Items related to Theron Salter and the Wolf on the Wall
Synopsis
In the nothingness of space, God found matter, building blocks of regiments, from earlier times. With that matter, he created the earth, placing it among the stars. It was encircled by the leftover matter floating in a giant ring about the earth. That matter he formed again into six new worlds, and because the matter was so unique, he placed it inside the same space as earth—seven worlds each separate and distinct, all in the same heavenly space yet operating freely from one another. Life was placed on each world, and only occasionally, a bubble would form allowing free passage from one world to another. Earth saw invading creatures mostly as monsters. The gift of balance was given to maintain order and thought. One man has controlled the seven gifts to keep the balance of worlds—until now! Experience the modern-day connection as bubbles open to mystical worlds, with the boy Theron Salter fighting the terror of the wolf on the wall. See strange lands; discover where lost people and machines have gone.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Theron Salter and the Wolf on the Wall
By Don HadleyAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2018 Don Hadley
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5462-4931-3All rights reserved.
Contents
Dedication, vii,
Chapter 1 Mysterious Waters and the Box of Stone, 1,
Chapter 2 The Tree In The Yard and Two For The Price Of One, 16,
Chapter 3 Back In School and The Wolf On The Wall, 24,
Chapter 4 Crystal Stone and Waves Of Sand, 35,
Chapter 5 The Steersman and Crop Circles, 48,
Chapter 6 Trolls Under The Bridge and Balance In The World, 58,
Chapter 7 Turned Inside Out and Mrs. Sweeney Meets The Neighbor, 69,
Chapter 8 Busher's Pond and Mebo, 78,
Chapter 9 A Parent's Dream and Under Attack, 91,
Chapter 10 The Nightly News and Creatures In The Forest, 107,
Chapter 11 The Hidden Place and Arlis Alger, 125,
Chapter 12 The Two-Faced Man and The World Of Tomorrow, 137,
Chapter 13 Thunder, Lightning Bolts, and Terror In The Canyon, 151,
Chapter 14 The Stone and The Never-Seen, 162,
Chapter 15 To Ride Like The Cowboys and Water Dogs, 173,
Chapter 16 Where The Wind Blows and Holes In Times, 182,
Chapter 17 Valley Of The Mountains and Water Their Roots, 193,
Chapter 18 The Traveling Coin and Whisked Away, 208,
Chapter 19 Hidden and 1918 Red Rider, 227,
Chapter 20 Return To The Canyon and Photo In The Falls, 239,
Chapter 21 Home Again and Loose Among Us, 259,
CHAPTER 1
MYSTERIOUS WATERS AND THE BOX OF STONE
The summer bugs glowed as they twisted and turned in the last moments of the night's darkness. Two identical fireflies flirted with the water on the pond. Frogs croaked a mysterious song as the illuminated pair dipped near the edge of the water and the long reeds. The snap of a single sticky tongue shot into the air at them. Only a single firefly retreated over the pond bank across the dry wash and into the neighboring civilized yard with its fine-cut grass. In full-winged fury it smashed into the clear clean window of the Salter home in the early morning light.
"What was that?" asked the woman, packing her bags, only looking up for a second, and then readjusting her focus.
"Where is that boy?" Adeline Salter said, while thrusting her hands into the air in frustration. Adeline continued to pack the two suitcases, one for her and the other for her husband George. Both suitcases lay open on the bed, already overflowing with intended contents. Soon they would be on their way to a vacation they had planned for the past eleven years.
They had been drawn to the canyon and, for some unknown reason; they knew that they must go there this season. Even before Martin, their only child, was born they had both felt the call of the canyon.
"Have you seen Martin?" Adeline asked. George had entered the room and was quickly brought to attention by his usually timid spouse.
"I think he's shooting some hoops outside," George said.
"It's barely light. What's he doing out there already?" she asked.
The front door opened and in walked Martin, talking to someone.
"Who's with you?" asked Adeline from the back room, her hair in curlers and not wanting the world or one of Martin's friends to see her that way. Adeline heard the basketball hit the floor and roll to the wall. "Martin, you put that ball away!"
