18 december 2004The hollow on Hogback is distinct both because of the rickety wooden one-lane bridge at the bottom and the local story surrounding the name. The former is dangerous because, with the trees and curves on the way down into the hollow from either end, you can't really see the bridge or anyone else hoping to cross it until you're dangerously close. This depends somewhat on the speed you drive through it, of course, but it's almost a rite of passage for local kids to go tearing through it as fast as they dare, and an unrelated rite to stop in the dead center of the bridge and watch for the ghost. Thankfully, both events very rarely happen at the same time. The story is actually fairly unimaginative and more than a little misogynistic. Dude pays a hog as dowry to a farmer up the road, marries the farmer's daughter, wife turns out to be a bitch, dude kills his wife and carries her body to the farmer demanding his hog back, road gets named in honor of that guy for reasons no one seems to know. There are variants, but the ones I've heard largely follow that formula (except one in which she kills herself because he's a bitch, which seems almost sensible in light of the other one). It probably isn't true but the fact is no one is as interested in the story as they are in the rumor that the wife's ghost hangs around the bridge. This claim is, itself, something of a disappointment, both because no one even seems to believe she does anything interesting other than hang around, and because she isn't there. People keep dragging me into these damn woods to confirm the ghost is there, and I always have to decide whether it's better to play along or tell them the truth. "So there's nothing here?" Rick asked, rolling a blunt. "God I hope so," Charles offered. We had actually parked in the dirt beside the road and walked out to the middle of the bridge, and Charles was leaning on the side and looking down at the creek. The light was growing dim and we were all talking quietly enough to listen for an engine coming. "I didn't say nothing," I answered, as Rick put the blunt to his lips and got it lit, "I said there's no ghost." Rick let out the smoke as he passed to his cousin, Mandy. "How can you be sure?" Rick asked. "I've been here a dozen times, and there's no sign of her. Just kind of an...echo." Mandy handed off to me and I took my turn. "What's an echo?" I signed for him to wait as I passed to Charles and then exhaled. "It's like...there seem to be things that only exist because people think they exist. And they're only as real as the amount of people making them real. I call them echoes." "So there is a ghost, just not a, uh, real ghost?" "More or less." "Your friend is weird, Rick," Mandy muttered. "Your cousin is rude, Rick." She sneered at me as Rick smoked. He coughed a little as he visibly tried not to laugh. "I think that still counts as a ghost," Charles said, inching closer to the group. Rick passed. "Yeah! Isn't that ghost enough, John?" "Well, look. I can't talk to it, it can't possess anyone, and near as I can tell it just stands over there," I gestured toward a tree on the side of the creek opposite where we'd parked, "so if you wanna call it a ghost, fine, but it hardly seems worth it." Charles quickly looked to the tree. "Is it there now?" he asked, with a quiver in his voice. Rick laughed. "You're afraid! Look at you, it isn't even really a ghost and you're terrified!" "You agreed it was a ghost!" "Guys," I said, exhaling and passing. "Chill." "I'm going back to Alpha," Charles said. "We can smoke just fine there." "Hardly seems like your decision." Charles waved me off as he hurried back off the bridge. I turned to the others and saw Rick was still laughing and Mandy sighed. "I guess we might as well go get some food." With that, we all headed over and climbed into Alpha. I started the engine and we listened to the music as we finished the blunt. Right when I began to pull out, a rusty Chevette came tearing out of the trees and across the bridge, honking and veering as it passed us. It just clipped the front corner of Alpha and kept going, vanishing into the woods behind us. I grumbled, turned up the music, and punched the gas.
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AuthorThe blog of John Matteson. Boost on TopWebFictionTall Tales: Volume Two now available
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