Emily Dutton's Secret Medallion
by
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At last! School was out. Summer had finally arrived. NO more homework. No more heavy backpacks. No more standing on corners waiting for a crowded and noisy school bus. NO more classrooms. NO more grouchy teachers. NO more of that dreaded lunch room food. What a glorious relief! What’s more, no more having to get up early. This was just great! Great! Great!
These were the thoughts going through the mind of 11-year-old Emily Dutton as she sat on her front steps waiting impatiently for her girlfriends. She had already laced up her roller skates. Now if only neighborhood chums Melanie, Monica and Vanessa would hurry. Seemed as if they were always late for their summer afternoon skating through the neighborhood.
It was such a beautiful sunny day. Not a cloud in the sky. Temperature was about seventy five degrees. A soothing breeze caused nearby shrubbery to sway a bit. Ideal conditions for Emily and her buddies to romp through the neighborhood.
But, where were they? They were never this late. Never! Suppose one of them had an accident? Worse yet...suppose they had been kidnapped? After all, there had been isolated reports of strange looking men walking suspiciously through her neighborhood. Emily now began to seriously worry. If they didn’t show up soon, she would be forced to alert her mother. But, she didn’t wish to be premature. No sense alarming her mother unnecessarily. Still...something had to be wrong. Her buddies were never this late.
Emily’s impatience and worry were relieved somewhat when her cat, Tobias, came from under the steps and began slowly rubbing against her legs. She smiled because she knew this as how cats showed their affection for loved ones. Emily would always return the gesture by slowly stroking Tobias’ back as he purred softly.
Tobias was once a badly unkempt stray cat that just showed up at Emily’s doorsteps two years earlier and refused to leave. At first, Emily’s parents tried repeatedly to chase the scrubby looking cat away. They feared the unkempt animal might be diseased.
But, each morning the cat would again be found curled up on the mat at the front door. Despite her parents’ warnings, Emily soon began to look forward to greeting the strange looking little black and white cat each morning, even giving him the name Tobias. And, plenty of milk.
"Oooh, there you are, Tobias," Emily would whisper as she cradled the cat in her arms. "Where’d you spend the night, boy? Huh, where’d you spend the night? I was really hoping you wouldn’t be hurt out there. I really was, boy. You know that, huh? You know that?" The cat would always rub against Emily as she stroked him. Clearly, this was the beginning of a love affair.
Emily’s frustrated parents, unable to keep the straggly little cat from returning each morning, decided to call the animal shelter. Emily, upon hearing this, tearfully pleaded with them not to do so. She told her parents she had fallen in love with the little stray cat and desperately wanted to keep it.
Emily’s parents knew she was a very sensitive and deeply caring child and they certainly didn’t wish to hurt her emotionally. However, they still feared that the badly unkempt cat might be diseased. And, their only child’s safety was of great concern to them.
Finally, Emily and her now highly irritated parents held a family meeting to decide the cat’s fate once and for all, to put an end to the ongoing problem. After much discussion, they all agreed to have Tobias thoroughly checked out by a well-known and highly respected veterinarian. It was decided that if Tobias was found to be unsafe, he would be taken to an animal shelter without further delay. If the veterinarian declared that cat safe, the animal would be permitted to stay.
On the day Emily’s father took Tobias to eth veterinarian, Emily and her friends, Melanie, Vanessa and Monica were in school. But, they still huddled at recess for what they called "a special pet prayer for Tobias." Each took turns praying that the veterinarian would find nothing wrong with the cat. Vanessa, a Latina, also said a prayer in Spanish, hoping that might somehow help make a difference.
Meanwhile, the veterinarian examined Tobias carefully and ran tests to determine if the cat had any diseased or illnesses. Remarkably, he had none! The cat was then given all the necessary immunization shots. He was also cleaned and groomed. To be absolutely sure of his conclusions, the veterinarian kept Tobias an additional day for observation.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity for Emily, the veterinarian declared Tobias fit and safe to be retained as a pet.
Highly elated, Emily gave Tobias a birthday part to officially welcome him into the Dutton family. Emily’s trusted friends Melanie, Vanessa and Monica were the only guests. Of course, her parents participated by buying the cake, ice cream, litter box, cat litter and assorted cat food.
Emily stopped stroking Tobias when she heard the familiar sounds of skates coming around the corner. Finally! Her buddies had arrived. And, it was about time.
"They’re here, Mom," Emily shouted to her mother as Melanie, Vanessa and Monica skated over to her.
"Hey! Where were you guys?"
"It’s a long story," Vanessa answered softly as she began stroking Tobias.
"We were looking at something," Monica added.
"Looking for what?" Emily shot back. "Just what were you guys looking at? Huh?"
"C’mon, we’ll just have to show you." Melanie said. "You won’t believe it."
"You girls be careful now," Emily’s mother cautioned from behind the screen door, "and stay off people’s lawns."
"We will, Mom," Emily acknowledged as the group began to skate down the block. "Be sure to watch Tobias for me, Mom," Emily yelled back.
"Come on, tell me. Just what were you guys looking at that took you so long?"
