Swing Low: Chapter 22 and Postponing Final Release

Artistic delays

When I first started pre-releasing this book for all to read and or comment on, I planned on releasing the public version in April. Over the last few weeks I've been questioning that decision.

So when will it be available?

I've decided that as soon as I finish this pre-release, I'm going to give everyone enough time to finish reading this online and give their comments. I also want to use this time to shelve the book so that I can approach it one last time with a fresh mind. I think I can make the book a lot better on final release if I do this.

If you were expecting a free digital copy of this book at the end of this series, never fear, you'll still get it. I'm just going to wait until this fall to send it out.

So, sorry if you've been anticipating the April release, but by moving it to this fall, it will definitely be a much better book. Thanks you.

If you're new to this, start atThe Beginning. And thanks for sharing my stories with all your friends.
Installment #23 of:Sing Low: The Hangman of the WoodsBy B.C. Crow (Chapter 22Never trust your own opinion completely, it’s far too biased. You are the sum of your experiences. You are not the complete sum of your neighbors’ experiences. Finding wisdom is finding that you're not the smartest person around. This requires that you don’t just admit your inadequacy, but that you believe it. I made a move against my better judgment, and it caused me to find exactly what I was looking for. It just goes to show that we are all imperfect. Sometimes we must stand back from ourselves in order to move forward.The woods were no different on this trip than any other. The sun was still blazing hot, but not enough to dry the sticky humidity. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, but that meant very little. Some of the biggest storms I’d encountered had had no clouds the day before. I could easily find myself in bad weather again on this trip.While I didn’t expect to find the hangman’s new den, I methodically plotted my course through the lower half of the woods. I placed my compass on the crude Northern arrow I'd drawn on my aerial photo of the woods. A quick turn of the map got me pointing north. Then I turned the compass to point in my desired direction and adjusted the plastic dial. This was getting easier all the time.While the low-resolution aerial only showed the largest of the lakes and ponds through the dense trees, I was confident that I could cover enough ground between bodies of water to check off the entire area as I searched.My payments for classes were due on Friday, and Krystal told me that she wanted to see a couple of articles ready for publishing when school started. That left me with just over four days to cover the ground I wanted to search before needing to be in New Tum. It was plenty of time to search, even if the place was where I had no hope of finding Midnight.After three days of hiking, I learned two things. First was that this side of the hangman’s original camp was full of witches. I passed by two or three of their wicked huts each day. I had to be extremely careful. I knew that my developing faith in God would help me avoid the worst of their sorceries, but even witches know how to use a club, machete, or even a gun. I had no illusions as to how far my faith would protect me from something like that.The second thing I learned was that hiking around these parts of the woods was painfully tedious. The trees were thinner, allowing more undergrowth to cumber the way. The snagging shrubs were so thick that I lost a good half of my time trying to push through them. By the time I’d reached the first lake on the second day, I looked like I'd been in a fight with a band of wild city cats. This was taking far too long. I realized that I needed to push straight on through to New Tum. I’d intended on taking a meandering course that would cover more land, but my original plan would take over a week and a half in this itchy maze.Not a big deal. At least it confirmed that the hangman wouldn’t have come this way. He knew the woods better than anyone. There was no chance he’d risk all those kids falling into the hands of so many witches. Nor would he likely be able to get all the younger ones to hike through this mess.Around the middle of day four, I emerged. It only took around two hours of walking the edge of the woods before I was back in the familiar college district of New Tum. On one hand, I was relieved to be out of that nasty section of forest. On the other hand, I’d spent a great deal of time and effort looking for Midnight, only to be disappointed.For the next few months, I was in a funk. I would have to wait for summer to search the woods again. But if the hangman continued being mobile, what was there to stop him from moving again, even back to a spot I’d counted as searched? The more I thought about it, the more depressed it made me. Maybe this was some weird twist of fate. Maybe I really wasn’t supposed to marry Midnight.The March weather was particularly uncomfortable. Maybe it was just me getting used to the air-conditioned apartment. Today, though, I’d decided to wait until evening to deliver my news article to the press. The sun was almost at the horizon and already I could feel the temperature ebbing from its blistering high. In another hour, the evening air would be downright refreshing.Usually at this time of day, Krystal and my former editor would be gone. Still, somebody was always around, because the press printed in the evenings. I’d planned on going in, putting my articles on Krystal’s desk, then leaving.As I walked around to the cubicle that Krystal claimed as her office space, I stopped dead in my tracks. My breath caught and I eased a foot back. She hadn’t seen me yet, and maybe if I got out of view and made a little more noise before coming back into sight, she’d have a bit of warning to compose herself.Her head was on her desk, but before I could duck out of sight, she sniffed once, held her breath, and raised herself up. “It’s all right, Iddo. I know you’re there.” Wiping a tear from her cheek, she turned around to face me.I don’t know how she’d known it was me. All of a sudden, though, the two articles in my hand felt weird. What’s wrong? Is there anything I can help with? Lay it all on Uncle Iddo. These might have been the right things to say. Instead, like usual, I just muttered the wrong thing. “I just came by to drop these off.”She took them and pretended to glance at them before placing them on her desk. “Thanks,” was all she could say.