 
# A Story for Eloise

## by

##

## Robert James Allison

Names, characters, and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

## First Suitor Enterprises

## www.RobertJamesAllison.com

## Copyright © 2012 by Robert James Allison

## Published by First Suitor Enterprises at Smashwords.com

## March 2013

## All rights reserved

Jake Sadler sat on his front porch looking out over the dark valley to the far hills. The stars were brilliantly beaming down at him this cool, dry September night. He was tired, bone tired. All day he had worked in his fields getting ready to harvest his corn. From just before sunup to well after sundown Jake worked his small farm in West Virginia.

The farm was nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and there wasn't a flat spot containing more than two acres at any one place. The 80 acres of corn that he harvested every year just barely kept him and his family alive. There was little cash at the end of the year to buy much of anything. Mostly the cash went to buy school things for his two kids and maybe some material for his wife to sew clothes.

He was 35 years old this year and he felt 80 most of the time. Other than his old beat up truck, there were no machines on his farm. He farmed as his father had and his father before him. One mule and a single-bottom plow did all the work around his farm. It wasn't that he wouldn't have liked some machinery, but where was the money to come from. The kids needed schooling more than he needed farm machinery. He placed high emphasis on schooling. Any kid of his caught shirking his schooling was in for a trip to the woodshed. On that point, the old man was unyielding and the kids knew it well.

The front porch was his favorite spot, second only to the living room where his son and daughter did their homework. He loved to watch them at their books and encouraged them to work extra hard. He was a poor man, from a poor family, living in a poor area, and he knew the value of an education.

Now though, the kids were in bed and his wife was sewing in her chair by the light of a coal oil lamp on the kitchen table. There was no electricity out here in these foothills unless you were a lot richer than he was. It would have cost a fortune to run the electric transmission line up the long hill to his four-room cabin. There was running water only because he had rigged pipes to bring in water from a spring farther up the hill. The cabin was heated by wood which he spent most of the fall and winter chopping.

His was a hard life, but a good one. No one bothered them way up here and they had pretty much what they needed. The land around his farm was heavily wooded and was seldom entered by anyone other than him, when hunting. He didn't buy a hunting license. First of all, he didn't have the money for one and second, there was no one to see him hunting. About the only strangers they got around here were the "revenuers" looking for the stills that many area residents had hid up in these hills making "moonshine". Not him though, he had seen what that "white lightning" could do to someone and he wanted no part of it. So the "revenuers" didn't bother him and they weren't interested in his illegal hunting.

Besides, he hunted to feed his family, not for sport. As inadequately educated as he was, he perceived a big difference in breaking the law to support your family and breaking the law for fun. He didn't do anything for fun. He worked to live.

He decided he had better get up and head inside because daylight wouldn't wait and he needed some rest. When he opened the old wooden screen door and stepped inside the cabin he was surprised to see his daughter still at the kitchen table. Eloise was his sweetheart. She was 9 years old, skinny, full of vim and vigor, and had the prettiest long blonde hair.

As he closed the screen door he said, "I thought both you young'ens was in bed. How come you're still up, El?"

"I had a lot of homework tonight, Pa and now I want a story read to me," Eloise answered pertly.

"A story read to you! What do we send you to school for? You're old enough to read stories to yourself."

"It ain't the same, Pa. I like to have stories read to me sometimes," she answered with a pout on her face and continued, "read me a story, Pa, Please!"

"No honey, not tonight, I'm tired. Got to get up early in the morning. Maybe your Ma will read to you. I got to get to bed."

"Aw, Pa. Please. You never read me a story. You always got to get to bed or get up early or you're too busy," she said with the pout on her face getting deeper.

"Well, I do have to get up early. I got to tend the crops or we won't have money to buy you no school stuff or cloth for clothes. Talk to your mother," he said gruffly and walked on through to his bedroom.

Janice Sadler looked up from her sewing and said softly to Eloise still pouting at the table, "Eloise, you know better than to bug your Pa about reading and helping with homework. He has things to do and he has a lot on his mind just feeding us and keeping us warm in the winter. I've told you a thousand times not to whine around about him not reading you stories. I'll read you a story if you want, but you quit bugging your Pa about it. You hear?"

"Yes, Ma, but he has never read me a story. Don't he like me?"

"Hush your mouth young lady. I never want to hear you say anything like that again and especially not near enough so your father might hear. Can't you see he works himself near to death every day to keep you safe and warm and in school? You think he does that because he doesn't like you? He loves you and Jamie more than life itself, but he doesn't have the time or strength to work this farm and argue with you about reading and homework.

"Your work is school and his work is this farm. He expects you to do your work and he expects you to let him do his," she finished with severity in her voice that was worse than a rap from Jake's belt. Then a little softer and kinder she said, "now, Eloise, you get on to bed and first thing tomorrow night I'll read you any two stories you want. Okay?"

"Okay, Ma. Goodnight," Eloise said and went over to hug and kiss her mother goodnight.

When Eloise was settled into her bed Janice put up her sewing and after arranging the fire in the stove for lighting first thing in the morning, turned out the coal lamp and headed for bed. She quietly entered the bedroom and slipped into her nightgown. As she slid into bed next to Jake the moonlight cascaded across his face and she could see his eyes still open and a glistening of tears on his cheeks. She asked quietly, "You heard?"

"Yes."

