The Meter Man

By Steven E. Winters

No one really knows what goes on in Devil Hollow, Kentucky. The little village has been cut off from the world for decades. But when a census taker turns in statistics that make no sense, Ned Waters is sent in to investigate. With the help of his youthful and beautiful assistant, Sara Eckels, Ned travels to the mysterious little town to find some answers. What they find will shock and terrify them both. What they learn about themselves is worse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496933683

Steven E. Winters

Born and raised in Tyler County, West Virginia, Steven E. Winters was fascinated with the folklore and legends of the Ohio Valley region. With those legends in mind, he wrote A Knight in the Ville, a five-book series based in and around Tyler County. Mixing historical facts with fictional characters, he focused on making his stories short and easy to read. Encouraged by the success of that series, he is now releasing his first short-story collection. Winters served as a law enforcement officer in West Virginia and North Carolina for twenty-three years before retiring in 2003. He now works as a private contractor for a large utility company, which gives him more time to focus on his writing. He currently resides near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

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© 2014 Steven E.Winters. 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.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/15/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-3369-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-3368-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014914754

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

AUTHOR NOTES

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

EPILOGUE

…true evil needs no reason to exist, it simply is, and feeds upon itself.

E.A. Bucchianeri

AUTHOR NOTES

I decided to briefly step away from my ‘A Knight in the Ville’ series. It is easy to write about Sistersville, WV, because I grew up there. But I needed a challenge. So I created a fictional story in a state I have never visited…Kentucky.

The entire writing process is a blast. The fun comes from creating the characters. The excitement comes from watching them become ‘real’. As the story takes shape, I find my imagination churning out numerous plot twists and turns. I never plan an ending to a story, so even I am surprised when I reach it.

As with my ‘A Knight in the Ville’ stories, I like to end each chapter with a tease. I truly enjoy books that make you want to keep reading. I hope that is the case here. While this story is longer than my first three books, it is still relatively short. That is my style. For better or worse, I’m okay with that. I maintain that a good read shouldn’t take a week to finish. Of course, determining whether this work qualifies as a good read is up to you, isn’t it?

Writing brings a calmness and joy that is difficult to describe. The calmness comes during the writing phase itself, and the joy comes when a person like yourself reads my book and enjoys it. Of course, between the calmness and the joy, there is the grueling job of editing!

My editor is tough and never holds back on his criticism of my manuscripts. I happen to prefer that, because it makes me a better writer. Besides, if you can’t take criticism, you will not last long as a writer. When he returned this manuscript to me after the first draft, he said, I could tell early on that this story was disturbing, and at some point was going to make me feel uncomfortable. It did!

You have been warned……

Other Books by Steven E. Winters

*A Knight in the Ville – Why the Babies Cry

*A Knight in the Ville – The December Dark

*A Knight in the Ville – Beneath the Bricks

Coming in November 2014

A Knight in the Ville – Grave Concerns

*Available in paperback and ebook

PROLOGUE

P lease forgive me if my handwriting is a little shaky. My fingers are wracked with pain, and the pen tends to skid away at times. I can control my shaking wrist for a while, but my grip is not too good. Like the rest of me, my hand is feeble and breaking down with old age.

Old age…now that makes me laugh! But it’s a laugh that hurts my throat as it rises to my lips, gritty with the sands of irony and reality. You see, I am not old. You would call me a liar if you could see my face–take me as some crazed, old codger gone left of his right mind. I am quite sane, my friend.

My name is Ned Waters. I am writing this journal as a last will and testament. I don’t have anything to leave behind, except this story. But a man should leave something behind, just to show he was here.

It’s dreadfully hot in this little cabin tonight. I could turn on the box fan, but it requires electricity, and I’ll be damned if I give him the satisfaction of using any more of his devil juice! I’m writing by candlelight, and I won’t use any more electricity until I finish what I have to say.

See, up here in Devil Hollow, you pay for the power you use. You can use all you like, or very little, but in the end, you will pay. I’m praying that my body will hold out until I finish this.

Hopefully, the Meter Man will stay away and not come around looking for a payment anytime soon. I have so little left to give…and he always takes too much. This is my story….

CHAPTER ONE

N ed! Get your ass in here!

Ned Waters rose from his desk and strode quickly toward the office of his boss, Mike Evans. Mike sounded excited, and it was rare to hear that particular emotion in the offices of the Kentucky Bureau of Statistics.

What is it, Mike?

These numbers! Mike said as he held up a sheet of paper. Have you seen these numbers?

Ned took the printout from Mike and studied it for a few seconds. Wow, are these correct, Mike?

That’s what we need to find out. Get with Sara and have her cross- reference these numbers with the Field Research Department. I want to know if they are real, or if someone goofed!

Ned nodded and slowly walked back to his desk. In his twenty years with the bureau, he had seen a few odd things, but this seemed to top them all. He picked up his phone and buzzed Sara Eckels on the intercom. She picked up right away, which didn’t surprise Ned. There wasn’t always a lot to do at the bureau.

What’s up, stud? Sara asked.

Why do you always flirt with me when you know I don’t date Rednecks? Ned replied.

Reviews for The Meter Man

[wunder-62679 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a terrifying book.

Part of that is knowing how dangerous Annapurna is and how many climbers have died there. To the 1950 expedition, it was just another Himalayan peak, not obviously different from others.