"No one, Mom. It's just me." Not wishing to be caught reading out loud, Martin rolled up the comic book he was reading and tucked it into his back pocket. Adeline's fairy-like qualities shined brightly as she flitted from bedroom to kitchen and then back again.
"Now Martin, you will water my plants, won't you?" she said, not wanting her favorite pastime of growing things to end while she was away. Adeline loved George and Martin, but something was missing from her life. Perhaps she would find it in the canyon that she had so longed to visit.
George Salter had given up his dream of riding across the country onboard a motorcycle to plant roots and become a father. He settled for the restoration of his prize possession, a red 1910 Flying Miracle motorcycle. Time was fleeting before the trip, so he worked on his toy, installing the new brake pedal he had fashioned.
"There, that's nice and tight," he commented as he twisted the last bolt snug with an extra tug. Mostly the motorcycle sat in the garage covered by a blanket.
"George, would you come and help me?" Adeline called, hanging out the back door and using that voice she was famous for to get his attention.
Martin's basketball rolled down the stairs, bounced on the concrete and rolled into his room. He also bounced down the stairs and closed the door behind him. Martin tucked the ball under a shelf and returned to his mother's side.
"Mom, what are we going to eat?"
Adeline had forgotten breakfast, but Martin hadn't.
"Just make yourself some bread and butter and some bottled peaches or the Cheerios," she answered, continuing her frantic packing.
Martin was the only child. He always wished he had a brother or sister, but his parents were silent about the subject whenever he asked why he didn't. Martin made do with an imaginary friend, Abernanthy.
"Martin, are you talking to Abernanthy again?"
"No, Mom," he said, knowing that it upset his mother that he had this strange friend.
"He worries me," she said tucking the last of her items into the overstuffed suitcase.
"Well, let's not worry about that right now. We are going on vacation and Martin will be with your sister and all her kids for the next week," George said, closing the suitcase she had sat upon to help close the latch. The car was loaded and hugs and kisses exchanged with their Martin.
"Aunt Mary will be by about ten to pick you up, so you be good. Love you!" Adeline said, giving her last instructions.
"You too, Mom," Martin said, waving at his dad with a gesture of love.
Adeline needed to stop several times at the filling station for a "woman's break" she called it, but over the years George had become patient with her needs.
"Fill 'err up, sir?" asked the attendant.
"Sure, and would you check the oil?" George replied. Adeline closed the heavy door behind her as she got into the car.
"Ask him how far to the canyon, honey."
"The sign said 40 miles about five miles back."
"That will be two dollars, sir."
George paid the man and they were on their way once more. It seemed no time at all had passed when they rounded the turn to discover the end of the drive and beginning of their adventure. Adeline saw it first and called out "Lee's Ferry!"
The pontoons of the raft gracefully floated on the water of the Colorado River as the Salter's were about to discover secrets that had been held silent within the majestic walls for thousands of years. Grand cliffs shot from the river's edge a thousand feet into the blue-white sky.
"What is it that drew us here?" Adeline wondered as she gazed up at the rusty-colored cliffs. No answer came to her unspoken question. Secrets were calling them to the canyon. She felt solemn, apprehensive like a young girl on her first adventure to the playground. The first day had been a time of calm and becoming acquainted with the ways of the river.
"So, has everyone had their fill of grub?" the boatman called out his rhetorical question to the passengers. All were fed and the sun fell away, leaving the passengers to gather at the fire with the boatman and his stories of the river.
"Play us something on that box," George requested to the young boatman that had guided them this far down river to their first encampment. The boatman's fingers strummed the strings of the guitar coaxing from them a tune. The song "Blue Moon" rang from the weather-beaten box. The moonlight on the waters of the Havasupi bubbled past in rhythm on its way into the Colorado River. The melody rolled a cacophony of pleasure from wall to canyon walls. The muted coral-pink cliffs of the Grand Canyon blocked the sky, except for a pathway of stars and a glaze of the moon were all that made it possible to know they were still on planet earth and not in an alien world as the landscape portrayed. Adeline could not resist singing her favorite song. She began to sing, "Blue moon ... and we were dancing alone ... without a care in our heart ..."
