“My forehead leaned against the damp windowpane, beaded with condensation from the cool, early-October night pressing up against it like a heavy conscience.”

Sure, you’d think something like that would be hard to forget, but damn, it all fades so fast. You see, I need to remember. I need to write it down. I need to record it. Just in case. And maybe, just maybe, in the telling, and the asking; the reliving of the pain of that Fall, I’ll remember what keeps me up nights.

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapter 1 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Background music: Star of County Down by Jonathan Greer
Exit music: Grey Shadow by Adrian Berenguer}

Billy and his Uncle John spend the morning in the hayfield with Pops and Peters until they are interrupted by a police car passing by on its way to an unsettling scene and the mysterious girl who discovered it.

“Suddenly, a shrill sound began to overpower the steady chorus of nature. I turned back to the road to see a Jefferson County Sheriff cruiser speeding by and disappearing beyond the tree line towards the creek, a fire truck right behind.”

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapter 2 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Background music: Dusk by LynneMusic
Background music: Grassy Knolls of Home by LynneMusic
Exit music: Grey Shadow by Adrian Berenguer}

Billy learns what the mysterious girl had found, just beneath the surface of the Cahaba. He turns to his Aunt Mary for comfort but learns that this isn’t the first time the creek had claimed a soul.

“I could see the clearing from here, about fifty feet upstream, and I eagerly watched the girl. I couldn’t hear over the sounds of the woods and the creek, but she pointed out into the water with one hand while clutching the hair atop her head with the other.”

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapter 3 and 4 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Background music: Star of County Down by Jonathan Greer
Background music: Grassy Knolls of Home by LynneMusic
Transition music: Grey Shadow by Adrian Berenguer
Background music: Central Valley (instrumental) by Benjamin Bostick
Exit music: If I Were in a Novel (instrumental) by Benjamin Bostick}

Billy and his friends, Lee and Jay, grapple with recent events – what had Jessie gotten himself into? Was it the eccentric man that the people of Shilo’s Beat call “the Mayor”? Or had he crossed the wrong guy, Fredrick? Billy tries to untangle the truth while his parasomnia worsens, bringing him face-to-face once again with the cryptic and unsettling message this old land is trying to show him.

“All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again.”

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapter 5, 6, and 7 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Background music: Central Valley (instrumental) by Benjamin Bostick
Background music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Transition music: On the Road by Adrian Berenguer
Exit music: Grey Shadow by Adrian Berenguer}

His search for answers leads Billy to Uncle John’s house, where he learns that all-too-often we still have a lot to learn, even about those who are closest to us.

“Worry was seasoned into her soul like oil into her cornbread skillet.”

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapter 8, 9, and 10 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Background music: Central Valley (instrumental) by Benjamin Bostick
Transition music: If I Were in a Novel (instrumental) by Benjamin Bostick
Transition music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick}

A fortuitous turn of events brings the mysterious girl from the creek back into Billy’s life while Lee and Jay simultaneously slip further away.

“I closed my eyes and imagined the steady flow of those shallow waters crisscrossing the ever-changing landscape of my life, connecting all the people and places that had shaped me. Maybe these parasomnia episodes were the Cahaba’s way of reaching out. I just needed to understand what she was trying to tell me.”

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapter 11 and 12 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Background and transition music: Sweet Thursday by Benjamin Bostick
Exit music: Grey Shadow by Adrian Berenguer}

An unsettling encounter with something along the creek bank leaves Lee on edge as a shadowy camp-out invites the hazy figure of Billy’s parasomnia episodes into their lives. Billy and Lee confront the Mayor together but find they are still drifting apart. Aunt Mary finally reveals the story of Shellycoat.

“Listen, Billy, life’s a complicated thing. And Shilo’s Beat is a complicated place. It always has been.”

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapter 13, 14, and 15 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Background music: Star of County Down by Jonathan Geer
Background and transition music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Exit music: Grassy Knolls of Home by LynneMusic}

An unsuspecting Uncle John leads Pops, Peters, and Billy on a march across Chinquapin Mountain in search of the elusive lake James had learned about from Jessie. What they find, however, is far more dangerous.

