The Rock

By Ronald A Phernetton

Thisstory, intended for young teensand adults, is about an 11 year old boy,small and immature, with a severely overactive imagination that often gets him into trouble.

The boy becomes part of a dream involving mystery, action, adventure, jealousy and murder.

To learn more about THE ROCK, visit the author's website: http://www.benbranchbooks.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 6, 2008
• ISBN: 9781452073880

Ronald A Phernetton

The author is a retired forester, who over the years, developed an interest in mountains, railroads, mining and history. With the help of a half dozen children and teenagers, he developed an extensive model railroad layout. THE ROCK was inspired by the imaginations of the youngsters.

Book preview

© 2010 Ronald A. Phernetton. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 8/19/2010

ISBN: 978-1-4520-7388-0 (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-4343-9477-4 (sc)

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

This story is dedicated to all the children who helped create this story.

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This is a story about a boy with a severely overactive imagination, so overactive that his mind and body are often controlled by the visions and events that take place in his head. During a summer camping trip, JL Douglas has a dream (or what was perceived to be a dream) about an event that took place thirty years before. His dream revealed secrets that helped to reunite a family that had been separated for those thirty years.

About This Story

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The setting for this story is in a pair of fictional villages, located somewhere in Montana. These villages, Table Mountain Village and Cedar Valley, are modeled in the HO gauge train layout pictured above. Many of the events described in the story were inspired by the features, equipment and characteristics of the layout, and choreographed by the young people shown above: Stephen Lemley (left), Timothy Lemley, Matthew Lemley, Tiffany Stephens and her little sister, Jade.

Many thanks to Matthew, Tim, Stephen and Tiffany, who helped to inspire and proof read THE ROCK, and to the boys’ grandmother, Mrs Thomas Lemley and my aunt, Ardath Gatten who helped to proof read and edit the book.

The Canadian action takes place in actual towns located in an area that looked interesting, was near a railroad, and within a mining region.

The Empire Builder featured in this story was originally operated by Great Northern Railway, primarily on its own routes and is now operated by Amtrak on BNSF routes.

MAP OF TABLE MOUNTAIN / CEDAR VALLEY AREA – LEFT HALF

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MAP OF TABLE MOUNTAIN / CEDAR VALLEY AREA – RIGHT HALF

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JARGON, UNFAMILIAR OR NONSTANDARD TERMS USED IN THE STORY

Ballast – Bed of crushed rock used to stabilize rail and ties. The railroad ties are imbedded in the ballast.

Consist – The scheduled set of engines and cars making up a train. Sometimes called train-sets.

Dorm car – Living quarters for a train crew or work crew. May be a modified passenger car or box car.

International Harvester Vehicles – Common or slang names: International; IHC; Corn Binder, and others. The model name of the nine passenger 4WD vehicle in the story was Travel-All. It and other rough riding, heavy utility vehicles of the same type were sometimes called crummies.

Staging area – An area or facility where individuals coming from different locations can gather before continuing as a combined unit.

Switches – Moveable mechanisms where two tracks join allowing the train to move from one track to another.

Switch alignment, align the switches or switches are lined up for Table Mountain – All the switches are positioned so the train will pass through all the switches necessary to end up on the Table Mountain track. Sometimes, The train is all lined up for Table Mountain, meaning the switches are properly aligned so the train can go to Table Mountain.

Switchback – A road which turns back upon itself to zig-zag up a steep hill. – A railroad which zig-zags up a steep grade. The train alternately moves forward and backward through the series of switches.

Switchback tail – The length of track extending beyond the switch at a switchback. The maximum length of train that can negotiate a switchback is limited by the switchback tail.

Switch point – The movable part of a switch that moves against the rail, guiding the train’s wheels onto the other track.

Trail head – Where a trail begins at a pick-up or drop-off point. In the story, The Rock, Several Table Mountain trail heads were located along the Table Mountain Railway.

VIA Rail – Canada’s passenger rail system.

VAN HOUGH FAMILY MEMBERS

MCDOUGALL FAMILY MEMBERS

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 1

THE EMPIRE BUILDER

It was a summer night in July, 1977. The last rays of sun were disappearing behind the Rocky Mountains. Amtrak’s Empire Builder was working its way through the foothills toward a pass that by morning would take it through the formidable range that lay ahead. The conductor was making his way through the train, turning out the lights as he went. As he entered the sightseer lounge, the single remaining occupant was a small sandy haired boy. Eleven year old JL Douglas was trying to take in the last of the scenery illuminated by the rays of the setting sun.

