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| Reelfoot Lake in Snow |
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King George the Mule
(photo by Sandy McBride) |
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What is the significance of this 1960s artifact?
Find out in THE LEGEND OF ZOEY! |
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Zoey Saffron Lennon Smith-Jones is the quintessential modern girl. Her backpack holds everything from a cell phone to an i-Pod. Zoey's idea of a fun field trip would be a jaunt to Opry Mills Mall for some power-shopping, but her Social Studies class is heading to West Tennessee and Reelfoot Lake instead. The teachers have planned this trip to introduce the kids to an area that once belonged to the Chickasaw Indians but is now underwater.
Boring! Zoey hears enough about the "good old days" with her parents' constant yakkety-yak and her Grandma Cope's obsession with ancient history—Ancient Native American history! To make matters worse, the trip has been designated gadget-free. This all sounds suspiciously like camping to Zoey, and she sees no value in learning how to "rough it."
On the way to Reelfoot Lake, thunder and lightning crash and strike, and rain pounds the bus! The driver spots a tornado in the distance and insists that the students get out and into a ditch. As they exit the bus, lightning strikes!
When Zoey comes to, she realizes she has been thrown away from the bus by the force of the lightning strike.
Rumbling and shaking begin—EARTHQUAKE!
Clutching her backpack, Zoey runs for a nearby rustic cabin, bemoaning the fate of both her makeup and her new leather pants and jacket, even as she prays that her fall to the ground didn't break any of the contraband electronics she has hidden in her pack. Zoey is also amazed at the realism of what she believes must be a "visitors center" near Reelfoot Lake.
A girl her age—dressed in some suspicious-looking old clothes—throws open the door. Zoey assumes from the girl's clothing that she must work at a museum or something, or be one of those kooky people that actually like to reenact history. And the girl is looking at Zoey like she has seen a ghost or the devil! The girl is Prudence Charity Keeler.
Pru is delighted by this development in her otherwise lonely existence. Since her father, a circuit preacher, moved Pru and her mother to the western frontier, life has been nothing but hard work and solitude.
Zoey knows something about Pru's world, though, that Pru finds hard to believe. And at the mention of Reelfoot, Pru can't help but wonder if Zoey can see into the future—or is, indeed from the future—as she herself has heard the legend of the Chickasaw chief, Reelfoot, and the curse placed on him by the Chocktaw chief, Copiah.
February 7, 1812 is D-day for Zoey—and for Reelfoot. Zoey must make a decision. And she must face her destiny . . .
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