Neverland (1991), a Mystery Horror Novel by Douglas Clegg: Summary

This is the author’s third book. It is consisting of 12 chapters and a total of 373 pages, and published by Pocket Books in 1991. Lots of information about Georgia coast is relayed. Told in the first person perspective, the childhood memory is filled with nightmares. Beau has the sight and dreams. The dreams take him flying out of his body. His grandmother said it was family curse and was not bless. He and his cousin Sumter took a blood oath before the devil.

The author is an American well-known author of suspense, thriller horror, and dark fantasy book. This is one of those books that start off slow and just gets better and better. There’s a certain amount of repetition of the story, but aside from that, it’s an engaging story overall. The book is well-written one. If you are interested in learning 1980’s life in Georgia coast, childhood, horror, rite, and mystery, so this book certainly fits the description.

 

Neverland (1991), a Mystery Horror Novel by Douglas Clegg

The dreams used to take him out of his body, just like he was flying. They took Beau back to Gull Island, a strip of land off the coast of Georgia, the place where the Wandigauxes’s tragedies were born. His relatives from his mother side were crazy, and his great-grandmother Wandigaux was in and out of institutions most of her life because of alcoholism and schizophrenia. She knew about her dreams too, but she made the mistake of talking about them.

Beauregard Burton Jackson didn’t meet his cousin Sumter Monroe until they were both six year old. His parents took him and his sisters – the twins – Melissa and Leonora – to Gull Island to visit Grampa Lee while he was still breathing. His little brother Governor would not be born for another three years. After Grampa Lee died, his parents dragged the Jacksons back to Gull Island. Beau didn’t believe Sumter had sold his soul to Devil. Four summers later, when they were both ten, Sumter found his god, in a shack. Sumter was fascinated by the sack and her mother had warned him never played around old sack, so Sumter called it Neverland. In the sacred place Gullah place, something waited there, wanting what he had to offer.

The Jacksons were not poor and were not rich but could afford traveling together in the station wagon. In their neighbors in Richmond, they were the last on the block to have air-conditioned car and color television. Dabney Jackson, was still jumping from job to job, trying to succeed in sales. Beau was a kid who wet the bed, although the damp sheets had ended when he was eight, the twins, two years older than Beau, still used it as the blackmail. His sisters would take great pleasure in telling Beau horror stories and lying in bed at night, he was too scared with nightmares to set foot on the floor of his dark bedroom. Most brothers and sisters say they love each other even if they fight, but Beau hated the twins more than he hated school.

Gull Island was a small town, and only two hundred people occupied peninsula at any one time. It was a beautiful place, but it was sweaty, sandy stretch of family arguments. Most of the islanders were black and considered by Grammy Weenie to be quite backward and filthy. Grammie Weenie had hired a black girl as nanny for kids during vacation. Julianne Sanders was the third housekeeper that Beau knew in his grandmother’s house.

The sack was falling a part, hidden back among the trees, and it looked and smelled pretty bad. Beau had tried to look through the dusty windows before, but never dared to go in side it. Sumter called it Neverland. A very small human skull, one seemed too tiny to be real. Sumter explained it was Lucy’s skull. She was going to run off with a man. He killed her, only he didn’t love her. Sumter had sold his soul to Lucy, his new god. Sumter and Beau took an oath blood. They were going be joined with blood so Beau couldn’t tell a living soul what happened in Neverland.

The bunny had been dead when they found it. Sumter went to the crate and knocked three times on it. He lifted the dead bunny up and blood trickled from gash down on his forehead. He cried out for Lucy and his theatrical voice like the preacher at Baptist church in town when he gave his sacrifice. The dead bunny was laid across the top of the crate. It was no the first time Beau saw a ritual. During a tropical storm, the locals performed Gullah rituals. Dead chickens were sacrificed.

