Linda Hebert Todd

Author - Westlake, Louisiana

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The Old Man Of The River

November 23, 2015 By Linda H. Todd Leave a Comment

My brother, David—#4 among the siblings—always liked to push the envelope. And that extended to visiting the river unaccompanied from an early age—four or five years old. Any time he went missing he could usually be found on the riverbank tossing sticks into the water for the dog to retrieve. Nothing seemed to work keeping him away from there.

Linda Hebert Todd, Author - Westlake, LAMy grandmother started telling him about the Old Man of the River. David better be careful or the Old Man was going to get him and carry him off one of these days, and then we wouldn’t know where to find him. That didn’t work, either.

One afternoon Grandma B. saw him start down the path, followed by the dog. She ran into the house, threw on some of my dad’s overalls, my granddaddy’s coat and floppy hat, and some brogans. She took an alternate path and got to the riverbank before David and the dog.

When they got there, they were greeted by this apparition with no hands and empty sleeves flopping around. Strange noises emanated from the creature, and it started a weird jerky dance. The dog went into protection mode, staying between the odd being and David, running to and fro and snarling.

The creature started howling and dancing closer. David, even at his young age, knew it was time to leave, so he and the dog made it back to the house in record time.

David never said anything to anyone about what he had seen, but my grandmother filled us in on what happened, and it became part of the family lore—at least among us older ones.

Many years later, long after we were all grown with children and grandchildren, some family members were sitting around reminiscing. Someone mentioned the Old Man of the River. My brother, Wally, said David spoke up. “Well, y’all may laugh, but I think I saw the Old Man of the River once.”

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About Linda

Linda Hebert ToddLinda has completed her novel—Wild Justice, a crime story with a revenge theme, and has started another one set in Labrador and Louisiana. She writes all her stories in longhand, bringing to life the beautiful bayous of south Louisiana. Read more...

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Linda Hebert Todd, Author, Westlake, LA - Mystery Novel
Mystery Novel

Wild Justice

By Linda Hebert Todd

Keeley Chesson, a crime reporter for a city newspaper, is orphaned at age fourteen, courtesy of a sheriff's deputy who killed her parents and got away with it. Now, fourteen years later, the deaths of her parents still a mystery and the deputy now her town's police chief, tragedy again rocks her…

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Short Stories

Sidonie and the Loup-Garou and Other Stories from the Bayou

By Linda Hebert Todd

The short fiction in this book introduces the reader to an interesting assortment of characters. The lead story—Sidonie and the Loup-Garou—features a high school girl who learns it is a good idea to heed the warnings of her Cajun grandparents. The final tale—The Ghost and Sadie Stackpoole– solves…

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