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Category: Suspense/Thriller/Young Adult
Description: In the summer of 1983, Danny Brent and his two best friends share an adventure that bonds them together well into adulthood. Now, for the first time in almost thirty years, Danny is telling his story about his brief encounter with the Goatman, how he saved his life, and what happens afterwards.
eBook Publisher: SynergEbooks, 2011 SynergEbooks
eBookwise Release Date: July 2011

Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [409 KB]
Words: 105209
Reading time: 300-420 min.
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

PRELUDE

It was the summer of 1983, and I thought I knew everything...as I suppose all kids do when they're young. They find out when they look back, though -- which they tend to do as they grow older -- that they really knew nothing...or at least, next to nothing. I was thirteen years old in 1983. Like most kids at that age, I was under the incorrect assumption that I had quite a bit of worldly experience. I had even travelled to a couple of tropical islands with my parents on vacations, something that no other kids in my neighborhood had done. It was only after the little adventure that the three of us had that summer that I realized how naive I really was.

I suppose there comes a time in life when you can look back and pinpoint that exact time when you felt you became an adult. For some people, it's when they got laid for the first time. That's the common answer for boys. Or perhaps it's graduating high school or college, maybe even getting your first full-time job. For others, it's getting married or, beyond that, finding out that you're soon going to be a parent. Those are normal situations that come when a person is better equipped to handle it, more or less. Although some things people are never able to handle, no matter how old they are.

For me, though, it was in 1983, when we were all thirteen years old and I encountered the Goatman.

It was summer, and like any teenage boy who was getting a break from the terrorist organization that is known as school, I was as happy as a boy could be. I was living in Corpus Christi, Texas, and I have to say it was pretty nice. Most kids usually say that they can't stand where they live, and as soon as they're old enough, they're going to move away to a better place--preferably without parents in tow. Some of the places usually mentioned are California or New York, maybe even Miami. There are some kids who are even more creative and say that they're going to move to somewhere in Europe, Paris being a very common answer. But no, Corpus Christi was fine with me, at least for then. Nobody ever knows what life has in store for them, but I was perfectly happy where I was in my life at that time.

My grades were actually pretty good that year, and I didn't have to attend summer school, which would have been a fate worse than death. It killed me merely to think that while all my friends were out having a good time, I might be sitting in class doing the same old thing that, in a world with any justice in it whatsoever, should have been against the law during the summer. That's what I think, at least. That's what most kids think. Ask them.

It makes me wonder, though: If things had turned out differently and I had gone to summer school, I might never have gotten the worst shock of my young life and grown up a lot faster than I had to. On the other hand, it was also a good thing because eventually all the missing kids were safely returned home. I guess I will never know. Anyway, this has been on my mind lately, and I suppose I should tell you all about it and see what you think.