, and Rad’s best friends, Max Frost and Peter Logan, were digging for buried treasure. Digging for treasure happened because Joshua was depressed about school and ran away. He ended up in the old abandoned Madison shack across Valley Lane, the road running north and south in front of the Sergeant ranch. That was where Joshua found the map and brought it home.

Joshua raced up the driveway, so out of breath he was gasping. You know that shack at the south end of Madison Road? he asked.

Rad nodded and Ty said, Yeah, it’s the Madison shack.

I thought I could use it for my secret spot. You know, everybody needs a place to be alone with his thoughts sometimes. Joshua swallowed and then breathed deeply. I can tell you right now that place is too creepy for thinking. But look what I found! Joshua held a tarnished brittle piece of paper out for Rad and Ty to see. It has a map on one side of the paper and a note on the other!

How did you find it? Rad asked.

Strictly by accident, he said. I sat down on the hearth, and when I leaned back, my shoulder touched a loose rock in the fireplace. I wiggled it out and inside the hole was this brown, flat can. Joshua held the small, flat, dirty can out for Rad and Ty to see. I opened the can and there the map was! I ran home as fast as I could! It’s important, don’t you think?

Rad, Ty and Joshua read the note and then called Peter and Max, insisting they come over. Now, here they were at the sight, digging for buried treasure in an abandon field.

I hit something! Max shouted from the hole.

Rad grabbed a shovel, jumped into the grave-like opening alongside Max, and began shoveling dirt. His excitement was overpowering and the faster he shoveled, the wilder he became.

What do you think the treasure will be? Peter asked.

Buried treasures are always jewels and gold, Ty said.

I hope it’s money, Joshua said.

Rad and Max continued shoveling, and about the sixth time Rad plowed into the ground, he hit something too! Only it was not metal and treasures were always in metal boxes. Rad scooped up another shovel of dirt, gave it a swift throw, and went down for another but pulled back, and stumbled against the dirt wall.

Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! He exclaimed and began clawing his way up the dirt wall. Max, it’s…it’s…a skeleton! Let’s get out of here!

The boys were in shock. If this is treasure, Peter said, I don’t want my share!

Rad reached out to Joshua. Lemme read that note again, he said.

Okay, but be careful; the paper is really old, Joshua said.

If you are reading this note then you have been chosen to solve the mystery. Go to the south end of Madison Road. There behind a clump of pine trees, you will see a very large rock that resembles a bear. At the north corner of the bear rock, take twelve paces west. Stop. Take six paces east. Stop. Dig. Your reward is waiting.

Somebody has a wild imagination, Max said. First, he kills a person and buries him in a field, and then he leaves a riddle. What kind of a sick person would do that?

It doesn’t say anything about a treasure! Ty said. Why did we think it did? Talk about stupid! We won first place without trying.

Whoever this man is, he was murdered, Rad said.

Why would you think he was murdered? Peter asked.

People are usually buried in cemeteries, not fields, Rad said.

Peter shrugged. Oh yeah, that makes sense, he said. Why didn’t I think of that?

Ty rolled his eyes. Whose turn is it to dig?

Joshua leaped into the grave and began shoveling dirt. A minute later, he held up another small, dirty, rusty can. Second clue, he said.

Rad reached his hand down and pulled Joshua out. Joshua flipped the lid open and just like the other can, this one had a piece of fragile paper inside too.

Joshua, weren’t you afraid to go back down there? Peter whispered.

Joshua gazed at Peter and shook his head. Bones can’t hurt you. He passed the note to Rad. You read it, Rad. I have a hard time with words. Sometimes letters look backward to me.

How can letters look backward? Peter asked.

I don’t know, they just do, Joshua said.

Rad cleared his throat and began. It says, my name is Lowell Madison. Listen closely because I have a story to tell, and it is unique. From this very spot, go south as a crow flies for two acres and continue searching.

The note makes it seem as if the skeleton is talking to us! Ty said. That’s what we’ll call him! The Talking Skeleton!

Why do we hafta call him anything, Peter asked. He’s just a bag of bones.

It sounds better than bone, Ty said. His name is The Talking Skeleton.

I agree with Ty. If we try to find out who he is, it’d sound better to call him something, Max said. I agree with Ty on another thing too. These bones are speaking to us.

Okay, he has a name, Ty said. Now, we know a crow flies straight. That makes no sense, because going straight for two acres would put us on Wilson Perry’s land.

Rad walked slowly around the grave, staring at the skeleton. Solving this murder would be overwhelming, but we should report it to the sheriff.

No, we should not! Peter said. If we tell the sheriff, then he’ll take credit for finding him. I say Lowell Madison’s mystery stays with us. We found his bones. It’s our job to find his killer.

You are out of your mind! Max said. "We don’t know anything about detective