Mercys World

By Rowlen Delaware Vanderstone III

It had not been the summer the four boys had expected it would be, many days and nights at the Treehouse after chores where done. Skinny dipping in the pond below the Treehouse and exploration of the swamp. Walks into town to see a holomovie, or hoverbike trips outside Mercyville. Teddy was looking forward to his father’s promise that he and the boys could spend a two-week camp out at his great, great, grandmother Pod he had inherited, without adult supervision. Billy had planned spending time in his room upgrading and fidgeting with his electronics listening in on the social Media networks, picking up signals from nearby planets with human colonies on them. Mike was going to spend some time with his father on the Mercyville space port learning more about being a ships maintenance engineer. And Keke, he just wanted to relax be lazy has much as he could, to rest his brains for when he returned to school after the summer break. Keke didn’t expect have a run in with a ghost in the swamp.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rowlen Delaware Vanderstone III
• Release date: Sep 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005272425

Rowlen Delaware Vanderstone III

I am a Award winning Poet, Writer, Artist, Sculptor, Pop Sociologist, an Inductee into the National Deans List, a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. I have been active in Community Service: Past Board Member of the Vine Neighborhood Association (3 terms), Membership Chair, Fund Raising Committee, Board secretary and interim Board Treasurer. Past member of the Recipient Rights Committee, County Mental Health Board. KVCC Public Museum Volunteer for 20 years. Involved in Community Theater for 50 years off and on most recent with the Kalamazoo Civic Theater since 1985. I have been apart of a Disaster Relief team for Hurricane Andrew in Florida helping feed 5000 people a day. I have be a home missionary worker with a local church administrating a shelter program for the homeless, Minister of the food Ministry, cook, and procurement of emergency food pantry items 1991-1992, I am a graduate of Kalamazoo Valley Community College 1998, Studies at Western Michigan University, Studies at Lansing Community College 1975, Graduate of Davenport College of Business 1974. Graduated Portland High School at age 21 in 1970. I was born in 1951 premature Twin with developmental issues, Learnings disabilities, and hearing impaired.

Book preview

Mercy’s World

By

Rowlen Delaware Vanderstone III

Copyright 9/07/2021

Smashword Edition

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Introduction

Now you listen Billy Tiber, you may be 14 years old, and you have a smart brain in that big head of yours. I am telling you that place is haunted, and no amount of scientific explanation is going to convince me it isn’t. Kenny Kelly, Billy’s 13-year-old cousin announced to his cousin Billy.

Keke, I am telling you there are no such things as ghost. No one has proven they exist except in the overactive imagination of pubescent hormonal teenagers with a penchant to see ghost in foggy swamp full of swamp gas produced by decaying plants that are covered by water. Commonly known as Marsh gas, or bog gas, a mixture of methane, hydrogen Sulfide, and carbon dioxide. Swamp gas are not protoplasmic spirits of dead people or the souls of dead people walking around. Billy told his cousin.

"Then explain to me how swamp gas, spoke to me and knew my name, smart ass Billy.

Someone was playing a trick on you Keke, or you breathed in too much swamp gas and was hallucinating. Billy said.

Hallucinating, Billy Tiber, then tell me how that swamp gas knew my great Grandmothers maiden name then. Keke asked.

Hey, if you were Hallucinating, your own subconscious mind told you what your great Grandmothers maiden name was. Billy said.

Do you know what my great Grandmothers maiden name was, Billy? Keke asked.

Of course not, Keke, she is from your fathers’ side of the family, not from the Tiber side. Billy stated.

Right, you didn’t know, and I didn’t know, until I asked my grandmother Kelly what her mother’s maiden name was after that ghost told me it was Teresa Mackey. Keke stated.

Maybe the ghost was psychic Keke. Billy said.

If that ghost was psychic reading my mind, it could not have known something I didn’t know in the first place. If I was hallucinating and my subconscious was telling me, it was Teresa Mackey. I couldn’t tell myself what I didn’t know in the first place either. Keke said. Now hold on here Billy, I thought you didn’t believe in ghost. You just suggested the ghost was psychic as in it may be real. What happened to all your mumbo jumbo about swamp gas and ghosts are not real?

All right, cousin you caught me there. I still believe it was someone playing a trick on you. It had to be someone who knew your great Grandmothers name. Billy admitted.

