And Along Came Jake Read online

  -And Along Came Jake-

  A novel

  By

  Christopher A. Vaca

  Kindle Edition

  Copyright © 2012 by Christopher A. Vaca

  http://ChrisVacaBooks.com

  ISBN: 978-1475024654

  All rights reserved. No part of this eBook may be copied, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the copyright owner, Christopher A. Vaca.

  This is a work of fiction, Names, characters, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  Acknowledgements

  I'd first like to thank my editor, Valerie Vela for her exceptional attention to detail. She truly possesses an amazing talent; correcting errors, making suggestions, and teaching me several lessons, on how to become a better writer.

  I'd also like to thank my mother, Sylvia Vaca, for her support and encouragement while writing this novel.

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 1

  —

  Meet Jake Patterson

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  The afternoon sun was shining bright, and it seemed to be just another boring and uneventful day, in the summer of 1935. Times were tough and jobs were few with the great depression still looming over America's head.

  The day seemed to be about average, and reasonably quiet. Then all of a sudden, the streets of Blackwater, a small Missouri town jolted alive, as a skinny store clerk named Smitty, and a pudgy police officer, chased a handsome twelve year old boy named Jake Patterson down the road, trying to reclaim a stolen sack of peanuts and soda from the general store.

  Hoping to outwit his potential captors, the young boy quickly turned the corner and headed straight for a tall wooden fence. Luckily, he was just slim enough to squeeze right between some broken boards to make an escape.

  Tired and angry, the store clerk stopped at the fence, realizing the chase was obviously over. He stomped his foot, and shook his fist through the broken boards, "One of these days I'm gonna get you, young Patterson! Mark my words, one of these days!"

  When the overweight officer, finally caught up with the store clerk, he slumped over, put his hands on his knees and attempted to catch his breath.

  "Don't––don't worry about it Smitty" he said. "We'll––we'll get him next time."

  "Oh shut up, fatso!" exclaimed Smitty grumbling all the way back to his small store; leaving the exhausted, out of shape police officer behind.

  When Jake realized he was out in the clear, he found a spot by an oak tree and sat down to enjoy his lunch and relax. He had a free life, doing whatever he wanted to do, whenever he wanted to do it. He didn't have any specific bedtime nor an appointed time to wake up, for that matter. He was a runaway, a free-bird, doing whatever his young heart desired. His only real challenge, was acquiring food each day, and finding a place to sleep at night. Other than that, he was doing just fine.

  It was summertime, which meant no school, no teachers and no books. Although, it really didn't make much of a difference to young Patterson, he would basically go to school whenever he felt like it, or whenever he was bored.

  He slipped one of his filthy hands into the bottom of the sack of peanuts, pinched the last few crumbs remaining, and put them in his mouth. He wiped his hands on his worn out trousers, and tried his best to brush off the leftover crumbs from the corners of his mouth. He stood up, leaned against the tree and carelessly tossed the empty sack down on the ground. After taking a few sips of soda, he began walking through the tall grass towards the baseball field, curious of the possible treasures to be found.

  As he neared the baseball field, he noticed a handful of boys from school, dressed in their baseball uniforms, making a big fuss by one of the dugouts. Two of the bigger kids were picking on a smaller one. As he got closer, he could see the big kid with red hair, holding the smaller boys arms behind his back, while his partner in crime repeatedly punched the teams worst player in the stomach.

  Eight other boys watched and cheered them on; they all wanted to see the small boy punished for not being able to catch the easy pop-fly, that caused them to lose the game.

  This wasn't the first time this kid cost them the game. Truth be told, he was just absolutely horrible at baseball. If he wasn't striking out, or missing an easy catch, he would throw the ball to the wrong player, allowing the other team to score or make a great play.

  It's probably safe to say that Edwin Birch, was no-doubt the worst player to ever set foot on any given baseball field. But that never stopped him. Edwin Birch was a baseball fanatic, and would play the game no matter what.

  Edwin was the same age as Jake and the other kids, but always seemed to be much smaller, about three or four inches shorter than the average boys in his age group. Doctors said he could possibly have a growth spurt later in life, but in the meantime, his short stature earned him the nick name, Little Edwin.

  When Jake finally made it across the field to the scene, he threw his newly acquired soda directly at the kid who was punching Little Edwin in the stomach. He walked over, told the boy to pick on someone his own size, and pushed him down to the ground. The boy holding Edwin's arms behind his back, released him, shoved him aside, and balled up his fists, ready to fight.

  The kid on the ground looked at his uniform, now drenched in soda. He quickly picked himself back up, and furiously made his way over to Jake who didn't seem the least bit intimidated. The soda drenched kid instantly took a swing at Jake, landing his fist just below his right eye. With that, the two big kids, and the others ran away laughing, leaving Jake and Edwin there alone on the baseball field.

