Harvest Moon

By Gregory Dinklenburg

Meet Johnny Romano, a quiet intelligent child of twelve. He's a typical kid with the challenges of making friends and fitting in. The buzzed-cut blonde hair boy with penetrating green-blue eyes fills his days with normal activities, chores around the house and farm, and attending Saint Joseph the Worker paro

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harvest Moon
• Release date: May 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088166895

Gregory Dinklenburg

Greg Dinklenburg grew up in the upper mid-west and spent many years camping, fishing, and exploring. He is an artist, painting wildlife and rapidly disappearing buildings. This is Greg's second novel and it is evident that his visual artistic talents bleed through in the detailed descriptions of suspense, characters, and atmosphere. Greg lives with his wife Beth in Virginia with their dog, half Husky and half English Crème Retriever, Wulfric.

Book preview

Harvest Moon

A Novel by Gregory Dinklenburg

~ Other Published Works ~

The Society

(Available on Amazon.com)

Here’s what folks are saying about The Society!

Good read, with lots of action

This is a good story with great characters and lots of twists and turns. Kept me on the edge of my seat, because the action was not predictable. And the ending!! Wow, what a twist!! You won't regret buying this book!!!

A fast-paced and well-written thriller. The Society takes readers along for a ride on a fast-paced, cat-and-mouse journey of intrigue, with new revelations at each turn. The author brings each scene and character to life with vivid and compelling descriptions. An impressive first novel.

The Society is full of interesting characters all after the same thing- a thumb drive with some dangerous information. From forest rangers to tech wizards to deadly assassins, the story is seen through several viewpoints. At its core its the classic tale of an ordinary person forced into extraordinary (and deadly) circumstances. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong choice.....Fun read.

~ Acknowledgements ~

Special thanks to my editors (my wife Beth) who steered me in a better direction with this book and fellow author and friend Hank Sinatra for his cruelly honest and much-appreciated critique.

Special thanks to Jeffery Romeo for the ghost stories from his childhood having lived on the ‘property’.

My dad, George Dinklenburg, a life-long resident of Libertyville, and the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society for their assistance in my research on the horrors and hauntings of the fabled Devil’s Gate.

~ Author’s Notes ~

Although this book depicts actual events and geographical areas to provide realism as it is based on the folklore, of Libertyville’s Devil’s Gate, whether true or fiction. For this book, I chose to use Libertyville’s previous name, Independence Grove. With that said, this is a work of fiction, unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's twisted imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

~ Book Art ~

By Greg Dinklenburg

~ Part I ~

The Harvest Moon – 1976

Harvest moon, blood-red and bright

Illuminates the crumbling cornfields in orange light

Evil lurks like a shifting shadow

Death now returns to this sleepy hollow

--- Poems from the Quailed ---

~ Prologue ~

‘drip’

The little girl slowly came to her senses. She could barely make out the sound of the wind blowing through trees. She recognized it from her camping trips with her family.

‘drip’

Something wet dripped on the little girl’s forehead as she opened her eyes. The cold water felt good on her hot head. She tried to focus on her surroundings, but her vision was fuzzy and her head swam in an ocean of pain and confusion.

‘drip’

The little girl closed her eyes. She wasn’t sure where she was, the last thing she remembered was having a great dream about riding her new pony.

‘drip’

The little girl didn’t actually own a pony, but she always wanted one and her dad promised when she was a little older, that he and her mom would discuss it.

‘drip’

The little girl heard a rustling sound from her left side that made her fling open her eyes. Daggers of pain shot through her brain like a lightning bolt.

‘drip’

The water this time smacked her in the eye. The little girl blinked it clear and shifted ever so slightly. She couldn’t make out shapes very well, it was dark, still nighttime. Where ever she was, she wasn’t in her bed anymore.

‘drip’

The little girl heard the rustling sound again. Now movement came into her viewpoint. She dare not move, she remembered all the detective shows her dad would watch on T.V. with her and it proved that pretending to still be asleep would be in her best interest.