Who Billy, would know that? The Kelly’s and Mackey’s are not from here. When my father married your Dad’s sister, my parents moved here after their honeymoon bringing my Dad’s mother with them. If they hadn’t come here, I would have been born back on earth not here on Mercys World. And there has been no new arrivals to the colony since. My grandmother lives a very solitary life since coming here, when grandfather died back on earth. She talks to no one yet alone ghost in that Pod she lives in, in the swamp. And don’t tell me she was out in the swamp haunting me either. You know Grandmother Kelly is in a Wheelchair and not one of those hoverchairs either. A good old fashioned wheeled affair that would get mired down in the swamp if it went off the path from her Pod to ours." Keke explained.

I would have to admit Keke, you might be right about their being ghosts or some unknown visitor to the colony, in that swamp. Still, how would an unknown visitor know about your great Grandmothers name. Unless they paid a visit to your grandmother and learned it from her. Billy stated.

I asked her Billy. Grandmother Kelly says, there has been no one visiting her except me, you, my parents, and your mother the colonies Doctor. She has no other visitors I know off, and a stranger would most likely get his head blown off by Grandmother’s laser rifle if they were sneaking around her place in the swamp. A stranger wouldn’t even know where her pod is in the swamp and the Pod’s defense shield would warn her if there were uninvited strangers without an entry chip embedded in their wrists. The old girl is a good shot, and not afraid to shoot first and ask questions later.

Chapter 1

The Swamp Ghost

Now you listen Billy Tiber, you may be 14 years old, and you have a smart brain in that big head of yours. I am telling you that place is haunted, and no amount of scientific explanation is going to convince me it isn’t. Kenny Kelly, Billy’s 13-year-old cousin announced to his cousin Billy.

Keke, I am telling you there are no such things as ghost. No one has proven they exist except in the overactive imagination of pubescent hormonal teenagers with a penchant to see ghost in foggy swamp full of swamp gas produced by decaying plants that are covered by water. Commonly known as Marsh gas, or bog gas, a mixture of methane, hydrogen Sulfide, and carbon dioxide. Swamp gas are not protoplasmic spirits of dead people or the souls of dead people walking around. Billy told his cousin.

"Then explain to me how swamp gas, spoke to me and knew my name, smart ass Billy.

Someone was playing a trick on you Keke, or you breathed in too much swamp gas and was hallucinating. Billy said.

Hallucinating, Billy Tiber, then tell me how that swamp gas knew my great grandmother’s maiden name then. Keke asked.

Hey, if you were Hallucinating, your own subconscious mind told you what your great Grandmothers maiden name was. Billy said.

Do you know what my great grandmother’s maiden name was, Billy? Keke asked.

Of course not, Keke, she is from your fathers’ side of the family, not from the Tiber side. Billy stated.

Right, you didn’t know, and I didn’t know, until I asked my grandmother Kelly what her mother’s maiden name was after that ghost told me it was Teresa Mackey. Keke stated.

Maybe the ghost was psychic Keke. Billy said.

If that ghost was psychic reading my mind, it could not have known something I didn’t know in the first place. If I was hallucinating and my subconscious was telling me, it was Teresa Mackey. I couldn’t tell myself what I didn’t know in the first place either. Keke said. Now hold on here Billy, I thought you didn’t believe in ghost. You just suggested the ghost was psychic as in it may be real. What happened to all your mumbo jumbo about swamp gas and ghosts are not real?

All right, cousin you caught me there. I still believe it was someone playing a trick on you. It had to be someone who knew your great Grandmothers name. Billy admitted.

Who Billy, would know that? The Mackey’s are not from here originally. When my father married your Dad’s sister, my parents moved here after their honeymoon bringing my Dad’s mother with them. If they hadn’t come here, I would have been born back on earth not here on Mercys World. And there has been no new arrivals to the colony since. My grandmother lives a very solitary life since coming here, when grandfather died back on earth. She talks to no one yet alone ghost in that Pod she lives in, in the swamp. And don’t tell me she was out in the swamp haunting me either. You know Grandmother Kelly is in a Wheelchair and not one of those hoverchairs either. A good old fashioned wheeled affair that would get mired down in the swamp if it went off the path from her Pod to ours." Keke explained.

I would have to admit Keke, you might be right about their being ghosts or some unknown visitor to the colony, in that swamp. Still, how would an unknown visitor know about your great Grandmothers name. Unless they paid a visit to your grandmother and learned it from her. Billy stated.

I asked her Billy. Grandmother Kelly says, there has been no one visiting her except me, you, my parents, and your mother the colonies Doctor. She has no other visitors I know off, and a stranger would most likely get his head blown off by Grandmother’s laser rifle if they were sneaking around her place in the swamp. A stranger wouldn’t even know where her pod is in the swamp and the Pod’s defense shield would warn her if there were uninvited strangers without an entry chip embedded in their wrists. The old girl is a good shot, and not afraid to shoot first and ask questions later. Keke said.

