The Seven Rivers

By Cynthia W. Hammer

The Seven Rivers is a story about seven teenagers growing up on the waterfront along the Severn River outside Annapolis, Maryland, which has a racial divide looming in the background. The main character, Sherry Sweetstone, tells her life story about the challenges of having friends from diverse backgrounds. This historical novel is definitely a page-turner, taking place in the late seventies and early eighties at a time when children were encouraged to create their own fun. Young Sherry has been bullied as a child and is in a fight for survival in her adolescent years. She decides that if you can’t beat them, join them, pitting herself between multiple decisions. What is more important, becoming a bully or having no friends? Being lonely or being popular? Doing the right thing or succumbing to peer pressure? Listening to her gut or following the crowd? All is told in this fast-paced mystery adventure. The Seven Rivers, with its many twist and turns, is a coming-of-age novel for the youth and young adults and can be compared to The Sandlot and Stand by Me.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781546274605

Cynthia W. Hammer

Cynthia W. Hammer is Author, Actress, and Radio Host of Hammer Away Show on Hammer Media, YouTube, and I-Heart Radio. She is a member of the SCBWI, WNBA, and has won many awards such as the Paradise Award and was a Baker book finalist. Cynthia has joined IMDB adding to her acting credits, A Merry Christmas Match, Old Flames, Mirror-Mirror, and Much Love. The author has made front page headlines and has signed her novels in over 43 cities across the United States. Cynthia W. Hammer lives bi-coastal spending her time between L.A. and South Carolina. Her novels The Seven Rivers, A Good Case, and Iceburg are available at AuthorHouse and other online retailers.

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© 2019 Cynthia W. Hammer. All rights reserved.

Interior Image Credit: Steven J. Hammer

Editors: Judy Schuler and Cynthia W. Hammer

Illustrator: Catherine Horne

The Seven Rivers is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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 01/22/2019

ISBN: 978-1-5462-7458-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-7457-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-7460-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019900080

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

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

Prologue

Chapter 1     Tree Fort

Chapter 2     The Mission

Chapter 3     Iceburg

Chapter 4     Slumber Party

Chapter 5     The Hustle

Chapter 6     When I Was Old I Put Away Childish Things

Chapter 7     Horny Teens

Chapter 8     Dead Man’s Float

Chapter 9     A Time Apart

Chapter 10   The Boatyard

Chapter 11   Halloween

Chapter 12   The Whittnore Mansion

Chapter 13   The Forbidden Cliffs

Chapter 14   Friends Again

Chapter 15   Runaway (Well Wishes)

Chapter 16   Spider

Chapter 17   Payback

Chapter 18   Sherry And Kara

Chapter 19   A Good Sport

Chapter 20   Suicide

Chapter 21   Queeny

Chapter 22   House Under Construction

Chapter 23   Chimney Swift

Chapter 24   Grim Reaper

Chapter 25   New Kid On The Block, Chris Davis

Chapter 26   Hide And Go Get It

Chapter 27   The Severn River

Chapter 28   Seven Rivers

Chapter 29   The Proof Is In The Diploma

Dedicated to Jesus Christ. I give this body of work back to you.

1 CORNITHIANS 13:11

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became old I put away childish things.

PROLOGUE

There are several rivers that dump into Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, the Patuxent, Magothy, Susquehanna, Nanticoke, Choptank, Potomac, South Potomac, Chester, and the Wye.

This story takes place in River Sades, a small town outside of Annapolis along the Severn River. Just like these rivers, the young characters’ lives flow upstream and sometimes the debris that holds water back may also stifle them.

The lives of the seven at times compare to a river that has been clogged, only emotionally with teen issues that back up the ebb and flow of their future.

Maturity comes with age and in life there are always wide mouths of the rivers to cross that can challenge you to either stay safe on shore or jump and take the risk of falling in and getting wet.

In the late seventies there were seven adolescents whose lives emulated such waters.

CHAPTER 1

TREE FORT

In the 70s everyone from River Sades had seemed to be coming to the Sweetstone’s home and hanging outdoors with Sherry’s four brothers.

Standing on their front porch, she observed her dad gas up one dirt, mini, or motor bike after another. The rumbling sound of the Sweetstone boys and friends riding their new bikes traveled throughout River Sades, a neighborhood within a rock toss across the street from Sherry’s home. Every daring male teenager big or small began to migrate down the street in the direction of sound traveling from the Sweetstone’s property. What was the commotion?

