Our story is about a town. A Town Called Riverdale. There is an idea of Riverdale...of what kind of town it is, what sortof families live there...a notion that it exists unchanged andunchanging, as if frozen in a time-capsule. that it must be exactly how it presentsitself to the outside world. Safe. Decent.Innocent. So that if you were looking at itfrom the window of a train, rushing by, youmight wish you lived there.but that's only one aspect of it, andonly on the surface..the truth is, if you really want tounderstand Riverdale, and what kind ofplace it is, I have to tell you about itsshadows, the town beneath the town. starting, I guess, with what theBlossom twins did this summer.On the fourth of July, just after dawn,Jason and Cheryl Blossom drove out toSweetwater River for an early morningboat-ride, as was their custom. The next thing we know happened for sureis that Dilton Doiley, who was leadingRiverdale's Boy Scout Troop on a birdwatching expedition, came upon, Riverdale Police, led by Sheriff Keller, dragged the river for Jason's body,but hours later, still nothing. A week later, the Blossom family buriedan empty casket, and Jason's death wasruled an accident, as the story Cheryltold made the rounds. That an earlymorning idyll turned tragic when Cheryl had dropped her glove in the water, and Jasonreached down to get it, and accidentallytipped the boat, and panicked, anddrowned. which is super-weird, because Jasonwas captain of the water polo team, 'The Aqua-Holics'. So the "July 4th tragedy" became justanother suburban legend -- a cautionarytale we would analyze and regurgitateendlessly -- until some new scandal ormystery rolled into town...by morning, everyone would be talking,texting, and posting about it... We'd allbe feeling it. That the world around ushad changed, forever. that Riverdale wasn't the same townanymore. That if we'd ever been innocent,we weren't anymore...(then)On Monday, the autopsy would take place.And on Tuesday, halfway through fifth-period, the first arrest would be made,shaking the very foundation of RiverdaleHigh.