You had better get back to your coach with the rest of your group, warned the conductor. It’s ten o’clock and we are turning out the lights.

Yes, sir, replied JL as he sadly left the lounge car. He hit the door openers and carefully stepped across the floor joints in each vestibule as he entered the next car. He counted three coaches back to make sure he was in the right car, then began looking for the rest of his Scout troop.

JL loved riding on the train and he tried not to miss a single thing as they sped along the tracks, but it was now dark and he knew that before morning they would reach their destination, a little town called Cedar Valley, Montana. All of his fellow Scout members were looking forward to this week- long trip; but for him, the best part of the trip would be over once the train reached Cedar Valley.

He, eleven other Scouts and two scoutmasters had left Minot, North Dakota, that morning and were going to spend a week camping in the Table Mountains above Cedar Valley. He wasn’t looking forward to this camping trip at all; in fact, he was dreading it.

JL loved the mountains and would have loved to spend the week camping with his father, Luke Douglas, or his grandfather, James Douglas, or along with his best friend, Dennis Johnson. But his father, a navigator in the Air National Guard, died in a plane crash last fall. His grandfather lived way up in Canada and he had seen him for only a few minutes at his father’s funeral. His only lifelong contact with his grandfather was one long hug from him as he told JL he had to go before somebody recognized him. His best friend, Dennis, was along on this trip, but JL didn’t like being with all these other boys.

JL didn’t have many friends. He was small for his age and didn’t do a lot of things very well. He was always making mistakes and doing the wrong thing. He had trouble remembering and following instructions. In school he had trouble concentrating. His mind was always wandering off and he would end up daydreaming. He was very uncoordinated and was poor at any kind of action sports. All the other boys made fun of him.

In addition, he had a very serious problem. He was deathly afraid of the dark and he had an uncontrollable, run-away imagination. Even when he was playing games, things he imagined, experiences, places and people would sometimes become very real in his mind. It was as if he were actually seeing things he imagined and hearing the voices of his imaginary friends. At times his imagination would pull him so far from reality, he seemed to be in some kind of a trance and lost all control of his actions. His worst times were at night when he would wake up screaming, and his mother (or Dennis during a sleep-over) would have to wake him up and force him back to reality. JL (and his mother) relied heavily on Dennis to keep him out of trouble. JL thought, with a degree of embarrassment, that if it weren’t for Dennis, his mother would probably get him a baby sitter.

To make matters worse, one of the badges he was expected to earn on this trip was a solo overnight camping exercise away from the main camp. It was fairly safe; he only had to be a half mile away from camp, and his leaders would give him everything he needed for the night. Since he was alone, he could not take along his hatchet, knife, matches or anything else that might cause him to hurt himself or get into trouble. JL was worried about being alone in the dark in a strange area overnight without Dennis, but, in spite of this, he was determined that no matter what, he was going to overcome all obstacles to earn that badge. He was almost twelve, and he was embarrassed to need someone to watch over him all the time. He thought if he could get through that one night, it would be one small step toward mastering his problem.

His doctor had told JL and his mother that there was nothing wrong with him. He just had to learn to stay calm and keep his imagination separate from what was real. His doctor thought this trip would be good for him. JL wasn’t so sure; neither was his mother. She had talked to Mr. Edwards, his scoutmaster, Dennis and his mother, and they all promised they would help JL get through this.

He was going over this problem in his mind as he approached the rear of the car and spied the rest of his troop. Some had their reading lights on and were playing games or talking. Some, including the leaders, were asleep. JL was relieved to see an empty seat next to his friend, Dennis, who appeared to be asleep.

JL climbed over Dennis and sat down in the darkened seat next to the window. No sooner had he settled down when feelings of doubt began to overtake him. He began to wonder if he should have stayed home, but Dennis was going, and he didn’t want to be without him for a whole week.

The dark problem was still playing itself out in his mind. He kept trying to tell himself that he was really not afraid of the dark, only what was in the dark. The dark could contain such things as bears, lions, tigers, snakes, wolves, spiders and a whole list of things all kids were supposed to watch out for. He tried to tell himself there was no such thing as goblins, ghosts, demons, and all kinds of evil, supernatural things. No, he thought It definitely was the dark that made him afraid. Now, as he sat quietly in the darkened seat, a feeling of despair began to come over him. Long fingers of darkness and gloom began flowing around the seats, people and other objects in the coach, coming right toward him, wrapping around his body and penetrating right to his soul. Much to his grief, he could feel it overtaking him now. He was about to have what his tormenting friends called one of JL’s panic fits, and he couldn’t stop it. Every nerve in his body started to tingle; his muscles started to tighten and he could feel his lungs pushing all the air out of his body as he began to panic. His arms and legs began jerking back and forth as he made a gasping noise.