"She didn't mean nothing, Jake. She don't understand, that's all. Don't pay her no mind. She's just a little girl. Kids don't realize what their words can do. Later on she'll grow up and realize that words can hurt more than fists. I'll read to her tomorrow night."

He said nothing. There was nothing to say. He rolled over on his side and tried to get to sleep. Morning was coming and he couldn't stop it.

## ~*~

In the morning, before sunup, Jake was up, dressed, and out in the barn milking one of two milk cows. While milking, and although it was still only September, he began thinking about the coming winter. Up in these hills you couldn't get prepared for winter early enough. He knew he would have to start cutting firewood in earnest very soon and stockpiling it for the cold winter months.

This year he hoped to get a little work down in the valley to supplement his crop money. Never hurt to get a little extra put aside just in case a bad year came along and the crop was down. Sometimes he could get work running deliveries for the combination hardware store and pharmacy. The roads around the small town were tough in the winter and Jake was one of the few who could get through to the out-of-the-way farms when the snow was piling up. He knew the roads and trails like the back of his hand. He had grown up in these foothills and had never been more than 25 miles from this farm in 35 years.

He finished the milking and carried the pails into the house, trying to avoid the mud puddles made by the rain last night. _A real gully washer_ , he thought. Fortunately he had just finished repairing the roof of the cabin. _A leak would have been easy to see last night_ , he mused, _must have gotten two inches of rain in an hour_. He carried the milk in while Jamie held the door for him.

"I would have done that for you, Pa. You got plenty else to do," Jamie said.

"I know son and I thank you, but you got to get ready for school. Get your breakfast and get on down the road to the bus stop. I'll tend to the chores. There will be plenty more to do soon. I got to start cutting and chopping wood for winter.

"Pa, why don't I just quit school and help you on the farm?"

"No. Don't even think such a thing. You can't get nowhere in this world without an education," Jake responded sharply.

"You done all right, Pa," Jamie insisted.

"I haven't done nothing son. I just barely keep us alive on this old farm."

"But you quit school early to help your Pa," Jamie continued, not being one to let go of a point.

"My Pa was hurt bad when that horse fell on him. He never was right again. Did something to his head, I guess. I had to work the farm. There weren't no choice. You got a choice boy. Don't choose the way I went. If you do, you'll regret it the rest of your life. There's a whole big world out there son. At least, that's what I been told. I never seen it, but I heard tell. I want you to see it. Now you get on down to that bus stop with your sister and I'll hear no more talk about quitting school. I expect you to work harder in school than I do on this farm. Now get going," he ended with finality.

Thirty minutes later he looked up from chopping wood to see Eloise and Jamie walking back up the road. When they got within earshot he yelled, "Why ain't you kids down there at the bus stop? You miss that bus and you're going to get double trouble from me!"

By this time Jamie was close enough for normal conversation and he replied, "Road's washed out or if it ain't, it ought to be, because the water's about 4 feet over it and flowing fast. Guess the bus can't get through to us, Pa. It should have been here 15 minutes ago."

Janice had come out on the front porch to find out what was going on and having heard the last of it said, "well, I reckon Jamie can give you a hand with that firewood and El can help me do some cleaning."

"No," Jake said and continued, "a little rain ain't a good enough excuse for my kids to miss school. I'll get the truck out and take them in myself. They might be a little late, but they are going to school." And with that he headed for the garage to get out the truck.

Eloise and Jamie waited on the front porch until Jake pulled up and then they climbed in. He slid the shifter into first and eased the truck out and down the lane toward the bottom of the hill. Just short of the washout he turned sharp right and headed back up the hill on an old gravel lane that looked like it hadn't been used for years.

"Pa this don't go nowhere," Jamie said.

"You may know your books at school boy, but the old man knows a few tricks about living in these hills. Ain't a road or trail I ain't been on in most any kind of weather. You just sit back and watch," he said easily.

## ~*~

Jamie was far from convinced, but did as he was told and watched. Sure enough to his amazement, his dad followed that old road halfway back up the hill to the farm and then made a sharp left back down the hill. The road got worse, but Jamie could see ahead what looked like an old bridge.

He had never been down this part of the hill before. The woods were so thick in here that he always just assumed the old gravel road turned to nothing and ended, but it didn't. The old bridge wasn't much and it had been covered over with boulders and smaller rock to make more of a ford than a bridge, but what was left of the bridge let enough water under it to keep the flow on top slow enough that the old truck easily slipped across it.

"Hey, I never knew this old bridge was here," Jamie said in amazement.

"See there boy. The old man ain't as stupid as you think," Jake said flatly.

"Pa, I never said you was stupid."

"I know boy. I was just a talk'n."

## ~*~

Thirty minutes later Jake had delivered the kids at school and was on his way back home when he decided he might as well stop at the hardware store and inquire about delivery work. Never hurt to get an early start. Someone else might think of asking and if he didn't get there first then he would miss out.

Of course the hardware store owner had been interested in Jake's help this winter. After all, no one else could get around in this country in summer or winter as good as Jake Sadler. So Jake having lined up a little extra income for the winter was as happy as a lark as he headed up the hard road to the hill. Just before turning off the main road he heard a siren behind him and looked in the rear view mirror to see red and blue flashing lights. He eased the truck over to give the trooper room to pass, but instead, the trooper pulled in behind his truck and stopped.

His heart sank to his stomach and he wondered to himself, _What in the world, I didn't do nothing_.

Jake watched dejectedly as the trooper got out of his car and walked up to the driver's side of the truck.

