Does time heal all wounds? Or do some last forever?
Pennsylvania, 1971: Graham Davidson is a young man with survivor's guilt after the death of three siblings.
Estranged from his father and seeking a direction in his life, Graham learns about vision quests from a Crow Indian. He secures seasonal employment in Yellowstone National Park and embarks on a spiritual journey.
Wyoming Territory, 1871: Under a full moon at a sacred thermal area, Graham finds himself in Yellowstone a century earlier - one year before it was established as a national park. He joins the Hayden Expedition which was commissioned to explore the region.
Although a military escort provides protection for the explorers, the cavalry's notorious lieutenant threatens Graham. His perilous journey through the future park is marred by a horrific tragedy in a geyser basin, a grizzly bear attack, and an encounter with hostile Blackfeet Indians.
Graham falls in love with Makawee, a beautiful Crow woman who serves as a guide. As the expedition nears its conclusion, Graham is faced with an agonizing decision.
Does he stay in the previous century with the woman he loves or travel back to the future?
Does time heal all wounds? Or do some last forever?
Pennsylvania, 1971: Graham Davidson is a young man with survivor's guilt after the death of three siblings.
Estranged from his father and seeking a direction in his life, Graham learns about vision quests from a Crow Indian. He secures seasonal employment in Yellowstone National Park and embarks on a spiritual journey.
Wyoming Territory, 1871: Under a full moon at a sacred thermal area, Graham finds himself in Yellowstone a century earlier - one year before it was established as a national park. He joins the Hayden Expedition which was commissioned to explore the region.
Although a military escort provides protection for the explorers, the cavalry's notorious lieutenant threatens Graham. His perilous journey through the future park is marred by a horrific tragedy in a geyser basin, a grizzly bear attack, and an encounter with hostile Blackfeet Indians.
Graham falls in love with Makawee, a beautiful Crow woman who serves as a guide. As the expedition nears its conclusion, Graham is faced with an agonizing decision.
Does he stay in the previous century with the woman he loves or travel back to the future?
It was a perfect night for skating. The first weeks of December had been unusually warm. But right before Christmas, an arctic cold front swept into the mid-Atlantic states, and the weather became more seasonal in south-central Pennsylvania. Temperatures at night were in the teens and single digits, and it rarely rose higher than thirty degrees during the day. It had snowed only a few inches during the last ten days. The combination of extended cold, light precipitation, and little or no wind allowed the small pond on the Davidson property to freeze over with a smooth, dark glaze.
A full moon hung low on the horizon of the cloudless New Yearâs Eve sky. The moon created eerie shadows on the ice from a lone willow tree that grew by the pond and swayed in the early-evening breeze. Graham poked his head out the kitchen window of the two-story house that overlooked the pond several hundred feet below. He breathed in the crisp night air and felt a chill that made him shiver under his T-shirt. Pulling in his head, he gripped the top of the window sash and yanked it down, giving it an extra tug to make sure it was sealed.
âHey, Frank!â he yelled excitedly, running across the kitchen into the family room. âDo you wanna skate tonight?â As he entered the room, he saw his older brother putting on his coat. Frank had tied the laces of his skates together so he could hang them over his shoulder.
âIâm headed there right now,â Frank replied with a grin while picking up his skates. âJohn and Ray just showed up. Theyâre waiting for me down by the shop. Weâre gonna get the spotlight hooked up on the roof and shine it down on the pond. But Iâm not sure we even need it tonight with that moon. Come on down whenever youâre ready.â
âAw câmon, Frank!â Graham pleaded. âCanât you wait for me?â
âNope. Gotta go. You ainât gonna miss much. Weâre just going to fool around on the ice before we set up the goal. Better check with Mom. She might want you to bring Billy along with you.â Frankâs words faded away as he pulled the door closed and hurried down the walkway toward the shop.
Graham had looked up to Frank for as long as he could remember. They were two and a half years apart in age. But now that Frank was almost fourteen, their age difference seemed much greater. Lately Frank would rather hang around with his friends than be bothered by his eleven-year-old brother.
It wasnât always this way. Until recently, the two older Davidson boys were inseparable. They built forts out of scraps of lumber from their fatherâs workshop. They spent hours setting up bottles and cans on a log and plinking them with an air rifle. They took long walks on the railroad tracks that ran just over the hill behind their house, throwing rocks at the glass insulators on the utility poles and seeing who could walk farther on a rail without falling off. But Frank was growing up much faster; he saw the world through the eyes of a teenager, while Graham still had the innocence of a boy.
