Hermit Shack
A Jericho Book
by
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“And it clues me to reason that the deceased may be alive and living in Kentucky. I’ll go back to the courthouse looking for a Russell senior and a Russell junior.” “Yes Ma’am. Me and cousin Miah are unofficial deputies from Michigan. We’re here to learn about Big Foot that was here when you were younger like Miah and me. I’m Hi. What is your name?” “Beulah. These dew berries ain’t nobody’s.” She moved the pail to her front and bent to pick more of the large black dew berries, each berry surrounded by very briary vine. “Ain’t nobody’s.” “Yes, Ma’am. You are right to pick um. When you were half your age a Big Foot struck a revival tent over at Victory.” “Were a man, no Big Foot. Some mad Yankee from north. Burned the tent and nigh killed us folks.” In the distance they could hear the cruiser siren wailing and knew it’d be Sergeant Detective Fanny Gillespie on her way. They ran from the hermit shack venue on a bee line for Mrs. Woods’ yard. Fanny skidded to a stop as they approached. “F . . . F . . .” They were puffing too hard to speak clearly. “Fanny, please c . . . come,” Luisa puffed. “We’ve found Roy.”
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About the Book
The epicenter of the story takes place in southern rural Michigan. Some Cub Scouts discovered human bones in a gravel pit. The team of Sheriff Wayne Puller, Deputy Jack Trip and Sergeant Detective Fanny Gillespie is augmented by Kent County Deputy Clydis Groner and Deputies Edith and Harold James along with Platt family children and other family members. Their old dog named Sniffer manages to uncover many of the clues that help resolve the mystery. Although fiction, the story is set into events of actual history including the war in Viet Nam and beginning of foreign oil importing by the United States. One character is Uncle Helio Outhe, an Athabascan Indian truck driver from Alaska who makes a stand favoring the use of our own oil and of the Alaskan pipeline. Helio with his wife Anna Mae [Groner] Outhe participates with others of the family in softening Grandma’s pain over the recent loss of Clarence, her beloved husband. The huge white Outhe camper pulled by a Mack truck was designed in part to give Grandma competing thoughts to occupy her mind. The camper hauled the Michigan deputies on an adventure into Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky in quest of clues to resolve not only the murder but also to include historical stops to enjoy Annie Oakley, John Dillinger, and Big Foot. A Big Foot hunt in company with real mountain men provides humor and adventure eventually culminating in Mr. General being handcuffed to his potbelly stove due to his unfortunate grasp of Grandma out in the Big Foot woods. Along the way traveled by the camper or a squad car the deputies discover some history of the Wabash Cannonball and of Amtrak and of a baby carriage dating from 1905. The carriage is restored in time to become a prize possession of an adopted three-year-old maiden with a happy face and a stack of golden curls. In another adventure encountered while on trip carrying the bones previously found by the Cub Scouts in the gravel pit, a group of deputies encounter a lady picking dewberries and she tells them of a mad Yankee, not a Big Foot, that burned their revival tent. Home finally to Leadford, Michigan, granddaughter Hulda Sunshine James in taking her turn caring for Grandma is awakened to find Grandma scalded by coffee in an eerie darkened kitchen with the blue flame of the oil burner ghosting hotly the steam wreathing the prone figure of Grandma on the floor screaming for God to let her see Clarence. Hulda soon found that her Grandma’d been awakened before dawn by a hungry Robin. “That darned old Robin,” Hulda exclaimed. “I’m going to get up early tomorrow and tend to that bird.” Meanwhile back in Manitou Prairie Nathan and Luisa Platt had found their way into the Hermit Shack venue seeking the last clues in resolution of the Hermit Shack mystery. In the distance they hear the siren of Detective Sergeant Fanny’s ornate police cruiser cracking the evening air on a streak toward the Platt couple standing with pounding hearts out at the Hermit Shack.
About the Author
Mr. Platt enjoyed his first writing success in grade school, discovering that he could entertain by reading aloud the story he’d written. Some of those stories have found their way into the prose of his ten novels, referred to as his Jericho Books. He’s written the books since his retirement after thirty-one years a professor. While a professor he published many articles in the scientific press and he served eleven years as the National Editor of an annual scientific periodical. More recently he became the Jubilant Professor writing for a weekly entertainment magazine where he could use a twist of humor while explaining serious science. Mr. Platt was reared in a protestant family and presently enjoys church membership. During his youth he enjoyed tramping the miles of forest and streams in his neighborhood where he and his cohorts were sure Indians still roamed. He enjoyed tramping as much as he marveled at mighty trucks, chugging trains, and spunky aircraft. Indians, trucks, trains, and aircraft have plumped out numerous of his stories. He recently sold his share in a Piper Cherokee after cleaving the skies taking in air shows, airport fly-ins, and or in just plain flying for the magic of it. With gusto he fires up his antique backhoe to continue landscaping their home four acres into ponds, and into leafy lanes and bridges suitable for golf cart navigation. He sees the work of God about him every day and can’t cease partaking of grandeur freely given by The Maker. He shares the home four acres with Helen his wife of fifty-four years. They reared two boys and two girls. The children have gone on to careers but return a smidgen of youth to old bones with each return visit, that smidgen made mighty by four grand children who take turns at the helm of the fringe-topped golf cart. Children play key roles in all of the Jericho Books just as they are key players in the fulfillment of life for Grandma and Grandpa Platt.