The boys were curious hearing sounds of laughter and the revving of local motors. Some kids arrived on their own dirt bikes and others on foot. The yard filled quickly with boys Sherry didn’t recognize. Frightened, Sherry stationed herself on the porch. It appeared that sixteen-year-old Mack and fifteen-year-old Edward, the oldest of the Sweetstone children, knew every one of them as they were greeted with a slap five or a head nod.

Mr. Sweetstone. Pete Barnes held out his hand and greeted Sherry’s father with a sturdy shake.

Red Sweetstone nodded, impressed with Pete’s manners. Pete was his favorite and that said a lot because he didn’t care for too many of his children’s choices in friendship.

Red instinctively decided to go inside the house; he had this gang figured out. He wanted Mack and Edward to get more experience in making right decisions on how to handle friends without him looking over their shoulders.

Can I take her for a ride? Pete asked Mack.

Sure, Mack replied reluctantly, knowing how much of a hotshot Pete was. He always showed off for Mack’s dad and any audience. However, they had been friends for years. Mack’s father had warned him not to let others use your things unless you were sure they would be accountable. Mack went against his better judgement. Pete’s cool, he thought, besides I’ve seen him ride motorbikes in River Sades.

Sensing his reluctance, Pete hurried and hopped on the cushioned seat before Mack could change his mind. Pete gave the throttle a little gas and breezed casually around the dirt yard making muddy tracks. Suddenly Pete’s eyes grew large as he welled up with excitement, anticipating the challenge of what the bike could really do. Pete stood and revved the nozzle, increasing his speed. Everyone gasped when Pete lifted the bike, raising the front wheel. He rode it with a vengeance. The boys turned their bodies, attentively following his every move. Yes, Pete ride it, they all cheered.

Yeah man, show them how it’s done, David rallied in a calm voice. He was Pete’s younger brother closest to his age, who was also athletic but didn’t show off.

One glance toward his audience proved to be detrimental. Pete’s concentration turned back to the dirt-patched mud trail. In a split second, he was faced head-on toward the Sweetstone’s home. Having no time to react, the bike wheeled out of control as Pete tried his best to put the front tire back down and steady both wheels, hoping to stop.

The front wheel barely touched the ground as Pete slid onto his right side, holding onto the bike for dear life. Look out, he screamed. Everyone scattered while mud splattered in every direction.

Afterward a loud crash—the metal hitting bricks—sounded, and the force of the bike carried Pete as if he were sliding into home plate. It pinned him underneath the Sweetstone’s crawl space, where they had just built their underground plumbing system and which Sadie Sweetstone used for storage for canning in winter.

A cloud of smoke loomed in the air followed by a moan. Mack and Edward ran over to his side. Hey man, you all right?

Red was reading the paper and peeped often out of the window half the morning, feeling uneasy. He was in the La-Z-Boy chair when the house shook. Red’s eyes glared. I knew it. He leapt from his chair and raced to the back porch. Those gosh damn kids, he shouted.

Red was outside in a flash to survey the damage. OK, fun’s over. Pete, you OK, son? Red helped him to his feet.

Yes sir! Pete was still a little shook up and knew Mr. Sweetstone would punish him like his own.

Everyone goes home! GO! GO! Get out of the got damn yard. He pointed at his sons. You two inside and put those darn motor bikes in the shed until I say otherwise.

All that week the boys puttered around the house, did chores, and were underfoot. Red almost regretted taking the bikes, but stuck to his word.

The next weekend the threat of July heat crept, approaching unwanted, like an unexpected guest. Sherry sat alone on her back-porch steps that were freshly painted white. In summer you could actually see through the screen porch more clearly because the plastic from winter that was wrapped around for insulation, which was an eye-sore according to her father, now had been taken down by his faithful sons, who moved at his every command.

In Maryland, the winter could be hectic. Now the once-bare tree branches were full of life. As Sherry stared into the forest, she heard loud banging. The sound that echoed through the woods into her backyard piqued her curiosity.

She hopped up and skipped onto the dirt path. In the wilderness a woodchuck caught her attention. A crow cackled and flew far away into the dense foliage. Her eyes tracked the thick overgrown path leading into the woods, which for years had been the entrance or exit to her family and friends’ backyard adventures.

Sherry looked over again and became engaged in the sound of the woodchuck making its way across walnut trees. She caught a glimpse of the gray tattered boards of the fort dangling high in the oak tree.

Oh! she murmured, recalling the boys being restricted from motorized entertainment, borrowing her brothers’ big words. That’s why they built a fort.