Suddenly someone grabbed him and began shaking him.

JL, are you alright? a voice said.

With a start, JL opened his eyes. He saw Dennis’s face glowing in the reading light someone had switched on. The face said, Breathe, JL, Breathe, and his body instinctively obeyed, as it always did when Dennis spoke. He felt his body relax as he realized that Dennis had once again rescued him from himself.

Suddenly a half dozen other faces appeared around them.

Oh, that’s just Baby Jimmy Lukey teased a tough-looking boy called Bull. He’s scared. We should have brought his Mommy along to take care of him.

Leave him alone, demanded Dennis. He’s just worried about his solo. You didn’t do so well on your solo last year yourself. (Dennis knows that when Bull did his solo, he sneaked back around just behind camp. Dennis caught him there when he had to get up in the middle of the night. Bull threatened to beat Dennis up if he ever told on him.)

Just remember what I told you, threatened Bull as he gave Dennis a sharp thump on his shoulder. Mr. Edwards, their leader sat up and gave the boys a disciplinary glare. The boys, not wanting to get involved in some conflict between their leader and Bull, turned around and left, one by one, for their seats. Bull and Dennis continued to glare at one another for a moment; then Bull too, left for his seat.

Don’t worry, JL, comforted Dennis, This is going to be a good week.

Still embarrassed by his performance, JL curled up in the seat and went to sleep.

Dennis sat next to JL pondering his friend’s problem for a long time. He felt kind of responsible for JL because he had persuaded him to come along on this trip. He hoped that JL wouldn’t be mad at him for telling his scoutmaster about his problem. He had waited until JL was asleep, then went to his scoutmaster. He found out that Mr. Edwards had heard everything but didn’t want to interfere as it would just make things worse for JL.

JL was nine months younger than Dennis, just barely old enough to be in the same grade. Because of his small size, JL was like a little brother to Dennis. He depended on, and trusted Dennis to help him through his troubles and conflicts, and that responsibility had almost become on obsession with Dennis. JL had always had a run-away imagination as long as Dennis had known him (which was practically all his life), but it was worse since his father’s death a few months ago. Dennis thought back to a particularly disturbing and scary event that happened one evening last fall.

He and JL were playing together in Dennis’s yard when an old widow lady, Mrs. Stone, who lived next door, asked if the two boys could help her find her cat which had been missing all afternoon. If there was anything JL liked better than trains or mountains, it was playing detective. He immediately transformed the search for the cat into a kidnapping adventure with crooks, murderers and spies. As it began to grow dark and kind of spooky, the search led to a neighbor’s storage shed. The run-down shed had cracks and holes, and the door was nailed shut. By then, in JL’s mind, the missing cat had become a kidnapped boy who was being murdered. JL was ready to pry open the shed door, insisting that the boy was tied up in there and was about to die. Realizing that JL was losing control; that they shouldn’t be breaking into someone else’s building; and that it was past time for them to be home, Dennis tried to get JL away from the shed. As Dennis grabbed JL and started to drag him to his house, he became hysterical and started screaming something about the boy dying in the shed and that they had to get him out.

Hearing his screams, JL’s mother came to the door and took him inside. As she dragged him to his room Dennis could hear him screaming, Somebody help him! He’s dying! He’s dying!

Dennis quickly turned and ran to his own house. JL’s panic attack almost dragged Dennis in with him.

The next morning Dennis asked and obtained permission from his neighbor to pry open the door to his shed to look for Mrs. Stone’s cat. As he opened the door and looked in, his heart jumped into his throat as he saw Mrs. Stone’s cat lying in a corner with both front legs caught in a rat trap. The cat had bled to death. Dennis felt horrible, realizing that the cat was probably alive when JL was trying to get the door open, and that they could have saved it.

Dennis went to Mrs. Stone’s house and broke the news to her. Not wanting to see JL right now, and needing something to do to get his mind off what had happened, he offered to give Mrs. Stone’s cat a proper burial. Dennis found some cedar boards, built an attractive box for a casket, and buried the cat.

By the time he finished, it was almost noon and he hadn’t heard a thing from JL. Dennis decided he had better check to see if JL was still mad at him for dragging him home last night, so he ran around to the other side of his house toward JL’s house. He saw three cars sitting in front of the house. One of them looked like some kind of official sedan with a flag flying from the front fender. Before he could go any farther, his father intercepted him and told him he needed to come into the house. Once inside, his father told him that JL’s family had just received news that Luke Douglas’s plane had crashed last evening during a training mission and that Luke, along with the pilot and copilot, had all been killed.