"May I see your driver's license please?" the trooper asked politely.

"Sure," Jake responded evenly, and as he was digging in his overalls for his wallet, he was thinking, _It's a good thing I remembered to bring along my billfold. This must be some mistake. I'm a careful driver. I don't speed and I pay attention to the signs. I don't have the money to pay any fines and I can't get a ticket...I just can't._

"Sorry, Mr. Sadler, but I'll have to give you a citation for speeding. The limit on this road is 55 miles per hour and I clocked you at 65," the trooper said, just as politely as before.

"But I..." he started to say in protest, but then he thought better of it. He had been raised to respect the police. His kind never had much contact with them, but he was raised to respect them. And besides, he knew it wouldn't do any good. Some of the folks around here got real huffy with the state troopers and just got in more trouble. He didn't want more trouble. This was too much already.

Besides, this trooper didn't look like he would take a liking to be argued with. He was real polite, but he was also real big. Jake figured him at about six-foot-two and 200 pounds. _Older guy, too. Mighty old to be a trooper working the road,_ Jake thought. Jake noticed the cop's hair was all white and kind of long, but old or not he figured this guy could whip his weight in wildcats and even if he had been inclined to give him a hard time, which he wasn't, he decided, it wouldn't even be a contest.

Jake sat silently and somberly while the trooper wrote the ticket out and gave it to him. The trooper explained that he had to keep his license for bail, but the yellow copy of the ticket would be Jake's proof of being licensed until the ticket was paid. He also gave him an envelope to mail in his fine money if he wanted to avoid having to go to court. Jake carefully pulled out on the road and made his turn up the old gravel road to the farm with a feeling of utter despair.

Maybe he should have let the kids stay home from school today, but education was important and it wasn't the fault of his kids going to school. _Just a bad piece of luck_ , he thought. _But I wasn't speeding_ , he grumbled to himself. _I know I wasn't, but it don't do no good to argue. Just get myself in more trouble, as if that were possible_ , he dismally thought.

## ~*~

Janice knew something was wrong when she saw Jake put the truck up and go about his work without coming in for a cup of coffee. She watched him out of the window and could tell his mind wasn't on his work. At lunchtime she called him in and he dragged along, not seeming to care if he ate lunch or not.

"What's the matter, Jake?" she asked, as he came through the door.

"On the way back from town I got stopped by a trooper and he gave me a ticket for speeding, but I wasn't speeding. I know I wasn't. I'm always real careful, Janice. You know that. What am I going to do now? My license is up for renewal in three months. The trooper took it for bail. All I got is this yellow copy of the ticket. I'm supposed to deliver for the hardware store this winter and we need the money," he finished with despair in his voice.

Janice started to respond, but she knew whatever she said would not do any good. He was down and out and she could not reach him when he was like that. She put lunch on and Jake ate quickly, returning to his work.

## ~*~

Janice was sitting on the front porch when the kids came up the lane. "Water down?" she asked.

"Yes and the bus didn't have no trouble at all," Eloise said.

"Better get on your homework then. I'll read to you after you've finished, Eloise."

"I think I'll go help Pa bust up some wood first, Ma," Jamie said, always concerned that his father worked too hard and too long. Tossing his school bag inside the front door he strolled off to where his father was working.

Janice watched as he went, thinking how fast he was growing up. So concerned that his father was not able to get his work done and needed his help. But when he arrived at the woodpile she could see Jake speaking to him. She didn't need to hear the words. The expression on their faces was enough. Jake was bawling him out and Jamie turned and quickly headed for the house. When he got close enough she could see he was on the verge of tears, but too big of a boy to let them flow.

He wrenched open the front door and she heard him pick up his book bag and then slam it on the kitchen table. She knew enough was enough, no matter what Jake might think. It was time.

She got up from her chair and went inside to see Eloise at work and Jamie staring at the wall trying very hard to hold back his tears. "What's the matter, Jamie?"

"Nothing! Pa just said to get on my homework. Said he didn't need no help and I knew my homework came first. He'd do his work and I'd better do mine!" he finished with bitterness.

"Jamie, you know how your Pa feels about your schooling," she said soothingly.

"I know, Ma, but why does he have to be so mean about it! What's the matter with him anyway? He quit school to work the farm. He ought to understand!" He said having real difficulty holding back the tears now. "Why don't he like us?"

"He likes you, Jamie. He loves you both dearly and he does understand, more than you know. I guess it's long past time to tell you a few things. You, too, Eloise, so you can quit pretending you're doing your homework and listen to me."

Eloise put her pencil down and looked at her mother with innocent eyes.

"First off. You don't tell your father you know this stuff and you don't let on you know or I'll tan your hide myself! Understand?"

After both had nodded in the affirmative, she continued, "Okay. Jamie your Pa didn't really quit school, because he never really went. He was only eight when your grandpa was hurt and he had barely started to school when he had to work the farm. He was big for his age and that helped. He was too young to be farming from daylight to dark, but he did it anyway. He has been doing it ever since.

"He don't know any other way now. He never got to be a young boy and play in the woods and meadows or fish in the creeks. At eight he worked from sunup to sundown chopping wood and tending the fields. By age 12 he was doing a man's work on the farm and in town, too, when he could find extra work. That's only part of it though.

"You see, today he got a speeding ticket on the way back from taking you to school and his license is up for renewal in three months."

Jamie cut in, "So what, Ma. Lots of people around here never got much schooling and Pa can scrape up the money for a fine. He'll have his license back before time for renewal. I know that, because I'm taking driver education classes right now."