Grammy Wandigaux had lost her oldest daughter that she called her Babygirl, but the kids called this aunt “the Mad One” because she died crazy. Grammy Wandigaux was proud of being a Wandigaux. Her father was from the New Orleans Wandigaux family, originally form France, persecuted for their religion faith, who escaped the wrath of Papists of their native land, and Gull Island has become the end of journey. She had three daughters, Babygirl, Beau’s mother, Evelyn and Sumter’s mother, Cricket.

There was one other group native to the peninsula beside the Gullah. They were known as white trash, and they were almost a tribe. They tended to be employed and were more often than not smarter than tourists. To those of people from off-island, white trash was the lowest caste and untouchable. The girl and the two brothers, Goober and Wilbur joined the Neverland. Zinnia was ugly and pretty at the same time to Beau, but she was the first girl who had ever kissed him.

Leonora and Melissa seemed as fascinated by the Playboys when they firstly visited Neverland. The place was cool to the twins. After worshiping before Lucy, they began to fly. They were all really flying. They could see Grammy Weenie, the kitchen, and the living room. They were flying and swooping together, the toes of   flip-flops brushing leaves off the tops of the trees. It was getting harder and getting harder to breathe. Nonie was writhing, and Missy’s nose started bleeding her final scream as she hit the earth. The twins told the hypnotism in the sack to Julianne Sanders, but the nanny said that there was no Lucy and it was just made up story. But the other days the twins still interested in magic time in Neverland. They worshiped Lucy and gave her sacrifice.

From outside, the sunlight entered, a violet sunlight like it was early morning, Sumter was no longer in the sack. The strange dwarf woman with the white hair, Lucy was in her place. She had stitches across her forehead, just before her eyes, and she was tearing at them with her fingernails. Sumter seemed like possessing. Sumter uttered Lucy was his real mother. Sumter knew their grandmother had killed her. She stopped Lucy for taking him to Neverland. It would be the last sacrifice. Now Lucy wanted a human one, a baby and it was Governor.

Beau completely broke his oath to Lucy, to Summter, to Neverland. He told every last thing he remembered including Sumter’s last sacrifice, and Grammy had a look of supreme terror on her face. She finally told the truth to Beau. The lightening struck, and her face was so white. Grammy never went to the woods, her daughter, Lucinda Wandigaux Lee, died in a bad way there. Her husband planted the trees to hide the place. Grammy Wandigaux also had the sight, the full Wandigaux curse. Back hundreds of years in France, certain members of the Wandigauxes were tortured for conjuring.

It was a curse. Lucy became a bride of god, a terrible, savage god. She bore   children. First, one was more her blood than its father’s, named him Summer for the season in which he arrived. The second was more his father’s son – beast and human, male and female, and an abomination. Grammy killed it because it didn’t belong to the world. Summer was Sumter. Beau’s mother and Aunt Cricket knew she died, but they were newlyweds and busy with their lives. Cricket married her husband, and miscarried in her fourth month. Grammy told her Lucinda had died because of complications in relating to her surgery. But Sumter had more his father’s son. He could change things, and his father was calling him home.

In particular morning, Aunt Cricket screamed on her son name, but nobody had seen him. Beau’s mother was crying for losing her baby. Beau believed Sumter had taken Governor for the sacrifice. When Beau arrived in Neverland, he found Zinnia and her brothers there. Zinnia had the rake in her fists, all her fingers bleeding. Her brothers were also digging their ways up where they’d buried. Zinnia said Lucy did it to them. He was blinded by the brilliant white and he had the sight. The Devil was too strong and had hurt some people. Sumter’s father called Sumter to sacrifice Governor. Sumter held tight Governor and stepped to Lucy’s skull. The light and a voice call out Beau. Sumter was crying too much to hear Beau’s voice. The shadow of his father became part of fog. Sumter set Governor down on the damp grass.

Grammy Weenie held onto Sumter tightly and she took him to his mother Lucy and to his father. She also was dying, wiling herself to die, but still holding her grandchild close to her breast so that their spirit leave their cages of flesh together. Gullah Island was still there off the Georgia coast. The place was known for lore and superstition. Beau had watched his brother Governor grew up, and he had watched his parents divorced. He had seen his cousin, his aunt, his uncle, and grandmother died. His childhood memory was filled with pain and nightmares.