“Yeah, anyhow, I’ll go now.” I turned around, took a step, then stopped. One heavy breath, then another. Fine. When I turned back to face her, she had a sort of pleading look in her wet-rimmed eyes.I didn’t even say anything before a drip of the salty fluid broke the dam. No sooner had that first trickle leaked out, her eyes and nose spouted. Each breath came in four or five inhaled gasps for every short exhale. I should have kept going. I didn’t know what to do.Apparently, I didn’t have to do anything. In classic Krystal fashion, she stole the whole show. I hardly had time to find a chair nearby before she expounded in a torrent of emotional baggage. And I thought I had problems.Mostly I just listened. Sure, like any guy, I might have had an idea or two that I wouldn’t mind pitching, but Krystal was too quick to let me have any real say. She jumped around from her daddy issues to growing up here, where everyone looked at her differently. She talked about dreams, fears, regrets. She even spoke wantonly of career and disappointment in love.I must have listened for a good half hour before I suggested we go for a walk. I don’t know if I was hoping that she’d settle down a little if she got some fresh air, or if I would settle down. In either case I was getting mighty uncomfortable just sitting there. She agreed.Not long after we’d been walking, I found that we were on a path that skirted the edge of the woods. The sun was down, but the sky hadn’t darkened enough to show any stars. My eyes looked longingly at the woods, wishing that I could see through them to where Midnight might be getting ready for the evening. But even if she were close to the edge of the woods, I didn’tthink she’d be around here. I was walking in a southeasterly direction, the direction that I doubted the hangman would have taken his troop.I’d lost focus only for a minute on what Krystal had been saying, but suddenly found her arms wrapped around my elbow. She was taller than me by a good head and a half. I was sure she weighed more than me, though I don't know why that would matter, other than she seemed to be leaning into me. Luckily I felt little pressure as we walked.Certainly, I’d never entertained any ideas about a romantic relationship between us. But having her lean on me felt satisfying. I couldn’t pull myself away. She fit with me, not like two peas in a pod, but more like a large shoe on a padded sock. Obviously, she couldn’t be attracted to me. Neither was I attracted to her, pretty as she might be. Clearly she just needed a friend to talk to tonight. I could do that. Still, oddly enough, I had to keep reminding myself that I wanted to be with Midnight.We walked for what must have been a solid hour before we turned around to head back. We were just about to find a lower road, since the woods are no place to be near in the evening. Not if you can help it. Especially, as I knew, not on this stretch where there were so many witches. But as we gradually wandered away from the trees, we saw some lights coming out of them. It was a group of men, perhaps ten strong. No, make that eleven. While most of them were carrying ropes, clubs, machetes, or even the occasional gun, the eleventh man trailing several meters behind, struggling to keep up, just carried a notepad. I recognized him. He was one of our senior reporters. If I remembered right, his name was Biahn.Seeing this group unsettled me a little. But Krystal and I kept going on. If Biahn was chasing down a story, we had no place interfering. The nice thing, though, was that their appearance gave us something else to talk about. Krystal’s mood cheered like a rare blossoming moonflower. I remembered the one I’d seen before in the woods and how it had inspired a sense of peace in me, even then its blossom hadn’t been open. I’d only seen one whose flower was fully opened before. It had been in a neighbor’s garden when I was young. So delicate and pale. Moonflowers had a fragile beauty that could melt the hardest of stone, while threatening to wilt at the slightest touch.I looked at Krystal's beautiful pale face. I was glad that her spirits were lifting. At the same time, I knew she could wither and fall to pieces if I wasn’t careful.When it was finally time to part company, we stood awkwardly for a minute. Krystal then leaned over and gave me a lingering kiss on the cheek. I froze in place. We looked at each other for another second. She must have misinterpreted me, because she leaned in and gave me a warm and gentle kiss on the lips.Finally, I withdrew and blushed. She smiled. Then with a wave good-bye that had a few too many fingers rippling for my comfort, she left. Before her eyes parted from mine, she seemed to wink without even fluttering an eyelid. Inwardly the two halves of my brain matter ground at each other.I would not sleep well tonight as I tried to sort out what she was trying to kindle. What I had just allowed to happen. “Women,” I half cursed once I was out of earshot. What had I just done? Was this, me, giving up on Midnight?Click here to read Chapter 23Copyright 2017: While I encourage you to share this link with your friends and family, please keep in mind that this is copyrighted material. Under no circumstances do you have the right to re-publish any or part of this content without specific written permission from BC Crow and Blue House Publishing.