Ghost Story Review: "The Lost Boy of the Ozarks" by Steve Friedman

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This story begins in Goodnight Hollow, Missouri where an eight-year-old boy walks into the woods and no one worries. It’s 1903 and times are tough. Five-year-olds skin squirrels. Children can slit a sow’s throat, but no one can heal a cut once it oozes green. Fathers know then to measure the child and start nailing together a tidy box of pine. The boy who walked into the woods never gets his box of pine, because the woods claim him. People tell each other he is in a better place, for his short life was an unhappy one even by local standards. Time goes by. The people who knew the boy themselves age and are gone. The roads are paved. One day, a family stops at a restaurant in the area, and another boy goes missing. A cub reporter with a habit for drink and misspelling names is sent to do a mood piece… This is a beautifully written, haunting story. Unlike the traditional ghost story, it’s not about appeasing a restless spirit or making peace with a vengeful one, but simply about accepting the tragedies of the past. Author Steve Friedman also pokes a little fun at the media of the present. According to his website, Steve Friedman has written four books, coauthored more, and has written for magazines such as Runner’s World, GQ, and Bicycling. _____ Title: “The Lost Boy of the Ozarks” Author: Steve Friedman (b. 1955) First published: Backpacker November 2009 Source: ISFDB