What Happened To April Dawn?

It was nine o’clock at night. Alvin and his wife, Martha, were sitting on the front porch. The county was going through another one of its droughts, and it was unusually hot and dry for November.

“I’ve been listening to the radio,” Martha said. “They were talking about clouds to the north. Do you think they’ll drop down far enough to do us any good?”

“I sure hope so, but what happened to April Dawn?”

This apparent non sequitur was something only a local resident would understand. A loose translation of it is, “who knows?” The disappearance of April Dawn was a mystery the sheriff had been trying to solve for almost forty years. It was not like April could blend into a crowd at the train station or anything like that. She did not look like the rest of the people in the town. Her mother was a Mexican, and April had Indian features. Her father was an Anglo Saxon, a fundamentalist Protestant, and a very mean binge drinker. April escaped her abusive father by marrying the first man who proposed to her. Her husband, Mr. Dawn, was thirty years her senior. Although he did not physically abuse her, he was an overbearing ass and a skinflint of the first order. Furthermore, he was always chastising her because she was so well liked. Mr. Dawn claimed he woke up one morning to find her gone. Perhaps it was because of his unpopularity, but no one believed him. Solving the mystery soon became a cause celebre. Nobody wanted to let him get away with the foul deed they thought he had committed. The local newspaper offered a reward of one thousand dollars to anyone who could provide information leading to her whereabouts or knowledge of her fate. A thousand dollars was a lot of money at the time. It would be reasonable to expect her disappearance to become old news, but the paper continued to offer the reward and even increased the size of it from time to time. This kept the story alive, and the mystery became a part of the town’s identity. The reward was now up to twelve thousand dollars.

“I guess you’re right,” Martha said. “You know, I think about her sometimes. I’m sure they could raise the reward to a hundred thousand dollars without having to worry about anyone collecting it.”

“Probably, but they wouldn’t do it. People do get hit by lightning, you know.”

Martha smiled. “And by some believable hoaxes as well.”

Alvin laughed. “You mean like the one CBS pulled for Halloween.” They were referring to the radio broadcast of the War of the Worlds. They were both laughing now.

“The newspaper said it scared the bejabbers out of half the nation. I’m glad we were listening to the Chase Sanborn Hour instead.”

“I guess pretending to cut away from the normal programming for news bulletins made it seem realistic. A Martian invasion, though? I don’t think I would’ve fallen for that.”

That is when it happened. The sky lit up. It was not the usual colors; there were no blues or reds or steaks of gold. The sky turned green, and it was bright. Then there was a thunderous boom. This was followed by a dull thud, and a sharp jolt as the night recaptured the sky. Martha would later claim that her house actually jumped.

She placed her hand over her heart, and took a deep breath. “What was that?”

“I don’t know. In all my twenty-nine years, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“It was like something from another world!”

“There has to be a logical explanation. I better check on the animals.”

Checking the animals was not too difficult. He only had four cows, a bull, and two horses. They were all fenced in. Whatever had scared him also scared his animals. The cows moved close together and were aimlessly wandering around their enclosure. The bull was pawing the ground, ready to charge any intruding creature. The horses had their ears perked up, ready flee at the slightest provocation. The hens in the chicken coop were frozen in place, and the rooster was hiding. Alvin did a quick inspection of the barn. He did not see any damage. He walked back to the house.

“Is everything all right?” Martha asked.

“They’re all scared but unharmed. No sense in stumbling around in the dark. I’ll try to find out what it was tomorrow.”

Alvin went to bed at ten o’clock. He was not there long because he was too anxious to sleep. He put on his trousers and walked out to the living room. He heard a vehicle outside. He picked up his shotgun and looked out the window. It was a sheriff’s car. Deputy Brad stepped out of it. Alvin set down the shotgun and he met the deputy at the front door.

“Sorry to bother you at this hour, Alvin. I’m just checking on the light and thunder. Do you know anything about it?”

“I couldn’t miss it.”

“Do you have any idea where it was coming from?”

“They sky was so bright and the sound so loud that I couldn’t tell.”