Graham quickly pivoted from the front door and ran toward the steps leading upstairs, taking them two at a time. He burst into his motherâs bedroom, announcing his intentions while slightly out of breath. âIâm going down to skate with Frank. See yaâ!â
âWhoa, wait a minute, young man,â Helen Davidson answered as she turned from the closet, where she was deciding on what to wear. âYou need to look after Billy tonight, remember?â
Graham had committed to watching his five-year-old brother for a few hours this evening. Every New Yearâs Eve, his mother and father invited a few close friends over to play cards. They never stayed past midnight. But the boys were expected to entertain themselves on these occasions, even if it just meant watching television. Grahamâs younger sister, Susan, was staying overnight with a friend who lived just down the road.
An idea immediately popped into Grahamâs head. âWhat if Billy comes down and plays on the ice with us?â he asked hopefully. âHe doesnât have to wear skates. He can just slide around on his sneakers while we play hockey.â
âHe can go with you, but only if you promise to watch him,â Helen said sternly. âBilly canât be wandering around by himself on that pond.â
âOkay, okay,â Graham said quickly. âWeâll make sure he doesnât get into anything.â
âYou will make sure he doesnât get into anything. This is your responsibility. Frank has his friends here, and we agreed you would help me with Billy tonight.â
âAll right. I got it. Can I get Billy bundled up so we can get down to the pond?â Graham was imagining the other boys already having fun on the pond while he was standing in his motherâs bedroom pleading his case.
âOne hour. You check in with me after one hour to make sure everyone is okay. And make sure Billy has his mittens. Got it?â
âSure. Thanks, Mom!â Graham knew his chances of getting what he wanted were much better with his mother. His father was seldom persuaded by any argument that Graham conjured up. He was glad his father was at the store right now getting some last-minute items for the party. Graham turned and headed to Billyâs bedroom.
Ten minutes later, Graham was leading his younger brother by the hand down the steep hill to the pond, weaving around dormant peach and cherry trees. He could hear the voices of Frank and the other boys echoing against the ice in the moonlit night. The sound of clacking hockey sticks told Graham they were already taking practice shots at the homemade goal made from two traffic cones the boys âborrowedâ from the highway department when the road that led to town was resurfaced earlier this year.
âCâmon, Billy,â Graham urged, as he tugged on the young boyâs coat sleeve. âCanât you walk faster?â
âItâs really slippâry on this hill,â Billy replied. âDonât let go of me till we get to the bottom!â
The boys soon reached the edge of the pond. âSit here while I put on my skates,â Graham ordered. Billy obliged.
âOkay, now give me your hand and walk onto the ice. Iâll hold you up until you get a feel for how to keep your balance.â Billy took his older brotherâs hands, and Graham started to slowly skate backward. Billy used sliding steps to shuffle along on his tennis shoes, looking more like a penguin than a small boy as he cautiously shifted his weight to maintain his balance. In a few minutes they had reached the area where Frank and the older boys were shooting pucks at the goal, whose outer boundaries were outlined by the orange traffic cones.
âBilly!â Frank shouted, as he skated over to his brothers. âYouâre lookinâ good!â
âI promised Mom I would watch him,â Graham explained. âItâs the only way she would let me come down.â He turned toward Billy and said, âLook, you can just sit on this crate and watch us play. If a puck skips off the pond, you can fetch it for us.â
Billy looked disappointed, but he didnât say anything. He walked gingerly to the old milk crate and sat down dejectedly, cradling his chin in his knitted woolen mittens.
It didnât take long for the older boys to get serious about playing hockey. Everyone took turns defending the goal while the others attempted to score. An old plastic football helmet was the only protection afforded the boy who attempted to block the shots from his friends. Twenty minutes had passed, and it was Grahamâs turn to be the goalie. As he was placing the helmet on his head and adjusting the chin strap, he glanced over at the milk crate. Billy was not there.
Graham ripped off the helmet and skated over to the crate, shouting Billyâs name. Frank stopped skating to look over and saw their little bother was missing. Within seconds a quartet of voices was yelling Billyâs name, imploring him to answer. But there was no response.
