Swamp Yankees

SPRING Monday, Memorial Day, May 31^th "I hate you," she whispered hoarsely over the bronze gravemarker that lay like a fallen soldier amidst the taller granite headstones.  The sun gradually illuminated the forgotten corner of the cemetery where the young woman knelt in front of the solitary plaque. She brushed away the twigs and wet leaves, revealing the inscription—"Nicole M. Fayette, 1956-1980."  It didn't say "cherished wife," or "loving mother," or "dear daughter." There were no cherubs, no weeping roses, no scrollwork, not even a flourish on the initials. The tendrils of Spring grass that framed it, in the coming months would thicken and all but obscure the name again.  She barely remembered her mother now, after so many years.   She had been, after all, only a child of five at the time.

"Eeee-a, Eeee-a, Eeee-a."  The piercing call of the Cooper's hawk sounded like a banshee. She looked up to watch it circling overhead.  Some small rabbit or field mouse would soon be snatched out of the grass by sharp talons and borne to a treetop.  Would the predator make a swift kill?  A momentary shock followed by oblivion for the prey?  Was that how it happened?

She sat back on her heels and pulled her straight blonde hair behind her ears. The dampness soaked through her jeans onto her shins as she tugged at the new growth to make a moat around the edges of the plaque.

Her grandparents were buried here as well, but she did not visit their graves.  They had lied to her for years.  "Your mother was in a car accident," Grandma told her.  "Your father died in Vietnam."  She was fifteen before she found out the truth.  How could so many people keep such a secret for so long?

* * *

SWAMP YANKEES is the second book in "The Pittsley County Chronicles", with continuing characters.  It is the story of a cold-case murder of a young mother at the hands of an unknown assailant, and the cult group implicated in that killing.  It also tells the story of the secession of Swamp Yankee Cutter Briggs from the town of Pittsley and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The original publisher of Juckets and Swamp Yankees, Denlinger’s Publishers, Ltd., went out of business as of 12/31/07 after 81 years in publishing. These two books have been re-published by Infinity Publishing under the title of “THE PITTSLEY COUNTY CHRONICLES.” This book is available at www.Amazon.com and at www.infinitypublishing.com. (The single titles are still available in some local MA bookstores, e.g., Baker Books, Dartmouth; Border’s Express, Galleria, Taunton; Freetown Trading Post, Freetown; Heaven and Earth Bookstore, Onset; Maria’s Card and Gift Shop, Middleboro; Marion Bookstall, Marion; Readmore Books, Taunton). Bog Men is the third book of The Pittsley County Chronicles trilogy.