Wendell

By Amy Brooke Odell

Wendell is just a kid trying to enjoy his life in the mountains of North Carolina. Things are hard because his mother; Vera, left when he was only a baby. She was known throughout town to be a little bit odd, obsessed with folklore and town mythology, and the school bullies don't like to let him forget it. As hard as the bullies can be on him, Wendell has two best friends and a loving grandmother that have filled his life, until now.

When Wendell begins to show curiosity in the town's legend of the Wind Folk, Granny Dess tries to dissuade him to keep him from ending up like his mother. Granny Dess feels he would be happier if he would look toward the future and not the past. She does whatever she can to try to make sure that he doesn't get caught up in what she considers foolishness and fantasy. But, after witnessing some very strange and magical occurrences, Wendell's curiosity wins out and he begins to secretly search for information into the town's infamous legend.

Wendell and his friends, both human and animal, embark on a journey to discover the truth about the Wind Folk and where his mother really is. His world of baseball, camp-outs, and fishing is rocked when he discovers that the adults in town know a lot more than they say, and sometimes those tales told around a campfire are true. And, when it comes to the Wind Folk; it is said if you see one, you become one.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BLKDOG Publishing
• Release date: Aug 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393583509

Book preview

Wendell

Amy-Brooke Odell

COPYRIGHT © 2020 AMY-Brooke Odell.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. The moral right of the author has been asserted.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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A FEW WORDS OF THANKS to those who have helped with this book.  To my early readers, who read some chapters and gave valuable feedback and nods of encouragement.

A special mention to my colleague and friend, Janet, for reading my first draft and listening to my endless questions and concerns. 

Thanks to Lynne for providing a thorough edit. 

I have so much gratitude to my parents, sister, in-laws, and family for always encouraging my crazy dreams.

Jason, thank you so much for all of your advice!

A big thanks to everyone reading this story.

And finally, Brandon and Dawson, you guys are the reason that I write. Love you both so much.

For my boys

And all of our family; past and present.

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Epilogue

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he winds swirl her hair up and all around her face, it slices through the tiny holes in her white knit sweater. She doesn’t shiver, she stops and breathes deeply, embracing the icy gusts. She wants to savor this moment but the excitement is too much, she takes off running toward the river. The wind pulls her ahead like a magnet. It isn’t far, just through the woods behind mother’s house. She is careful to hold steady to the cloudy mason jar in her hand, she mustn’t drop it, it has to make it to Blue Rock safely.

Just at the edge of the forest line she stops and turns. She can barely see her mother’s house through the swaying of the trees, but she tries to make out the shape anyway. This is goodbye. She dips her head, wipes a lone tear from her eye, and whispers a name. Wendell. The wind carries away the name and with that she turns back and makes her way along the riverbank down to Blue Rock.

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endell moves gingerly, sliding into his usual seat in the cafeteria. His friends don’t get to school as early as he does, so he eats his breakfast alone most days. The brown paper bag crinkles softly as he pulls out the slightly soggy breakfast biscuit that his grandmother packed, or Granny Dess, as Wendell and the rest of the town call her. Granny Dess always over packs for breakfast and lunch, but she knows that her grandson doesn’t have many friends so she shows him her love in every way that she can. She may be tough, but she loves her grandson deeply.

Wendell crumbles up his napkin and opens his thermos of strawberry lemonade that Granny has made for him. He pours it carefully into the thermos cup before pulling a worn-out copy of an Encyclopedia Brown chapter book out of his backpack. He loves Encyclopedia Brown books; he has a big box of them stored under his bed. It was one of the few things Granny kept after his mother took off. He is so taken with the way that Leroy Brown’s mind works that he is always trying to solve riddles the way his literary hero would. Wendell sips his lemonade and dives into a chapter called; The Case of the Civil War Sword. He lets a forceful puff of air out of his nose, thinking that a lot of the boys in this town act like Bugs Meany. Just then, he hears a snarling laugh that could only come from Mountain Top Middle School’s very own town bully; Mitch Hosen.

Mitch is tall, popular, and he flirts with all the girls. He is basically the master of the boys in the sixth grade. What he says, they do. Though they are both just on the cusp of thirteen, he looks at least two years older than Wendell. Mitch is the meanest kid that Wendell and his friends have ever known, and while they aren’t the only kids picked on, they sometimes get it the worst.

Coming up just behind Mitch are his fellow bullies by the names of Kenny and Chris. Wendell ducks his head into his book hoping that he will look busy so that just maybe, they will leave him alone this time. Unfortunately, Mitch rarely misses an opportunity. Wendell can feel their eyes on him, he cringes as Mitch and his crew approach.

Whatcha readin’? Mitch looks down at the book clutched in Wendell’s small hands. Oh! It’s the case of Wendell and the missing Mommy!

Chris and Kenny erupt in laughter as Mitch kicks the leg of Wendell’s chair and continues on his way.

