Bohlin, Carl N.

English

Digital Commons @ Butler University

64Connor's Pondby Carl N. Bohlin...And their bodies were never found."Thepennies were plunked into the water, one, two, three ...They tumbledover and over and over, washed clean and sinking fast. Hank watched asthey fell deeper and deeper until they were out of sight. A single tear wasbeginning to freeze on his pale cheek. He sniffed deeply the cold Decemberair and thought to himself who would be next. Who would Conner's ponddevour this year? For it was 1987,and so far there had been no reports ofmissing children or anyone from Bristol for that matter. It seemed like alottery in Bristol for those who remembered the headlines. To have twentyyears of peace the pond needed to be fed and fed and fed ...Bymid-December the Conner's pond had finally frozen over. Usually itwas frozen by late November. Evidently, this year's winter was a littlemilder than those of the past. Bristol was a ski resort town that thrivedduring the colder months of the year. Without low temperatures therewould be no snow, and with no snow there would be no tourism, andwithout tourism Bristol would be in a world of hurt. It would becomedepressed as it had back in' 47 when one of the warmest winters on recordprovided only three weeks of snowfall. And it wasn't spread out. It carne inone big dump and melted away in one big rush. 1947's heat wave wasn't theonly reason Bristol was depressed, however.The ice on the pond was approximately a foot thick in most spots, butseveral signs were posted around it warning skaters to be extra cautious andnever to skate alone. It was no joke. There had been incidents in the pastwhere people had drowned due to skating on the thin ice of Conner's pond.Old man Simpson, who had lived in Bristol all his life had some verypersonal ties toConner's pond. He didn't get around much anymore, but hismemory was still as sharp as it was nearly 60years ago. He was trusted andrespected throughout the small community, yet he mainly kept to himselfnowadays. Back in the early to mid 40's he was quite an athlete, winningmedals in down-hill skiing and speed skating.manuscripts 65His personal ties to the pond began back in '47 when he lost a brother inan accident. He apparently drowned in the icy depths of Conner's pondwhen he was walking home from school. Itwas slightly dark out because ofthe season and deciding to take a short-cut across the pond would turn outto be the last decision he'd ever make. His tracks were followed in the snowand matched the pair that Hank had on. Old man's real name wasHank. ..Hank Simpson. When he and his brother were boys and neededshoes, their mother would buy the boys the same brand of sneakers from thesame store. They were pretty much the same age, Scotty being two yearsyounger. Hank was 17at the time, Scotty -15. His tracks ended at themiddle of the pond where there was a patch of cracked thin ice. Ithad ~nshattered and the fragments were slowly freezing over the next mornmgwhen the Simpsons were out looking for Scotty. He was alone when he fellin because there weren't any other tracks. His body was never found ...Although it seemed his brother was dead, Hank always believed he wasin a better place. Skating was always a sport that drew the two brotherscloser together. In fact, the bond was so great that Hank vowed never toskate again. Itwas a tragedy that changed Hank's whole outlook on lif~.Theworld was turning rotten, it seemed. The days of a care-free wl~ter-wo~derland ~ere being replaced by commercial capitalism. ,Thetown uved~or ~t, and so dtd the rest of the country. Hank could find nothing but sad~essIn life, Itdepressed him to see that the times had changed. But some thingsnever changed. The pond was still there and it still scared the old man. Itwasthe one thing Simpson did not trust.. That was a long time ago, and hardly anyone remembered it. ..except ~eSlmpsons, of course. Hank turned his frustrations into energy by workingon his skiing. He excelled at it.But there were other instances that took place on Conner's pond. In 1967th~re was another mysterious drowning accident. The headline of theBnstol c:azette read as follows: "Conner's Pond drowning victimslost ...bodies never found. Police suspect foul play." Flipping through hisscrapbook, Hank Simpson ran back through time. This was the second timethe pond had struck the community.It was the summer of '67, and there was a drinking party going on at anearby barn-bash. Two young kids somewhere around 18 or 19 decided togo for a late night swim over at the