Please Like And Subscribe by Pete Bertino - HTML preview

10 PLEASE LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE

“As long as you don’t impede traffic, and according to the 1st Amendment I have no right to stop you anyway.” said Cord.

“Damn right.” said Max loudly.

The Deputy smiled at Max but didn’t seem upset or put off by the comment. He looked out around them again, at the open road and the forest on either side of them. Although Vlad didn’t want to antagonize the subject of The Beast with the deputy, he did have a question that he wanted to ask.

“Deputy, where is the Talbot farm located?” Vlad asked.

The question was important only to Vlad, but as it hung in the air for a second both Max and Dylan felt a tension rise between the four of them. It suddenly felt like it was an important question that needed an answer.

“The one about the massacre? Oh that house is gone, excessive flooding washed it all away in 1908. It’s all public land now.”

The answer put Max and Dylan at ease but Vlad had a follow up question.

“I read from police reports the house was located right besides Franklin road.

Isn’t the land around Franklin road too high for flood waters to reach?”

“Yes,” said Cord with a small smile. “but he lived on what my grandparents called Old Franklin road. Ya see there was lot of flooding back then and that stretch of land where Talbot’s farm sat was nick named ‘The Mud Snatch’ cause there was nothing but swamps back there. After FDR got into office in the 1930’s his public works programs helped move Franklin road higher up and further away from the swamps and paved it all the way into town.”

The answer deflated Vlad, who was entertaining visions of finding dusty wolf prints on the basement floor of a Gothic farm house. Dylan was just glad the house was lost as well as the road too it and that he didn’t need to worry about some other Vlogger coming around here later to one up him and find the place.

He felt his stomach twist when he heard Cord say that old Franklin road wasn’t lost.

“It’s not far from here, I’d say two and three quarter miles south on the right hand side there is an embankment going down at a slight angle into the woods

from there go straight for another mile. It’s 11 PLEASE LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE

grown over but if you got a good eye and keep looking you’ll see the dip in the path, that’s about where Old Franklin road starts. Remember the what I said about the mud, it’ll suck the shoes right off your feet.”

“Is it that bad?” asked Dylan.

“It’s as thick as oatmeal and a bitch to walk through. Trust me I know from experience.” Cord said with an eye roll that made Dylan and Vlad laugh and Max smile just the slightest.

“So it’s public land?” asked Vlad.

“Yes, it is. I can’t stop you from walking around there just like I can’t stop you from filming the road or me.”

Cord looked towards Max as if waiting for another smart quip but he was silent.

He shrugged and went back to his cruiser

“Well, I got tickets to see the Phillies tonight, this is my first game since before the pandemic, so if any of you guys get stuck in the mud make sure to call the fire department.” he said getting laughs from all three of them as he got in his car.

When Cord was out of sight Dylan turned to Max quickly.

“What the fuck, were you trying to piss off that cop?”

“What the fuck, were you trying to piss off that cop?”

“Oh, fuck his gingery ass. He’s lucky I’m in a good mood today.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’s counting his fucking blessings right now he didn’t upset you.” Dylan said.

“Hey we gotta check out Old Franklin road.” said Vlad.

“What the hell for?” said Max.

“Yeah, you heard what the deputy said about the house.”