CANDLELIT CHRONICLES: HISTORIC HAUNTS

May 25 18+ word count 1013

So thankful it is over, but I had an inexplicable "writing block" from May 22-24. It started up on Friday as I was merrily writing along, when suddenly one character asked another a question, making me realize I had no idea what the second one had been doing or where he had been living since the end of the War of the Rebellion in April 1865, and as this scene takes place in September 1869, that's 4.5 years unaccounted for.


Interestingly, this block also coincided with a week or more of suffering terribly from the heat and the humidity (in May! Imagine!) and feeling totally "not myself."

Child Puppets of the Testament Logging Corporation

Chapter Two

         Up in The Testament Tower employee drones toiled diligently. Windowless enclosed offices allowed no view of the pretty summer day, for Testament clerical employees were deemed to have no need of outdoor views or distractions. They were not even allowed to post photos of families, pets, or scenic views on their desks or walls. No coffee cups, no snacks, no cracker crumbs because no crackers. The interior of The Testament Corporation offices-that portion which employed humans-was not open to the public, nor did it link in any direct way to The Testament Core.





         In short, this particular subset of The Testament Logging Corporation-operated by humans for the purpose of achieving Testament's mundane aims and providing a facade for its evil true purposes-ran as if War rationing was still in force, even though World War I had ended more than a year earlier. Lights were kept dim and turned off when not absolutely necessary. Machines ran only briefly. Employees walked from office to office, if necessary, to carry forms.





         Only one elevator existed in The Testament Tower, a building solely owned by The  Testament Logging Corporation-and that single elevator ran only from penthouse to sub-sub-basement, and return. The Penthouse of The Testament Tower occupied the entire top floor, of course, and provided an immense office plus residential space for  the barely human figurehead Chief Executive Officer of The Testament Logging Corporation and its subsidiaries. Only spotted exceptionally rarely beyond the Penthouse, this worthy  was more akin to an ectoplasmic construct produced by a Spiritualist Medium than he, or it, was to anything remotely human. Yet it served efficiently as the outlet and public mouthpiece by which the evil entity hidden deep in The Big Forest directed its arm, The Testament Logging Corporation. Known to the business community and his very few cronies (three Vice-Presidents) as - - - - - - - Jepthah Starkes Kenneally, it had appeared for moments in the clerical offices on the occasion of V-E Day in May 1945; ever afterwards employees and mid-management remembered a visitation by The Big Guy, but their memories ran more to conviction than to recall of any actual details. The superseding emotion was one of humble gratitude, that their lowly selves had been graced with a visit from His Excellency. Its most recent appearance prior to that had been at a Prayer Breakfast held in the Madison Mills Chamber of Commerce auditorium, in January 1932. Considering that directly following this event, the City was devastated by not one, but two subsequent tornadoes, an earthquake occurred deep in the heart of The Big Forest (very near to where The Evil Entity lay concealed for millenia), and the Logging Boom collapsed in The Big Forest region, early in February 1932. Now, certain of the local businessmen did not fail to notice two facts:

1-The Great Depression had commenced in October 1929, yet The Testament Logging Corporation continued on as always, showing no signs of slacking-until February 1932;





2-All the recent strange events-2 tornadoes, an earthquake felt as far as Knox and Rennald, and at least fifty miles to the North and East of its epicenter; plus the closing of Logging in The Big Forest by Testament, throwing dozens of loggers and truck drivers into unemployment and disarray-all occurred within weeks of the Prayer Breakfast at which The Testament ectoplasmic Chief Executive Office had put in a brief appearance.

Needless to add, from that point on Testament CEO was honored in absentia, and not ever again invited to a Prayer Breakfast.





-*-*-





         Jedediah Hudson had been employed by The Testament Logging Corporation for the past eleven years, first as logger, then trucker, and then when The Big Forest's Logging Boom collapsed (or as some said, when Testament declared its collapse) as Vice President of Logging Operations. Jed Hudson was one of three Vice Presidents. He and the Vice President of Financial Operations, Jerralld Cavendish, reported directly to their immediate superior, the Vice President of Personnel. Neither Jed nor Jerralld had ever been introduced to the Chief Executive Officer, Jepthah Starkes Kenneally, who confined himself strictly in the Penthouse above. Jed did have a vague remembrance of the clerical employees and management being honoured by the CEO's presence for one glorious moment on V-E Day, May 8, 1945, but that was a vague and shadowy recall fraught by no unnecessary details.





         Jed lived with his wife and ten-year-old daughter Lisabeth in the Kerrside neighborhood of Madison Mills, a quiet, long-established residential area a few miles from the City center, populated by stately brick homes, original Victorians, and an occasional Georgian or Queen Anne. Residential population was mixed, with elderly retirees (and some of independent means) alternating with young, upcoming families. For the most part, though, children were well-behaved, adults acted circumspectly, and quiet and peace reigned throughout. All in all, Kerrside was an ideal neighborhood, and for the past five years, Jed Hudson had persistently tried to sell his fellow Vice President, Jerralld Cavendish, to migrate to the area, and give up his foolish idea of roosting in the country with his wife and young daughter. Jerralld always smiled shyly and acknowledged that as both he and his wife Louise had grown up in an urban environment-both were from Kenozsha, State of Westerley-they much preferred rural isolation to even a quiet and peaceful city neighborhood such as Kerrside.