Stale Cookies in the Dark

Traveling north trying to go home, Bobby Lee Curtis, now forty-five, shares his story with fellow travelers on the Auto-Train. The sixth child of seven born into poor white trash, today he was ecstatic. The weekend was here at last, bringing with it the cool crispness of fall. Bobby Lee and his friends, a crew of six local boys, were off for an overnighter into the Woodland Forest; destination the Old Mansion. Though most of their young lives had been spent exploring the forest, up to now they had failed to find and lay claim to the aged red brick relic. This trip was going to be different, Bobby felt it. Their leader Timmy was thirteen and canny beyond his years; he and his band were determined. So off they went, hiking a well used dusty trail, slipping into the woods and out onto the Gravel-Pit. It made for a perfect stepping off point to any adventure. Almost twelve hours later, finally they found it. Once a beautiful proud edifice it was now sad and abandoned, most of it burned down, its proud giant white columns reduced to mere rings lined up in front. A