"You’ll see. C’mon!" Vanessa answered. "Just c’mon."
Emily and her friends skated down neighborhood streets lines with tall elm trees and beautifully landscaped lawns. Occasionally, they were greeted by dogs barking from behind locked gates.
"How ya, Mrs. Handy," Emily waved at an elderly neighbor sweeping her sidewalk.
"How you young gals doing?" The elderly woman replied while waving back.
"What are you guys gonna show me?" Emily again asked impatiently as they skated around a corner and headed down another tree lines street.
"Just c’mon. You’ll see," Vanessa responded, quickening her pace. "You’ll see."
"It ain’t much farther," Monica volunteered.
They finally came to a very small, nearly deserted neighborhood park.
"C’mon! Hurry up! We’re almost there!" Vanessa shouted out as she led the group down a small, winding path. After a few more moments, the group began to slow down.
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Book Details
About the Book
First of all, this is a work of historical fiction---one based loosely on the life and times of Harriet Tubman, the legendary conductor of the so-called Underground Railroad. At great personal risk, Tubman is credited with making numerous secret trips back into hostile slave states to free hundreds of frightened slaves.
Since the slaves were considered "valuable property" by slave owners, a large reward was posted for the capture of Tubman--- dead or alive! This meant she and her frightened group of runaways were constantly on the run from bounty hunters and angry slave owners.
Thanks to the mysterious powers of an old medallion from an aging homeless woman, two modem day youngsters-Emily Dutton and her friend, Melanie--are transported back into time to join Tubman and her terrified slaves on one such journey. They share the terrified group’s misery as they desperately flee through thunder storms, snake-infested swamps, ditches and cotton fields in search of safe houses that were a part of the Underground Railroad.
The young modem day girls are witness to the horrors of slavery as they experience hunger, observe beatings, and view brutal and inhumane slave auctions commonplace during the slavery era.
Indeed, readers will also feel as if they are actually along on the journey and experience the same horrific sensations as Emily and Melanie as they join the runaways’ frenetic dash for freedom.
About the Author
Joseph Dyer was born September 24, 1934, on a sharecropper’s plantation in Gilbert, Louisiana. (The author says the only thing he knows about Gilbert is how to spell it.) When he was two years old, the author’s parents moved to Bogalusa, Louisiana---a paper mill town--- where he and his three younger sisters were raised. His father died when Dyer was nine years old, forcing him to become "the little man of the house". That meant assisting his hearing-impaired mother with the younger sisters. That also meant working in the cotton fields to help supplement the meager welfare check.
When Dyer was about fifteen, his mother met and married a kindly man who worked at the local box factory. Things then got a little better at home. No more cotton fields. No more welfare checks. No more having to be the "little man of the house."
An all-state football player in high school, Dyer received a football scholarship to Xavier University in New Orleans. After getting a tooth knocked out and a rib cracked, Dyer decided to abandon football. He transferred to Grambling College (now Grambling State University) the following year to pursue his real ambition: drama. In high school he had garnered many awards for his acting and dramatic monologues. It was the same at Grambling. In fact, while at Grambling he starred alongside his drama professors in a college production of the Broadway hit, Death of a Salesman. Dyer played the role of Happy, one of the two sons to the fading old salesman, Willie Loman.
After he graduated from college, Dyer spent four years in the Air Force, serving for several years as editor of a base newspaper as well as the producer of a local Air Force public affairs television show, Scramble! Dyer maintains that "somebody up there kept positioning" him for that future job at CBS. While with the military, he won awards for his short stories, and regional and division talent show honors for his dramatic monologues. While stationed in Labrador, Dyer was named "Airman of the Month" twice and "Airman of the Year" once.
After leaving the Air Force in November 1961, Dyer worked a few years as a technical editor for Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It was during this period that he wrote a one-act play, The Cave, that was produced at the old Studio West workshop. It was at Studio West that he met another budding dramatist, Cassius Weathersby, who happened to be an activist with the Beverly Hills NAACP. It was Cassius who, impressed with Dyer’s previous media experience, convinced him to seek a position in news with one of the Los Angeles television stations. Dyer did--and made history.
In April 1965, Dyer became the first African -American journalist hired by a Los Angeles network owned and operated television station, KNXT (now KCBS). During his 30 years with the local CBS station, Dyer scored many historic ‘firsts’: the first African American promoted into the station’s senior management ranks; the first African-American department head; the first African American to broadcast station editorials. At one time, Dyer wrote, produced and hosted a half-hour public affairs broadcast, People’s Corner. He did this while still holding down his management position.
When Dyer retired in June 1995, he was credited with receiving some 185 awards for outstanding community service, including the prestigious Abe Lincoln Award from the Southern Baptists (for his citywide campaign for Sickle Cell Anemia) and the coveted Image Award from the Beverly Hills NAACP.
Dyer is married to the former Doris Dillon of McComb, Mississippi. They have four adult children: Monica, Karen, Kimberly and Joe Dyer III. They also have three grandchildren: Nicholas, Christian and Melanie.
Dyer is also a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, the oldest black fraternal group in the nation.