"No, Jamie. You don't understand. Let me finish. He has never had a ticket in his life. He's a careful driver and there's a reason for that. What do you know from your classes about what happens when you get a ticket and go to renew your license?" she asked Jamie.

"You have to take a test, because you got a ticket. So what?"

"So, your Pa can't read. That's so what. He can't pass a test he can't read and if he doesn't pass he won't have a license; and if he doesn't have a license he can't do deliveries this winter and we need the money. Now you know. That's what has him so upset and that's why I kept trying to tell you kids not to pester him about reading you stories and helping with your homework. He's a proud man. He can't bear to have his kids know he can't read. He can't read a word, not one. It's all he can do to write his name. I do all the reading and writing he needs to get his farming done."

"But, Ma," Jamie put in and continued, "I remember Pa looking at our report cards and saying how good we did or how we was poor in a subject. How could he do that if he couldn't read?"

"Do you ever remember him looking at your report cards before me? Do you ever remember him looking at your report cards when I wasn't in the room? No you don't, because it didn't happen. When he looked at your report card he'd recite from memory your subjects and look at me to nod if they were good or shake my head if they were bad.

"You see, Jamie he can't even tell an 'A' from an 'F'. It ain't his fault. He had to quit school before he ever really started and that's why he acts so mean, as you say, about you doing your homework. He will kill himself working this farm to see that you and Eloise get the education he never could. Don't you understand? He loves you so much he is willing to go to his grave early so that you can read stories to your kids and read their report cards yourself, without someone nodding at you or shaking their head.

"You don't know the times I've caught him crying silently in the night, because you kids thought he didn't like you when he refused to read a story or help you with your homework. If you only knew how badly he wanted to be able to just read you a story. To sit you on his lap when you were little and read you a story. To just be able to look at your report cards and see for himself that you were doing good. That's all he ever wanted out of life, but it was taken from him and he has vowed to himself that the same thing will not happen to his kids.

"He promised himself when you kids were born that you would never know the heartache he has known. That's why he insists so strongly that you do your homework and do it right. That's why he works from before sunup to well after dark. He wants to make sure that there is money to keep you in school. Do you blame him if he gets upset when he thinks you are shirking your homework when he has worked so hard to make sure you had the chance to do homework?"

"How come he never told us himself?" Eloise asked.

"How does a father tell his children that he knows less than they do when they reach the second grade?" Janice said flatly.

"But that ain't true, Ma," Jamie said, "why, just this morning he showed us both he knew more than us about the roads and trails around here."

"That ain't the same, Jamie. There's more than one kind of knowledge. Your Pa is smart when it comes to getting along in these hills and on this farm, but he doesn't know anything about the world outside these hills. He has no formal education and he knows he could never survive outside these hills. But he wants you two to be able to leave these hills if you want and make it in the outside world. He doesn't want you to do that for him. He wants you to do it for you."

Jamie asked, "Ma how did he get his license in the first place if he couldn't read?"

"That was over 20 years ago, Jamie. They weren't as strict then and besides, he was real young and pretended he didn't understand most of the questions and the examiners helped him some. Actually they helped him a whole lot, if you get my meaning He memorized the shapes of signs and the shapes of the words on most of them. So he could tell by the color, shape of the sign, and shape of the words what the sign stood for. The other questions...well...like I said the examiners helped him, because they knew him and how hard things had been for him. But things have changed now and there's no help for him down there now. There is no way he can pass that test now and he knows it."

"Why don't Pa go back to school?" asked Eloise.

"There's no time or money for him to go to school, Eloise. Even if there was, his pride wouldn't let him. He's too old to go to grade school and I can't teach him. I can barely read well enough to keep up with you kids. I'm no teacher.

"Well, now you know and you keep this to yourself. You be a little more tolerant of your father now and get that homework done without him having to remind you."

"What's Pa going to do without his license, Ma?" Jamie asked.

"I don't know Jamie...I just don't know."

Janice noticed that the children worked on their homework with extra vigor that night. She hoped it would continue and that they would not let slip what they had been told.

When supper was ready Janice called Jake into the house. He was still dragging around as if the world had ended and she guessed that from his perspective it had.

"You kids get your homework done?" he asked as he came in the door and hung up his light-weight coat. The weather was already starting to turn cool.

Jamie piped up, "Yes, Pa and it's real neat, too."

"That's good, Jamie. Neatness pays off in the end. Ain't no good to get the right answer if no one can read it...Jamie?"

"Yes, Pa."

"I'm sorry I jumped on you so hard this afternoon about doing your homework. I know you was only wanting to help me and I appreciate it."

"That's okay, Pa. I understand. I really do. Homework is important. I know how hard you work to make sure I can stay in school and I may not act like it sometimes, but I'm glad you do. I'll tend to my work first and if there is time I'll help you."

"Thanks, Jamie. You're a good boy. Going to be a fine man real soon. I can see it more every day. Don't grow up too fast though, not just yet. Take some time to be a kid while you can. Once you grow up it's too late to do the kid stuff. When you grow up you got responsibilities and you can't play, even if you want to."

After supper Jake went back out to the barn to finish some chores that he could do in the light of the lamps in the barn. He had blocked out the ticket and the driver's license. Wasn't anything to be done for it now. He knew that God would provide for him and his family somehow.