The young branches from the trunk of the tree shielded Sherry. What you doing? Sherry asked, gazing upwards into the sky with her head tilted back and using her hand covering eyes to block the sun. No answer had come from above of what looked to Sherry like the home of the Jolly Green Giant. She observed the huge oak with gigantic trunks with deep gashes that told the tales of years gone by.

Sherry eyed the newly built edition to their backyard, fascinated by the craftsmanship of measured pieces of rotted wood cut into steps at the base of the oak, an avenue up toward the limbs’ height of the tree, which appeared to Sherry to be the top.

Shadowed in between lime-green, butterscotch-yellow, and burnt-orange leaves were old pieces of weathered plywood, which looked like they could crumble and fall out of the sky at any moment. This was the masterpiece built by Mack and Edward. Hidden on the edge of the Sweetstone property at the start of the path toward the popular Powerlines, which was another best-kept secret.

This is the perfect treetop overlook, Edward said to Mack. They exchanged a handshake and the two-stood proudly peering out into the forest on the uneven floorboards. Edward thought to himself, Not bad for two boy scouts in their teens. He glanced at Mack, who was measuring, rechecking the tape’s inches to make sure his younger brother, Edward, had not made mistakes he needed to call him on. Edward continued to enjoy the view from the top; from inside the tree fort you could see for miles. Feeling like the king of the castle, he felt his power and imagined walking on top of the trees one after another. He took in a deep breath. Hey Mack, the fort even overlooks our house.

Cool.

Hey Mack, get a load of this. Edward clicked his fingers.

Still working on putting up the fourth wall, they stood side by side. The two were inseparable. Both wore painter’s pants and CPO’s, Mack wearing red and Edward sporting green, their feet stationed slightly over the floor’s edge, exposing their white ragged high-top sneakers.

Mack burst into laughter. In the distance he could see two of his younger siblings, eleven-year-old Maurice and seven-year-old Lawrence, heading in their direction, cutting through the yard with great urgency, Maurice leading Lawrence. The two carried long sticks with bandanas tied to one end.

Come on, slowpoke, keep up the pace, said Maurice.

Don’t worry about me. Just keep moving, said Lawrence.

This would be the day, thought Maurice, plotting in his brain. Watch and learn, Lawrence. He swiftly turned around and pointed a finger in Lawrence’s face. Remember what we rehearsed. He gritted his teeth. Don’t mess it up.

Quit. I won’t. Lawrence swiped at the finger and missed. Maurice stepped back before he could make contact.

Lawrence’s eyes were pierced in Maurice’s backside; he was growing tired of his shenanigans and being bossed around by his daring brother. Going along with one plot after another that usually came with a price. Lawrence contemplated, Now that I’m getting older, I want my own friends. Besides these scams seem to always pay off in Maurice’s favor. He dropped his head and frowned. Or us getting a whipping from Dad, Lawrence mumbled. He looked up to Maurice and they did have a lot of fun together getting into mischief. He wanted so badly to make Maurice proud of him. When he finally answered, the pledge of his allegiance filled his voice. All right, he shouted as he did many times before, thinking to himself, This is the last time.

Their disguise as two serious woodsmen made Mack and Edward burst into laughter. Edward nudged Mack. I knew sooner or later they would show up and make their move, wanting to be part of the fort.

Well we sure could use some help around here, replied Mack.

Yes! We can have them bring us wood.

OK! said Mack, Let’s decide our rank before they arrive. Mack and Edward liked to sound older and spoke accordingly.

Good idea.

I’ll be the captain.

Why are you the captain? murmured Edward.

I’m the oldest. Besides it was my idea. Captain! Mack said, quickly pointing his thumb at his chest and revealing his perfect smile and bright teeth. Both could see their younger siblings gaining ground. You be the Lieutenant and we can make them the lowest rank.

OK! Since they are under me, I’m going to slave them, Edward replied.

The two burst into laughter at the thought and their brilliance.

Mack and Edward both enjoyed immensely being older than their other three siblings. It had its perks. However, to Mack it had its down side, often leaving him responsible for the other brothers’ and sister’s good or bad decisions.

Mack and Edward went back to constructing, looking at one another, anticipating the arrival of their naïve guests.

Sherry could hear the leaves crackling as someone’s footsteps moved onto the dried path. She pressed closer to the tree. Repetitiously Sherry entertained herself by spying on her brothers, especially Maurice and Lawrence, because they were