Episode 14: On Death Island

Blurb
Give a group of boys from anywhere a backyard, a stretch of woods, hell, a vacant lot even — and you can watch it rise to a place of hallowed glory. A patch of trees in between houses becomes an ancient battlefield where two sides of some long-remembered, or forgotten, conflict plays out again and again after school hours. An empty, fallow field becomes an arena or tournament ground where rasslin, foot racin and some form of ball-related sport are contested and pushed to the highest form of the game. Friendships and rivalries will rise, fall and be remembered in legend forever and ever. You give a group of boys not yet concerned with matters of what's in their britches just yet a place of their own, and it will outshine Rome in the eyes of its citizens.

Plot Synopsis
Of all the most spectacular places on earth, the narrator states, nowhere rivals the places where 11 year-old boys play.

In the town of Baker’s Gap, there are plenty of young boys, one in particular.

Archie Stallard comes from a family that two generations ago came to Tennessee from elsewhere in the mountains. A charming, somber boy, he knows his way around the nearby woods.

Dallas and Shane Shepherd are two cousins who live on the far side of the Bear Creek Reservoir. Dallas is one boy among six sisters, his father a Deacon. Shane lives on the other side of the lake with his grandparents, and is a scrawny bookworm.

Curtis Kilgore is a year older than the others, who lives with his mother and siblings and works his family land now that his father Marsh is dead from an accident. The man fell off the roof while working on the chimney, and as he died made dark confessions of his past deeds. Curt somehow manages to both go to school and play with the others in spite of the time he spends at home.

The last of the group of boys are a pair of brothers, though not by blood. It isn’t unusual in the mountains for children to be taken in by other families for various reasons, from abuse at home to family who suddenly leaves the area without them.

Floyd and Cowboy Absher were brought together by somewhat stranger circumstances.

Floyd is smart and handsome and lives with his parents, Junebug and Deborah. Junebug works hard for his family, and doesn’t mind his family growing by one.

One year, after the last harvest, a boy is seen along the edge of Larry Collins’ cow pasture across the road from the Abshers. Larry’s wife Barb attempts to figure out why a young boy is wandering their field petting their cows to no avail. He runs away when approached, and they let him be.

Floyd encounters the boy and attempts to talk to him, but all he says at first is “Cows,” softly. The boy has no idea what his name is or where his parents are. Floyd is concerned about him and rummages in the house for some food. He calls the boy “Cowboy,” jokingly, and it becomes his name.

Floyd sneaks food to Cowboy for about a week before inviting him for supper. After a few visits, Cowboy doesn’t leave, and the family adopts him. Over the winter, he goes to school, and he improves markedly, though he still doesn’t speak about where he is from or what his name is other than “Cowboy.” He becomes Floyd’s little brother, and spends time with the rest of the pack of boys. Floyd protects him from being teased by the others.

One day in the spring, without Curt and Dallas in tow, the boys go to Shane’s house. While there, Archie says it’s time for Cowboy to see “the island.”

The island, which they call Death Island, is the boys’ secret place, and Shane talks it up as a place of mystery and danger. Not an actual island, there is a secret way to access it that doesn’t involve taking a boat. Cowboy asks why it’s called Death Island, and is told Curt named it because he saw a ghost there. As they all know what a serious boy Curt is, they take the ghost sighting seriously.

Archie explains he went over to Curt’s one night to get him to sneak out, only to find him already awake and sitting on the porch. Curt points to the fallen chimney and says, “Daddy’s watching.” Archie can see the ghost as well, a tall, lean shadow with no features that turns toward the two boys. He feels the shadow tell him to go home and summons Curtis to follow it. Curt disappears with the shadow, and Archie runs home in terror. Curt has no memory that it happened.

Cowboy pulls Archie back to the present by asking what they do on Death Island. Archie says that Island will reveal its secrets when they visit it, and make a plan to go Sunday night. Cowboy senses something about the Island, thinking something on it is waiting to be fed.