The only day off he took was Sunday and then only half of it. He figured half a day when there was a whole days work to be done was the best he could make himself do. He was sure God understood and he did attend church every week no matter what the weather or how he felt. He made sure the whole family went, too. If there was one thing in this life more important to him than his children's education, it was regular church attendance.

Inside the house, Jamie and Eloise helped clean up the kitchen and wash the dishes. Janice was amazed that she hadn't even gotten a protest about it. In fact, they had just started helping without her saying a word. She figured Jake was right about Jamie growing up and she figured he hadn't noticed that Eloise was getting there, too, although she had a bit further to go.

## ~*~

Jamie double-checked his homework after the dishes were done and announced he was going to bed to read. He read for a while in bed, but couldn't keep his mind on his book. Every time he read a line he kept remembering that his father couldn't read and had given up the chance to learn in order to support his family. He might be growing up, but he was still enough of a kid that he could not quite understand that kind of sacrifice. _Ma is right_ , he thought, _things were different back then_. Finally, he gave up on his book and tucked himself into bed.

When he was all settled in he decided there was one thing he could do to help his father. Probably the best thing, to hear his father tell it. _Dear God, please help my Pa. He's a good man and he works hard. Pa says you can do anything and everything and right now he needs both. Amen._

## ~*~

Mike didn't realize how cool it got in October in the Appalachian foothills. He was wearing a pretty heavy coat and was almost ready to dig through his knapsack and get out his gloves and leathers.

He had ridden his motorcycle aimlessly for the past month or so across the upper Midwest. Most of the time he traveled only a few miles a day, just cruising the back roads and looking at the scenery. It was peaceful, but not fulfilling. He was still empty inside and suspected he might always be that way.

Occasionally he would find a deserted spot along the back roads and sleep out in his small tent. The occasional passerby gave him a careful looking over when he did that and twice the local police asked him to move on. When that happened he realized the country was not quite a free as it used to be.

He didn't really blame people for staring and the police for thoroughly checking him out. After over a month on the road without shaving or stopping for a haircut he was starting to look the part of a penniless drifter. A drifter he was, but penniless he was not. Still, he never let on to anyone about that. It was no longer something he took pride in.

The highway he was now on lead directly into a small town and was a well-traveled road. Though his appearance had occasioned unusual stares a few hundred miles north it was obvious his appearance was having the right effect in this part of the country. He did not scare off the locals as a "city slicker" might.

Finally, he topped out over a rise in the road and below him he saw the little town tucked in a valley between two large foothills. _Back in central Illinois these would be called mountains_ , he thought, _but around here they are just dinky little hills_. The town lay about another three quarters of a mile down the road at the bottom of the hill he was on and it was probably not half as large as the town he had lived near and in which Mary had died.

There appeared to be just one long main street which contained about a dozen storefronts, approximately six on each side of the street. One side street intersected with the main street and there were four or five storefronts on that street. There were only a few houses, which made sense in this part of the country, because most people around here lived out in the hills. Town was just a gathering place and a place you came for supplies once a week or once a month.

As he got closer he could see that one of the buildings was a church and another was a school with a fair-sized playground. It looked like there might be a stop sign at the intersection in the middle of town, but judging from the few trucks and cars on the main street a traffic light was definitely not needed.

As he entered the town he could identify the stores now. There was a bank predictably located on the corner of the main street and the side street. Most of the buildings were unpainted clapboard, but the school, church, and bank were brick or stone. There was at least one general store, a hardware store and pharmacy combined. Also a small post office, a grocery store, a blacksmith shop, and a livery stable were in appearance.

The latter would seem out of place and out of time anywhere but in the foothills of the Appalachians. Many farmers around here still used horses for plowing and harvesting so a blacksmith and livery were a necessity. _That is probably the reason there are so few cars_ , he thought, since now that he was in town he could see several horses and horse-drawn wagons tied up along the street.

He felt like he had been knocked on the head and had awakened in the 19th century. This country was worth the trip just to see. This was a peaceful place if ever he had seen one.

He drove up to the intersection and parked in front of the general store located kitty corner from the bank. The general store had a small coffee counter and he was ready for a cup of hot coffee. He was surprised that the town had a separate post office. Usually that function was carried on at the general store in this type of community.

As he swung the door open and closed it gently behind him the storekeeper looked up from his account books.

Mike said, "afternoon."

"Howdy," returned the storekeeper. "What can I do for you?"

Mike eased over toward the potbellied stove that was burning just off the center of the room and said, "mostly I'd just admire to get warm if you don't mind. I been riding a ways and I'm a might chilly. I'd have a cup of that coffee though."

"Sure. It is gett'n cool early this year. You ain't from around here close is yu?" the storekeeper said in a matter-of-fact tone, as he handed him the cup of coffee and took his payment.

"No. I expect my manner of speech gave me away, huh," Mike responded with a smile.

"Yes, suh, I did notice you didn't exactly talk like a hill folk does," the storekeeper answered mildly.

"Just pass'n through, but I'd stay a while if I took a notion. Gett'n kind of cold to be a riding around these hills. Course then again I might just head farther south and get really warm."

"Well, folks ain't real clannish around here," the storekeeper said with his first hint of a smile. "I expect you'd be welcome to stay if'n you was a mind to. But I don't know of no work around this time of year. If'n that's what you are after. Most of the hill folks is coming to town looking for work themselves.

"One man, name of Sadler, he comes in every year and drives deliveries for the pharmacy and hardware store. Lots of folks would like to have that job, but they never gets in to ask quick enough and besides, Sadler knows these hills better'n anyone around."

