one crazy night in "79"

way back in the summer of 79, i was takin' a break from the road, and was in the area of wichita kansas.
i was yer usual 22 year old, up for damned near anything, long haired and bearded, more balls than brains, and so damned tough i made superman look like a pansy ( or, so i thought at least? lol )

anyway, the folks i was hangin' out with said " let's go to theorosa's bridge. "
now, be advised, there are a number of stories of how this place came to be, and honestly, i wasn't around to know the whole truth, i just know what happened when i was dared to call on her.

it was a typical august night in south-central kansas, temp was probably in the mid-eighties at midnight, and likely never went below the lower seventies that night.
there was no moon, no clouds, not all that humid, just a great night to hang out, party, and just in general, be alive.

a couple vehicles fulla folks headed out, the girl i was ballin' then and i were in the back of a friends pickup, along with probably seven or eight other folks.

we got out in the country, and after a bit, the drivers pulled into this road that had bridge out and road closed signs, and drove in about 100 yards, and shut down their engines.

we all bailed out, and milled around a bit, talkin' over the history, who had done what, when, and had happened as a result. several of us headed to the bridge, my girl didn't care to go along, and was pretty vehement that i not go either.

i basically laughed it off, sayin' something to the effect" this is just an ole wives tale, there aynt nuthin' out there", lol.
anyway, we walked the quarter mile or so to the old bridge abuttment, all that left there after the bridge had been burnt out some years before, and one of the gals mentioned that theorosa had burnt the bridge down because it was where her child had been lost.

a couple minutes later, i was dared to step up, and holler out" theorosa, theorosa, come to me, mother, i am your long lost child ".

with a laugh, and a roll of my eyes, i did just that.

suddenly, the temperature dropped by what seemed to be thirty or forty degree's,
a mist seemed to appear from midair, and suddenly, someone said " look!!"
about fifty yards downstream, and about treetop high, there were what looked to be two football sized and shaped red objects.
the crickets and frogs and other such kansas creekbank life were not makin' any sounds, which is very unusual.

it was so quiet, i could hear a train wailin' it's way through crossin's on it's wayinto wichita from several miles away, and that was all i could hear.

that mist "swooped", for lack of a better term, upstream, coagulatin' in the divide where the bridge had once crossed over the creek, and sorta rose up off the water.

suddenly, i felt a deep chill, as those those red things zoomed in and stopped a few feet away, surrounded by that mist, and i felt what seemed to be a hand grasp me by that goatee i was sooo proud of, and a voice, high pitched, yet deep and sonorous, said" don't toy with me, boy, you are no child of mine".
a few seconds later, the fingers released my goatee, and lemme tell ya one somethin': i beat feet the hell up outa there!!!!

i got back to the rides, not noticin' that i was the only person still there, aqnd as i approached, the headlights came on, blindin' me.
several of the folks ran up, once they recognised me, and were babblin' about how they were about to leave for a search team.

i said" why?? i was right there, in plain sight, and why the hell did you leave me there all alone?"

thats when they said" man, you were there, and then you were gone!! and that was 30 minutes ago!!"

i said" no way, i stepped up, n hollered," and told them what i experienced, and my girl reached up, turned me into the headlights glare, and screamed.

my luxurious, long, blonde goatee was silvery-grey in the shape of a hand print, and remained thus through all my years up untill i actually got old enough to have it all mostly silver-up.

we got back to town, my girl split, and i never saw her again, and that my experience with theorosa's bridge, near valley center kansas, in august of seventy-nine.