‘drip’

The little girl saw that the movement was a large shadow, she assumed it to be a man, who walked from one side of the dark place to the other. He seemed to be busy with some sort of chore.

‘drip’

The little girl’s heart raced and it took all her will not to breathe rapidly. The man in the shadows was big and he held something in his hand. He bent and she saw a small flame come to life which quickly flared into a small fire.

‘drip’

The little girl could feel the heat drift its way toward her, the warmth seemed to follow the tendrils of smoke that hung like a cloak in the small dark place. She was cold, still in her nightgown and bobby socks. I’m glad I wore socks to bed, she thought, but too bad I didn’t wear my flannels.

‘drip’

The little girl heard a deep gravelly voice say, Glad to see you are awake little one, I know you are awake, I can tell by the difference in your breathing.

‘drip’

The little girl thought, So much for pretending. Her vision began to clear and the pain in her head seemed to diminish slightly. Her mind raced, not knowing what to do next.

‘drip’

The little girl watched the large man stand up from the fire and from behind his back, he brandished a large knife. The fire flicked specks of light off the razor-sharp blade.

‘drip’

Well little one, I’ve waited a long time to meet you, the man that lurked in the shadows said with a thick accent and walked closer to the child, raised the knife, and she could see him as he smiled a crooked smile.

Chapter 1

Tuesday – October 19, 1976

Four days before the Harvest moon

~ * ~

The boy threw back the covers and glanced at the Mickey Mouse clock he got for his eighth birthday. The dial of the clock showed him it was 2:00 am. The house was quiet except for the hiss and the rhythmic ‘tick, tick, tick’ of the radiator as it shut off. He whipped his legs off the bed and slowly padded across his room. His bare feet made a slight slapping sound, as he made his through the bedroom doorway and into the hall to get a glass of water. He was covered in sweat and couldn’t believe how warm he was on such a cold night. His dad had just stated the day before that winter must be coming early as the temperature had fallen into the upper thirties at night, and it was only mid-October. The boy was half asleep as he shuffled into the bathroom and with the guidance of a dimly illuminated nightlight; he made his way to the sink. He grabbed a glass, filled it up, and downed the cold water in one long gulp. He glanced into the mirror over the sink and his breath stopped short in his throat. A dark silhouetted figure stood behind him, holding a large knife in the air. He could tell in the dim yellow light; that the stranger smiled at him.

Boy, said the stranger, and continued in a low heavily Slavic accented voice,

How’s your little sister?

The boy wheeled around suddenly and found the doorway to the bathroom empty. He rubbed his eyes and blinked incoherently as he walked gingerly back to his bedroom. He peered through the doorway and looked up and down the hall to ensure the man wasn’t out there waiting for him. The hall was deserted and Johnny sprinted across the void to his bedroom and dove for the bed. He pulled the covers up to his chin and lay there as he shivered. Johnny was cold now, no doubt about it. He stared up at the shifting shadows that spread across his ceiling from the swaying tree branches outside his window, he finally felt his breath normalize and his heartbeat slow down. Johnny looked around his dim room and surveyed the monster models he had put together a few years ago on one of his shelves. The Frankenstein monster walked by with arms extended out in front of him, whereas the Werewolf crouched on all four limbs, head tilted up, howling at the nearly full moon out his window. He looked to Count Dracula, his cape flared out behind him as if caught in an imaginary wind and had blood that trickled down from the corners of his mouth, a detail Johnny had added and was proud of. They all seemed to stare down at him. A little creeped out, he shifted his gaze to the posters hung on the adjoining wall. AC/DC, the Eagles, ZZ Top, with their fuzzy guitars and long beards, and his favorite, Led Zepplin adorned the space. He grinned at the memory of his mother playing air harmonica and his dad who pretended to play the drums when Johnny first played the song ‘When the Levy Breaks’. He looked up and saw his fighter jets suspended by a fishing line from the ceiling. He shifted to his side and glanced out the window at the swaying tree branches and swollen moon. He rubbed his eyes and rolled over on his opposite side to face the wall, his window behind him, and eventually, the boy fell asleep.