Sekapur Sirih

Novel horor dan misteri ini diterbitkan tahun 1997 dan berisi 12 bagian dan 337 halaman. Penulis adalah berkebangsaan Amerika dan dikenal dengan karya-karya horor dan misteri. Buku ini adalah karyanya yang ketiga dan hingga ia masih aktif menulis di genre yang sama.

Berlatarbelakang tahun delapan puluhan di pantai Georgia Amerika, kisah ini banyak menggambarkan kebiasaan hidup masyarakat itu dari perspektif seorang remaja bernama Beau. Hal-hal mistis yang dialaminya merupakan kutuk keluarga. Terdapat pengulangan dan penuturan lambat dalam novel ini, tetapi mengesampingkan itu, buku ini ditulis dengan bagus sehingga tepat bagi pembelajar novel misteri berbahasa Inggris.

Terjemahan Bahasa Indonesia: Neverland, karya Douglas Clegg

Bermimpi dan bisa melihat hal-hal yang tidak bisa dilihat orang lain telah lekat dengan dirinya sejak usia lima tahun. Mimpi baik atau mimpi buruk, atau bahkan anak lelaki itu bisa keluar dari tubuhnya. Ia terbang dan bisa melihat tubuhnya sendiri. Beauregard Burton, seorang remaja berusia 10 tahun ketika berlibur di kampung neneknya di pantai Georgia, Amerika. Kepulangannya kali ini, merupakan kepulangan pertama setelah kematian kakeknya. Setelah berkendara berpuluh jam dengan Ford station wagon, larut malam akhirnya keluarga Jackson tiba di kediaman nenek Wandigaux di pulau Gullah.

Keluarga Jackson, bukanlah keluarga kaya, dan juga bukan keluarga miskin. Tapi mereka termasuk keluarga yang sanggup menikmati liburan keluarga. Mereka adalah orang terakhir yang memilki AC mobil terakhir di blok kampungnya Richmond. Dabney Jackson, ayah Beau, masih berpindah-pindah pekerjaan. Ia adalah seorang sales dan mulai mencoba menekuni penjualan rumah. Beau adalah anak ke dua, dari empat bersaudara, dua kakaknya adalah kembar. Melissa dan Leonora tidak begitu menyukai perjalanan pulang kampung, mereka lebih suka ke Disneyland. Governor berusia tiga tahun, tentu saja lelah dengan berkendara dalam berjam-jam.

Sepupu Sumter yang sepantaran dengan Beau, bukanlah kriteria anak-anak pada umunya. Dia agak aneh, dan membuat pengakuan bahwa dia telah menjual jiwanya pada setan. Sesampai di Pulau Gullah yang hanya berpenduduk dua ratus orang, suhu sangat panas dan gerah. Setiap orang saling mengenal. Nenek Wandigaux adalah turunan orang kaya dan terpandang, ia baru saja kehilangan suaminya, Kakek Lee. Nenek dari Beau ini sangat bangga dengan garis keturunan keluarga Wandigaux. Keturunan Prancis dari New Orleans yang diusir karena keyakinannya. Keluarga ini kerap diusir dan berpindah-pindah. Pulau Gullah adalah tempat terakhir mereka.

Sumter merupakan putra tunggal dari Bibi Cricket, tinggal di Gullah bersama orang tuanya. Anak berusia sepuluh tahun itu mengajak Beau ke sebuah pondok tua di dalam hutan dan diberi nama Neverland. Jendela rumah itu sudah sangat rapuh dan di dalamnya pun sangat berdebu. Sumter mengadakan penyembahan pada dewi bernama Lucy, ia sudah melakukannya berbulan-bulan. Awalnya sangat aneh bagi Beau, namun ia  pun mulai bergabung dan membuat sumpah serapah ikatan darah di antara keduanya dan Lucy. Sumpah yang tidak akan pernah diberitahukan pada siapapun. Persembahan kelinci mati pun diberikan, kedua anak itu menemukan kelinci mati dan mempersembahkannya pada Lucy.