"Ain't looking for work. Thanks anyway," Mike said, as he finished his coffee and left store.

Outside at his motorcycle he noticed a young boy, a young man really, sitting alongside the sidewalk watching him.

"Howdy."

The boy made no response. He just continued to stare as Mike got on his bike, punched the electric starter button and turned back up the road he had just come down.

As cool as it was he had decided to sleep out tonight. He had discovered a real passion for the outdoors and had noticed a nice quiet lane going up the side of the mountain as he had come down into town.

A few minutes later he had found the lane again and not far up the lane he found a secluded spot well off the lane.

He unpacked his sleeping bag and cooking utensils and set about fixing an early supper. Living outdoors like this made him feel about as content as he got.

After supper, while there was still light he unpacked a book and began to read.

"You're trespassin you know." A quiet voice came from the trees and he looked up to see the young man he had noticed in town standing about 20 feet away.

"No I didn't, but if I am I can move on. Don't mean no harm."

"I expect it's okay. The guy what owns this woods don't live around here no more. Us kids play here some and hunt here all the time."

"Good. I'll just be here a night and then gone if you think it is okay."

"Okay."

The boy did not leave, but stood and stared. Finally he said, "I'd like to have a motorcycle."

"They are kind of nice, but not when the weather is bad," Mike responded sensing the boy wanted to talk.

"What you got there?" The boy said pointing at the book.

"A book."

"You can read?"

"Sure. Can't you?"

"Yeah sure, I can but...."

Mike sensed something in the boy. Something troubling. For years he had made his money off of hunches and he had a hunch about this boy and so he said, "pull up a rock. Kind of lonely on the road by yourself. If you got the time."

"Sure," the boy responded as he sat down opposite Mike and the small fire.

Once he was settled in Mike asked, "You read a lot?"

"Sure. Pa makes sure us kids read a lot. He makes sure we read the Bible, too and go to church regular."

"That's good. Your Pa read to you does he?"

"No. He don't have the time. He works the farm all the time from early 'til late. He's got no time for helping us with schooling and such. Ma does all the reading to us. Pa makes sure we get our schooling though."

"Good. Your Pa sounds like a smart man. Takes a smart man to appreciate what school can do for you. He probably wants you to learn what he did in school."

The boy made no response and Mike sensed an uneasiness in him regarding the entire conversation.

"Name's Mike Maltby."

"Jamie Sadler. We live about halfway up the mountain on this lane."

The boy lapsed into silence again and after a long silence it was apparent he was wrestling with something in his mind. Finally he asked, "How far'd you get in school?"

"Master's degree in business administration with a minor in electrical engineering."

"A what?"

Mike smiled and responded, "That means I studied two years after college and got another degree."

Jamie responded with awe in his voice, "I didn't know you could go further than college."

"You can. If you want," Mike said and continued, "what grade you in?"

"High School. Sophomore this year."

"Figured you'd be about in high school."

"Can someone learn to read if they are old?"

"Sure. If they want to work at it a little. It's easier when you are young, but you can do it when you are old. He responded and continued, "but you said you could already read."

"I can, but my...."

He stared at the boy, waiting, and thinking. After a few minutes of silence it occurred to him what the problem might be. What might be troubling the boy.

Mike decided to try the head on approach. He was only passing through after all. "It's your Pa ain't it? Your Pa can't read. Can he?"

Jamie said nothing.

Mike continued, "So what's the problem? He can learn. Lots of people learn to read when they are older. Lots of people in this world still can't read. He ain't alone."

"Pa's too proud and stubborn. It'd kill him if he knew I and my sister knew he couldn't read. Ma made us promise not to tell, but it's been eating away at me. I seen you and for some reason I thought my prayers might have been answered. Don't ask me why I thought that, because I don't know. It's just that when I seen you in town I thought you might be the answer."

Mike responded carefully, "Look, Jamie. I'm just passing through. I'd like to help you, but I'm no teacher and I'm not the answer to anyone's prayers. I got my own problems. Your Pa will learn when he is ready. You wait and see."

"Ain't time for that."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Got to go," he said and as quickly as he stood up he was gone into the woods and out of sight.

After he had left, Mike cleaned up his campsite and went to bed. Sleep would not come, however. He kept seeing the earnest plea in Jamie's face and sleep would not come.

As he lay awake he realized why there was no mailbox at the end of the lane to tell him of a farm up the road. _Why be interested in mail if you couldn't read it anyway_. He could see how it might cause difficulties for a grown man trying to hide his inability to read from his children to have mail delivered at his farm. The kids might notice eventually that their father didn't read the mail. This way he supposed Sadler could assign his wife or the kids to retrieve the mail in town and it would probably already be read before he got to it.

## ~*~

In the morning he did not leave. He just sat around the cold ashes of the previous night's fire, thinking of Jamie and his illiterate father. He was struck with pity for a grown man who was so ashamed of his lack of education that he had to work so hard to hide it from his children. But he knew that showing his pity would be the worst thing anyone could do. All morning his mind returned to Jamie and his father. After noon when he started his motorcycle he turned it up the lane to the farm, instead of down to the hard road.

He still didn't know why he was doing this, but he did know that he could not betray to anyone that he had inside information on the problem here. He had to act as if everything was new and strange to him and play the whole scene by ear. He had to pretend to know nothing about Jamie or his father until the information was revealed to him in due course.