When he woke in the morning, he couldn’t quite remember what the dream was about, but he knew it spooked him really bad, and damn, he was still cold. Johnny scooted out of bed. Barefooted, he ambled out into the hallway to the bathroom. He remembered, slightly, the vision in the mirror, and he deliberately avoided looking into it. Johnny reached into the shower leaving the curtain closed and cranked the water all the way over to hot. He brushed his teeth facing the doorway, even though he had closed and locked the door. By the time he rinsed his mouth, steam billowed up above the shower curtain and he stepped in the stream of hot water. The warm humid air enveloped him as he breathed in deeply so the steam could cleanse the cobwebs of the nightmare from deep within his mind and proceeded to scrub his body vigorously hoping to wash away the bad feeling of dread. The hot water coursed down on him, and he finally warmed up when a pounding sound startled him. He pulled back the curtain and stuck his head out into the brisk air as a small voice bellowed through the closed door.

Johnny! I need to pee real bad, are you almost done?

Mary, Johnny sighed aloud, and yelled back,

I’m in the shower, give me five minutes and the bathroom is yours.

Ugh was the reply from the other side of the door, then,

But I need to go now! Mary whined.

Go downstairs, he said and turned back to the soothing hot water. He heard another ‘ugh’ as Mary stomped down the hallway in the direction of the staircase.

When he had finished putting on his school clothes, he snatched up his backpack from the back of his desk chair and headed toward the stairs. He decided on his way down not to mention anything about the dream to his folks, it was a dream after all, creepy as it was, but none of the less, just a dream, he thought and bounded down two steps at a time, hit the floor, rounded the entryway, down the hall, entered the kitchen, and plopped himself into a chair as his mother put pancakes and sausage on the table.

Breakfast conversation was the usual, his dad doing most of the talking while perusing the Independence Grove Register, a local newspaper.

Anything interesting happening in school? he inquired, looking at Johnny over the top of the paper.

No, just the usual answered Johnny, but thought, Yeah, the nuns are in rare form as Grandpa used to say, meaning they were at their ugly best.

I know it’s early in the year, but have you made any new friends yet? asked his dad.

A few I guess, shrugged Johnny, but thought, Oh sure, the guys are standing in line to be just that, I’m a geek dad, not the cool kid type.

Finally, the best one of all,

Alright now, finish up or you'll miss the bus, Dad stated.

Wait, here it comes, he thought.

His mother chimed in, right on cue,

And we’re not driving you to school.

Johnny glanced at Mary and they both grinned.

I mean it you two, finish up and skedaddle! their mother reiterated.

Right! Like they’ll make us walk ten miles he thought, however, he didn’t push the subject and proceeded to finish eating his maple syrup which drowned his pancakes.

~ * ~

The bus came, and the kids went to school. Mike finished the paper and his coffee and grabbed his coat off the hook.

Hey hon, I’m heading into town. I have a list of things I need to get for when the crew shows up tomorrow, stated Mike.

Maddy spoke over her shoulder as she washed the breakfast dishes,

Okay, hey, listen, would you be a dear and go by the butcher? He set aside a couple of whole fryers for me, you’ll save me the trip in.

Mike smiled and strode toward his wife, she turned from the sink as he slipped his arms around her waist. He bent and nibbled the lobe of her ear and whispered,

Anything for my love.

Maddy giggled and shushed him away, then added,

Oh, and could you go by the drugstore to pick up a prescription?

Mike dramatically rolled his eyes and said,

Any other stops you have in mind for me?

Maddy laughed,

Well, yeah, as a matter of fact…

Mike was out the backdoor before she could finish. With a grin, Maddy turned back to the dishes and looked up and out the window. It was a bright morning and she watched Mike walk to his truck. She noticed the plume of vapor as he exhaled and she thought the sun might be out, but the air was cold. She eyed a flock of geese land in the cornfield alongside a half dozen Sand Hill cranes. Their red-crested heads gleamed in the morning sunlight. She marveled at their awkward grace as their big black beaks snatched up insects from the freshly cut corn stalks. She shifted back to Mike and smiled at his back as he climbed into the Ford and was thankful for the chance he had given her. The chance at a beautiful life they had made together. They had created beautiful children and had made a beautiful home. If it wasn’t for that man, she thought, I’m not sure where I would be today.

