Legend of the Ghost Moose: The Amelia Young Story

By Dana Wayne Haley

Amelia Young, a 9-year-old runaway, encounters an elderly woman named Mary, a former teacher living alone in the woods of Maine. Little did the young girl know that this encounter would be life-changing and impact her in ways she could not imagine, not the least of which is an encounter with a baby moose that entangles her in an urban legend: the Ghost Moose of Maine. While living with Mary, Amelia learns amazing things and experiences both exhilarating and frightening adventures that force her to quickly mature and become a self-sufficient young woman.

Amelia's maturity would be of great help when she eventually learns disturbing facts about her family that would impact her young life and result in her meeting someone very special: a girl named Amanda. The girls instantly bond and develop a unique relationship, to the point where they feel as if they have finally found peace and happiness in their own version of Paradise, where they experience challenging adventures that bring them even closer together. However, they are destined to have an earth-shattering experience which proves that life isn't always the way it seems, leaving them to wonder if their lives would ever be normal, or if they'd struggle to find real happiness.

Although Mary is by and large self-sufficient, at times she needs to call on her friend and neighbor Joshua for assistance, and he is always more than willing to help. However, he lives over six miles from Mary's cabin, and she and the girls have to rely on themselves when it comes to overcoming the day-to-day challenges of living in the wilderness. Many of the adventures that Amelia, Amanda, and Mary experience in the scenic woods of northern Maine are pleasurable, while others involve dangerous encounters with black bears, wolves, moose, and occasionally unsavory people. Indeed some of those encounters are so dangerous that they barely escape with their lives; and one mysterious encounter is totally unexpected and so shocking that it makes their encounters with wild animals seem like child's play.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543993592

Book preview

MARY AND AMELIA

It was late August of 1959 and 72-year-old Mary Brown was rushing to take her clothes off the line before the skies emptied. She had been living in her small log cabin deep in the woods of Maine going on eight years. Mary taught English and American History at Johnston High School in Greenland, Maine, prior to a boating accident that took her husband George’s life. Her husband was also a teacher at Johnston High, but he taught math and science. After he passed she decided to get away from it all and bought a 10,000 acre parcel of land in a remote section of Maine where she could live out the remainder of her life in peace. Her lifestyle wasn’t all that different now, since she and George had taken many camping and fishing trips together, not only in Maine, but all around the country. Unfortunately, they were unable to have children so Mary had no one but herself to be concerned about now.

Aren’t you gonna help me with these clothes, Chewy? she said to a chipmunk that was sitting on a tree stump chomping on a nut. "Come on now; after all I do for you, don’t you think you could be a little more help to me? Oh well, if you don’t want to, I’m gonna have to rename you George; he was a good husband, but he wasn’t one to help around the house much either."

Chewy was just one of Mary’s many forest friends. There was Foxy the fox, Blackie the crow, Woody the fat woodchuck, a family of deer she called the Joneses because she couldn’t keep up with them when they took off running, and too many other animal friends to mention. Just as she walked onto her porch with the clothes basket in hand, a gentle rain began to fall. After Mary put her clothes away she came back onto the porch carrying a mug of coffee and a book she had been reading the last few days. She sat her coffee on a small table, plunked herself down in her rocker, and opened the book to page 137. She was reading Little Women, a book she had read years ago. All of a sudden Woody wandered onto the porch and Mary spoke:

Don’t you go trying to eat my flowers again, Woody, or I’ll have to set Foxy onto you; he craves a woodchuck every now and again, especially one as fat as you.

Mary broke into a prolonged laugh when she saw Woody hesitate before he came over and lay down near her rocker. Of course, she knew that Foxy wouldn’t hurt Woody, and Woody knew that too. All of Mary’s animal friends got along swimmingly, even those who were natural enemies in the wild. A few seconds later Foxy wandered onto the porch and Mary reached down and opened a cooler just to the left of her rocker. She took a piece of meat from the cooler and offered it to Foxy, who immediately chomped onto it and walked over to the far corner of the porch where she quickly devoured it. While she had the cooler open Mary took another piece of meat and threw it as far as she could and it landed about 30 feet from where she sat. As soon as she did that Blackie the crow swooped down and started munching on it. When the crow saw Foxy running toward him, it flew up to the porch roof where it could eat the meat in peace. Mary knew that Foxy wouldn’t hurt Blackie, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to take the meat away from the bird.

When she was done feeding her two friends, Mary resumed reading her book. She read three chapters and then decided it was time to head to the small town of Chokee to Carson’s Grocery Store, which was about a 65 minute drive in her old Ford pickup, 20 minutes of which was over a rough, meandering, 3.5-mile Brown Road that would only take 10 minutes to drive had it been smoother. Mary hadn’t been to the store in three weeks and she needed to pick up a few groceries.

Take care of this place while I’m gone, she said to Purry, her old gray-and-white cat. "I’ve gotta fetch supplies at Carson’s, and while I’m at it I’ll get you some delicious cat food; although I doubt it’ll be as tasty to you as the field mice you’re always catching."