Kejadian mistis, sosok makhluk bernama Lucy, serta suara aneh pun kerap muncul. Terkadang Sumter menghilang dan Beau bisa terbang bersamanya. Persembahan darah pun kerap dilakukan. Beau memang sangat curiga kenapa kelinci mereka temukan selalu sudah dalam keadaan mati dengan keadaan perutnya tercabik dan terburai. Sumter pun bak pendeta mempersembahkan kelinci itu dengan doa-doa. Lucy menjanjikan surga baginya.

Marah, kecewa, dan berhenti bicara itulah reaksi Sumter mendapati sepupunya Beau membocorkan rahasia mereka pada si kembar yang dua tahun lebih tua dari mereka. Keempatnya pun menjadi akrab dalam menyembah Lucy, mereka bisa terbang meninggalkan Neverland. Namun lama-kelamaan Lucy meminta persembahan terakhir yakni manusia, dan Sumter pun membicarakan Governor, adik kecil Beau. Tidak tahan dengan rencana Sumter, Beau akhirnya menceritakan semua apa yang dialaminya di Neverland dan keanehan Sumter. Nenek Weenie wajahnya memutih dan sontak petir dan hujan deras turun, mendengar rencana Sumter.

Nenek Weenie mengaku semua kutuk dalam keluarga Wandigaux. Turunan Perancis yang dipersekusi, disiksa, dan dibuang dari kampungnya karena sihir keluarga itu. Nenek moyang dari Nenek Weenie dari pihak ibunya beberapa mengalah darah sihir dan kutuk termasuk nenek Weenie dan Beau. Nenek Weenie memiliki tiga putri, Lucinda, ibunya Beau, dan ibunya Sumter. Lucinda dengan sebutan sayang Babygirl telah meninggal ketika Beau masih bayi. Babygirl sangat diinginkan oleh iblis dan menjadikannya pengantinnya. Babygirl pun sudah melukai beberapa penduduk, dan ia ditempatkan di pondok.

Babygirl melahirkan dua orang anak secara gaib. Ayah dua bayi itu adalah iblis. Satu diberi nama Summer dan kelak Sumter, yang kedua dibunuh oleh Nenek Weenie. Tak berselang lama, Babygirl dibunuh oelah nenek sendiri dan dikubur di samping pondok di hutan yang disebut anak-anak Neverland. Kakek Lee pun menanami pepohonan untuk menyembunyikannya. Nenek memberitahu kematian Babygirl pada Bibi Cricket dan ibunya Beau, tapi keduanya sibuk dengan keluarga baru mereka. Keduanya hanya mengetahui Babygirl meninggal dalam operasi kepala. Bibi Cricket baru saja menikah dan mengalami keguguran dan akhirnya mengadopsi bayi Sumter.

Sumter pernah mengatakan pada Beau bahwa ia putra Lucy dan kerap dipanggil pulang oleh ayahnya yakni iblis. Seisi rumah digegerkan pagi hari itu, Governor hilang dari tempat tidur dan Sumter juga hilang. Beau dan anggota keluarga menyusul Sumter di Neverland. Ternyata tawanan lain sudah di sana tak lain teman mereka juga yang baru-baru ini bergabung menyembah Lucy. Tiga anak itu juga disiksa dan mereka mengaku itu perbuatan Lucy. Sumter tengah memegang Governor seraya ingin mempersembahkannya. Kabut dan suara dari iblis mendesak Sumter untuk mempersembahkan Governor.

Kekuatan gelap menguasai Neverland, Beau berusaha memanggil-manggil Sumter. Dari kejauhan Sumter menangis dan memeluk Governor, perlahan anak itu meletakkan bayi itu di rerumputan. Nenek Weenie pun menyuruh Beau membawa pulang bayi itu, dan mengucapkan kata terakhir, seolah ia juga hendak meninggalkan dunia. Nenek itu pingsan, memeluk, dan perlahan membekap Sumter. Anak iblis itu pun menemui panggilan ayah dan ibunya.