The Harpersville Bulletin

The Harpersville Bulletin is a small community magazine that publishes monthly. It's business as usual until a famous recluse author wants to publish his next story in the magazine.

The Harpersville Bulletin is a monthly magazine published for the wonderful people of Harpersville and the surrounding towns. It has officially become the place to go for commentary, community highlights, and entertaining anecdotes written by famous and not-so-famous people, with a circulation of around 4,000 people.

A five-person committee puts together the Harpersville Bulletin. Dorothy is an expert in computer editing, graphic design, and font selection; she ensures that the magazine looks professional. Ronald is in charge of printing; he loves publishing the Harpersville Bulletin and does it for free. Janice and Carla organize and write the community highlights section of the magazine; as fourth-generation Harpersville residents, these two have all the hot goss. Last but not least, there's Chuck, who is in charge of writing the opinion pieces and finding an author to write a story for each month's issue. The authors are sometimes famous, but most of the time, they are just ordinary folks with interesting stories to tell.

Next month's bulletin is right on schedule. Janice and Carla were getting enthusiastic about the next Harvest Bazaar; they'd prepared a two-page expose on how to get the most bang for your buck on hand-made quilts. 

All five of the committee got together late one night in the church basement. Chuck received an email from Isaac Normandy's agent, Ethan Hembry, with exciting news. Issac wanted to write a story for this month's bulletin. He is known to his readers as "Ike," and he is best known for publishing six consecutive best-sellers in the late 1990s. Ike withdrew into solitude after his sixth book; some say he moved up into the Vermont mountains; nonetheless, he would be the most famous author to ever write for the Harpersville Bulletin.

Many questioned Ike's sanity after his last book. He went into considerable detail about building a house in the book; it was nearly four chapters long.  Even if it was instructions for building a house, you can't deny that the man was a wonderful writer; it was captivating reading despite the topic.

It had been more than 20 years since anyone had heard from him. Chuck believed that this could be the most widely distributed Harpersville Bulletin in the publication's history. Chuck increased the marketing budget for this issue and instructed Ronald to produce an additional 2,000 copies. The Harpersville Bulletin stood to gain a lot from this issue, but it also stood to lose a lot. The bulletin has a thin margin, and a disastrous issue could potentially bankrupt the magazine.

Chuck had not heard anything regarding Ike's story for a few weeks. At night, his thoughts raced with worst-case scenarios; he imagined receiving a seventeen-page lesson on how to set up house lattice. He sent five emails to Ethan Hembry in two weeks and did not receive a response. Carla said as she exited church one Sunday, 

"What if this whole thing is a practical joke?"

Chuck began to perspire profusely as he realized how much was riding on this issue. Chuck found himself staring at his email on Monday morning, hoping for a response from Mr. Hembry when he noticed a street address in his signature. North Brugge was the name of the town. He looked at a map, and there it was: no South Brugge, no Central Brugge, just North Brugge, in the middle of Northern Vermont, surrounded by nothing.

The drive up there took around four hours and when he arrived, he discovered that there are no people; the town was deserted. Chuck pulled over to the side of the road and decided to investigate further. The town itself was only one street long; someone had to be looking after all of these buildings. There were roughly twelve businesses in total, each of which appeared to have opened just yesterday. The diner, too, had pie under glass.

As he continued to walk, he then came across the office of Ethan Hembry, with the sign "Dry Cleaner, Accountant, and Agent to the Stars."

Chuck peered into the window; an older gentleman was sitting at a desk doing some paperwork. He wiggled the doorknob, and it was open.

"Hello, are you Ethan Hembry?" Chuck inquired.

"The one and only, what can I do for you?" Ethan responded.

"Oh, hello, this is Chuck from the Harpersville Bulletin; we've been conversing via email; I was just checking in on Isaac Normandy's pages for this month's edition," Chuck inquired.

"Oh yes, the guy from Harpersville, yeah, the narrative is coming along real nice," Ethan responded as Chuck exhaled a sigh of relief.

"I'm hungry; let's go eat at the diner, and then I'll take you to see Ike," Ethan said. 

