The Boy on the Side of the Road

For six-year-old Noah McAllister, May 8, 1954, begins as any other ordinary day in Dawson, Georgia. However, this day is anything but ordinary. Like a bolt of lightning, tragedy is about to strike. No one in town will be left untouched, least of all the McAllister family. As Noah makes the quarter-mile trek home from school, he is unaware that just yards away, hidden behind the solid oaks that line the dirt lane leading to the McAllister farm, someone is watching. At first, lost in a private daydream, he doesn’t hear the muffled whimper, or see the melon crate tucked in among the trees. When the sound comes again, he looks up and spies the crate. He rushes excitedly toward it, believing it contains a puppy or kitten. Instead, he finds an abandoned baby. Suddenly, a dark car explodes from behind the trees and careens onto the road. A second later it’s gone, leaving behind a trail of dust as the only evidence it had been there at all. And so begins the chain of events that lead to murder and the downfall of the McAllister family.