Conner's pond. A small raft was floatingin the middle of the water. Itwas made out of two-by-fours and 4 large oildrums. Joe remembered the raft while watching a bonfire coming out of thedrum outside the barn. He asked Lisa if she would join him. Lisa trusted Joeand agreed to take him up on his offer for the swim,66The two of them walked over the field and into the next acre to find thepond. Joe enticed Lisa into taking her clothes off for the swim by taking hisown off and jumping in. She was a little drunk at the time and proceedeq tofollow Joe's example. Needless to say, nothing physical happened betw~nthem except for some innocent kissing and hugging underneath the taft.Although nothing ever happened between them, something did happe~ tothem. Their clothes were found near some shrubs the next day by a gr<Jupof kids who were coming to the pond to go swimming. Neither Joe nor l.isawere heard from again. The police dragged the pond three times, but ~tiIlwithout any sign of the couple.On the opposite page of his photo album was a picture of his brotherScotty, along with an older clipping from 1947: "Simpson boy lost in the icydepths of Conner's Pond." Time was the only healer that ever hel~Bristol. People grew up, or moved away. Generations carne and W~nt.Stories and rumors floated around but never really amounted to much. Theonly real historian on the subject was Old Man Simpson, and he dicl.n'tappreciate being bothered by the memory of his lost brother or by thetragedy of the missing swimmers. Hank slammed the scrapbook shut qndstood up. Scotty's birthday was coming up in a few days and it would be tha ttime again for Hank to go to the pond and rope the pennies in.He'd been throwing in a penny for Scotty every year for the past fortyyears. The two kids from the 60's had been part of the ritual for the Pasttwenty. Since nobody's body was ever recovered, this was one of the Ohlyways that Hank would brave the ice of the pond and walk out to the middlewhere he would cut a hole as if to ice-fish. He would then drop the penl'\:iesinto the hole. The first penny, for Scotty, was dated 1947 D. The other twowere dated 1967 S. They were for Joe and Lisa."Scotty, my brother, what happened to you," the Old Man said as thebreath steamed from his lips. "What is it about this cursed pond that su~kspeople up every 20years? Where do they go? What becomes of them? Datnnthis pond!!!" he shouted out. His voice was carried away and was droppedoff somewhere else. Nobody heard it, or so it seemed. Old Man Simpson wasnot afraid. He felt safe being there, for he understood somehow that thepond needed three this time and that he would not be taken, alone."Hey Old Man! Whatcha doin? Did you catch anything yet? Yeah ...wewant to fish too." The voices from behind startled Hank and made his heartskip a beat. Hot air steamed out from his lungs. His mouth was wide openas he fell to his knees. "Hey are you all right?" Two young kids - a boy anda girl - ran to the aid of the old man. He began to wave his hands madlyin the air.'--_-------------------- manuscripts 67IIGo back! get away ..." the words could barely leave his lips. The childrendid not hear him and finally reached out to touch the old man. It was too late,the ice began to crack and terror began to fill their young and innocent eyes.~'Tlte ice is breaking!! Quick! Run! The ice is breaking!!" As the words beganto 5ink into their tiny little heads, the ice had given way and the three of them~an to feel the cold water soaking into their clothing. Their bodies werenoW submerged under the water level of Conner's pond.fie whole time Hank felt as if he were re-living his brother's death. Thefreezing chill that the water gave, the pain in his chest expanding, and thepity for the two small children was great. As they approached the bottomof the pond it was like they were falling in slow-motion from an airplane.'flteir arms were suspended by the water and air bubbles were beginning toe;cape from their mouths. Their hair waved upwardly as they descendeddeeper. The strange thing was that it was not getting darker as they sank, butlighter. The pressure on Hank's head began to hurt and he was not sure ifit was pure hallucination or actual fact at this point. What did it matter, theywere drowning and would all be dead soon.The water was cold and they were now sinking deeper and deeper at anuncontrollable rate. It was as if something were pulling them through thedepths of the pond. Unknowingly, they were nearing another surface thata.ppeared to be on the bottom of the Conner's