  Trying to conceal the pain, Jake winced, and rubbed his injured eye, as Edwin ran over to retrieve the half emptied soda. Jake grabbed the bottle, wiped the dirt off the top, and took a drink as the two sat in the dugout to talk.

  "Th-th-thank you Jake, Tho-tho-those guys d-don't appreciate a g-g-good player w-when they see one." Little Edwin stuttered.

  "Edwin!" Jake said, as he finished the last bit of the soda, tossing it on the ground. "I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you really stink at baseball. Maybe someday you'll realize that?" He playfully gave Little Edwin a shove and continued, "Come on, let's go mess with old man Nelson's cows!"

  "Y-Y-Yeah, h-he funny when h-h-he gets angry, l-l-let's go!" Little Edwin said with a smile.

  As Jake and Edwin started to make their way to old man Nelson's farm, they were surprised to see a woman, steaming mad and having death in her eyes, heading straight towards them. She reached the two young boys, and quickly grabbed Little Edwin by his ear.

  "Edwin Douglass Birch!" His mother fumed "Some of your team mates came by the house, and said you started a fight after the game, is this true?"

  As Little Edwin opened his mouth to plead his case, she turned his ear a little more and continued. "Don't you say a word, young man! Just wait until your father gets home! You may as well pick out a nice switch from the tree, because you know what's coming!" Then she pointed at Jake "And as for you—you—you littl
e hoodlum, if you were my boy, I'd beat you within an inch of your life. Stay away from my son you hear me? I don't want your mischievous little mind to ruin his anymore then you probably already have!"

  Jake waved goodbye as they walked away."See you in a few days Edwin!"

  Fearing that his mother would twist his ear completely off, Edwin didn't say a word. He just waved back and gave him thumbs up, signifying he'll see him soon. Jake sighed, shook his head and chuckled as he watched his little buddy flailing his arms and being led back home, for a punishment he truly didn't deserve.

  Jake decided he would now go and try to see what kind of trouble he could find at the center of town. As he arrived in town square, he saw the usual sight of busy people, going here and there. Some were window shopping, others were buying groceries, a few folks were trying to make a quick buck, and everyone else just seemed to be there wondering, for no real reason at all.

  By this time, the sun had started to go down, and Jake was a little tired of trying to hustle money with a pair of dice he kept in his front pocket. He found a wooden crate, and decided to sit for a while, take a break, and people watch. He thought to himself how complicated people make life out to be. With all the energetic activities going on, his eyes pleasantly rested on a certain young lady, walking with her mother.

  She was twelve years old, the same age as young Patterson, and as beautiful as a bright and sunny day. They didn't talk to each other much, in-fact; their relationship solely consisted of saying the word 'hello' whenever they passed one other from time to time.

  "Well" Jake said to himself "There goes Madison Brierly, the most beautiful girl in the world. But who am I kidding, she'd never have anything to do with a boy like me."

  Madison Brierly was the daughter of Blackwater's most successful farmer. No one really knew how Mr. Brierly ever got his crops to grow and taste so good. People all around were always willing to pay top dollar just for a few of his goods. Folks always asked him how he grew such delicious produce, but his family secret was just that, a secret, and one that he wasn't going to share any time soon.

  As Jake watched Madison and her mother enter into a clothing store across the street, he noticed her looking back in his direction. Not knowing what to do or how to act, he quickly looked away, and began to fidget around trying to appear as if he were busy.

  Madison, who was on to his charade, placed her glove covered hand over her mouth and giggled. Her mother looked back at Jake, shook her head, and quickly guided Madison into the store trying to shield her from such a troublesome young man as Jake Patterson.

  As Madison was being ushered into the store, Jake could faintly overhear her mother speak.

  "Madison Brierly." she said, "We don't associate with folks such as young Jake Patterson. There are plenty of nice young boys that we know and approve of. Besides, you're only twelve years old. Boys should be the last thing on your mind. Madison, Madison are you listening to me?" Mrs. Brierly's voice grew faint, as they both disappeared into the clothing store.

  After the beautiful young lady was completely out of sight, Jake decided he would go and find a place to sleep. He wandered over to the backside of Mr. Cobb's hardware store, and found a spot by some of the broken crates, which previously held supplies from a shipment received earlier that day.

  He made a makeshift bed out of the crates packing material, then sat down and took out a worn-out marble from one of his pockets. First he began to quickly roll it between his hands, then he closed his eyes, placed it on top of his head, and let it roll down his face as he tried to catch it before it hit the ground. After a few tries he stopped, and began to inspect his lucky marble. As he looked it over, he became lost in thought, remembering the very day he acquired it.

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  It was his eighth birthday, the day his mother and father took him to his very first carnival at the small town of Round Rock. This is the town he lived in before he ran away to Blackwater.

  He couldn't believe all of the attractions that were at the carnival. There were different kinds of animals, food, candy, clowns, rides and games. His father sat him high upon his shoulders, and his mother held tightly to his father's arm, as the three of them went from attraction to attraction. This was absolutely, hands down the best day of his life.