“I know what you mean. Part of the sky looked brighter than the rest. It was roughly in this direction, but I couldn’t pin it down.”

“Did you feel the jolt?”

“The jolt?”

“Yeah, like an earthquake, but with a single shake.”

“No, and that means you must have been closer to where it struck.”

“Do you think the military is screwing around with a rocket or something and hit the other side of the hills with it?”

“I can’t imagine them having anything powerful enough to light up the whole sky like that, but I like the idea of it hitting the back side of the hills. It would explain why no one saw it crash.”

“Are you going to look over there?”

“Too far, and it’s out of our jurisdiction.”

The fact that the deputy had been investigating the event was reassuring. If it was anything too menacing, Alvin was sure the deputy would have seen or heard about it. He set the shotgun next to his bed just in case he was wrong.

It was more than his breakfast sitting on the table when he entered the kitchen the next morning. The Smith & Wesson forty-four his father had given him was also sitting on the table.

“Is it loaded?”

“Yes,” Martha answered.

“Do you think it’ll do any good?”

“Don’t scare me by asking such things. I’ll feel better if you’re armed.”

“I know what you mean. I’m going to look on the back side of the hills, and that’s rough country.”

“It’s also a long drive.”

“I’m riding the motorcycle.”

“Why?”

“Because I can walk it out if the wheels are getting stuck.”

The sun was barely up when Alvin set out. He could see some of his neighbors inspecting the perimeters of their properties. The whole scene was eerie; it was far too normal given the events that took place last night. There were no police cars or government vehicles in sight. Was he the only one crazy enough to try to chase down the source of the light?

It was almost eleven when Alvin reached the other side of the hills. He was still on the main highway, and he stopped at the Last Chance gas station. It was aptly named. There was not another one within thirty miles of it. He filled his motorcycle with gasoline and walked it to the sandwich stand next to the station.

The man behind the counter looked at the pistol strapped to Alvin’s waist. “What’s with the artillery? Are you looking to pick a fight with things that go bump and light up the night?”

“My wife insisted on it. She’s afraid those things might pick a fight with me.”

The man laughed. “I guess old Orson really did it to us. His stunt either made folks more afraid of what happened last night, or it made them afraid of making fools of them selves by reacting to it.”

“I admit that shock, maybe even fear, was my first reaction. Now I’m just curious. I want to know what the hell happened.”

The man handed Alvin a sandwich. “Everyone does.”

Alvin carried the sandwich to one of the picnic tables. The music on the radio in the sandwich stand stopped as he started eating. “I have an explanation for the lights and thunder last night,” the newsman said. “A scientist at the university called. He said an unmanned object from outer space crashed into us. Take that, Orson Welles! Seriously folks, the scientist said it was one or more meteorites falling from outer space. So Chicken Little was not as crazy as we have been taught to believe. Parts of the sky really can fall. In this case there are no reports of any damage. In fact, the scientists are still trying to figure out where the meteorite or meteorites landed.”

Alvin smiled. “So we were hit with a space rock. Are Meteorites space rocks?” It did not matter. It was a good enough definition as far as he was concerned. He felt a bit foolish for packing the pistol. It was not like little green men were going to climb out of a space rock and shoot him with a death ray. Well, he had already spent hours getting to the other side of the hills. He might as well do a little exploring while he was here. It would be kind of neat to find something that came from outer space.

He rode down the highway until he came to a very narrow dirt road. It was really more like a horse trail. He turned onto it. In all likelihood other people searching for the meteorite would start by searching from the paved roads. The trail he was on was deceptive. The land looked flat, but he was actually climbing at a gradual angle. He realized this when he crossed a wider, smoother, dirt road that intersected the trail. The trail became much steeper now, and it was in poor shape. He had to dodge the rocks and the brush. The brush was a particular problem; it was so dry that he was afraid the exhaust from the bike could set it on fire. Controlling the bike well enough to avoid the brush took a lot of energy. His clothes were soon soaked with his perspiration and caked with the dirt kicked up by his tires. The trail was snaking its way toward the crest. It turned to the east. He now entered a stand of pines and oaks. The trees were spaced far enough apart so that he was able to ride between them. He could not tell if he was still on the trail.