By the time he had set his mind back to being a total stranger without any knowledge of the area or the people, he was topping out the last rise to the Sadler farm. He could see the cabin as he crested the last of the hill up to a plateau. On his right was a field of corn with a split rail fence fronting it between the field and the road.

Farther along the plateau, but still on the right was a barn and behind it a small shed that probably contained harness and tools. To his left and even with the cabin was a chicken coop in bad repair. He did not see a well or well house, but assumed it could be behind the cabin which was directly in front of him and sat up against the side of the mountain. _Probably just a hill to these folks_ , he thought, but it was a mountain to him.

The hillside, or mountain was covered with deep woods and sloped back and up from the cabin for at least a quarter of a mile, in his estimation. Since the cabin was located on the east side of the mountain he figured the mountain provided adequate shelter against the cold winter winds.

Additionally, he noted the plateau was only that and was surrounded by hills on the north and south. Those hills or mountains, as he still thought of them, were much more distant than the one behind the cabin, but still close enough and high enough to break a strong winter wind. The plateau itself probably only took up about seven or eight acres in all and about half of that was used up by the barnyard and buildings. Two or three acres of the cornfield were relatively flat, but then it dropped out of sight over the plateau and rose again about a quarter of a mile farther on. Another field was on his left and it also dropped out of site not far past the chicken coop.

He had expected a rather isolated place, but this was beyond even his imagination. The road that he had ridden up seemed to be the only way in or out and how it was travelled in a snowstorm or high water he could not fathom. The road was a 45-degree incline in most places and the creek that ran across it about halfway down looked like it would be out of its banks more than it was in them.

The cabin was small, but looked snug and well kept up to him. It had a long, roofed porch across the front of it with windows on each side. Apparently there was a window for the living room and kitchen combined, he guessed and one for a bedroom toward the front of the cabin, on the chicken coop side. _Probably a bedroom in the back, too_ , he thought, _or maybe two if the cabin is deep enough._ _The cabin is just that_ , he mused, _a cabin, mud chink and all. Wood shingled roof with nary a board painted anywhere_. _This is really back woods living,_ and he began to wonder, if he did talk this Sadler into keeping him around, where he would even sleep. A barn could get a might cool this time of year. _Well_ , he thought, _I'll cross that bridge when I get there, if I get there._

Mike was close to the cabin now and was planning on heading right up to the front door when he caught some movement off to his right. He turned to look and saw that a man was out in the cornfield walking between the rows. The man was obviously picking corn by hand. _That makes sense_ , he thought. _After all, it is October and it is time to get the crops in from the field_. He stopped the bike, climbed off, turned, and headed toward the field, trying to calculate just which row the man was in so that he could intercept him.

The man, who he took to be Sadler, was walking towards the cabin and Mike walked out to meet him. The man was concentrating on his work and did not see him approach until he was about 30 feet away. The man looked up with a start and stopped dead in his tracks. Obviously, he was surprised to see someone walking down the same row of corn he was in and Mike could see why. He was willing to bet Sadler rarely got a visitor way up here and when he did it was probably bad news.

"Howdy," Mike said amiably. "Name's Mike Maltby and would you be Mr. Sadler?"

"Might be. Why?" the man responded very cautiously.

Mike continued just as amiably as before, "I'm just pass'n through. Head'n my way south and was hoping to find some work over the winter."

"Ain't got no money for no hired hands," the man said flatly and decisively.

"I know what you mean. I got no money either, but I don't want no pay, just a place to hole up for the winter. I can do 'bout anything you need doing and I'd admire to have some place out of the cold to wait out the winter."

"Ain't winter yet," the man responded, still cautious. "You got time to get on down south a piece before it gets really cold."

"Yep. I could do that if I had me money to live when I got there and gas money to get there, but I got only what I'm carrying and no money. I'm afraid I ain't got the gas to get clear of these mountains before it gets really cold. I don't take to no charity so I ain't about to ask no folk for help at any of them there shelters." He was doing his best to talk hill folk, but it was a foreign tongue to him.

At the last, the man said, "pride, now, I understand that. Men don't take no charity. Men work and take care of their own. The day a man can't take care of his own without handouts then that's the day he isn't a man no more."

"Yep, guess that's pretty much it," Mike replied.

"Got no place for anyone to sleep. All the rooms is took. There's a room above the back of the cabin in a loft, but it ain't fit to use right now, all junked up.

Mike figured the man just didn't want a stranger that close to his family and didn't blame him so he said, "a barn or shed would be okay." Mike wasn't over-joyed though, he knew how cold a barn or shed could be. Then again, it wasn't quite winter yet and blankets together with his sleeping bag would do in place of a fire, for a while.

"Well...you know anything about farming?"

"To be honest, Mr. Sadler I never done a lot of farming. My folk raised some horses from time to time, so I know about animals and the like, but I never done much fieldwork. You show me what to do though and I'll do it. Hard work don't bother me none at all. I can do a lot of lifting and carrying. Split'n wood and stacking it, well, that's just second nature to me, too," he said earnestly, if not completely truthfully. He had chopped some wood, but only for a fireplace, and then only when no one else could be found to do it. Hard work to Mike was a 10-hour day on the telephone.

"The fare ain't real good around here. Don't got much food in the winter months. I do some hunting occasionally."

