One of "enhancements" dealt with the character of Andrea Jackson. I hope I do not throw off my reading audience by bringing up her one-quarter Native American heritage and attributing that as the reason she senses there is a "bad spirit" at the top of Dead Man's Drop Mountain. The "spirit" of the mountain is not part of the plot of this novel, only an attribute of this particular character. Andrea is such a minor player in this novel. However, I hope this mention will lay the foundation for Andrea when she shows up in Aurora series book four, Aurora Remembrance. In that novel, she plays a far more prominent role and her Pueblo ancestry will be important.
Here is the new prologue:
On the
Monday of Spring Break in 2024, Eddie Burrows took Andrea on a day trip to Dead
Man’s Drop Mountain. They rode in Eddie’s all-terrain vehicle, a two-seater
Prowler he used for hunting. The trail grew increasingly rugged as they arrived
within a quarter of a mile from the summit. Andrea, tired of being beat around inside
the vehicle, finally told Eddie that she would rather walk.
They
saw the sign warning everyone in the area to stay away from the cliffs at the peak
of Dead Man’s Drop.
“We
should not go any further, Eddie,” Andrea warned. “There is a bad spirit in
this place. It swallows people up.”
“What
are ya’ll talking about, Andi?” Eddie responded with a laugh. “That warning
sign there is because of the steep cliff and the winds that can whip up and
throw people around if they are too dumb to pay attention to what they are
doing. We’ll just be careful and there won’t be no problem.”
“Please,
Eddie, let’s just explore somewhere else where the spirit of this mountain is
more welcoming. I do not want to go any further.”
“What
is all this talk about spirits, Andi?” Eddie asked, confused. “Ya’ll know, this
Texas white boy don’t understand all that business about spirits in nature like
you folks with Indian blood do. Besides, I thought ya’ll were only one-quarter
Native American.”
“One-quarter
Pueblo, Eddie. The tribes are not all the same.”
“Okay,
sorry. I should know better by now. But, are ya’ll sure your fear of heights ain’t
the real reason why you don’t want to climb to the top?”
Without
a word, Andrea stared at Eddie, her face void of expression.
“Oh,
Sweetheart, future-bride-of-mine, please don’t get mad at this country boy of
yours for my stupidity on these matter,” Eddie teasingly pleaded. “Ya’ll come
only as close as you feel comfortable. But, this is too impre of a scene for me
to pass up. I want to get some pictures of the canyon and beyond from the top
of the rocks.”
Ignoring
the sign and Andrea’s warning, Eddie bolted out of the Prowler and strode towards
the top of the mountain. He turned back occasionally to check on Andrea as he
climbed the boulders.
Andrea,
more cautious due to the dark feeling she could not shake, ventured only a
short distance from the Prowler. She stayed as far away from the top of the
mountain as she could without losing sight of Eddie. From her vantage point,
she used her camera to take snapshots of Eddie. He stood confidently on the
rocky outcrop while he captured images of the view beyond the cliff with the
camera on his retro Cabela’s flip phone.
Eddie
walked back to show Andrea the pictures. He could not find one of the snapshots
he thought he had taken. In frustration, because it was not on his phone, Eddie
shook his head and ignored Andrea’s intake of breath as he hiked back towards
the boulders.
Eddie
changed his mind and rambled on the flatter surface towards the edge of the
cliff. Andrea shook her head with confusion. She should have felt relief at his
decision to not climb the rocky outcrop again. Instead, as she watched him move
to the left and below the rocks to see if he could capture the image he
desired, her feeling of foreboding increased.
In an
attempt to distract herself from the uneasiness building inside of her, Andrea
turned her camera to video mode and started a holo-video clip of Eddie. She
watched him through the viewing window as he stood on the cliff edge. She saw
how he centered the scene he wanted in his cell’s viewing window. Full of
confidence, he ignored the wind that whipped at his clothing and bent back the
rim of the brown, wide-brimmed western hat that would have blown away if Eddie
had not tightly fastened it under his chin with its leather straps. At this
sight of Eddie standing at the cliff’s edge, a surge of love for this man
coursed so strongly through Andrea that it smothered all feelings of fear
inside of her.
After
he clicked his phone camera, a smile spread across his face as he checked the
image. She guessed Eddie was pleased with his latest picture.
Eddie
walked back toward Andrea, his cell phone clutched in his hand. While he made funny
faces for the video being recorded by her camera, Eddie’s cell rang. He glanced
at the caller I.D. screen. The sunlight created a glare making it impossible
for him to see who was calling. Eddie stepped back into the shadows cast by the
boulders crowing the summit of Dead Man’s Drop. He pulled the screen closer to his face to
read the incoming number.
Andrea
realized the caller must be someone Eddie knew and liked because he grinned
before he flipped open the cover to answer the call. Instead of
Andrea feeling happy for him, the feeling of foreboding returned and clutched
her heart.
Then
Eddie disappeared.
