AMONGST THE SILENT PINES
Murder And Greed, The Color Greens, Is All She Needs.
~ A Story About Murder And Greed~
Illustartions Sketched and Painted By: Vickie Hurtt~Thayer
~This is a hurttwor`x fiction novel~
_____________Copyright © Vickie Thayer | Year Posted 2018_______________
PROLOGUE: Josephine Marla Joseph was born a wicked soul. As a child she abused her siblings, as a teenager she did unthinkable things to her brother and their pets and as an adult she was involved in crimes with her fiance Forest Oliver Lake (including murder). JoJo (her nickname given to her by her fiance Forest) had a masterful way of manipulating people to get what she wanted from them, even if it required murder, even if it meant murdering her own family members. I was her sister (I disowned her). This is the story of how I discovered her dirty deeds and the consequences of being forth coming.
~poem and painting by: Vickie Jean Hurtt-Thayer~ (This is a hurttwor`x fiction novel).
1. (Chapter One)
WHERE LIFE BEGAN
My nightmare shook me into consciousness, I laid there for a few minutes (in the sweat, that had swaddled my fear as I slept). Why did I continuously have the same dream? My mother was calling me from her grave as well as my sister and my grandparents. Their hands sticking out from the dirt beneath beautiful pine trees. They call for me over and over "Justine, Justine, help us."
I was born in the winter of 1968. The winter's in the town of Stillwater, Minnesota are snowy and harsh. My brother James and my little sisters, Josephine and Jenna followed me in lineage. The four little Josephs is what our father, Jonathan called us. Our father was a logger and worked at the sawmill in St. Croix. He often returned home after a few days working at the mill smelling like the trees that are native to the state of Minnesota: balsam firs, black spruces, eastern hemlocks, junipers and my favorite tree, the eastern white pine.
Our mother, Juanita Joseph, always said Father made the house smell like christmas year round. Mother had a quirky side to her, like giving all her children names that started with J's.
Our home was a modest log style home. We had running water and all the modern conveniences for daily living. I guess you could say our home was comfortable. We also had a barn and several live stock animals, including horses. It was the four little Joseph's that carried out the daily chores to sustain the well being of the animals. We had to feed them, brush them and turn their beds with fresh hay. Father watered and bathed them and hauled the hay on one of his logging trucks. It was "too dangerous," Father would say, for his children to load hay into the loft of the barn. Father always told us when we got older we could help load the hay high up into the loft.
In the summers we helped with gardening and in the fall reaped the rewards from our hard labors. Mother Joseph often made delicious meals from the bounty of food that we grew.
We all went to school in town. My sister Josephine had trouble at school, the teacher told Mother that she would not listen and often started squabbles with the other children. This would just be the beginning of the nightmare for our family. 
2. (Chapter Two)
SAPLINGS
"Josephine!" mother called, "where are you?" there was no answer. "Justine, go find your sister!" mother said with an intonation of frustration. I knew exactly where she was, but I did not say a word to Mother as I trotted off to the back side of the house. Josephine had been planting a row of sapling pines behind the wood shed. She got the pines here and there from Father ( he'd bring them home after a day logging in the forest, sometimes they would be near death). I never told Mother what she had been up to, I was the only one who knew and of course Father knew too, because he gave the pine saplings to her.
I watched as Josephine dug another hole and planted a sapling. She said a few words over the small weak pine and ran off towards Mother's frustrated voice. "Josephine Marla Joseph, I need you now" she hollered (I stayed behind as Josephine ran off towards Mother's voice) she did not see me as she rushed by.
Lying on the ground was a small trowel that Josephine had used to dig up the earth, for the saplings. "What is this?"... I asked myself as I picked up the trowel, it was crusted over. On the bottom of the trowel was a dark colored substance, it covered the handle as well. I scrapped the substance and it fell into small pieces into my hand. I placed the small scrappings into my pocket and headed back to the house. As I was nearing the house I saw a small bit of grey fur blowing around on top of the freshly cut grass. It's probably from a rabbit, squirrel or cat, I thought to myself. Sometimes late at night especially on a warm summers night...when my window was cracked for fresh air... I could hear the coyotes, owls and an occasional wolf howling. I was certain a small animal had met its demise, "poor little thing," I said under my breath as I entered the house.