The most terrifying part of the book was the pervasive bad decision-making and poor teamwork. Almost everything was done with macho heroics and dictatorial leadership. It is normal for Himalayan mountaineering to be done at the very edge of the ability of the most capable climbers, but it isn't normal to so misjudge a hike between camps that you run out of food and crawl the last hundred yards calling for help.

This is the kind of mountaineering that Paul Petzoldt's reforms targeted. In The New Wilderness Handbook, he talks about plans for time, energy, and climate. Herzog's expedition failed to plan for each of those.

Go ahead and read this to get the testosterone-soaked version of mountaineering. Then read "The Ascent of Nanda Devi" (Tilman, 1936) and "Annapurna: A Woman's Place" (Blum, 1978) to get different approaches.

Of course, also read "The Ascent of Rum Doodle" (Bowman, 1956). Was Bowman thinking of Herzog's book when someone identifies some local flora as "Nostalgia, Melancholia, and old-fashioned Manspride"?

Finally, some maps would have helped, a lot.

[krazy4katz · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Although not terribly well-written (or translated?), this is an absorbing account of trying to climb an 8,000 meter mountain with poor maps and uncertain provisions. First they had to decide which mountain to climb! Eventually, after much scouting, they selected Annapurna, but they really had no idea what would happen once they came nearer to their goal. They could only guess. Herzog makes it sound like they had a very well organized group with different skills (including a physician), which probably saved them from death. The rapid approach of monsoon season was also a great concern. Overall, an exciting account of an amazing adventure.

[encephalical · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Coming down was a more interesting story than going up.

[cwflatt · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One of the greatest early mountaineering adventures. Wonderful to story of brave and accomplishment at the top of the world

[daniel5estes · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The tale of the first ascent of Annapurna in the Himalayan mountains is as classic as it is fraught with problems. The journey took place in mid-1950 by a team of skilled Frenchmen led by Maurice Herzog who was the expedition leader, and climbing Annapurna would be the first 8,000 meter summit in history and therefore the highest peak reached to date. (Note: Mount Everest would not be summited until 1953 - three years later.)The account is told from the perspective of the leader and the book's author, Herzog, and details the often routine and dangerous life of mountaineering pioneers in the mid-20th century. Their first objective was to scout out and attempt to scale another eight-thousander, Dhaulagiri, which stood at 8,167 meters. When that mountain proved too difficult and their time running out ahead of the monsoon season, they chose Annapurna, which stood equally formidable at 8,091 meters. Once the team located the best path up the mountain they hurriedly set about establishing the camps and making progress. The summit would be theirs, but not without considerable cost to their health and parts of their bodies succumbing to frostbite. The journey down would be agonizing for those in dire need and most affected by the elements.My first problem with this book is the writing. Part of that is probably because it's been translated from French fifty years ago and part is probably because I am not a mountaineer and Annapurna was written by one. This story is for those who understand the heart of a climber; others will find it particularly self-absorbed. Another problem with this account, according to other reviewers, is that it is somewhat propaganda and not a true telling of what really happened. Herzog and Lachenal did reach the summit, but not necessarily in the heroic manner depicted in this book.Annapurna is classic reading in the mountaineering genre, but that's probably because it was one of the first of its kind. It's status represents what it stands for and not what it says.

[stbalbach_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Annapurna: Conquest of the First 8000-metre Peak (1951) is a famous and important book in the Outdoor literature genre. It recounts the first successful climb of a mountain greater than 8,000 meters. There are only 14 such mountains in the world, all in the Himalayas, and they represent the super bowl of climbing. When a French team led by Maurice Herzog climbed Annapurna in 1950, no one was sure these mountains could be climbed and survived. After he was done and famously wrote "There are other Annapurna's in the lives of men", it started the race for the ultimate prize: Mount Everest (first peaked in 1953 by Hillary). Himalayan mountaineering has never been the same since.Why is the book so famous? Maurice Herzog became the first living mountaineer to attain global celebrity status. National Geographic calls it the most influential mountaineering book ever written, as of 2000 it has sold over 11 million copies. I think a number of factors are at work. It was written in 1951 soon after WWII when millions of veterans accustomed to the adrenalin and danger of war were left with comparatively boring lives and looking for thrills to fill a void, not to mention a generation of young men who were too young to fight finding ways to prove themselves during peacetime. The idea of exploration caught the worlds attention, in particular climbing the worlds highest mountains was in the early 1950s the moon-shot of its time. The cover shows Herzog in a space-age like suit, straight out of a 1950s sci-fi movie. Finally, the book is written with novelistic techniques, what we today call "creative nonfiction", although in some ways its firmly rooted in the 19th century traditions. The book itself I found to be a slog. The last 60 pages or so are fantastic, but the first two-thirds of the book are really boring and tiring. There is even a parody novel The Ascent of Rum Doodle (1956) which pokes gentle but pointed fun at Herzog's sometimes pompous writing style. I'm glad to have finally read it since it is so historically important and impossible to avoid in mountaineering and outdoor literature, but it's reputation has probably exceeded its aesthetic qualities compared to more modern works.

[oldman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Adventure story

[ianw_93 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A well told story of Herzog's epic ascent of Annapurna (and his even more epic descent).

[roaldeuller · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Utterly riveted, I stayed up until the wee hours reading this when I was about 15 years old. It sparked a lifelong interest in mountaineering books.