"I'm sorry to say, I just walked by the diner, and it appears to be closed for the day," Chuck said.

"Come with me; Dennis is always looking for ways to get out of work. I have the keys," Ethan said.

They stood in front of the diner, all the lights were turned off. Ethan pulls out his key ring and unlocks the door. He switched on the lights and told Chuck to take a seat at the counter. Ethan entered the kitchen and emerged wearing a wig and a false mustache. Chuck gave an uneasy smile.

"What's going on, Ethan?" Chuck inquired.

"The names Dennis Remy, what can I get for you?" Ethan asked in his Dennis disguise.

Chuck turned white as a ghost, and it occurred to him that there was only one insane man in this town, and he is about to be murdered by him.

"Ethan, it's Chuck; we just met at your office; what's going on here?" Chuck inquired once more.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about; I've been here all morning; we were slammed for the breakfast rush," Dennis responded.

"Who are we?" Chuck asked.

Chuck is concerned that Isaac Normandy does not live here and that the story he was promised was really the ravings of a lunatic who lives in the Vermont mountains. Chuck went along with it.

"Isaac Normandy, does he live around here?" Chuck inquired.

"Oh yeah, old Ike lives up the hill, behind the library; I just saw him up there this morning," Dennis said.

Chuck knew he walked by that library earlier and saw the house; no one was there. He pushed a little more, suspicious.

"Do you think you'd be willing to take me up there?" Chuck inquired.

"Sure, first, you have to try my world-famous grilled cheese; you've never had anything like it, " Dennis insisted.

"What's the harm? I haven't had lunch yet," Chuck said hesitantly.

Dennis entered the kitchen and began cooking while he spoke to Chuck through the serving window. It's surreal; Ethan was a completely different person; his demeanor, facial expressions, and even the way he walks were all different.

Chuck finished his grilled cheese; it wasn't that bad at all. They then start to head towards the house.

Dennis knocks three times and receives no response.

"Damn it, I know he's in there; I just hope he didn't fall asleep? Come on; he normally leaves the side door open; let's surprise him," Dennis said, dragging Chuck to the side of the house. They walk in through the open side door.

"He's probably upstairs; I'll go wake him up," Dennis said as he begins to climb the stairs.

A moment later, Dennis, who is Ethan, enters wearing glasses and fake bushy eyebrows. 

"Hello, you must be Chuck from the Harpersville Bulletin; I’m Issac Normandy; my dearest friends call me Ike," he said dignified.

Chuck can't believe what he's seeing: three distinct personalities playing out in front of his eyes. Chuck responded, 

"The bulletin is grateful that you decided to write a piece for us. I thought I'd check-in and see how things were going."

"It's nearly finished, my good sir, a real whodunit," Issac said.

"That's fantastic news, and we can't wait to read it. So, will Ethan be emailing it to us? " Chuck inquired.

"Ethan's a good chap but a little tardy with the email, my apologies. I'll present the perplexing tale myself," Ike said adamantly.

Ike and Chuck then have a drink, discuss his novels, and go for a walk around town. Chuck gets to meet three more characters while he's up there. He leaves after about an hour to return to Harpersville.

The entire committee and several notable members of the community have assembled to meet the famous author on the day the story is due.

Ike is about an hour late. Chuck is becoming concerned that he will not be able to attend. Suddenly, he noticed a stack of papers on the table in front of him. It's a story by Issac Normandy. Chuck looks around; no one came or went. Ike's disguises were poor; if he had come in, he would have known. He interrupted the gathering and asked whether someone had seen a tall man put this story on the table. No one saw anything.

Chuck walked into the hallway, looked left and right, went outside, and looked at the parking lot; he didn't see any cars he didn't recognize. 

The article by Isaac Normandy was published in the Harpersville Bulletin's next edition, and it was a big success. Now that this issue has been resolved, everyone's attention shifts to the next one. During these discussions, Chuck leaned back and thought about his time in Vermont with Isaac Normandy and smiled. The notion of Isaac playing all those characters every day gave him a warm feeling. He was grateful to be able to provide him with an audience one more time, even if it was only their small bulletin and the hour or so he spent in that empty town.