“Why are you always lookin’ for things you don’t wanna find?”

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapter 16, 17, and 18 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro and exit music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Background music: Dusk by LynneMusic
Transition music: Grey Shadow by Adrian Berenguer
Background music: Central Valley (instrumental) by Benjamin Bostick}

Uncle John and Billy find themselves in an awkward situation atop Cedar Mountain, face to face with a legend of the land. And unexpected encounters with Fredrick, the Mayor, and Julie leave Billy questioning everything he thought he knew.

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapter 19, 20, and 21 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Background and transition music: Central Valley (instrumental) by Benjamin Bostick
Ambiance: Escaping Forever by Michael Vignola
Ambiance: Patience (Full Track) by Keith Anthony Holden}

There’s nothing quite like Friday nights in the fall. Billy, attends the high-school football game with Lee and Jay, hopeful that he’ll find Julie there. But when he does, the encounter is far from what he had expected.

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapter 22 and 23 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Background music: Central Valley (instrumental) and Wait For Me by Benjamin Bostick
Transition and exit music: If I Were In A Novel by Benjamin Bostick}

A day in the dove field with Uncle John and his friends finds Billy too distracted to fully enjoy himself. Plagued by doubt, he is more committed than ever to uncover the truth about Jessie’s death.

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapter 24 and 25 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Background music: If I Were In A Novel and Central Valley (instrumental) by Benjamin Bostick
Background music: Grassy Knolls of Home by LynneMusic
Ambiance: Escaping Forever by Michael Vignola and Reel by Adrian Berenguer}

Julie finally comes clean about her past, revealing that there is far more to Jessie’s story than even Billy expected. And with all this weighing on his troubled mind, Billy’s parasomnia episodes are becoming more frequent and progressively more disturbing.

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapter 26 and 27 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Ambiance: The Heartbeat of Halloween by Bobby Cole and Escaping Forever by Michael Vignola
Background music: Paper Footballs by Benjamin Bostick
Exit music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick}

Aunt Lucille shares some devastating news that makes it all-too-clear: it’s time for Billy to take back the creek. Uncle John’s creek. But to do it, he’ll have to face the difficult truth, alone. It’s Sunday night, he knows exactly where to look.

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapters 28 and 29 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro and exit music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Background music: Grassy Knolls of Home by LynneMusic
Background music: On the Road by Adrian Berenguer
Ambiance: Escaping Forever by Michael Vignola and Reel by Adrian Berenguer
Background and exit music: If I Were A Novel by Benjamin Bostick}

A painful October culminates under a Hunter’s Moon as Billy’s most harrowing parasomnia yet finds him face-to-face with Shellycoat. And again, he will have to face it all alone, or, does he?

“And I knew in that moment—this was a fight for my life.”

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapters 30 and 31 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Background music: Central Valley by Benjamin Bostick
Exit Music: Untroubled Mind by Benjamin Bostick}

“I smiled as I considered the strange collision of humanity that marked this brief moment in my life. A moment that left me feeling a bit emptier—the kind of empty I doubt will ever really be filled. The kind that isn’t meant to be. But now, I think I’m okay with that.”

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Reading: Chapters 32 and 33 from The Preacher, the Fisherman, and the Cahaba
Intro music: Independence Day Eve by Benjamin Bostick
Background music: Central Valley by Benjamin Bostick
Ambiance: Holding On (cinematic underscore) by Keith Anthony Holden and Reflective Funeral Music by Bobby Cole
Exit Music: Grassy Knolls of Home by LynneMusic}

Thank you, old friend, for indulging me. I appreciate that it may have taken longer than you’d planed for. Overly sentimental and loosely accurate at best, but isn’t that the way? Whether accepted or not, we remember things not necessarily as they were, but as they surely must have been.

^{Written & Narrated by L.R. McDonald
Music: Untroubled Mind by Benjamin Bostick}