Joe took one look at the threatening sky and decided to check his load one more time. He didn't think they would get snow this far south, even in February, but the sky was dark and menacing and his northern bones told him something nasty was brewing. He walked all around the 53' trailer, checking the tarp, straps and chains holding the steel coil securely on the flat bed.

He gave the last strap a final tug and continued around the front of the huge rig. He looked up with pride at the bright red Kenworth with shiny chrome trim and twin stacks. The Cummins Diesel engine purred like a powerful lion and he smiled to himself as he remembered the day his childhood dream had come true. The day he drove alone for the first time in an 18-wheeler.

He climbed behind the steering wheel and flipped a switch that lit up the dashboard like something out of a star trek movie!! Pulling out the satellite link, he tapped out a message to his boss. "Leaving Nashville, TN - 11:00 AM – will be arriving Coralville, AL by 2:30 PM. Contact you when clear."

He hit the send button, folded the keyboard back up out of his way and settled down for what he figured would be a 2 hour drive - but he was allowing time for difficulties finding the factory and this possible storm slowing him down.

As he turned the truck South onto Interstate 65, he gazed at the country side with its mountain grandeur, even in February, this was beautiful country!

About a half an hour later, the rain started, and within a very few minutes it was freezing on the truck, on the road and on everything else it touched. Joe pulled his foot off the gas pedal and let the truck slow down to a safer speed. When he felt that the rig was secure, he glanced at the speedometer - 35 mph - at this rate, he certainly wasn't going to make it by 1, he would be lucky to make it by 2:30. It was noon now and it looked like it was coming on night outside. The light was fading fast and the storm clouds thickened as he traveled into the heart of the storm. He kept telling himself that he was heading south, so it should warm up. All he needed was 1 or 2 degrees and this would turn back to all rain and quit freezing on the road.

As the afternoon wore on, it became evident that the ice storm was getting worse. The Nashville radio station said it was in for the night, that it covered the entire state of Tennessee; most of Kentucky, the Southern tip of Illinois and the Northern half of Mississippi and Alabama. They also said that power failures across the state were common and millions of people had no heat or light. The Governor was considering declaring a state of emergency and closing all the roads. Tennessee did not have the manpower or the equipment to deal with a storm of this type.

"Hang in there for another 20 minutes and I'll be out of here," Joe said, gritting his teeth!! All he needed was to be stuck with this load out on the highway in the middle of an ice storm.

Finally the Alabama State line came and went, but the ice remained. He glanced at the clock - 2:30 - it was only 10 miles to Coralville - he had until 4:00 to get there, after that they wouldn't unload him until tomorrow!!

He had no trouble finding Coralville, even though it was a tiny little place, a dozen houses, a grocery store, the post office and a gas station. The factory was the largest building in the little town.

He pulled into the ice covered freight yard and asked the guard where he needed to go. Glancing at the paperwork, the guard drawled, “Y'all need to tak that load to door four at the back a the buildin."

"Thank You,” Joe said, politely. Silently he gritted his teeth and thought "The door the farthest away, across an uphill slope on all this ice-----Wonderful!!"

He started to maneuver the truck so he could back it up to the door, but for every foot he gained in the right direction, he slid 2 feet in the wrong direction. Finally after 1/2 an hour of backing and sliding, he got it lined up with the door and he honked the horn for them to open the loading dock door.

The little side door opened and a young worker slid out onto the ice. Joe rolled down the window.

"Open the door so I can get this thing inside,” he called.

"We can't!" The young man answered.

"What do you mean, you can't,” Joe called back, “I need to get this load off, I've got another one waiting."

"The power's out,” the young worker called, sliding back into the loading dock just incase this trucker decided to take something out on him.

Joe was puzzled about the no power thing, they should still be able to open the door and let him in!! Oh well, he sat there precariously perched on an ice patch, awaiting the whims of the weather and the power. He pulled out his satellite keyboard to let his boss know where he was and sat back to wait.

Suddenly there was a great pounding on his door and he rolled down the window again to look out.

"Power's back, you can get your truck inside now."

"Wonderful" Joe responded and he set about backing the rig in out of the rain.

Jumping down from the cab, he grabbed a hammer and began breaking the ice away from the straps and chain. It took a little time, but he finally had the tarp off the coil and it was ready to be lifted off the truck.

"It's all ready!" He called to the workers. "Bring on the crane!!"

"We cain't unload you now,” Someone out of the group of workers called.

"Why ever not?" He asked.

"Power's out,” came back the answer.

With a shake of his head and a muttered word about hick power companies (thinking of his own hick power company at home) he crawled into the truck and pulled out his latest volume of the x-wing series and proceeded to fight the empire beside Luke and Leia and Hans.

Sometime later he was brought back to earth by the pounding on his door again. Leaning out the window, he saw a young man with the shipping paperwork in his hands.

"I've got good news and bad news,” he said, hesitantly.

Joe's puzzled look must have encouraged him for he hurried on.

