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    The Lonely Donkey
    The Lonely Donkey
    The Lonely Donkey
    Ebook128 pages1 hour

    The Lonely Donkey

    By Joan H. Young

    ()

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    About this ebook

    My name is Cora Caulfield, and I'm an older lady now. But when I was a child, my last name was Dubois. That's French, pronounced dew-BWAH. It was almost Halloween of 1953. My friends and I had been so involved in trying to get Mr. Bigg to help Tito Gonzales and his family that we hadn’t even thought about costumes.
    Ruby heard a scream one night. She thought it might be a ghost, but her brother George laughed at that idea. OK, we all laughed. But Ruby insisted she’d heard something. Then George heard it too! What did we find? What did we decide to be for Halloween?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJoan H. Young
    Release dateOct 5, 2020
    ISBN9781948910132
    The Lonely Donkey
    Author

    Joan H. Young

    Joan Young has enjoyed the out-of-doors her entire life. Highlights of her outdoor adventures include Girl Scouting, which provided yearly training in camp skills, the opportunity to engage in a 10-day canoe trip, and numerous short backpacking excursions. She was selected to attend the 1965 Senior Scout Roundup in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, an international event to which 10,000 girls were invited. She has ridden a bicycle from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean in 1986, and on August 3, 2010 became the first woman to complete the North Country National Scenic Trail on foot. Her mileage totaled 4395 miles.She has recently begun writing more fiction, including short stories and cozy mysteries.

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      Book preview

      The Lonely Donkey - Joan H. Young

      The Lonely Donkey

      a Dubois Files mystery

      by Joan H. Young

      cover illustration by Linda J. Sandow

      interior illustrations by Joan H. Young

      Published by Books Leaving Footprints at Smashwords

      print edition also available

      861 W US 10

      Scottville, Michigan 49454

      Discover other titles by Joan H. Young at Smashwords.com

      and at Books Leaving Footprints

      Copyright © 2020 Joan H. Young

      All rights reserved

      1LCCN: 2020919278

      ISBN: 1-948910-13-6

      ISBN-13: 978-1-948910-13-2

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      DUBOIS FILES BOOKS

      1. The Secret Cellar

      2. The Hitchhiker

      3. The ABZ Affair

      4. The Bigg Boss

      5. The Lonely Donkey

      DEDICATION

      1To all parents who allow their children to make messes and experience life largely unfiltered.

      CORA'S INTRODUCTION

      My name is Cora Caulfield, and I'm an older lady now. But when I was a child, my last name was Dubois. That's French, pronounced dew-BWAH. 1It was almost Halloween of 1953. My friends and I had been so involved in trying to get Mr. Bigg to help Tito Gonzales and his family that we hadn’t even thought about costumes.

      Ruby heard a scream one night. She thought it might be a ghost, but her brother George laughed at that idea. OK, we all laughed. But Ruby insisted she’d heard something.

      Then George heard it too! What did we find? What did we decide to be for Halloween?

      BOOK FIVE – THE LONELY DONKEY

      Map of the East South River Road neighborhood

      Cora's Introduction

      1Chapter 1- A SCREAM IN THE NIGHT

      Chapter 2- HALLOWEEN STORIES

      Chapter 3- A CAST IRON MYSTERY

      Chapter 4- MULE OR DONKEY?

      Chapter 5- ON MULES WE FIND TWO LEGS BEHIND

      Chapter 6- THE DONKEY’S HEAD

      Chapter 7- UNDER THE FULL MOON

      Chapter 8- HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD

      Chapter 9- SWEETLY SINGS THE DONKEY

      Chapter 10- SUNDAY AFTERNOON ACCIDENT

      Chapter 11- WHO WILL HELP?

      Chapter 12- THE RESCUE

      Chapter 13- THE DONKEY COSTUME

      Chapter 14- THE DONKEY CART

      Chapter 15- HARNESSING THE DONKEY

      Chapter 16- LIBERTY DIMES, STONE LAMB

      Chapter 17- EGGS AND GOAT CHEESE

      Chapter 18- TWO DONKEYS OR THREE?

      Chapter 19- BREECH BIRTH

      Chapter 20- HALLOWEEN

      Chapter 21- THE PRIZES

      Chapter 22- MORE THAN TEN CENTS

      Acknowledgements

      Other Works by Joan H. Young

      About Joan H. Young

      Map of the East South River Road Neighborhood

      1. A SCREAM IN THE NIGHT

      1Ruby Harris jumped out of bed, her heart pounding. What was that spooky sound she had just heard? At first Ruby thought she was having a bad dream, but as soon as she went to look out the window she heard it again. She was sure someone had screamed. A shiver ran up her backbone. Was it caused by the chilly breeze or a reaction to the eerie screech? It had been a warm night for October, and when she went to bed, she’d left her window open a couple of inches to let in the fresh air. Now it was beginning to get light. She listened a few minutes, but the noise was not repeated.

      Although it had been warm in the evening, the morning was frosty, and she shut the window and crawled back into bed, pulling the covers over her head.

      There was a knocking on her door, and Ruby’s older brother George barged in and bounced onto the bed.

      Get up, lazybones. It’s eight o’clock. The sun is coming up, George said. He began tickling Ruby.

      Knock it off! Ruby yelled, shoving George and rolling away from him.

      Aw, Ruby, what’s eating you? You usually like to play tickle games.

      Ruby grabbed her warm flannel housecoat and stuffed her arms into the sleeves. She stuck out her bottom lip. Didn’t you hear that noise outside just before you came in here? she asked. It was scary.

      There weren’t any noises, George insisted. Now get up. Mama’s fixing French toast. Dad says we have to be at church early today because he’s an usher.

      ***

      Afternoons following church in the Harris household were usually quiet. Sunday was a day of rest. The parents, Martin and Phoebe Harris, took naps. As long as George and Ruby didn’t make too much noise, they were allowed to do almost anything they wanted.

      George had teased his sister about hearing things that weren’t there, and Ruby had thrown a sofa pillow at him in response. He decided to stay out of her way. He had brought home The Biscuit Eater from the school library, and he wanted to read it. The picture on the cover was of two boys, one dark-skinned and one fair, and they reminded George of himself and his good friend Jimmie. He planned to show it to Jimmie at school the next day and ask him if he’d read it.

      Ruby smiled as she climbed the stairs to her room and saw George’s door closing. She had plans that didn’t involve older brothers. She dug into the back of a dresser drawer and found a pair of pants that had patches on the knees. She usually liked skirts and ruffles, but those weren’t going to be practical today. After tiptoeing down the stairs and grabbing a light jacket, she carefully eased out the kitchen door, closing it softly behind her. George would just slam it shut, she thought, almost wishing he were with her so Mama would yell at him. Almost.

      The road the Harrises lived on was named Mulberry Hill, and it rose steeply away from the Petite Sauble River. Ruby headed south, up the hill. That was the direction the scream had come from. She didn’t walk in the road. Beyond her yard, thick woods began, and even though she was small, it was difficult to wriggle through the tangled brush. There were berry bushes with sharp thorns, and she had to keep pulling them away where they snagged her clothes. But once she had crossed that narrow band of briers, the forest was more open, and she steadily climbed the hill. Ruby had never ventured away from her house in this direction. The idea of going away from the river and the main road, walking in the opposite direction from her friends’ homes, had never occurred to her before. She and George even walked down to the corner at East South River Road to get on the school bus. No one liked to drive up steep Mulberry Hill.

      She was the youngest of a group of five friends, and this annoyed her. Even though she couldn’t do anything

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