Low-hanging branches scratched my face as I ran, weaving my way through the pines, stumbling, scrambling back to my feet, running as hard as I could, on and on through the woods until I got to Mouse Creek. The cold, gurgling water seeped into my boots, wetting my pant legs as I splashed my way across, trying to keep my balance in the rippling currents. I struggled up the muddy creek bank, slipping back into the red mud slime a couple of times, then ran full-speed, wondering if I’d ever find the road.–Daniel Sartain, page 17, GONE FROM THESE WOODS.
Mouse Creek in Cleveland, TN
Mouse Creek Road Sign
Mouse Creek is a real creek that runs along Mouse Creek Road in Cleveland, Tennessee, where my mother, Faye Bailey, and my sister, Leanne Benson, and her family, have lived for over 30 years. My parents were both natives of Athens, Georgia, near where I still live today. But way back in 1980, my dad, H.D.Bailey, was named postmaster of Cleveland, Tennessee. So he and my mother, and my then 14-year-old younger sister, moved to Cleveland.
Over the past 30 plus years, I’ve visited the Cleveland, TN area many times and even call it my second home town. When I needed an interesting and appropriate road name for my novel, GONE FROM THESE WOODS, I chose Mouse Creek Road. I also used Hooper Gap Road, a road that intersects with Mouse Creek Road.
Sometimes when I visit Cleveland, I walk along the Greenway path that follows Mouse Creek for several miles. It’s a gorgeous, mountain stream sort of walk that I always look forward to. Of course, I think of Daniel Sartain and his walk up Mouse Creek Road and the way he waded through Mouse Creek, on his way to get help for Uncle Clay.