Category: Personalities

Ralston’s newest citizens make some proposals to improve the community’s quality of life.

Tito Wilson — Catch Him if You Can!

Tito Wilson, a local fishing legend from Ward 1, is a retired senior citizen who likes to spend his time fishing at the fishing pier. He wakes up early in the morning to go fishing and if you are one of the first few people to have a conversation with him he will give you a fish he caught. This tradition has turned into a game in the Ralston fishing community: a friendly competition to see who can get to Mr. Wilson first. He has picked up on this game and purposefully changes the time he goes to the pier to make it more of a challenge. Mr. Wilson’s conversations often contain lots of wisdom and life stories, especially about his service in Vietnam. He is very accepting of people and is willing to teach anyone how to fish, as he believes it’s the most relaxing and rewarding hobby someone can have. Mr. Wilson almost always participates in the local fishing contests, and his dominance in the contests has led to fellow Vermont fishers to travel to Ralston to test their mettle

Welcome home, Weathervane!

Ralston, Vermont is proud to welcome home The Weathervane for the last performance of their Chaos Dreaming 2025 tour. The Weathervane was founded under the name “VoltStorm” by our very own Ben Strom and Alex “Sparky” Blitz. This performance is organized with the help of the City Council and local firefighters, Raymond and Wyatt Blitz, the family of the band’s frontrunner.

The town is beyond grateful that The Weathervane has chosen to bring their first tour full circle back into their hometown, and we are pleased to invite their bandmates, Edie and Mars Belafonte, formerly of Twinlepathy, into our quiet Vermont town. This concert is a lovely opportunity to raise money for the town and the future of these young artists, as well as draw more visitors and tourism opportunities to our economy.

Break a leg, Alex and Ben! Ralston sends their love.

Ralston Private Letter

My Dearest Rosalin,

I’ve discovered something, and it felt natural that I should write to you first. Not only because you’re one of the few people who will tolerate multi-page handwritten letters, but also because you’re not a resident of Ralston. For now, I feel it’s best that what I’ve found stay hidden to the public.

It’s exciting. I feel like I’m a little kid again, searching for buried treasure at the beach. I’m even writing this by candlelight for the full effect.

You’re probably rolling your eyes and asking me to get on with it already, so I’ll jump to it. In light of a couple members of the library staff leaving (Casey’s off to college and Fiona’s retiring), I’m back on dusting duty. And I found something ordinary that contained something rather extraordinary.

It was in the far back of the basement, amongst outdated atlases and academic essays. The dust on the books was so thick you probably could have spun it into wool and knitted one of your sweaters out of it.

The book itself was unremarkable. Just one of the atlases. But inside I found a single sheet of paper, which I’ll transcribe for you now.

***

CHILDREN OF THE WATER MANIFESTO
Astra inclinant, sed non obligant.

PURPOSE
A guiding hand is ever present in our life. It is the choice of each individual to accept that guidance, or to fall into despair and darkness. We are those who have accepted, those who trust, and those who believe. Still, we choose the ultimate path of our destiny, and we shall devote that destiny to finding the ultimate truth.

GUIDANCES
1. Accept the guidance of Fate. That which wishes to guide you will cause you no harm. Any suffering you may endure will be made up for tenfold when Fate blesses you.
2. Soothe the doubts of fellow members when they feel they have lost sight of Fate. Remind them that there is light in all darkness, hope in all despair.
3. Pass on the wisdom of Fate to unenlightened souls. Tell them there is guidance awaiting them, that there is light in all darkness, hope in all despair.
4. Remember your free will. Fate is a suggestion, like the waves we frequent. We are both the waves, pulled by gravity, and the wind that guides the waves.
5. Those who speak directly to Fate hold the highest wisdom. Trust their guidance when you are in dou[bt]

***

The rest is torn out.

The writing on the document is faded. The paper was quite delicate. I’m no historian, but the paper is certainly at least several decades old. The document being here makes it probable that several decades ago, a cult (I have no proof that it’s a cult, but, “Children of the Water?” Come on.) was meeting, or at least organizing meetings, in the Ralston Public Library.

Ralston has always been a quaint place. Too quaint, if you’d asked me when I was a kid. Now I wonder how much of that is because of what we have buried.

For many people, Ralston’s quaint nature is why they live here. It’s at the heart of the community. I don’t know what it would do to people if this information got out. For now, I’ll only entrust this knowledge in you.

I look forward to tea on Saturday.

All yours,

Genevive.