The Margin

A Family Heirloom Reveals A Secret.

Just after the Korean War, Fred Gray, a veteran and third-generation Oklahoma rancher, headed to the county courthouse to perform a land-record search on his property. In an old journal recording official events as far back as 1893, Fred found a handwritten drawing next to an entry made by his grandfather around the turn of the 20th century. He was curious about the drawings, but then marriage came, children were born and raised, and a living had to be made.

Fifty years later, Fred asks the county clerk to make a copy of that journal page so he can study it more closely. He remembered a story his grandfather told him when he was a child, and although the years dulled the specifics of his grandfather s tale, he recalled it involved a family heirloom, a single gold candle stick. The candle stick, his grandfather Jeremiah s story and the drawing come together to reveal a 400 year old secret that pulls the rancher and his family into a succession of mysterious and terrifying events.