After I entered into the house I heard Mother raising her voice at Josephine. She was saying something about a beautiful ring that her Mother had given to her that was missing from her keepsake box. "I didn't take it!" Josephine said. Mother seemed uncertain to capitulate. Josephine was fourteen years old and knew better, if she indeed had taken Mother's ring. Josephine ran off to her bedroom and slammed the door.
When supper time came around and after Father had arrived home (he had a hard days work at the sawmill) my little brother James and sister Jenna walked into the kitchen, right into Father's waiting arms, he hugged and kissed them, then we all sat down at the table for supper. "Where is Josephine?" Father asked. "In her room" my little brother (who was nearly seven years of age) answered. "She was bad" Jenna obligingly replied. Father did not say a word, he figured that Mother had sent her to her room for good reason. "Well now, lets pray and eat, I'm starved!" Father said.
I stuck my hand into my pocket to retrieve my napkin. When I pulled the napkin out there was a dark red stain that had soiled it. Then I remembered the crusty substance from the trowel, that I had placed in my pocket earlier in the day. "What happened Justine?" Mother asked, "did you get another nose bleed today?" I sometimes was subjected to nose bleeds, during allergy seasons. " Uh, yep"...I replied and willingly lied. I really can't say why I lied, but I think it was because I wanted to investigate without my parents intervention.
After supper we all had chores that were a daily rouitine. James scrapped the left overs (which usually were very few, because Mother was such a good cook) into the compost crock, that was then taken out back. It was Josephine who was supposed to take the crock to the compost pile that was out behind the shed and turn it with a pitch fork into the already huge pile of leaves, scraps and soil. It was being made into future fertilizer for the garden and Mother's flower beds. But Josephine was still saulking in her room with her door shut and her supper was now going to be scrapped into the compost pile.
Jenna and I were to clear the table and do the dishes, so our mother could take a much needed break. She had not been feeling well lately and she tired easily. "I will take the crock out back"...I volunteered quickly. I really needed an excuse to go out back and try and figure out what Josephine was doing back there, behind the shed, all the time. I then remembered the red stained napkin in my pocket, I picked up my pace.
3. (Chapter Three)
THE MOON HOLDS SECRETS
As I entered the yard, the moon was already casting an ominous shadow over the house, it was full, so I didn't need my flash light.
We lived on a good bit of land, so the walk to the compost pile (that was next to the shed) was long, yet very refreshing. I could smell the aroma from the kitchen and our delicious supper still permeating into the night air. The grass had already started to moisten from the cool summer night's dew and I nearly slipped as I made haste to the shed.
I suddenly stopped, as I cornered the side of the shed a large shadowy figure was casted across the lawn, it was coming from the horse barn. However It was not a horse or cow or any other animal figure, it looked to be a person. I hid behind a huge maple tree that was in full summer bloom. The leaves swayed in the gentle breeze as if they were setting the stage for an eerie play. I also had the bloody napkin, still in my pocket, which made my fears even worse. I watched and listened as the figure disappeared to the back side of the barn. While I stood there frozen from fear, I noticed that the dew on the grass gave away my foot prints, that were coming from the house. to where I presently stood, the moon casting a soft light on them and making them visible.
Then silence...dead silence, even the leaves were now silent and had stopped swaying. I could barely hear my breath as it left my mouth as I gasped from surprise. I saw my sister Josephine along with a young man walking to the shed with an animal. It looked like a rabbit, I could see its long ears dangling towards the grass as it was carried by its back feet.
I then saw the young man running off towards the wooded side of our property, as he disappeared into the night I felt an eerie feeling as if s0meone was still there. The moon hid behind a large mass of dark clouds, then everything went pitch black. "I wish I had brought my flashlight." I whispered to myself, my breath leaving my quivering lip. I waited for a few minutes for the dark clouds to pass and for the moon to once again light the way for me. While I was waiting I heard someone whispering in the night air..."your dead, you hear me?...your dead." I turned towards the voice and there was no one there.
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