Ever since this time Dennis knew there was something very strange, and kind of scary about his friend, but he liked him and was determined to help him think about good and fun things. He wanted to help him to stop having these uncontrollable, scary episodes. While pondering these events, Dennis fell asleep.

Chapter 2

TABLE MOUNTAIN CAMPSITE

At 6:30 the next morning the Empire Builder arrived at the Cedar Valley Depot. Twelve groggy Boy Scouts climbed off the coach, lugging their backpacks to a pile on the platform. A lot of other people got off the train too, but most of them were escorted directly into the depot waiting room.

Standing by their pile of backpacks was an elderly man who introduced himself as Homer McDougall.

Boys, Homer said, I may be sixty-five years old, but I have spent all my life in the mountains and I can still outclimb or outrun any of you. I am going to escort your squad into the mountains and teach you a few survival techniques, and you will listen to me and you will learn them.

What Homer said next made JL’s heart jump for joy!

We will hike from Table Mountain to your campsite, but we will ride up to the Table Mountain Depot on an old heavyweight passenger car pulled by an eighty-year-old Heisler steam engine. This little engine has been hauling people, coal and logs for over three-quarters of a century. It has gears to give it more power. It may be slow but it will haul an uphill load better than any other locomotive of its class.

JL knew all about the Heisler, the Climax, the Shay and all the other logging locomotives. He was so excited he showered Homer with a barrage of questions. At the moment there was no room in his mind to worry about his solo trip, or the dark, or if he was to be hung until dead, for that matter.

It pleased Homer that this boy was so interested in the engine. He liked any kid who was so excited about anything. He knew he was going to have to help this boy through a problem. The scoutmaster had told him about JL’s panic attack last night, but he had no intention of bringing up this problem now and spoiling the boy’s moment of joy. Homer quickly dismissed the problem as the little engine with a single coach and a baggage car came screeching around the curve toward the Cedar Valley Depot.

The depot agent loaded the boys’ backpacks and the other passengers’ luggage into the baggage car. Then he seated the passengers going to Table Mountain Village, starting from the back of the coach, leaving the front several rows for the Scouts.

As the first step of the old heavyweight coach was quite high and the depot agent was using the platform stool to load the other passengers, Homer assisted the smaller boys onto the step. When it was JL’s turn to load, Homer put his hands under his elbows to boost him up to the step. As Homer touched his elbows, JL felt a sort of kinship-like, comfortable feeling go through his body, like he used to feel when his father would pick him up. He began to feel like this trip wasn’t going to be so bad, but right now, he was going to concentrate on this once-in-a-lifetime train ride. He was shaking with excitement.

Dennis let JL have the window seat, partly because he wanted to limit his contact with some of the other boys. He felt JL’s shivering and was afraid he might be having another panic attack, but JL’s barrage of questions satisfied Dennis that his friend was enjoying at least this part of the trip.

The little train slowly pulled away from the depot, then clattered over a switch onto another track as they began the long climb up to Table Mountain. They climbed out of the valley over a narrow trestle where they could see nothing but the valley and the raging Cedar River below. Soon they climbed into a cut in the mountainside. Around the curve and almost straight up, the boys spied a huge mansion. A couple of boys made some comments directed at JL, intending to scare him about this being a haunted mansion. The comment didn’t have its desired effect. Rather than feeling fear as he would normally have done, JL felt sorry for the house. It was such a grand old house, and it should not be abandoned.

They slowly passed what appeared to be a coal mine, and several loaded hoppers sitting on an adjacent siding. Then they passed a log loading area, and through another switch as they stopped at the end of the track, high over the river. JL could see around the curve that the engine had stopped just short of the end of the track. Homer walked to the rear of the car, jumped down and threw the switch they had just passed. As Homer jumped back on, the train started to back up, back through the log loading area and the coal yard. As they rolled back past the switch they realized the train was backing uphill, higher now past the mansion and up, up around a curve. They could now see the valley far below. On the other side of the train, buildings began slipping by: A church, a couple of houses, a lumberyard, and finally a little depot alongside a massive stone hotel. The train stopped between the depot and the hotel.

While the other guests filed into the hotel, Mr. Edwards and his assistant had the boys put on their backpacks and line up in front of the depot. Led by Homer and Mr. Edwards, the troop hiked back up the trail along the tracks around the