The moment seemed everything she had hoped for this trip to be. "Finally away on the adventure of a lifetime with my man," she thought. In an instant her moment was dismembered when an unnatural cry stunned the tune. It died to silence, leaving only the popping of gasses from the logs on the fire. Again, the unrecognizable scream came from down the river, smashing its echo on every wall of the canyon, as had the music before its interruption. Everyone stopped what they were doing, frozen captives. Their souls for the moment bound in its grip. The fire flickered as if the breath of the screamer had disturbed it's comforting glow, tossing it to and fro.
Adeline and George had saved pennies, nickels and even pop bottles to exchange for enough money for this, their once in a lifetime vacation.
"Why had they been drawn to the river and the canyon?" questioned George. All their lives they had been pulled like a pair of magnets to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Why? he wondered. With their dreams to come to the canyon finally realized, Adeline now felt as though her home, her warm bed and the safety there, was the only place she wanted to be. Thoughts of home only served to make her more terrified of the strange scream, more so of the screamer. What had been a festive mood had died as the sound of the screams slowly faded.
"George, what do you think it was?" Adeline softly asked, holding her arms around him for protection, from whatever was out there in the night.
"Perhaps we were welcomed or told to get lost. I can't decide which." George felt like an invader here in this ancient place, intruding on graves of the long dead. There was no way to escape, so whatever the creature was going to do they would have to face it.
When morning came without incident, Adeline found that George had leaned against a rocky outcropping all night, staying awake as long as he could, ready to protect his wife. All that resulted from the events of the night was the stiffness he felt in his neck and the gooey glaze that covered his eyes when he awoke.
"The river smells different in the morning," Adeline thought, breathing in the cool air coming off the river across the bush and tamarisk. The raft was pushed back into the water where Adeline felt just a little safer. Being back on the river put distance from the rocks where the sound had come from and her. It felt great to be on the river again. The sun was warm and the water pushed the raft ever closer to the canyon's wonders and further from the reach of the screaming creature. Or was it closer to the entity that had cast a spell on the travelers aboard the raft? When it came time for lunch the rubber raft was landed at the foot of a beautiful waterfall.
Long before landing the raft Adeline pointed her finger at the waterfall.
"How spectacular!"
"I've never seen anything like it," replied George, who had regained his enthusiasm for the experience of the canyon.
"Look at the rainbow," said the boatman, who had seen it many times in the water spray of the falls. As the water would fall it would twist as if it were dancing, chasing its own rainbow.
"Come on George let's go up to the falls." Adeline and George climbed across painted stones. They climbed to the place where the falls splattered on the rocks watering the green ferns and filling a small pond. The fresh water filled a pool at the base of the cliff. Droplets landed on the couple's faces as they approached the waterfall. It felt good, cooling them from the heat of the day. Slide-like ruts were cut in to the sandstone where the water poured over the pond's bank and across the rock down the hill and into the river. George wondered how many hundreds of years of water had passed there to cut the channels. The rest of the passengers had made their way to the same spot, marveling at the water falling from some hidden ledge many feet above them.
"How high do you think that is," Keyon Ranch, a fellow passenger said, while looking up to find from where the water fell. Yesterday, at the first turn on the river where the canyon walls shot up on both sides, Keyon had started to yodel. It was interesting, but rather weird. Keyon was a round man with massive arms. Nelda Ranch, his wife was ten years his junior. It took both her arms to surround one of his arms in a hug. She also gazed up at the edge of the cliff from where the water fell. She answered his question.
"I think it's at least 200 feet." All this water appeared to be escaping the desert lands, traveling down into the cradle of the canyon.
"It must be hotter than Hades up there! Even the water wants out," Keyon declared.
"George, isn't this wonderful?" Adeline said while running her hands into the cool of the falling waters. George did the same,
"This water is clean and cool." He wiped it onto his forehead. Then Adeline undid the laces of her shoes. She took them off, placing them carefully by a rock to keep them dry. George was a little less ready to remove his footgear. Cowboys prize their boots and he wouldn't be caught dead without them on. But the water was too inviting. Cowboy or not, he just had to cool his burning feet in this heavenly liquid. His boots were placed next to his Addie's before he strode into the cool of the pond. Two of the young girls from the raft sat down in water that ran down the stone slides. Water built up a pressure behind them, sliding them down the slide into a pool at the edge of the river. Soon everyone was sliding, everyone but Adeline and George. They were wading in the cool water in the waterfall's pond.
