AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Titus turned and led us outside.
“I hope you don’t mind if we take my truck. It seats three pretty comfortably.”
“No that’s fine.”
“What about you… was it Cage or Quin? Which one’s which?”
“I’m Cage, and this is Quin.”
“What about you, Quin? Do you mind sitting in the back seat? I would suggest that you sit up front with us. It’s a bench seat after all. But I figure you’ll be more comfortable in the back.”
“The back is fine,” I said finding my voice.
“Alright then. Let’s head on out.”
Titus drove us back into town repeating some of the things we had already heard. The school used to be a moonshine warehouse. Glen’s general store used to be the chief moonshine runner’s main office, and that there used to be a wall surrounding the town. From there he made a U-turn and took us past the bed and breakfast.
“Alcohol prohibition ended in the late 1920s, didn’t it?” I asked not having learned about this time in American history at my high school.
“1933,” Titus corrected. “Between 1920 and 1933, this town was the richest little town in Tennessee. The amount of concentrated wealth rivaled that of Beverly Hills or downtown New York City.”
“Then what happened?” Cage asked.
“The same thing that happens to most ideas when their times have passed. People moved on and moved away. There were a few people who stayed. They kept the community going through the dry times. Not alcohol dry times. Those would probably be the wet times for that.
“But the people here did what they could. At one point someone thought they could turn this place into a processing facility for Tennessee whiskey. But that didn’t stick.”
“What changed?”
“Eco-tourism,” Titus explained. “At least that’s what Dr. Sonya calls it. She said she came here because she thought it would be a beautiful place to settle down. We have more waterfalls than any part of Tennessee. And with hiking and rock climbing becoming all the rage, she convinced people to rename the town focusing on that. She had said that the money would just roll in.”
“Has it worked?” Cage asked.
“It’s tough to say. The population is up. Every so often we get folks like the two of you who show up looking to see the falls. But it’s been tough getting us on the map.”
“Marketing a place like this must be hard,” I considered.
“No. I mean that it’s been hard getting us on the map. The literal map. You pull out your phone and you couldn’t find us if you wanted to. It has to do with the name change, I think. At least, that’s what I’ve been told. And we’re unincorporated. A lot of little things add up.
“But it’s a beautiful town. A lot of friendly people. Very welcoming. People just need to hear about us. What I’m saying is, whenever you get back to where you came from, tell people,” he said with a broad smile.
“We definitely will,” Cage said enthusiastically. “By the way, and you may be too young to know this, but have you ever heard of someone who might have died giving birth? It would have been around the time you were born.”
“My memories don’t go that far back,” Titus said with a quick smile.
“Of course. What about any babies going missing?”
“You mean, like, kidnapped? Or, baby napped I guess it would be in this case.”
“Yeah.”
“Naw. I’ve never heard of anything like that around these parts. Is that who you’re looking for?”
“We don’t know,” I said jumping in. “We just suspect it was in a town close to Falls County Hospital.”
“Oh, I remember that place. I was born there. Of course, I don’t remember being born. But, that was where I had to go for anything medically related before Dr. Tom took up residence. You’ve met Glen, right? That’s what Dr. Sonya was saying.”