  He remembered spying a certain game, where a ring had to be tossed onto a peg. It looked pretty easy, but it wasn't as simple as it seemed. The diameter of the ring was just large enough to fit on any of the given pegs, which were sticking straight up from a board placed on the ground. The contestants release had to be just right, and few were ever able to win a prize at the infamous ring toss.

  He remembered his dad giving him a ticket, and telling him to go and have a try. As he got closer to the booth, he could hear the host making an announcement.

  "Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, step right up for the challenge of a lifetime. Landing one of these rings onto one of these pegs could win you a very special prize!"

  "Young man!" The host said as he greeted Jake. "You look like a winner! Give me one ticket and I'll give you three rings!"

  Jake smiled, as he enthusiastically gave his winning ticket to the host. As his mother and father watched from a distance, they saw the host give him three, paint chipped, metal rings. Jake remembered his parents waving and encouraging him, as he held on to his three winning rings.

  "Okay young man, take your time and toss your rings!" The host instructed.

  Jake took careful aim and tossed his first ring, which bounced right off the tip of one of the many pegs. He thought of how he looked back at his parents with great concern, fearing that the next two rings would have the same outcome as the first.

  "I know you can do it, little man!" His father said, as he cheered him on "Remember, you're a Patterson!"

  Then he took the second ring, picked out a peg and aimed carefully. He tossed the ring in the air, but it hit the top of the peg, and fell to the ground between some of the others.

  "Well, young man" the game host said, walking over to Jake. "I see you've only got one ring left!"

  He thought of how the host put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a bright new shiny colorful marble. "Here you go son" the hosts continued "Take this, it's a lucky marble—go on, take it!"

  He remembered taking the marble, inspecting it, then he smiled at the host. He took a deep breath, and aimed ever so carefully. He was concentrating so hard, that all the noise from the carnival seemed to have disappeared; the only thing he could hear was his own heart beating inside his chest.

  It almost seemed as if time went into slow motion as he tossed his last ring toward the agglomeration of pegs. It seemed to take forever for the last ring to reach them, but when it did, it hit one and bounced straight up in the air.

  He remembered rubbing the colorful marble between both of his hands very quickly, as he watched the ring hit another peg, then another, and when all hope seemed to be lost, the ring somehow managed to get enough lift and was at just the right angle to land perfectly on one of the last pegs on the board. He watched in disbelief as the paint chipped ring slowly wobbled down to the bottom then stopped.

  He thought of how he jumped up and down, then ran back to his mother and father, who picked him up, held him high in the air and spun him around and around.

  "You did it little man, you did it!" His parents said.

  Then the host congratulated him, and gave him his prize. He remembered being happy with the stuffed animal he won, but quickly gave it to his mother.

  "The real prize is this lucky marble!" He said, as he tossed it from one hand to the other.

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  His trip down memory lane was rudely interrupted as Mr. Cobb, who was closing up his shop, firmly grabbed Jake by the shoulders and stood him to his feet.

  "No way Jake!" Mr. Cobb exclaimed "You're not sleeping here tonight, Now get away from my store, you little thief!"

  Jake quickly grabbed some of the packing material, and ran
away from Mr. Cobb's hardware store. He decided to try his luck at the park, where all the couples gathered together on the weekends for their romantic picnics. Not long after he lay down, a police officer found him, gave him a lecture about doing the right thing', and made him leave. Jake went here and there, but everywhere he went he was only able to manage a few minutes of sleep. It seemed that no sooner did his eyes close, someone would wake him up and run him off.

  By this time, Jake was exhausted and couldn't care less if he'd slept in an old filthy barn.

  "That's it!" He told himself. "I'll go over to Mr. Brierly's farm, and sleep in that creepy old haunted barn; no one will ever find me there!"

  Many stories have been told about the old barn set on Mr. Brierly's land. It was mentioned that the small barn which was converted into some sort of living quarters, was haunted by an old farmer who worked and lived there in the late 1800's. It's been said that a ranch hand named Todd Beven, who was an immigrant from Wales, murdered and dismembered the entire Tanner family for not paying him his full wages.

  The well-known Tanner family consisted of Mr. John Tanner, his wife Teresa, and their two small children Mathew and Lilly-Beth.

  The story continues with Todd Beven digging a hole in the middle of the barn, and burying the Tanner family's body parts with no remorse what-so-ever. Then shortly after, he smoothed over the surface of the ground, cleaned himself up, ate a nice chicken and rice dinner with his family, and went right to sleep.

  They say it wasn't long until Todd Beven, along with his wife and son, mysteriously disappeared and abandoned the land. Consequently, the citizens of Blackwater wanted nothing to do with the Tanner's old property; they feared that their family and crops would be cursed forever. So it sat for a few years untouched, until one day Mr. Brierly's parents moved to this small town, and bought the land for next to nothing.