Morning Star

Morning Star
Prologue

Phelps Kansas
April 23, 1947
Part 1


The crash of the screen door, raced through the house like a shotgun blast. Loud footsteps tromped through the entrance hallway, waking the sleeping cat contently napping on the steam radiator. The footsteps stopped and the room fell still. Only the sound of the rain tapping on the tin shed outside broke the silence. In thecenter of the room stood a terrified young man, dripping water on the floor and shaking from the cold. For a moment, the room was quiet and the cat laid its head back down, squeezing its eyes shut for another nap.
"Mother!" screamed the boy from the kitchen. "Mother help! Dad’s been hurt!"
The stillness was again broken, but this time by the sound of hurried, muffled footsteps from above. Helooked up and listened to the footsteps scrambling from the upstairs bedroom, across the hallway and down the staircase. The door swung open at the bottom of the staircase striking the wall behind. His mother entered the kitchen and stood, panicked, winded and wide-eyed. Before her stood a boy of fifteen years of age, soaked from head to toe, and covered in mud. His horrified mother looked into hiseyes perceived his fear, and hot lead shot through her veins.
"What is it Jesse?" she asked. It was hard for her to remain calm.
"It’s Pa!" he cried. "The tractor rolled him over and he’s stuck underneath!"
She stared at him in disbelief, lost in the moment of confusion, keeping her eyes riveted to his.
"Is he alright?" she asked. Her hands began to tremble, and she tingled all over.
"I don’tknow," he replied. " He looks real bad, you need to call the sheriff," he cried, "And the neighbor’s." The boy looked out the window at the storm. He was lost in a daze. " I need to get back out there," he said with a tremble in his voice.
"Go!" his mother, yelled at him. "Do what you can, I’ll get help!"
He scrambled back out of the kitchen letting the screen door slam behind him. Quickly, hedashed through the front gate, through the mud, to his pick-up truck idling outside the house. He opened the door and jumped inside slamming the door shut behind him.
His mother ran to the phone and turned the crank until the operator came on the line.
"Central, how may I place your call?" the operator asked.
"I need the sheriff!" she cried. "My husband’s been in an accident!"
"Hold the line andI will connect you," the operator replied.
Depressing the clutch, the boy shifted the truck into gear and spun out on the mud-covered driveway. His hands gripped the steering wheel tight, and his heart began to race as he turned the corner, heading towards the barn. The windshield wiper swished back and forth clearing the rain from his view, and he strained to keep control of the vehicle on thesoft ground. The boy passed the woodshed and drove to the barn.
He slid to a halt, put on the brake, and jumped out of the truck letting it idle on the muddy roadway. His first steps were uneasy, slipping on the rain soaked ground finding it difficult to balance. Steadying himself, he ran to the tool shed attached to the hay barn. Once inside, he pushed aside a wheelbarrow and knocked overseveral pitchforks in attempting to locate a section of tow chain that he knew was buried under a pile of sheet metal stored inside.
Pushing an oil barrel aside, he located the chain under a pile of rusted machine parts and gripped it firmly. He stood and pulled hard. The chain dislodged abruptly from under the pile knocking him off balance, knocking him to the ground. He reached up to get a grip onthe workbench, and cut his hand on a sharp edge of angle iron. With no time to waste, he gathered the chain into his arms and lifted.
The chains’ massive weight strained his shoulders and back and its length was awkward to control. Scrambling to his feet, he darted out into the rain and lifted the chain into the back of the truck. The liquid steel mass of chain landed with the rattle of a...