A Tale of a little Boy who looked death in the face
I grew up along the mighty Wabash River in the state of Indiana, when I was 10 I started delivering Newspapers after school. I had about 100 papers to deliver every day come rain, snow, sleet or hail. I had saddle bags and a basket on the front of my bike and I also carried a paper delivery bag around my waste to hold all my papers. I covered approximately a five mile area and it was hard work for a young boy. I lived on what was called the North River Road which ran all along the length of the river, it was basically a flat road except on each end there was a big hill I had to go up. When I would get done delivering my papers I would usually stop down by the river to skip rocks on the water. Sometime I would hang out at a park which was at the end of the route. But on this particular day I decided to take a ride down this dirt lane that led down to the river.
When I got down to the end of the lane I noticed a car parked over by the edge of the water and it looked like two people sitting in the car. I rode my bike passed the car and waved at them and did not get a response back. So I rode on down to the water and skipped rocks on the water for awhile until I got tired. I finally decided that I had better head home as I had some home work from school that I needed to do.
On my way out I decided to ride by those people once again, but for some reason (I don’t know why) I decided to stop by their car and say hello to them. When I got up close I could see something red on the windshield area. Once I got up beside them I could tell that it was blood, as I looked into the car a woman was leaning up against the passenger window with blood all over her face, this really scared me and as I looked at the driver he was leaning over the steering wheel with blood all over him as well, It seemed as if his eyes were stareing right at me. I could also see a pistol laying on the seat between them. I knew at that point that they were dead, so I headed home as fast as I could pedal. Our house was about a mile down the road, I was so exhausted by the time I got home, and I ran upstairs screaming for my dad, he came running out as he thought that I was hurt. I proceeded to tell him what I seen and at first he didn’t believe me, but finally he grabbed the phone and called the state police. My dad and I then got in our car and drove down to that lane and waited for the police to arrive.
It wasn’t long before we heard the sirens coming and the police drove up and we told them where the car was at. In a short while an officer came out to get information from me and we were told that it looked like a double suicide. We finally left there and headed back home and the next day in the newspaper (there it was) it said that a man and woman had been found dead in a car parked by the river. Apparently the man shot his wife and then shot himself. I had nightmares for days after that. I could see the man’s eyes staring at me with the blood all over his face. And that was the first time in my life that I looked death in the face, a sight I can never forget.
(c) S. Weathers 2010
