The Legend of the Light Keeper (The Light Keeper Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

finger at Hunter, “I know that man stole our shovel.” She motioned to the old man as he meandered down the drive on his mower. I barely caught a glimpse of him as he rode past the little space I could see into the front yard. If it weren’t for the help of the security lights, I’d have missed him completely.
    “Who is he?” I asked as the sound of his mower faded in the distance. “Why does he mow at night?”
    “He’s not mowing,” Hunter explained. “He’s just a crazy old man. He’s always coming and going on that mower since he doesn’t own a car, and he keeps the strangest hours.”
    “And steals shovels,” Granny added. She was full of spirit all right, and she had a temper. Hunter laughed at her.
    I had wondered who lived in the little wreck of a trailer on the end. “Why do you think he stole your shovel?” I asked.
    Granny looked at me, her eyes serious. “To dig, of course.” She threw her hands out, like it was so obvious.
    “Yes, but why? You either dig to find something or to hide something.” It seemed like a fair enough question. Who would go out in the night to dig for no reason? There was something going on with the strange man next door.
    “Who knows?” Granny said. “Hell, for that matter, who cares? I just wish he’d quit stealing my damned shovels.” I was still perplexed, but decided I better not go on about it. Granny was getting worked up, and I was afraid the little lady just might keel over with anger.
    We munched as Granny began our lesson. “There’s a lot of history around these parts; old legends and superstitions too,” she began. “Years ago, in the late 1800s, a man found some mineral springs out here. They called them ‘medicinal waters,’ and some believed that they had healing powers. The sulfuric stench of the water had to have smelled like the dickens, but it wasn’t enough to keep people from ’taking the water,’ as they called it. People came from miles around to bathe in, and even drink, the stinky stuff.
    “It was very popular with high society folk and politicians in those days, and the elite traveled in from everywhere to stay in hotels that offered such spas. Anyway, the area became popular for that, as well as the fact that they’d discovered oil over in Saratoga, even before the Spindle Top gusher in Beaumont.”
    I had heard of the Spindle Top gusher. Everyone in Southeast Texas schools had, and at some point in their elementary school level, taken a field trip to the Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum in Beaumont, which is where the gusher happened. Talon nodded, showing me he knew the reference as well. Granny continued.
    “With the oil and the timber in this area, they decided to build the railroad branch from Bragg to Saratoga. It would take supplies from Saratoga to Beaumont every day. It seems that’s all it took, and the little town was booming. Of course, like all small towns, rumors get started and legends are formed. From the start there was a rumor of a foreman who hired a crew of Mexican workers to lay the tracks for the new branch. He’d promised to pay them their fair wage, but when the work was done, he killed them all and kept the money for himself. Supposedly he poisoned their water. It was all just speculation, but it was rumored he buried them along the tracks. They’re said to haunt the road to this day. When you see the Light, it’s their souls seeking revenge. Some even say that when the bodies decayed in their shallow graves, it spoiled the land, making it sour.” I thought of the water at our house. Something was making it stink. I wondered if Talon was thinking the same thing.
    “There are a lot of other myths.” Granny balled up her napkin and threw it into the fire. I watched the fire consume it and turn it to ash that sparkled orange as it floated up from the pit. “Some of them stem from actual historic events, like the Kaiser Burnout.” I’d never heard of any “burnout” and Talon didn’t