When The Manna Ceased

CHAPTER ONE:The Children The first cool air currents that flowed down the Blue Ridge Mountains into the pine forests of the foothills finally forced the oppressive heat haze to recede from the small town of Benton, bringing with it a welcomed scent of southern pine and the relief of fall temperatures. With that hint of fall in the air, the leaves changed to brilliant colors, then turned brown prematurely and fell off, which started the ritual of leaf raking and burning. As if on cue the residents of Benton came out of their artificially air-cooled worlds of summer to see the spectacular air show presented by the changing cloud formations displayed on an unbelievably blue October sky. They leaned over their lawn tools and with longing, reminisced over last summer’s vacation, forgetting about the stupefying heat they complained about just a few weeks before. School classrooms were packed to capacity as another academic year fell into routine. The stores downtown had already stocked the shelves for the Christmas season on an aisle just behind the Halloween candy and Thanksgiving turkey cutouts. Moods, attitudes, energy levels and even facial expressions changed as though the cooler air had taught the world to breathe again. In another part of town these same cloud formations threw shadows across another school, this one with empty rooms and hallways that students didn’t walk anymore, where echoes of the past reverberated only in the memories of the occasional intruder. This place was a place that had once been known as the Stone Brook School. A facility that town officials boastfully said would be forever known as the most technologically advanced high school in the state. Just a few years later however, it was widely viewed as an embarrassing reminder of the worst planning mistake the previous school administration had ever made. Like a lot of things in small towns, Stone Brook was built on the intense desire of the established ‘good ole boys’ to keep things the same as they had always been rather than preparing young people to live in a rapidly changing world. Forced busing, integration, bypass mentality of strip malls, and computer mania through successive generations had all contributed to the demise of that established elitism and brought about the down-fall of its training centers that advertised closed doors to the minorities and the impoverished. And like those first winds of fall that brought fresh air, so the closing of Stone Brook brought fresh hope to the parents of Benton’s children. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the New Benton High was built and the controversy and confrontations were over. The old school had not stayed open long enough to build fierce loyalties to a winning sports team, or pass on fond feelings of camaraderie to a new generation. Now it was an embarrassment everyone avoided by rerouting the planned bypass, leaving the vacant Stone Brook School on a dead end road. With a new school board and Town Council duly elected, it was decided that the new school should be located where all the youth of Benton would have access to an equal educational opportunity. What they did with that opportunity was their responsibility. So Stone Brook was abandoned, forgotten, and didn’t even hold much interest for vandals or vagrants. It was too remote to attract them that far out, so the town hadn’t invested too much time into keeping them out, though they did make an effort to board up windows on the ground floor, and chain-lock some of the doors. Tracy and Derrick didn’t find it too hard to get in however. Derrick, a second string quarterback on a winning high school football team in the new Benton High School, thought it was an easy way to show off to Tracy. Just one pull on the board over the basement window and they were in, their footsteps echoing on the old wooden floorboards creaking in protest of the intrusion, as they looked for a suitable room. It was a feeling of stepping into another time where they were not expected, therefore not accountable. Getting the bottle of Boones had been equally painless for Derrick, almost a no-brainer. Derrick didn’t even have to argue or explain to his older brother Mark why he wanted it. It was just there on his bed the afternoon after the grass was mowed. This was usually Mark’s job, but it became Derrick’s when the younger Peterson brother needed a favor. Now it was Friday night and the bottle was heavy in his coat pocket. Even the touchdown had been easy. Russ, the first string quarterback, had pulled a muscle during warm-up, so Derrick had played the whole game for the first time, throwing two touchdown passes that tied the game in the third quarter. Almost like a choreographed dance, the receivers had miraculously been there right in step. Then in the fourth quarter - just eight seconds to the buzzer - he looked for his receiver who wasn’t in position. His only choice was to tuck and run, which he did for forty-five yards until the cheering crowd let him know for certain that he had just won the game for his team and his school. It was hard to be humble when he, Derrick Peterson, not Russ ‘I’m so hot’ Verner, had led the Hawks to victory. Later in the locker room with the whole team listening, the coach clapped him on the back and told him that he had just flat ‘out run’ the other team. “Never saw a high school player with that kind of moves and speed. Guess you just never had a chance to show off before, but I think you’re ready to share some of the spotlight with Russ. He’s a senior you know, so next year it will be all your show.” That was what the coach had said; every word was emblazoned on Derrick’s mind. My show - Derrick seriously doubted he needed the booze to get a high; he just couldn’t get any higher. But Tracy was another story. He wanted to celebrate, and with a little bottled encouragement, the guys had said Tracy was a sure thing. Tracy wasn’t his regular date by any means. The guys called her a ‘Mobi,’ short for motorized bicycle, easy to ride and cheap to keep, no license needed, but not something you show off. The only reason he would even consider going out with her was because Caroline, the girl he had been dating steadily since last spring when he first moved into Benton, had a religious hang-up about sex before marriage. But that was OK as long as there were girls like Tracy around. The way he had it planned, he could ditch Tracy early and be uptown before Caroline’s curfew. That’s why the old school was perfect. No one would see them – especially someone who knew Caroline. Derrick had discovered the old school last summer when he was bumming around, getting acquainted with his new surroundings, and he had been intrigued. Never thought it would come in so handy.

Tracy freaked out a little when Derrick pulled into the parking lot of the abandoned schoolhouse, but she bit down on the negative comment and chose to go with the moment in spite of the spooky feeling this place had. She knew why Derrick wanted to bring her here, but it wasn’t like it was her first sexual encounter. Maybe just being alone away from school was what it would take to make him really see her and not just a reputation.