"Hold my hand," Adeline said, finding the rocks too slippery to stand on. She held out her hand to George. George reached toward her, but his feet slipped on the slick rocks. One foot went behind him and the other into the air, and his arms flailed aimlessly. The splash he made only Adeline witnessed. She laughed with that laugh that only a wife has when her husband makes a fool of himself. George spit and coughed the water from his mouth and throat, struggling to right himself back on his feet. He looked like a turtle on his back wrestling to turn over. The realization hit him that he was only in water a couple of feet deep. He moved to a sitting position on the pond's bottom, still a head above the water line. He began to laugh at his predicament. Adeline had lost her footing also and narrowly avoided falling headfirst into the pool.
"What's this?" George asked, his hand resting on something that was lying on the bottom. It felt manmade, strangely familiar. George rolled to his knees where he could see the object. "It's a sword," he said. He reached to the bottom, grasped the handle, and pulled to try to remove it from the water. It was stiff, smooth, and made of hard steel.
"It can't have been here long. There is no rust on it," he said. He pulled on it and it began to rotate to where the handle rose from the water. At the same time a large round rocky slab behind the falling water rolled from its place. It traveled in a groove, sliding aside and grinding against the other stone as it did. Where the stone had been an opening was exposed in the cliff. There was a cave behind the falls, barely noticeable, even with the stone rolled away. He pushed the handle down and the rocky door rolled back in to place. "Did you see that?"
Adeline's mouth hung open, a look of disbelief on her face. It took a moment for her to reply and then it was just, "Uh, huh."
George first looked to see if the rolling door had been noticed by any of the others from the raft. It hadn't, so he pulled the lever again moving the door open just enough that he might enter into the cavity behind it.
"Was this the reason that they had been drawn to the canyon for so many years, or was this ...?" George left the thought unfinished as he climbed into the falls, dripping water from his clothes on the already wet stone floor. It quickly trickled away into many open cracks.
The hole behind the falls was a cave, hidden until now for possibly hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. At least that was the way it seemed.
"Adeline, come up here. You have got to see this!" George said. His own echo startled him as he spoke. He continued to climb further, sliding his body past a fallen rock to where the cave opened.
Adeline had watched, focused on where she had last seen him. "Wouldn't you know he would find something up there?" she said under her breath. She struggled for her first grip on the rock behind the falls, and then popped into the cave, wet but pleased with herself. George was waiting for her and the Kodak box camera that she carried on a strap around her neck.
"Take a shot from here," George said, pointing out at the waterfall. She removed the camera from under her shirt where she had concealed it, hoping to keep it dry. The water spread a curtain over the opening, hiding the activities inside the cave. The camera's flash illuminated the green mossy covering on the walls of the cave, which glistened with a sparkle of droplets of water and showed remnants of carved stone steps. Someone had been there before them. George noticed the steps carved into the stone, took Adeline's hand to guide her, and together they ascended the steps. The steps wound around in a spiral and were part of the wall of the cave. They showed generations of wear.
"I wonder who did this?" George thought as he envisioned an ancient people striking the stone with a chisel to cut the steps. The walls of the cavern were rough and, moist and water seeped from the falls and into the staircase. They climbed upward inside the cavity of the mountain, step after step, until the mossy cushion under their feet disappeared.
"What is it?" Adeline whispered to George. Instead of growing ever darker as they had expected, the walls of the chamber intensified in luminance.
"Look. It is getting lighter," Adeline said. They could see the water trickling down the walls and onto the steps, the beginning of a tiny stream.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Theron Salter and the Wolf on the Wall by Don Hadley. Copyright © 2018 Don Hadley. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
(No Available Copies)
Search Books: Create a WantCan't find the book you're looking for? We'll keep searching for you. If one of our booksellers adds it to AbeBooks, we'll let you know!
Create a Want
