Maelstrom Inherited

The propensity for the commission of a sin has an hereditary succession. The punishment for that sin and the instrument of penance follow the same course.
From the Civil War to the 21st Century, an unknown curse remained hidden from two families only to be discovered by a young college coed experiencing the adventure of a lifetime during Spring Break.
Roy Helton?s poem ?Ol? Christmas? is woven throughout the story via the Barton-Carter families. The deaths that occur in the poem are repeated with variation in the novel. The instrument of the original deaths disappears only to re-appear in a pawn store to be purchased by another member of the family. The instrument will once again kill a member of the family involved with the sins of his ancestors. It disappears and reappears in a para-normal situation leaving the reader with a feeling that the function of the instrument is not yet included.