40 years later

P.S. 67 elementary school was set in the middle of what used to be a corn field.  It was your typical non descript elementary school with huge play ground in the back.  Next to it, the park district purchased the land and turned it into a park.  So the kids could play on the equipment in back of the school or they could go to the park.  But the way the land was, there was a big hill at the edge of the park.  

At the edge of a park was an old tree, had to be at least a hundred years old, when I was a kid.  But back then, it was where they found Annie Hubbard.  She was found mutilated under that tree.  A couple walking their dog, found her on an early Sunday morning.  She was missing three days before when she was out looking for acorns for her 6th grade science fair project.  Her parents reported her missing by 7pm and the police were out searching for her.

Tommy Hubbard, who we hung around with, wasn't the same after they found his sister.

"Come on Tommy let's go play on the hill." We asked.  He always turned us down.  We didn't know till later of course, when we got older and figured out what happened.  Our parents kept that stuff from us, not like now, where every kid has the news before their parents do.

The neighborhood kids, always, avoid that tree.  Not because of anything that happened

recently.  But because a sweet little girl, looking for acorns, was murdered by a serial killer.

40 years later, they still avoid it.