Blue

Blue is a crime, romance, and chase story set in southeast Missouri toward the later part of its swamp era during the summer of 1899. At age seven April sees her father murdered.Unable to deal with the shock her mind blocks it off and takes her ability to speak too. April grows up as an aphonic mute and another crisis at age seventeen allows her to deal with it and gets her ability to speak back. After that, it is only the problem of staying alive.

The Boss, Voss Shadburn, plans a farm swindle, switching the deed-wording for a good farm they show the victim to deed-wording for a piece of almost worthless swampland. During planning The Boss sees and wants April Barcroft, a seventeen year old aphonic mute nicknamed “Blue” that lost her ability to speak after seeing her father killed. Voss plans her kidnapping.

April is taken with Mark Vandermeyer, the local temporary Land Agent and so is he of her. The Boss’ plan is to kill Mark, get rid of his body, and let Vandermeyer be blamed.

Both the attempt at killing Mark and the kidnapping of Blue for The Boss’ evil purposes fail. Blue and Mark are warned and forced to flee. The Boss’ Swamper Gang tries for them at Blue’s home outside of Bird’s Point. Swampers hunt for them. Blue and Mark flee through Mississippi County, through Scott County, through Cape Girardeau County; and finally make good their escape in Bollinger County. In Marble Hill they take a St. Louis and Iron Mountain train north.

Story telling is more like braiding elements together than weaving a rug. The Historical Fiction story of Blue attempts to twist together into a single entity: [1] the story of April Barcroft and her family, [2] the laws effort to stop the Bird's Point land swindle. The United States Marshals know that another land swindle could happen in Southeast Missouri, reporting agents have been selected, and undercover officers are looking for needed information to stop and apprehend the swindlers, [3] the story of three swamp orphans—the Tarbex brothers being raised by the eldest brother Rueben, [4] the story of a retired riverboat Captain and his loyal first mate, and [5] the story about the swindlers and their victims.

The telling of these story elements fit most easily into an old, old form of numbered sections. Instead of summary or synopsis I have included at the end of my story and below a list of each numbered section with a sentence or two about it—an old kind of synopsis. The section lists used to be included at the front of each chapter but I have collected all and moved them to the back. Today's readers are not use to them and being in the back would be the least disruptive.