Foreign Rumors ---- the third novel in the continuing saga of Cole Damon.
The town of Mumford is held in a tight grip of fear. Fear of what the foreigner contingency that has invaded their rural community represents.
Rumors soon begin to emerge out of this fear. The rumor cauldron of Mumford brews a concoction of delicious southern lore.
Who are these foreigners? Where did they come from? Why are they here? What do they want? What are they up to?
Rumors emerge from the local townsfolk explaining each and every question concerning the foreigners.
Unfortunately, rumors have a tendency to skew reality. Rumors can turn simple unknowns into fantastic revelations of delicious irony.
Cole Damon must once again put aside his peaceful life of innocent blissful obscurity. He must take up the challenge of discovering the truth about the foreigners living in his community. He must put all the rumors about the foreigners to rest before these rumors can cause real harm to his family and friends.
The trouble is, there are many other things distracting Cole. He hardly has time to concentrate on this perceived new threat to his family and community.
Once again, Cole’s very special wife, his brood of high energy teenagers and an assortment of colorful friends and family keep Cole on his toes.
A new church must be built. A new phone company must be given birth. A very special model must be identified.
Is Cole up to the challenge?
Foreign Rumors ---- a delightful adventure and romantic mystery.
I decided I needed to find out exactly what was at the end of this little road. I eased my truck down the road into the heart of Little Bear Bay. I knew I needed to get a first hand look at what is going on down there before I confronted Jet with whatever it is I was about to confront him with. Half a mile down into the bay the road dead ended at the edge of Little Bear Creek. I was flabbergasted at what I saw.
There was a small forklift ---- parked up under a newly constructed metal shed. The metal shed was covering a stack of sacked shell corn. There looked to be about a hundred tons of sacked corn stacked up under the shed. Between the shed and the creek was a brand new looking still. It was a big industrial sized looking thing. There was also what looked to be about a thousand gallon stainless steel tank sitting right beside the still. I knew this had to be the rig that I had caught Jet putting together a few weeks ago up behind the horse barn. I got the feeling that Aunt Mini is about to go back into the moonshining business again ---- big time. I also knew that this just isn’t going to happen. I figured I needed to go pull the plug on this operation ---- right now.
I found Jet at the horse barn. I found him brushing down Lacy’s horse, Moon Star.
"What the crap have you got going on down in Little Bear Bay?" I asked him point blank when I walked up to him.
"Cole, you don’t need to worry about that," he told me right back. "Mimi ain’t in the business. She’s just gonna make some gas-o-hole for my truck. Besides, we needed to do something with the corn."
"What are you talking about, Jet?" I asked him.
"Well, I sold the corn futures we had," he told me. " We made a good profit too. I didn’t really want to sell just yet cause I figured corn prices was gonna go up another few cent. But, I knew you would need the money to pay for the new church we gonna be buildin. So I went ahead and sold the corn contracts we was holdin. That way you could use the profit to pay for the new church. I made us two and three quarter million. The church is gonna cost three million, but I figured you could afford to cover the balance."
"What church?" I asked Jet.
"You know, the church I been tellin you about. We got to have a bigger church. I got Ben Hardy designin us one. He’s got the plans most ready. He says it’s gonna cost three million. Now we got the money too. Now we can build a nice big church so everybody can come to church," Jet told me.
"Jet, how many people have you told about this new church of yours?" I asked him.
"Nobody, Cole. Just you and Ben. Well, I did tell the preacher. I figured he needed to know too. I guess I mentioned somethin about it to the church’s Buildin Committee. I figured they needed to know what we was up to. I made sure to tell them that you was gonna pay for it though. I didn’t want them to get all worried about money. I guess I told the Property Committee too. I figured they needed to be decidin where to put the new church. Other than that, I ain’t told nobody. I thought you would want to be the one to tell the good news about us gittin a new church to the congregation since you was gonna be payin for it. Oh, I did tell the Finance Committee too. I figured they needed to know. Oh, and I told the choir too. But that’s all, Cole. I swear that’s all. Well, I did tell the Darby’s and Rose and Henry," he told me.
Crap!
I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. What else could I expect out of Jet? He was only doing what he thought was right. Besides, this nut was making me money hand over fist. I figured I was about to spring for a new church. One thing is for certain, life is never dull with Jet in the world. But three million for a church? Boy is this going to be interesting.
"Tell me some more about Little Bear Bay, Jet. How many tons of corn have you got hidden down there?" I said and asked of him.
"Cole, my friend that I buy feed from, I mean the man that I buy feed for our stock from. He was about to loose his shirt. Right after I sold our corn futures, the bottom fell out of the corn market. I tried to tell him to sell, but he wouldn’t listen. He held his contracts. The bottom fell out from under him. I bought his corn at a fair price. He’s a good guy, but was in bad trouble. He didn’t need to loose his shirt though. I got a good deal on his corn ---- and he’ll survive. We gotta do somethin with the corn I bought from him. The barn got full of corn. We didn’t have anywhere else to store it. Mimi, she ain’t goin into the business. She’s just gonna play a little bit. She ain’t gonna be sellin any of her stuff. I promise, Cole," he told me.
"OK, Jet," I told him. "Just don’t let Aunt Mimi go crazy with making the stuff."
Things got quiet between us after that. I finally turned to go.
"Have you seen Margie?" I asked Jet as I was walking back out of the barn towards my truck.
"She’s off today. I think she went down to Hot Springs for a few days," he replied.
"Thank goodness," I thought to myself. I still had no idea how to confront her about all the ghost stuff.
