Two of us together might do the same, but we'd probably have to get a few feet into the woods before the agreement was struck. With three of us, though, we've got to swallow our fear and trudge on. In the woods, just about anything can sound suspicious. It's a paranoid's worst nightmare. Tiny animals scurry over dry leaves, the wind pushes at the trees and makes them moan.
Twigs snap, unseen creeks burp and hiss.
Robbed of sight, it's easy to become nothing but a giant ear, straining to make the sounds harmless. Throw in the fact that, somewhere in this 53.8-acre piece of land, there's possibly a man wandering around with a loaded weapon, and you'll understand why we clotted up at the lip of the woods and came oh so close to making the agreement that would have let us drive safely back to that Burger King for coffee and collusion. A ccording to the few people who know anything about it, Elko Tract was created during the Second World War to serve as a false city should the Japanese ever make it to Virginia on a nocturnal bombing raid. Once the raid was detected, the story goes, the city lights would be doused and the street lamps at Elko would be kicked on. Like many semi-mythical stories, though, Elko Tract's just doesn't ring true.