pond. Itwas still unclear toBank now, but the pond seemed to have a small opening on the muddybOttom like an open window in which the water from Conner's pond wasveing sucked out through. Suddenly, the three of them were also suckedthrough the window and the warmth of the fresh, new water was a relief{rom the icy depths of the first pond. They all could see the reflections ofpalm trees and bright sunshine through the clearing water. Finally theywere pushed out as if they were dolphins, jumping with their powerful tails.They landed back in the water in what appeared to be another world. Theywere breathing. They were alive. Itwas warm.The threesome swam their way to the shore of the pond and dried them-selves in the sunshine. A man approached them from the woods."Welcome to the new world, my friends. You have all been chosen. Youare fresh. You are reborn. Welcome to paradise. Welcome my brother,Henry ..."Hank stood up. The sand was sticking to his clothes. "Scotty? Is it reallyyou? This cannot be true. I've dreamt of this. I've dreamt of dying and seeingyou again. Are we ...?""Dead? ..No, not exactly. You've simply passed through ...passedthrough another dimension. It's quite comfortable, though. I think you'llfind it very nice in fact. Please, follow me. There are others I'd like for youall to meet," Scotty explained.68The immigrants marched down the shoreline following Hank's brother.They staggered with almost every step. Itwas quiet and peaceful. The gentletide could be heard as it washed the shore's pathway for the three newcom-ers."Henry, I've been waiting for this day for a very long time, yet all alongI knew it would happen. It was inevitable. In fact, it would have even beenyou back in' 47. We were always a lot alike, Henry. This world needs peoplelike you and I.Once you've been here long enough, you'll know when it'stime to check the ponds for those from the other world," Scotty."But we don't want to be here!!" demanded the young girl."You have been chosen. Please consider yourselves lucky to have this op-portunity," replied Scotty."NO!!!" the other one screamed. He began to run back to the pond, tryingto jump back in. He was in hysterics. Henry watched as his brother ran afterhim. He caught up to him in the 3-foot range and brought him ashore. Theyall walked to the dry sand and sat down. Henry stood back to listen. Scottyexplained to everyone the idea behind the new world. The young boy Wasstill breathing hard."Look, you cannot go back! The window only opens every 20 years."Scotty looked them all in the eye."He's right boys," Hank nodded to Scotty. "The pond took Scotty whenhe was 15,andittook two more in 1967. It's 1987now and the three of us arehere. It now waits for four more, but not until 2007. It's a curse that we haveno control over." said Hank.But it was not a curse, as Scotty explained. The new world was just likethe old world. It had blue skies and warm breezes. It had plenty of food andexisted in peace and harmony. Itwas neither heaven nor hell. Itwas anotherdimension - the only differences being that there were no deceitfUlgovernments, no tainted religions, no rent to pay, and no wars to fight ...onlyparadise to enjoy. They had all been reborn and would soon be learning thepure trust which acted as law in the new world.-.____------------- manuscripts 69They were led to a beautiful village near the edge of the woods wheremany people were seen wandering about and working on their land. Theywere welcomed by Joe and Usa. Hank was still in shock. He gasped as heshook their hands. The six of them then proceeded up a path to find thestatue. Ahead in a circular clearing stood a great, white, marble statue of adove. On the base of the statue was an engraved message which read,"World peace, in a world where pure trust in the goodness of mankind isgiven in the hearts of all, for the pond will not accept those who will abide.The windows will shut down on the non-trusted.""Scotty, what does aU of this mean?" askedHank."It simply means that we have aU been caUed for. We are here to startagain what had, unfortunately, become an unsafe and unhealthy world. Its~rts no,,:. It starts here. Ours is not the only pond. There are others withwmdows Just the same. We love it here and would not want to go back foranything. We trust you will feel the same way in 2007. By then you will feelhonored to be here and not in a world which no longer exists.70

Connor\u27s Pond

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Connor\u27s Pond

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