Purry was a stray cat that took a liking to Mary one of the times she was at the store. It was lying on the store’s front porch and it began following the old woman when she walked inside. She thought it belonged to the owner, but he said it was a stray that had shown up a few days earlier. The cat followed Mary up one aisle and down another, and it even followed her back to the truck when she was leaving. Just as Mary was about to shut the door, the cat jumped into the cab, walked behind her seat and then jumped into the passenger seat.

I guess you want to go home with me, Mary said while starting her truck. "Well, why not. I could use a housemate; my other animal friends are not suited to living inside my cabin. Hang on tight."

Mary thought back on that day and recalled that the reason she named the cat Purry was because it eventually climbed onto her lap, lay down and was purring almost all the way back to her cabin. Then she went into her cabin, took her purse off the kitchen table, and grabbed her powerful 30-06 hunting rifle from the wall rack.

As she walked out to the porch, the door slammed hard, making an ungodly noise, and Mary heard a whinny come from behind her cabin. It was her old, white horse, one she had bought from a friend shortly after moving into her cabin in the woods.

It’s okay, Lightning, she yelled, it was just me again forgetting to close the door gently.

Thanks to Mary and her best friend Joshua, her horse was secure in its stable. He helped Mary build the stable and pasture for the horse, which included a loft to store hay for its feeding. Joshua lived on the Moose Run Road, just 3 miles north of its intersection with the Brown Road, or roughly 6.5 miles from Mary’s place. He helped Mary construct both the stable and pasture fence using huge logs like those used to build her cabin. Mary wanted it to be strong enough that a black bear wouldn’t be able to break in and make a meal of her beautiful horse.

Even if Lightning were outside in its pasture, Mary wouldn’t be too concerned because she had taught the horse to seek shelter in the stable whenever it felt threatened. In fact, Mary always said her horse would be more than safe because she had cleverly rigged a rope that allowed Lightning to unknowingly close and lock the door when it went inside. The rope spanned the stable, a good 10 feet from the heavy door, and acted like a trip wire. A pile of hay and a bucket of water were left at the far end of the stable, not only for the horse to seek nourishment, but to attract her far inside the stable and ensure that Lightning would always trip the rope. When the horse came inside and hit the rope, it caused a peg to be pulled loose and allowed the rugged, spring-loaded door to quickly slam shut, and then lock tight. A strong magnet kept the heavy door from bouncing back to ensure that it was closed tight when a long wooden latching bar inside the stable fell down to lock it.

After being assured that Lightning was settled down, Mary took the house and truck keys from her purse and, after saying goodbye to Purry and locking her cabin door, she hopped into her pickup, put the 30-06 rifle on the window rack, and headed for Chokee. As Mary drove away, she laughed and said to herself:

I don’t know why I bother locking my cabin; there’s no one in these woods but me, and I doubt my animal friends could open the door, even if they wanted to.

About 10 minutes into the drive Mary spotted a female moose with its nearly full-grown calf crossing the Brown Road, 200 feet ahead. She stopped the pickup and waited until they crossed the road.

While sitting there, Mary uttered something out loud to no one in particular, since she was the only one in the cab of her pickup.

What are you doing still tagging along with your mother, youngster? Don’t you know you’re too old to be doing that? What are you, a mama’s boy?

When Mary realized what she was doing, she laughed and spoke out loud to herself one more time.

"Mary, you old fart, someday they’re gonna take you away if you keep that up."

After the moose had disappeared into the woods a few seconds later, she continued driving; and after driving for another 10 minutes on the 3.5-mile road, Mary came to the Moose Run Road and turned left, heading south toward Chokee. The paved road between Carson’s Grocery Store and her Brown Road was relatively smooth, but, according to Mary, it had its ups and downs, and had "more curves than Marilyn Monroe." The Brown Road on the other hand was a bumpy, dirt, woods road and only had a few long curves.

Mary had left her cabin at 12:18 in the afternoon and it was 1:47 when she arrived at Carson’s.

• 1 •

How you doing, Mary? Larry Carson asked. Long time no see.

Yeah, it’s been a while, Larry. How’s Alice?

She’s well, he replied, given she’s fast approaching 70.

That’s great, Mary said. Say hello to her for me.

I’ll be sure to do that, Mary. What do you need this trip? Larry asked.

"The same," she answered.

Larry knew what ‘the same’ meant and he had the nonperishable items already in four large boxes for her, as well as 3 huge bags of flour. She came to Larry’s store maybe every week or two, but she also came regularly every three months, so he made sure he had everything she needed each time she visited, which was always the first week of March, June, September, and December. While he was fetching her supplies from the storage area and loading them onto her pickup, Mary grabbed four gallons of milk, five pounds of chicken breasts, and two gallons of vanilla ice cream that she placed in two large coolers packed with lots of ice. The rest of her bags and blocks of ice were stored in four large coolers.