You got that right. I remember a year ago, when that darn fool Henry Dipsy tried to sneak up on her Pod to raid her Chicken coop. Nearly got himself killed. Billy stated.

Now that you mention it, is it possible Henry was my spook? Keke asked.

Not possible, Henry was caught a week after that stealing a pig from old man Todd’s pig pen. Henry was sent off to Military training up north until he serves a year in the military. Unless he escaped which is highly unlikely, he still wouldn’t know your great Grandmothers name. His military chip would trigger all kinds of alarms from the camp up north back to here if he escaped his mandated court training. He would have to walk and stay away from any sensors, or communities being AWOL. There is a lot of wildernesses between the military base and here. You would have to be a blooming idiot to risk your life in that wilderness without a personal shield and weapon. His Id chip would prevent him from using a weapon of any sort outside of a knife or club. All weapons on the planet are keyed to your Id Chip as the owner of that weapon giving you the right to use it. An Id chip can also be programed to lockout any weapon. Henry being in the military could only use training weapons while within the base perimeter. Outside, those weapons would not work with his chip, nor would any civilian weapon work if he stole any. The predators in that wilderness are not restrained by shields. The kind that protects the communities and roads from being attacked by those predators. Ninety percent of our transportation is hovercrafts with shields and speed to get away from any land predator. Billy explained to his cousin.

"If it isn’t Henry, then who is it. A real ghost or a human intruder? Keke asked.

That is a mystery we will just have to solve Keke. I suggest you take me to the spot where you saw this Ghost of yours. If it is a ghost or some spirit it would not leave any tracks. If it is a real person, finding any tracks would prove it isn’t a ghost Keke. Billy said.

"What if we don’t find any physical evidence that it is a real person, Billy. What then? Keke asked.

Then that leaves us two other options. One option is, ghosts are real, and the other option is that you are crazy, cousin and my mother would have to do a psych exam to see just how crazy you are and have your committed to a camp for the insane." Billy said.

Gee, thanks cousin for the confidence."

***

Keke where were you heading when you came upon this ghost in the swamp. Billy asked.

"I was coming back from our Treehouse Billy, after I opened it up for our overnight campout for tomorrow tonight with the others. It was about a half-hour before sundown when the mist starts forming over the swamp when the water cools for the night. You know where that old tree stump is near the open pond below the treehouse. Well, it was there I stopped to take a piss when I heard my name being called out. At first, I thought it might be one of the boys coming over to the treehouse from the other side of the pond. When I looked up, across the pond there was this area of swamp gas rising over the pond on that side. It was rather strange because it wasn’t the usual green hue swamp gas gives off. But rather bluish and it was not just a shapeless cloud of mist forming. It had a human shape to it. A head, two arms and legs. It was rising out of the water, then moved over to the shore onto the path on that side of the pond. I started circling around the pond to get nearer thinking it might be Teddy Parks. He always comes that way into the swamp from his Family Pod. When I got closer, I realized it wasn’t Teddy. I froze, when it stopped moving and the shape turned around and faced me. Then it said my name again.

Kenny Kelly, do you know a Julie Kelly from earth? it asked.

I without thinking told the ghost Julie Kelly was my grandmother. Then I got a bit defensive and asked why he was looking for my grandmother. I assumed it was a man, as it had a deep males voice. It answered me.

I am looking for her mother Teresa Mackey.

"I told him I didn’t know my great Grandmothers name?’

Ask your grandmother what the name of her mother’s maiden name was. When you learn what it is, I shall return to visit you again.

Then the ghost walked away into the swamp and faded from sight. The first thing I did was turn around scared and I went directly to grandmother’s pod and asked her what her mother’s maiden name was. When she told me it as Mackey, Teresa Mackey I didn’t know what to believe when grandmother told me that her mother died when she was a young girl long before she met my grandfather and married. I was afraid to tell my grandmother about the ghost in the swamp. I went home not sure if I was hallucinating the whole thing. Then this morning I decided to tell you, and you are the only one I told so far. It was about right here on the path where the ghost stood or rather where I think it stood. It seemed at times it was floating above the ground and at other times it was standing on the ground, that was when it appeared more solid and real Billy. Keke explained.

If it was real, there should be some footprints on the path. The path is always a bit marshy in this area and if it was an adult male, it would leave deep imprints where water would fill in. Look around and see if we find any prints. Billy instructed.

After a half hour, they found no imprints of any boot or shoe print in the ground on the path, or near the ponds edge, or on the other side of the path nearer the swamp. They checked down the path behind where