"The good news is you're unloaded and here's all the paperwork."

With that he shoved the paperwork at Joe and turned hurriedly to leave.

"Hey!!! Wait a minute. What's the bad news?"

"Well------ Well---- We ca--- can’t----- open the door!!!" He stammered.

"You can't open the door? Why not? - No don't tell me --- The power's off!!" Joe said, with just a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

The young man's face brightened at Joe's deceptively soft voice, and he nodded.

"Why don't you use the manual release and open the door by hand?" Joe asked reasonably.

"It don't have one." Came the prompt reply.

"All electric door openers have one for when the power goes out," Joe reasoned.

"But the power never goes out," the kid said as he backed toward the door. "My shift's over, got to go."

And without a second's hesitation, he turned and ran out the door.

"Hey wait a minute!!!!!" Joe called angrily, “What am I supposed to do?"

"Stay here at the Coffin Factory!" He called back. "We'll be back in the morning, lock this door before y'all sack out." And he slammed the door behind him.

And with that Joe was alone. He ran to the door and yanked it open just in time to see the last pick-up truck pull carefully out of the parking area. He started quickly after it, but his third step hit a particularly slick patch of ice, his feet went flying out from under him and he found himself sprawled on the damp icy ground in the freezing rain.

Slowly he shook his head, gathered his legs under him and carefully, gingerly, crawled back to the door. As he opened the door to go back inside, he registered what the kid had said - he was going to spend the night in a COFFIN FACTORY!! "Wait a darn minute" he thought. "I can't spend a night in a coffin factory, in the dark, with no power, no way to leave - - - Oh Bloody Blazes - - - What do I do now."

He searched the darkening interior of the loading dock and found a telephone. Thinking to call a cab to take him to a motel, but when he picked up the receiver, the phone was dead. That idea was gone and after his last experience walking on the ice, he wasn't about to try walking anywhere, provided there was anywhere to walk in this one-horse town!!

He set out to explore and discovered there was no water since the water-cooler was electric, and the vending machines didn't work either. By now the only light available was from the battery powered emergency lights and that was such an eerie red glow that it was worse than no light at all.

And that was when he heard it. It started out as a soft murmur, and then stopped. He felt the hair rise on the back of his neck. Then it came again, louder this time, almost real voices, but not quite. Horror ran through him and he literally dived for the door of his truck, pulled himself in and locked all the doors. He laughed rather shakily at his own folly - like a locked door would keep out a ghost!! But he shivered again as the murmuring voices rose again, this time louder and nearer.

He crawled into the sleeper bunk and turned on one of the battery powered lights and proceeded to try to sleep, but just as he would start to doze off, the murmuring would start again.

Whatever it was, it seemed to echo through everything in the building and into the truck. So while nothing appeared, the voices seemed to be everywhere at once. About 2 hours before dawn, Joe fell into an uneasy doze, exhausted from the nerve-wracking drive, the nervous tension and 24 hours without sleep. But the murmuring continued to trouble his sleep.

Suddenly he bolted upright in the dark cab, hitting his head on the shelf. He grabbed his head, knowing he would have a nasty bruise in more that one place now, and tried to register what had jerked him from his doze. Then it came again, suddenly and loudly. Some one or something was pounding on metal.

Cautiously he peered out the truck windows, no one there. Shrugging, he turned to go back to sleep, when it came again and he realized it was someone outside.

He slipped quickly out of the cab and peered out the nearest window to see what was happening. He found a sheriff’s car parked outside and a deputy getting ready to beat on the door again. Now what in the world did he want the 6 in the morning?

Opening the door a crack, he asked, “Can I help you, Deputy?"

"Are you Joseph Martin?"

Puzzled and a little leery, Joe said, "Yes, is there a problem?"

"Would you PLEASE contact your boss, he's been calling the station every 14 minutes since the phones came back on 3 hours ago."

Joe smiled knowing Bill had been a real nuisance. But Bill was that way when one of his drivers was missing. The Truck had a homing device on the satellite link and if Bill lost that link for more than a few minutes, he'd be calling someone. Joe could imagine the long night Bill had not being able to contact anyone because of the power and telephone outage.

"Sure Deputy, right away!!" Then He thought and called out - "By the way, is the power back?"

"There's power here and in most of this county, but Tennessee is all down, you can't even cross the border, roads are closed."

"Thanks for the information. Oh Yeah, one more question - is there any kind of crew working here at night, or a night watchman or anything?"

"No!!" came the quick answer. "Why would they need a guard to guard a bunch of coffins? That's about the last thing anyone would want."

And with that he turned and left. Joe shrugged and flipped a switch on the nearby wall, flooding the dock with light. He got a drink of water, 4 candy bars and a Mountain Dew and spent the rest of the night in comfort in the light flooded space.

Joe pondered his words - no one here - then what had the strange noises been - was it his over worked imagination, did he dream it all, or was the place really haunted.

Graphics on this page
lovingly made by
Maiden Fair's Castle Graphics