~ * ~

Maddy had met Mike at a church-sponsored dance. He was eight years her senior and had just returned from Korea. She could tell he seemed haunted by the war, but she never pushed him to talk about it, not even now. She remembered how tall and handsome he looked. He wore black freshly pressed dress slacks, a crisp white shirt, and a thin black tie. He was lanky then and his dark hair was slicked back off the brow. She was seventeen, only a few months from her eighteenth birthday. She was worried, she knew she’d be turned out of the system and although she had a job, she knew she couldn’t afford to live on her own. The Sisters or as the Order refers to them, Handmaidens, were very kind and Maddy had spent over ten years with them. Even the sisters though, couldn’t keep Maddy housed with them after she turned eighteen, unless, of course, she joined the Order. Maddy had many meetings with Mother Superior Anna on the very subject and Maddy knew she had dreams to be more, to accomplish more, even though the Order did seem fulfilling, she knew that one day she wanted a good man to love and have children of her own. Children she would love. Children, she would not abandon her as her parents did her.

In September of 1879, the Precious Blood Sisters from Lake Village, Illinois, opened an orphanage, Pio Nono Orphan Asylum. It was named after Pope Pius IX and a former secondary school in St. Francis, Wisconsin, a suburb south of Milwaukee on Lake Michigan. The Asylum was incorporated in Illinois in 1883 and soon became part of the Archdiocese of Chicago. The orphanage grew in size and several additions were added over the years. To keep up with the changing times, the programs and methods, as well as the name from asylum to the Catholic Children's Home, had changed. By the late 1940s, the population shifted from orphans to more dependent and neglected children. This was where Maddy fit in and the living arrangements changed from an institutional atmosphere to that of smaller group living. Instead of one dormitory housing twenty or more children, four youngsters within the same age group would bunk in a room. The boys in one wing and the girls in another. Once the children hit adolescence, like Maddy, the rooms would bunk two teens until they had to leave at the age of eighteen. It was at this point that the boys had the choice to enter the seminary and the girls could choose the convent.

~ * ~

Maddy sighed as she wiped her hands on a towel and draped it over the back of a kitchen chair. She untied her apron and hung it in the pantry. She returned to the sink and looked out the window. She rarely thought of those years, but when she remembered the dance, and how she fell instantly in love with Mike, she smiled and felt her heart pound as though it would explode out of her chest. He saved me she thought, and with that silly teenage girl smile still planted on her face, she supposed she had saved Mike in some way as well.

We make a great team, Maddy said aloud at the brightening day, turned, and walked through the kitchen. She hummed the first song she and Mike ever danced to, ‘Little Things Mean a Lot’ by Kitty Kallen as she continued with the household chores.

~ * ~

Mike entered the True Value hardware store with his list in hand. Jason, one of the store owners greeted him with a nod of his head,

Morning Mike, how are things out at the Boy’s Camp?

Same ol’ same ol’, replied Mike, and added,

I’ve got a list of items here I need to finish buttoning up the camp for the year. Is it okay if I leave it with you and come back later and settle up? I have quite a few stops today.

Jason grinned and took the list, looking it over he answered,

Yup, I’ll have my boy pull the order. Give me an hour or so and I’ll have him load it up into your truck for you.

Thanks, Jason, appreciate it, Mike said.

He strolled through the store and made his way back outside. When he was in the truck, sitting behind the wheel, he leaned to the side and pulled a slip of paper out of his back pocket. He looked down at his punch list and saw he needed to head over to the Feed and Grain store to pick up hay, oats, grain for the horses, and a special blend of vegetable peels, bananas, apples, berries, carrots, bok choy, silverbeet, spinach, cabbage, and broccoli for the chickens. Then it was off to the drug store, back here to get this order, the butcher, and last of all, the florist. He thought it had been some time since he brought fresh flowers home for Maddy. As busy as he was maintaining the property, he always was conscientious to take time for the people