Jewells of Thought

Days later some things really started heating up. Only I didn’t realize it until noontime on either Thursday or Friday. This is when we first heard Bear Run Mine was closed. Noontime family meals all run together because cooking in the kitchen gets really hot. So which day I heard what goes in one ear and out the other apparently.

What I do know is that like others watching the news at noontime with their meals we heard of the closing and of the reason they were closed. Which day that was most likely was Friday, but my mind keeps going back and forth with Thursday. My niece was on Fall Break that week and that probably helped to jumble my memories a little bit. However, another teenager staying with my brother since Wednesday enlightened us on Saturday with some facts.

We live out in the country, the song by Little Big Town, ‘Boondocks’ that pretty much sums us up out here. We live on country roads, yeah that means rock roads; the ones that don’t allow you to ever have a clean car. My brother lives in the spot where our family used to live in a different trailer. So we didn’t notice what the girls and apparently boys did, day after day, from Wednesday to days later.

Like I said before Lyons is a ways away from us, but multiple paths we know well. Never in the nearly 40 years of living here have I heard of such a thing happening so close to our family and near our property. So Thursday was the day the Mine closed due to finding the evidence. Still my family didn’t know where or why this all happened. Yet the Mine is literally two roads away from us. We don’t call our road the ‘Mine Road’ for nothing.

Saturday my Dad and brother finally had a night off from work. Unfortunately, even with having our girl around those weekends they end up having to work their late shifts on Saturday nights which of course she doesn’t like. She wants her time with her Daddy and Papaw. So we got to go to Spring Mill with her and her friend/cousin and this was their first time at this iconic State Park. It was during this time that both teenagers told us the police cars had been using the ‘Mine Road’ every day since Wednesday. One car several cars each day. Of course when this older girl spotted them I’m certain her younger brothers heard her. Sunday night as I watched all of these kids he was worried about this man the police was looking for and I was the only adult who could assure and comfort him that the man was in fact in custody.

There are two specific spots for this forgive me for this lack of a better term but dump for this pervert’s evidence. Both are along roads we use or did use quite a bit and can be used when absolutely necessary when there is a train stalled on the track. It’s our other back door to Greene County when the train track is not working or stalled as I said it’s rather handy to have when we need to get home or go into town.

My mom used to walk these country roads by herself while we were all in school and even I have walked alone on these roads at times. This was back when I could walk on the rock easier, my foot injuries from Walmart made us change our walking routine. We used to walk for an hour then 40 minutes and lately I can’t even go that far we are literally done to 5 minutes until I can see Dr. Parmenter again on Monday. Perhaps for once I can take my injuries as a blessing that we altered our walking routine when we did. In the back of my mind one of these spots that could be the drop off where we personally walked had more than once come through my mind what if something could happen at this specific location.

These are just my thoughts and opinions from the past couple of weeks after seeing the facts come together. Finding out that something so horrible could happen so close to my family has brought about a lot of emotions. Plus dealing with children teenagers down to a one year old and their mixed reactions to the police cars and man being hunted down in our neighborhood. These kids have not had the youth I had being cocooned by both sides of my family and going to church 3 times a week. They have experienced heartbreak and things I don’t fully comprehend. Then to add to that this was hard for me to entangle myself, let alone for them Sunday evening.

My heart just really breaks for this young lady and pray that God will give her strength and a way to healthily find peace. Hopefully family will be her comfort and solace during these first days weeks and months ahead.