(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Night has fallen, and the moon is a glowing golden orb in the black sky. See how it shines on the dark back roads of America, and on one road in particular. Come with us, and we'll take a walk down the moonlit road, for the night is waiting. And the moon is full. Joshua was a young fellow who came up from New Orleans to live on the farm with his grandpa in Mississippi.
Joshua used to come up for summers to visit his grandpa, and he always liked Mississippi, and he figured when he got old enough to make his own decisions, he would go to live in Mississippi. And he did. Now what Joshua liked about Mississippi, that it was quiet and peaceful, it was so simple. Not complicated like living in the city. Now his chores at his grandpa's farm included helping in the fields, and he had a real important chore of taking the produce to town on Saturday morning.
Now the farm folk would take the produce to town, and the city folk would come in to buy it. So Joshua had peas, and tomatoes, a little okra. And people would sell their produce on the town square, right there in the center of town. When Joshua headed back to his grandpa's farm after selling his produce, it was a long stretch home, and Joshua was getting a little tired and thirsty.
And along that long stretch of road, he saw a cluster of magnolia trees that he thinks he remembered passing on the way in. And that was the only place that he saw some shade, so he pulled the mule over in the wagon, and he got out and had a drink of water out of his water jug. And by his recollection, he figured right there by that clump of magnolia trees, well that must have been about halfway home. When Joshua got back to his grandpa's farm, it was early evening.
And grandpa came out and met him and said, Son, I know you're tired and you've had a long ride from town, but Obadiah sent word that he needs a load of hay first thing come Monday morning. Well, we can't get that hay over to him first thing Monday morning, because you and I are going to be in the fields here. Can't do it on Sunday, because the only work we do on Sunday is church work.
So, boy, you're going to have to load that wagon with hay and take it down to Obadiah's house, and I'll tell you right where he lives. So Joshua loaded the wagon with hay. After getting the instructions, he got in the wagon, and grandpa said, Now, boy, you take your lantern. It'll be getting dark on the road, and when you get to Obadiah's, it'll be late, so he'll no doubt invite you to sit down to supper, spell, and have you spend the night. Now, listen, boy, be patient.
Obadiah is known around these parts as a talker. He tells some wild tales, and he's pretty superstitious. All right, grandpa, I'll be okay. And Joshua snapped the reins and headed down the road toward town to get to the cutoff that led to Obadiah's house.
As he went further along, it started to get darker and darker, and there were sounds coming from the woods around him, perhaps the sounds of wild animals, and something darted across the road in front of him, and all he could make out was the eyes.
Whatever it was had cat-like eyes, and the night took on a chill, and Joshua held up the lantern to try to figure out where he was and how much further it was to the turn to Obadiah's, and as he held up the lantern, he saw the cluster of magnolia trees, and he knew where he was then, and all of a sudden there was someone who jumped from a branch of a magnolia tree, and he brought the muse to a halt, and a young girl came to stand beside the wagon, and Joshua held up the lantern to see, and
it was a pretty girl. He said, Ma'am, why are you out at night by yourself? She said, It's okay. It's not like any harm will come to me. But, ma'am, it's late. It's dark. There's no telling what will happen out here. There are wild animals running about. Let me take you to your house. You do live around these parts, don't you? Yes, I live right down the road a piece. Well, let me take you to your home.
Okay. He held up the lantern so she could see how to step into the wagon, and from the light of the lantern she looked sort of pale, but she was so pretty. She had dark hair with a ponytail pulled back with a pretty bow on it, and he was thinking, Wow, what a nice girl to marry up with. He was so excited, and Josh said, Ma 'am, my name is Joshua. What's your name?
My name is Rose. So as they sat in the wagon, and he giddy-upped the muse to go down the road, he was so proud that his pretty girl was sitting beside him in his wagon, and in just a little while she said, That's where I live, right there. You can stop. So he brought the muse to a halt, and they were in front of a large gate all covered with wild roses, and the girl hopped right out and went to the gate, and Joshua said, Ma'am, I could open the gate and take you right up to your door. I could.
I'm okay. It's not like any harm will come to me. I could take you up to your door. I don't think I should go up to my house with a stranger, especially at night. Oh, okay, Josh said. So when the girl stood at the gate, he watched her for a minute, and then he snapped the horses to start, and he went down the road just a ways, and he came to the turn to go to Obadiah's house. As he made the turn, he lost sight of the girl in the darkness.
