Inspired By The Word of The Day Challenge: CHAPLAIN

Back in the 60’s ( when I was growing up ) families used to take trips by car ( usually by station wagon ) to wherever it was they wanted to go.

I remember that sometimes my Grandfather  would come over for dinner on Saturday- because Saturday dinners were less formal and we could eat quickly- or sometimes my Uncles and their families would come instead and after desert we’d clear the dinning room table and my Dad  ( or one of  my 4  Uncles, sometimes it was a neighborhood friend of  my parents )would spread out maps and open up something called a Thomas guide and with the concentration that you would normally see on a Doctor’s face during life saving surgery or maybe a mad scientist bent over a slab in a movie they would plot our trips by car.

Back then, you couldn’t google or whip out your little phone and point and click and get all your information- you had to sit down ( or stand up )  over a map and talk about where you wanted to go, and hopefully someone had taken the trip before you- and you shared stories and tips about the routes.

They would talk about the roads and the shortcuts and then they would make notes on the map and then came my favorite part- sometimes they spent a lot of time talking about the towns they had visited- to be honest all I let words sail right over my head like   diners and lookouts and shortcuts but  ears were tuned to click on the minute I heard the words, ” ghost town “.

My Uncle Lionel, My Grandfather Percy  had come over for dinner that Saturday and after we were done eating they waited ( of course ) for my Mom and my Aunt Tabby to clear the table and then they got to work on our trip.

We were going to Lake Wilmoth, where my Great Grandfather William owned a cabin right on the lake. We hadn’t been there for awhile because the roads were being worked on. Plus my Dad had been out of work for a  year.

” Well, best way to Wilmoth  is always this way”- my Grandfather tapped the map.

” But the fastest way is if you go through Chaplain Falls. ” my Uncle said.

My Dad looked over at my Grandfather. My Uncle Lionel  grimmiced like he had just bit into something that tasted bad and said. ” Never mind.”

My radar picked up a little blip- just a small one but it was loud blip. Super loud.

” That town is out in the middle of nowhere, it’s abandoned and if anything happened- well you know, you could walk it to the next town but with the kids and Maria-” my Grandfather said weakly.

The truth was (as My Grandfather full well knew), my Mom was pretty fit and she could have run circles around almost anyone she raced against but a face saver is a face saver and in this case Mom and me and my brother were it.

” Did they ever fix the problem they had out there?” my Uncle Lionel asked.

My Dad shook his head. ” I’ve heard it’s still there.  It’ looks like it did the first time anyone saw it. ”

” Saw what?” I whispered.

My Uncle Lionel answered me ” the sign ”

” You jackass Lionel. ” My Dad was going to launch into one of those speeches that older brothers used against their younger brothers telling his little brother what an empty headed moron he was blah, blah blah  when my Grandfather told them to both shut the Hell up and there was an edge to his voice  that I had never heard before.

But that edge  and those few words  indeed shut them the Hell up.

I’m not sure why my Dad decided to drive through Chaplain Falls, it may have been because his Dad told him not to, it may have been because he didn’t want his younger brother to think he had scared him into driving the route he wanted him to drive – and having to admitt  your little brother scared you stings no matter how old your are.

So on Friday Morning – it was the last weekend of May, we packed up our car with our clothes and food and our maps and we headed out to the Olympics.

It was raining and it didn’t stop until we hit the outskirts of Chaplain Falls almost 3 hours later.

There wasn’t a rode sign to tell you that you were entering the town of Chaplain Falls- there wasn’t a fence or a bridge to seperate the town from the rest of the world. . There weren’t even Falls- Chaplain was as dry as a bone.

We drove up a long dusty road that twisted and turned up a hill and when we got tot he top Chaplain Falls was at the top,

Before we saw the town, we saw that there wasn’t a blade fo grass, there wasn’t a tree  – there was a line of sorts-one one side there was green grass, there were wild flowers, there were evergreen trees.

And just a step away every thing was dry, dead.

Lifeless.

My Dad inched his way along the one road that cut through Chaplain Falls and as we crawled along the street I asked him why was everyone so afraid of this place?

” Well. The obvious reason is the tragedy-” my Dad said

I guess here I should say that back then mass murders were hard for anyone to wrap their minds around, but I knew even then that something bad happened in Chaplain and that every single person- 85 people lived there at the time-were all found dead on the one road that ran through town.

” Because of the sign, when you drive through town you see  a sign and nobody understands what it means or what it’s for. They just know it shouldn’t be here.”

I looked around and my Dad didn’t exactly stop the car, he let it sort of roll by a building that I think used to be a store and in one window to the left of the empty door frame was a sign nailed to the frame, it read,

‘HELP WANTED-INQUIRE WITHIN’

The sign looked brand new, it wasn’t dusty and it’s bright orange letters sparked in the sunlight.

” Help with what?” I asked my Dad.

My Dad didn’t answer. He just drove slowly through the town- now I think it was to not draw attention to ourselves- and when we got to the other side of the town and saw the first splashes of green again, he put his foot down and we left Chaplain Falls  behind us.

I still drive out to Lake Wilmoth, I don’t have a family. It’s just me and my dog on those drives- and sometimes,  because I am more curious then afraid- I drive through Chaplain Falls and I  let my car crawl down the one road through town and I check to see if that Help Wanted sign is still there on the door frame at the store and if it still glows and sparkles as if someone just hung it up a few minutes before- and it’s there

asking for help.