Frank ordered everyone to skate in different directions to locate the small boy. The area farthest from the spotlight was dark, with the only light coming from the moon, which had climbed slightly higher on the horizon. One word - âBilly!â - filled the night air from all corners of the pond.  Â
Suddenly Frank shouted to the others, âOver here!â He had skated to the overflow pipe at the deepest part of the pond. The others quickly reached the area and saw Frank lying on his belly reaching toward a hole in the ice with his hockey stick. âBilly! Billy!â he was shouting toward the hole.
âRun up to the house and get Dad! Hurry!â Frankâs voice was quavering with panic.
Graham skated in the direction of the house as fast as he could. When he reached the edge of the pond, he leaped onto the ground and started sprinting up the hill, not bothering to remove his skates. He struggled to keep his balance and fell several times. Each time he quickly jumped back up and dug the skates into the frozen soil, using the blades on his feet like crampons to gain traction. He could feel panic welling up in his chest as he struggled to get to the porch.
Graham threw open the door and burst into the family room where his parents and their friends were seated around a table playing cards. He collapsed and blurted out breathlessly, âBilly fell through the ice! We canât find him! Help!â
Leroy Davidson stood so suddenly his chair fell over behind him. He shouted across the table to Helen, âCall the fire department!â He grabbed his coat from a peg at the front door and leaped over Graham, who was crying. Two other men quickly followed Leroy out the door.
Graham tried to stand but was unable. His left ankle was throbbing in pain. He slumped against the wall by the front door with his head in his hands, praying fervently that his worst fears would not be realized. Inside the kitchen, he heard his mother using the phone, the rotary dial circling back into place with each spin from her shaking finger. After she hung up, Helen sat down heavily on a chair and began to sob uncontrollably. Graham could hear two other women trying to comfort her. He could also hear faint voices from the pond, which carried all the way up the hill to the house on a frigid night with a full moon.
***
At the funeral, Graham stood by the grave site with his family as light snow fell softly from the sky. In the week since the tragic incident on the pond, no one said anything to him about not watching Billy closely that night. But Graham knew what they were thinking. An oppressive guilt squeezed his heart like a vise.
Graham searched in his coat pocket until he found the mittens Billy had worn that fateful night. He had led his little brother down the hill, helped him across the ice, and sat him on the crateâall while holding Billyâs hands in these mittens. Graham used one hand to squeeze the mittens in his pocket, while using his free hand to grip Frankâs hand. Billy was gone. He needed reassurance his older brother would not abandon him.
As the tiny coffin was lowered into the frozen January ground, tears dripped from the cheeks of Grahamâs bowed head onto his boots.
Burning Ground is an epic time-traveling debut from D.A. Galloway.
In his youth, Graham Davidson experiences several tragedies that assault his family. His younger brother dies falling through the ice one winter. His sister is killed when a car rear-ends their newly purchased station wagon. Then, his oldest brother dies in the Vietnam war. The middle son of four, Graham deals with survivor's guilt.
His escape comes in the outdoors, from Boy Scouts, working on a farm, and landing a job at Yellowstone. Along the way, he learns about "vision quests" and decides to try it out one night. But, instead of communing with spirits to find his path in life, Graham gets transported one hundred years back in time.Â
He becomes part of the Hayden geological survey that took place in and around Yellowstone in 1871. A very wild west adventure begins, and Graham must deal with being disliked by his lieutenant, the trappings of living in the times, fighting off wildlife, and falling in love with a Crow woman.Â
As a debut, D.A. Galloway does a supreme job of creating a unique story. Typically our time travelers with romantic interests tend to be women falling for men in the past, so this is a refreshing perspective. The point of travel into American history is also fun. Exploration and the expanse to the west is a story filled with intrigue, darkness, despair, guts, and glory. These tales become quick favorites, as we enjoy seeing how our country was formed.Â
Some of the writing is clunky and transitions abrupt. The car accident, in particular, felt rushed and also lacked realism. Character reactions and speech choices felt a tad rehearsed, rigid, and lacking authenticity. However, the characters themselves were well developed. Graham grows and changes with his interactions, losses, depression and grief, and choices he makes. The subject of grief was handled exceptionally well, with Galloway excelling at illuminating the many ways we grieve as people, parents, and children.Â
Burning Ground is like The New World meets The Revenant meets The Last of the Mohicans. It is an exciting start to a series, and I look forward to seeing D.A. Galloway grow as a writer.Â