He came upon a log cabin, or what was left of it. Most of the roof had fallen, there was no glass in the windows, and the door was missing. The cabin was too old to have any plumbing. No one would build such a place without a source of water. He parked the motorcycle and dismounted. The rotting planks were partially covered with dirt. They probably covered a well. It was all too easy to imagine some unsuspecting soul falling through them. The hill to the north was steep. He hiked up the slope until he was standing on a flat surface. The hill that descended to this flat surface was very steep and very high. The place where he was standing was probably a natural ledge. Someone had taken advantage of the terrain to build a road there. Logging had been a big industry here. He was guessing that this had been a logging road. He started walking down the road, in an easterly direction. The road bent around a large boulder. He rounded the bend to find the road blocked by a huge pile of debris. “That must have been one hell of a landslide,” he thought. He changed his mind as soon as he looked up at the source of the debris. The face of what had been a steep hill was now a cliff. It was as though someone had used dynamite to blow a very large chunk out of the hill.

He climbed the debris. Roots were poking up though the soil. The plant was upside down. Furthermore, the roots were fresh. The event that caused the collapse of the hill had happened very recently. He cautiously moved to the cliff face. There was a hole in it. He crawled inside and dropped two feet. He continued crawling. He descended another two or three feet. What saw there took his breath away. It was a skeleton. It was well preserved and mostly intact. What was missing was the lower part of the right leg, from the knee down. He climbed out of the cave and up to the top of the debris. He heard an airplane. It was flying low. It flew over him and then made a wide turn. He pulled his gold watch out of his pocket as the plane circled back towards him. Alvin used his watch to reflect the sun. The only Morse code he could remember was the signal for mayday. He flashed that signal at the approaching plane three times. The plane flew over him and turned towards the valley. After it straightened out it wagged its wings.

He was confident that help would soon be on the way. He sat on the top of the debris waiting for the search party to arrive. Hours went by. It would be dark soon. “Were the crazy bastards hiking up to him? Why weren’t they using the logging road?” That is when he thought he heard a motor. The sound was too faint for him to be sure. A half hour later he heard voices. At long last he saw four men approaching. They were wearing the uniforms of the volunteer fire department.

“Hey search and rescue! I’m up here!”

“Are you out of your frigging mind? That pile of crap could start sliding again at any moment!”

“It’s stable. I’ve been up here for hours.”

“Yeah, but your insane.”

Oddly enough it was the smallest member of the group who agreed to climb the debris.

“Please bring a canteen. I’m about to die from thirst.”

The man climbed the debris and handed Alvin the canteen. Alvin was so thirsty that he started pounding down the water without even saying thank you. He finally removed the canteen from his lips. “God, I’m glad you’re here. I’m Alvin.”

“I’m Jim. You’re lucky we all decided to look for the meteorite or it would have taken us a lot longer to get here.”

“Well, I think you’ve almost found it. It has to be under the dirt and rocks here. There’s something else though. There’s a skeleton in that cave.”

“You mean that hole?”

“It’s actually a cave. The entrance has probably been sealed off for decades. I’m guessing that the slide uncovered it again.”

“Holly shit! Hey Joe, he says there’s a skeleton here. Better notify the sheriff.”

“We have to leave anyhow. The road is too treacherous to wait until its dark.”

“I’ll wait here with Alvin.”

“Alvin Graf,” Alvin said. He also gave his address and phone number. Joe wrote the information down on a small pad he carried. “Okay, see you in the morning,” Joe said with a parting wave of his hand.

“I’d rather not sit up here all damn night,” Jim said.

“I was thinking the same thing. Follow me.”

They hiked down to the cabin, thinking the walls might serve as a windbreak. Forget about it being hot for November. The breeze that kicked up was really cold. All Alvin had to protect him was the thin jacket he wore to keep the road dirt off his shirt. The dry brush made it too dangerous to start a fire. Alvin mounted his motorcycle as soon as it was light out. “Are you sure you don’t want me stay?”