Wendell’s eyes fill up with tears, but he never lets them see him cry. His chair scrapes the ground in protest as he tries to move it back under the table, making the tips of his ears burn beet red. The whole cafeteria seems to be staring at him. He buries his nose deeper into his book and turns a page, trying to prove to those boys that they have no power over him. When the bell rings to signal the end of breakfast, Wendell shoves his book deep in his backpack. He grabs his breakfast wrapper, and rushes out of the cafeteria, tossing his trash in the can on the way, determined not to let them ruin his day.

Hey, man! Thomas calls out from his locker.

Wendell rushes to meet his friend just as the third boy in their group; Brandon walks up. He smiles at the friendly faces, a welcome sight after his run in with the breakfast bullies. A sigh of relief escapes from his lips.

Did you guys see David Blaine on T.V. last night? Brandon asks the boys, eyes shining. Brandon is obsessed with magic shows and tricks.

With a shrug, Thomas shuffles his feet. Nah, my parents made me go to bed. His face blushes with embarrassment.

Yeah, I was asleep too. Wendell was not asleep, he was outside playing in the woods during the show, but he doesn’t want his friend to feel ashamed. Besides, it’s not likely that Granny Dess would ever have let him watch something like that. She hates all things magic and mysterious, especially talk of the Wind Folk, the towns’ most mystifying legend.

Well, ya’ll missed out. It was so cool! He did this one trick with these locks and chains where he was trapped, anyway, you had to see him do it. For a fleeting moment he thinks about pulling it up on his phone, but Brandon can see his friends’ eyes glaze over with disinterest. So anyway, my mom bought snacks and stuff for the camp out tonight!

Awesome! Thomas cheers.

It’s gonna be so great! Wendell looks over his shoulder as he shuts his locker door. Just don’t mention it too loud, I don’t want Mitch and them knowing anything about it.

Yeah, that would be the worst. Brandon says, slamming his locker shut. He throws up his hand in a wave before running off down the hallway.

Eventually, Wendell makes his way into his last class of the day, Social Studies. The day seemed to drag on and on after the rough start he had during breakfast. He’s so ready for it to be over so that he can get home and start preparing for his camp out. He has been looking forward to tonight for days. Granny Dess told him he could camp with his friends, but he had to set his tent up in the backyard, so he plans to set it up as close to the tree line as possible. He would love to camp out down by the river, but Gran would never go for that, not overnight. He loves his Granny but sometimes she can be a little overbearing, although, his friends never complain about her cooking.

Mr. Fowler slaps a worksheet down on Wendell’s desk, shaking him out of his thoughts.

Alright class, today we are going to be starting in on learning some of our own unique town history.

What like Bonnie and Clyde? Did we have our own Bonnie and Clyde? A petite brunette named Marissa asks from the front row.

No, but we had Wendell’s crazy mom! Kenny hollers as he tosses a soggy wad of paper across the room at Wendell. Wendell winces as it bounces off of his back before rolling across the floor.

Jerk. Marissa rolls her eyes at Kenny. She leans down to pick up the ball of paper, offering Wendell a bright smile.

No guys, you’re getting way off track, do that again Kenny and it’s the principal’s office. You hear me? Now take out your books. Mr. Fowler sighs.

A few kids in the back of the room chuckle. Wendell makes a scene of looking through his backpack for a pencil so the other kids wouldn’t notice his face growing tomato red.

People have been calling his mother crazy ever since he could remember, but it never gets any easier on him. All he knows from Granny is that his mother took off when he was just a year old. Granny calls her eccentric though he isn't exactly sure what that means. She told him that his mother’s head had always been filled with nonsense daydreams and urban legends. That is all she would ever say on the matter. He thinks it’s why she hates talking about ghost stories and mysteries—it reminds her of the daughter she has lost. His mom must have really been into the Wind Folk tales because that story especially sets off Granny. Whatever his mother was like, Granny won’t say, so eventually he just stopped asking. But the hurt never goes away, and the kids in school seem to know so many rumors about her.

Wendell’s eyes well up and his neck flushes warm with anger. He’s not angry with Kenny, Kenny is just a mean kid. Wendell is mad at his mom. Every so often these feelings of anger seem to pop up, but lately they have been coming more frequently. He thinks to himself that he doesn’t even remember her, so why should he care? Of course, he knows what she looked like from photographs, but he knows nothing of her personality, her laugh, her favorite anything. It’s not the first time that he thinks maybe his mom just didn’t want to be his mother. Sometimes he even wonders if Granny tried hard enough to get her to stay, but no, if she didn’t want to stick around then maybe he didn’t want her here either. He almost thinks life would be easier on him if he joined in on the teasing of her, almost. But he could never do that, she is his mom after all.

At last, the final bell rings and school is over for the week. His friends are waiting for him at the water fountain, so he rushes over and the three boys make their way of out the school doors with a collective sigh of relief. No sign of Mitch or his goons in sight. With each step outside of the school, his shoulders drop a little more, releasing all the tension he has carried throughout the day.

Alright guys. I just gotta run by Mr. Harold’s for a minute before going home. Ya’ll meet me out by the tent after you grab your stuff! Wendell yells as he makes a left, heading away from his friends and toward Mr. Harold’s General Store.