When Joshua got to Obadiah's house, unloaded the hay, and put the muse up, he went in, and there was Obadiah standing right inside the screen door, tall and graying and a cantankerous looking old man. Obadiah said, Come on in, son, and sit down to supper. And see that room there on the right? That's where you'll sleep, being it's late and all. And help yourself to supper. And the boy sat down and had supper with Obadiah, and as he was eating, he decided to ask Obadiah some questions.
Mr. Obadiah, sir. Your boy. Are there any pretty girls around these parts? Oh, sure there are, son, say. Are you looking to find you a girl to marry up with? Ha! As Obadiah slept this tower, son, if you're looking for a girl to marry up with, you need to follow the flight of the redbird. Yes, sir. Everybody knows if you follow the flight of the redbird, why that redbird will land right where there's a girl looking for a boy. And that's a good place to start, boy. Ha!
And then Joshua wanted to ask Mr. Obadiah about Rose. Mr. Obadiah. Your boy. Do you know a girl around these parts named Rose Simmons? Why, sure. I know about Rose Simmons. Well, Rose would be about 19. Yeah, about now she would. She's a pretty girl, isn't she, Mr. Obadiah? Oh, sure, son. I would say Rose Simmons was one of the prettiest girls that ever lived around these parts. She's kind of sassy, but she was pretty.
Had that black hair, you know, pulled back in a ponytail and always had a pretty bow on it. Yeah, she was a pretty girl. She was. Joshua was feeling confused. Mr. Obadiah, why do you say she was? She doesn't live around here anymore? And Mr. Obadiah looked at Joshua kind of strange. Boy! Rose Simmons is dead! She's dead, Joshua said. His face was getting hot. His palms were sweaty. His heart was beating fast. Son, Rose Simmons died about last spring. Yeah, she did.
What happened was the girl was out playing in those magnolia trees. She loved to play in those magnolia trees, and it was on a Saturday evening, it was. And her parents called out the door to her. You know, the trees were down the road a ways from the house, but seeing this land is flat and the air is so open, a parent could just call out the door to the child or spell, and the child would hear and come right on.
So they called for Rose to come in and do her Saturday chores, which was churning butter in the kitchen there. And the daddy went to feed up some cattle down at the bottom of the pasture. He had a trough down there. And the mama went with him to look for the milk cow, because if you don't milk a cow regularly, the milk will just dry up.
And before you know it, there came a lightning storm, and it struck a pantry right next to the house there by the kitchen, set that house on fire, it did, and burned up that girl inside the house. And it was before her folk could get back up there, and they never did find a body burned, I reckon it was. And it was too much for the mom and the dad, and they just moved away from these parts.
And Joshua's face had turned white, and Obadiah stopped talking long enough to look at Joshua and say, Boy, you look like you've seen a ghost. Joshua said, Mr. Obadiah, do you think there's ghosts? Mr. Obadiah said, Boy, let me tell you what I think. I think folks around here tell stories that that girl tries to get home because she hears her folk calling.
Now, I reckon her spirit ain't resting on account of the way she died, but just as sure as the Pearl River runs through this town, I'm telling you, dead folks don't belong in this world. They belong to the dead, and folks shouldn't ought to be talking about them, like they're walking around with the living. That's evil, and that's all I'm going to say, boy. And Obadiah pointed to the room where Joshua was to sleep, turned off the light.
Now, first thing the next morning, Joshua got up and hitched up his mule to the wagon, and he started down the road with a gallop, because he was kind of doubting what Mr. Obadiah had said. He wanted to see for himself, because he had surely seen that girl on the road, and her name was Rose.
And when he got to that property where he let that girl off, the Simmons property, he left the mule and wagon right there by the road, and he opened that gate, and he walked on in, and as he was walking, his heart was pounding in his chest, because he didn't know what he might find, and sure enough, he found what was a burned-out homestead.
And Joshua walked further along with his fingers digging into his thighs, because he was just so frightened of what else ever he might find, and there it was. There was a marker on a little mound of dirt down back behind the property, and it had a little magnolia tree planted over it, a little baby magnolia tree it looked like, and the marker said, Rose Simmons.
Well, Joshua was so frightened, he stumbled from that property, he got into that wagon, he snapped the reins for those mules, he went down that road to his grandfather's farm, and he packed so fast and got back to New Orleans, and that boy Joshua wasn't seen in those parts ever again. That concludes this tale from The Moonlit Road. Be sure to visit our website at themoonlitroad .com to find out more about our stories and let us know how we're doing.
The Moonlit Road is produced and directed by Craig Dominey, recorded and soundscaped by Henry Howard in beautiful Stone Mountain, Georgia. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.