A Story in Parts. A True Story.
“Don’t go home alone.”
I cannot specifically recall the first occasion the message, “Don’t go home alone,” came to me. It began as something mild, barely felt, like a passing thought. It was easy to disregard.
To be sure, the land holds memories, has a trauma history that it tends, and a protective reach, if you believe in such things.
My home was further along the Indian Camp Trail, while Brenda’s home was nearer the “T” and thus, next to the home where the triple death happened some years before our time at the Black Bear Crossing.
I dare say at that time, no one living on this bend of the Seven Bends of the Shenandoah River was unaware of its history.
Sometime after I’d purchased my own home there, in children’s whispers, I was informed of the tragedy. Then, I’d hear it again from adults in the community from time to time, some who had been around, others passing on their knowledge.
A low water bridge is the only exit or entrance to Black Bear, and any time the Valley gets two inches of rain or more, the river is going to rise, the bridge is going to disappear under the current, and no one is going in or getting out…at least not without a risky hike across the mountain through wild parts of the national forest. I never attempted the hike myself. I do not own a gun.
When the bridge floods, the men stand guard a time as the water rises, making sure no one gets in that doesn’t belong.
Making sure no one gets in that doesn’t belong.
This was the occasion that prompted the bridge guards to tell the story, and caution me.
Prior to my purchase, I had been informed the bridge might flood once every few years during a week long rain, be covered a couple days, but that it was a rare event and didn’t seem to trouble the residents of the community. “They’re a good group of people, they look out for one another.”
I heard the story from adults at my first “flood in,” just after crossing the water covered bridge where I’d be on “holiday” for the next two weeks, as I wouldn’t dare cross back over until the river had its fill.
“Don’t go home alone.”
Part II of A Story in Parts, A True Story.
Brenda and Tanya
Black Bear Crossing
Rosewood 