“No, I’ll be okay. We’ll remove the skeleton.”

“Thanks. You’re a good man.”

“Get out of here, and be careful. Don’t crash or set the mountain on fire!”

Alvin rode down the trail to the warm valley floor. He continued around to the other side of the mountains, but he did not go home. He went into town and stopped at Millie’s Diner for lunch. He called his wife from there to tell her the news.

She was excited by what he told her. “Do you think it’s April Dawn?”

“Hard to tell.”

“Go to the newspaper now. You don’t want those men to claim they found her if it is.”

His wife had a good point. He had had the same thought. Twelve thousand dollars was a lot of money. He found Clarence sitting at the news desk.

“Alvin, what brings you here?”

“I might have found April Dawn.”

“Really!”

Alvin then told Clarence the whole story.

“I’m not going to conjecture about whether its her at this point, but it’s a hell of a story," Clarence said.  "They’ll probably take the remains to the county coroner. I’ll start by checking with him.”

“I don’t think they’ll get it there in time for him to examine it today.”

“You’re probably right about that, but I’ll keep checking in with him.”

“Thanks. Keep me posted.”

“Will do.”

“The coroner was kind enough to promise Clarence that he would call as soon as he had the remains and finished his examination. He called the next day. “The remains are those of a female. She was just a shade over five feet tall. I’m guessing, and it is a guess, that she was between nineteen and twenty-five at the time of her demise. Her facial structure is not Caucasian. I’m turning her over to the university because I think she was an Indian.”

“Is there any way to tell when she died?”

“Well, the skeleton was well preserved, but that could be due to the environment.”

“Would you say she could have died forty years ago?”

“Could be. She might even be a lot older than that. The university and museum have archeologists and paleontologists and such. They’re probably a lot better than I am at determining the age of remains this old.”

“Thanks, I’ll check with them.” So far all of the information was consistent with April Dawn, but how do you prove it. Clarence was now feeling a bit foolish. He should have asked about the cause of death or if there was anything that was distinct about the remains. He called the university and spoke to Professor Wright.

“So you’re looking for a missing person. Some of the ones we find have been missing for a thousand years,” he joked.

“This is serious. We’ve been trying to solve this mystery for forty years.”

“All right. I’ll make it a priority.”

“Thank you.”

Clarence then had one of the copy boys pull all of the stories about Mr. Dawn from the paper’s morgue. It turned out that Mr. Dawn owned a large share of the company that was logging that part of the mountain. He also spent a good deal of time at the site. He may or may not have owned the cabin. It is not like anyone bothered to file a deed on it.

Professor Wright called back the next day. “I’m afraid we can’t really date the remains,” he said. “The problem is that there are no clothes or other artifacts to help us do that. If the clothes rotted off, I would have expected the skeleton to deteriorate a bit more, but that could depend on the material used for clothes. There is also the possibility that she was left there naked. I might add that that would not be consistent with a formal burial.”

“So there could have been some foul play involved?” 

“Quite possibly. We can’t really tell if she was strangled or poisoned or suffered any trauma to soft tissue. They only sign of violence might be the missing part or her right leg. The problem is that I can’t tell if that was post-mortem. I suspect that it might be what killed her. I say this because of where she was found and the condition of the rest of the skeleton.”
 
“Is there anything distinguishing about her?”

“I don’t know if I would call it distinguishing, but there’s a noticeable gap between her incisors. It’s not large enough to be disfiguring, but it’s noticeable.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere. It looks like I’ll have to do some more research on our missing gal.”

There were still some people around who remembered April. Clarence called all of the ones he knew about. They all said the same thing. She did not have a gap between her incisors.

So the mystery continued. What happened to April Dawn? If she simply walked away from her husband, she certainly got even for any grief he caused her. The crotchety old fart lived the rest of his life under an unforgiving cloud of suspicion.  But, given his temperment, no one was going to feel guilty about that. This was a town that never gave up, and it still had a mystery to solve.

First published in macsbackporch.foxtail-farms.com on May 5, 2010