Episode 26: Welcome to Paradise

Blurb
He had always wanted to come here, to this diamond in the rough wedged in-between kissin' cousins of a state line: Parasides - a city split down the middle between the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Tennessee - was a bustling town in the early winter of 1928.

Content Warnings

 * Discussion of historical slavery
 * Discussion of military desertion
 * Human trafficking
 * Assault
 * Robbery

Plot Synopsis
Jack is an unassuming-looking man. The sort of man one sees a thousand times and never really notices. Jack can be anyone and everyone, a forgettable face with an unforgettable name.

Jack has always wanted to come to Paradise, a city split between Virginia and Tennessee. He arrives at last in the bustling city in the winter of 1928. The place has been enriched by the railroad, and is a thriving place of music, nightlife, industry, and even tourism. Jack considers it the perfect place to set up for a while.

Jack is a trickster that has existed in Appalachia, and some say outside of it, for a very long time. He was around long before men walked the hills, before even Those Who Sleep Beneath were imprisoned under them.

Jack acquires a small office in Paradise, where he helps people procure various things they want and need, often with his own tricky spin on the transactions. When he arrived in Paradise, he was going by the name of Mr. J. T. Fields III.

He finds that Those Who Sleep Beneath make unfair deals, and as a man who trades in deals, he has particular disdain for them. At one point, he even made a deal with one who trapped him in a mortal body, forcing him to age and ache for decades. He was set free by a Holler Witch, though the process had been both accidental and painful. Back to his old self, Jack goes to his office in Dorchester, Virginia, to gather his prized possessions and make his way to Paradise.

As he is leaving, three armed men on horseback confront him, come to force him to settle a debt accrued by his “Papaw,” actually Jack himself years ago. Jack once sold their Papaw a bag of beans that he claimed would grow bountifully, but they turned out to be a poison that not only didn’t grow, but killed the other growing things on their land. Will Meeter, the oldest, states he needs to settle up, and Jack attempts to brush off the encounter gently, but the men persist. One of them, Tom, states that Jack’s Papaw ruined their family, a god-fearing, good family.

When they threaten to take Jack’s pack, his manner changes. He tells the men calmly that their father Thatch was a deserter and a coward, and their grandfather Burle was a murderer and slaver. The very earth and water disdained them so much it refused to yield for them, and no one would help them.

They began to make promises to other Things, further tainting themselves, and Burle had come to Jack. When he sold them the beans, he warned them that they needed to plant them with goodness and love to make them grow, for they would wreak havoc if planted in anger and hate. The third, Patrick, tries to rebuff him to no avail.

Thatch had begged his own father not to trade with Jack, knowing he had already made promises to the Things he had been speaking with and couldn’t deliver on what they would owe Jack. Jack promised to broker a deal with the Things, and he did; the price of the beans would be Thatch’s first three sons, the men before Jack now.

The men drop their weapons and slump in their saddles. Jack states aloud that he relinquishes his contract to the Things. He then leans in and whispers a location to each of their horses, and they depart for the Things Thatch had bargained with, to finally close the deal. One goes to a place called Hoot Owl Holler, one to a bridge by a town called Josephine, and the other to the very end of Thacker’s Branch. The men are never seen again.

Jack then goes to Paradise and sets up his office. One night, he contemplates what to do for the evening when suddenly he sees from the window as a young couple are attacked and robbed. Thinking this may be a good time to make a deal, he grabs his coat and heads outside.