Mary had filled her pickup with gas upon arriving at the store, and also filled six 5-gallon pails with gas for her generator. Twenty minutes later she was off toward her cabin. Thirty-five minutes into her drive back to the cabin she saw someone walking on the road about 300 feet ahead. When Mary approached the person, she realized that it was a young girl with blonde hair. Mary slowed down as she was passing her.

Hi there, young lady. Need a ride? Mary asked.

The girl just put her head down and kept walking.

Mary kept driving slowly, not wanting to abandon her in this remote area of Maine. She had driven this road many times and knew that there were no houses for miles in this area and it would be dark well before the girl came to one, so she just kept trying to get the girl’s attention.

Where you headed? she asked.

I’m not sure, the girl answered.

Now Mary was really concerned, and said: Hop in here, young lady. You look hungry and thirsty, and I’ve got some sandwiches and plenty of bottled water that you’re welcome to.

The young girl didn’t have to be asked twice. Although she had been taught not to get into a car with a stranger, the clearly exhausted girl desperately needed food and water, plus she sensed that the elderly woman meant no harm, so she climbed into the front seat with Mary and quickly grabbed a bottle of Poland Spring water and then took a sandwich from Mary’s picnic basket.

"I guess you were hungry, Mary laughed. I’ve never seen a sandwich disappear that fast in my life. My name is Mary Brown. What’s yours?"

Amelia Young, she answered.

How old are you, Amelia?

Nine, she answered.

"Nine!? What on earth are you doing out here all by your lonesome, Amelia?"

I’m running away.

"Running away!? Won’t your parents be worried about you?"

I don’t have parents. I’m running away from an orphanage.

Why on earth are you doing that? Mary asked.

The people there don’t like me. They’re awful people. They punished me for doing things I didn’t do.

"Oh, that’s terrible! Mary exclaimed. What happened to your parents?"

My papa left my mom years ago and another man moved in with her about a year ago, but he was abusive; and after my mom died in an accident, he took off and I was placed in the orphanage.

When was that, dear? Mary asked.

Three weeks ago, Amelia answered while trying to contain her tears. "It was like moving back in with my mom’s boyfriend, only worse. So I decided to run away."

Don’t you have relatives you can live with? Mary asked.

No, the girl answered.

Well then, I think it’s best that you stay with me for a while; until we can figure out what to do. Is that okay?

Yes, I’d like that, the 9-year-old said. I’m really tired; I’ve been walking for ten hours.

In that case I’ll try to make it back to my cabin as fast as I can and fix you a nice meal while you take a short nap. I can’t believe a young girl like you would be walking up this way. Wouldn’t it have been easier to walk toward a more populated area?

I figured if I did that then someone would spot me on the road and tell the police, so I decided to head north on country roads so I’d have a better chance of escaping. Fortunately I was able to hitch a couple of rides with some real nice country people that saved me hours of walking time. But I got into a third car with a man who started talking weird to me, so I jumped out and ran into the woods when he stopped at an intersection. When he drove off I decided to walk on a crossroad for a while, in case he came back.

"How on earth did you know which way you were headed, Amelia?"

From the sun, she answered. "I kept it mostly at my back. I knew if I did that I’d be pretty much headed north. But I also knew the sun moves slowly toward the west, so I kept that in mind. To tell you the truth though, I have no idea where I am right now, except way north of the orphanage, and that’s all I care about."

"You must have really hated that orphanage," Mary remarked.

"I did; more than anything. I’d rather die than go back to that place."

If that’s the case, sweetie, then I’m really happy I ran into you. Now why don’t you get some shuteye; it’ll be a while before we get to my place.

Amelia took Mary’s advice and leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. It was only a few minutes later that Mary sensed that the young girl was fast asleep.

• 2 •

They arrived at Mary’s cabin by 4:30pm and Amelia was still asleep. Mary started to carry the young girl into the cabin, but she woke up when the elderly woman tried to lift her.

Well, hello there, young lady, Mary said. Did you have a nice nap?

Yes. I slept like a log, Amelia answered.

Good. Would you like to help me carry the food into my cabin and put it away.

Oh yes! she exclaimed. It’s the least I can do.

Okay, help me carry this stuff into the cabin and I’ll show you where it goes.

When all the boxes and coolers were carried into the cabin, Mary spoke.

See this door here, Amelia? This is where I store things.

She opened the door on the north side of her cabin, and Amelia walk through it and found herself standing in a small 8 by 12-foot room that only had two small windows near the top of the side walls. They provided barely enough light to keep oneself from tripping over small cardboard boxes that littered the floor.

Mary came in and lit a kerosene lantern that was hanging from the ceiling.

That’s better, she said.

Amelia looked around and saw shelves full of everything imaginable, including canned food on two shelves located near the door. Under those shelves were household items obviously used to keep the cabin reasonably clean, including a straw broom, and a mop and pail.

It looks like you have plenty of supplies, Mrs. Brown, Amelia commented.

Too many, I suspect, she replied. "But every time