"I'm a fair hand with a rifle or shotgun," Mike said and continued, "might be I could give you a hand there, but I don't know the area and I couldn't get too far away as I might get lost. Though I traipsed around some rough country and if I was careful I could get far enough out to find some game I expect." He was less than a fair hand, he knew, but he was selling an image, not a reality.

Selling images rather than reality had always been his specialty. Besides, even if he had been a good shot he wouldn't have told this man. He knew that as soon as you told a "ridge runner" you were a good shot then he would put you to the test and make a liar out of you. Most of these hill folk could knock the wings off of a fly at 400 yards.

"Well, so long as you know."

Mike took that to mean he was hired or at least, on trial, so he said, "here let me give you a hand, Mr. Sadler. Plenty of daylight left to get some work done in." And he went to picking corn.

"Name's Jake."

"Okay, Jake and I'm Mike. You pick 'em all and sort 'em out later?"

"Yep," Jake said, as he again started picking corn.

After about 30 minutes of picking, Mike had decided that he might not stay alive around here long enough to teach Jake anything. He was having to really move to keep up with Jake and he had probably been at this since 5:00 a.m. Still, Mike picked as fast as he could. He figured he was on trial and he wanted to make sure that Jake knew he wasn't afraid to work. Although he was already feeling the protests of muscles he had not only not used lately, but never used. Getting up in the morning would probably be his biggest accomplishment.

While he was picking he noticed two kids come up the gravel road from school. The boy, whom he recognized as Jamie, headed for the two men in the field as soon as he topped the rise.

"Howdy, Pa. Need some more help?" Jamie said warily, looking at Mike, but saying nothing to him or giving any indication of recognizing him.

"Got no homework, boy?" Jake asked flatly.

"Sure, Pa. You're right. I'll get to it. See you at supper," he said, obviously trying hard to hide his disappointment that his father's first greeting had not been what he had expected.

It was obvious to Mike that Jamie had wanted his father to say "howdy" back and to take the time to ask how school went or thank him for his offer to help and then gently remind him that school work needed to be done first. But he got the impression that there wasn't much of that around here. Jake was a gruff sort of guy. Not intentionally, Mike figured, but because he had so much to do to keep the mouths fed around here. He surmised that Jake didn't have much time for small talk or to think about hurt feelings. Mike had been there also.

_That's another important part of education that Jake had missed_ , he thought. _That type of education could be more important than reading. Especially, when you had a boy wanting so much to be a man and you didn't take the time to help him. Too much of that could break a young boy's spirit and a broken spirit might never heal_. Mike's education on that subject had been a little late in coming, too.

Such were his thoughts as he hit the end of the row he was on and watched Jamie enter the front door of the cabin without the vigor and spunk normally associated with a young boy just home from school.

He and Jake continued to pick corn as fast as each could and each seemed to be trying to outdo the other. Finally, when he was about to slack the pace or drop in his tracks, he heard a bell from the house.

Jake said, "that means it's about supper time. Janice, that's my wife, she rings that bell about a half hour before eat'n time so I can get finished up and cleaned up." He stopped and looked toward the west which was mostly mountainside and continued, "be dark soon any ways. Gets that way in these mountains early. That's the trouble with farming right up against a mountain. Looks like the sun is down a half hour before it is. Best get this load of corn up to the crib. While we are there I'll show you around and you can stake you out a corner of the barn to sleep in."

After hauling the load of corn up to the crib where it could be quickly unloaded in the morning, Jake showed him the barn and Mike selected an out-of-the-way corner covered with fresh straw.

"I'll have the wife rustle you up some more blankets after supper. Gets mighty cold up here in these foothills this time of year. The straw will help keep you warm though. Sleeping with the animals don't bother you none does it?" Jake finished questioningly.

"I was raised with horses. Many a time I slept out with the horses when I was a kid. Get used to the smell," Mike ended with a chuckle which brought the first hint of a smile to Jake's face that he had seen. _Images_ , he said to himself, _people buy images, not reality_.

"Well, you get settled, then come on in the house for supper. You can wash up inside. I rigged a pipe into the house from a spring up yonder," he said pointing up the slope. "We ain't got much, but we got running water, even if it is cold," he finished, with obvious pride in his voice.

## ~*~

Mike took his time arranging the few things he had packed along with him figuring Jake would want to have a little time to explain his presence without him being around. Hill folk didn't trust easy and Jake was hill folk through and through.

"Mike, this is my wife, Janice, and the two young'ens there is Jamie and Eloise," he said, as Mike entered the front door of the cabin."

"Howdy," Mike said simply.

"Nice to meet you," Janice said casually as she pointed toward the front of the house and to his left and continued, "you can wash up for supper in yonder."

"Thank you, ma'am," he said as he headed for the corner room, which turned out to be a fairly well equipped indoor bathroom not a front bedroom. He looked around in the bathroom and was amazed at what Jake had done with it. There actually was running water, although none hot, but for this cabin in the woods with no electricity it was quite an accomplishment. He figured the water pressure, such as it was, came from the water being fed down a narrow pipe from a spring high up on the slope.

There was a toilet in the room, too, but just how it flushed and where it went he was not certain. Didn't matter anyway, since he would be using the old outhouse out by the barn. _Quite ingenious though_ , he thought. _Jake may not have much formal education, but he sure had to have some brains to figure out this arrangement_. He also wondered at how, with a little ingenuity, life could be made better even for a dirt-poor family. That concept was also foreign to him. He had so long been rich, he could not relate to being poor.

By the time he had finished washing up, dinner was on the table and the kids were lining up to take their places. Jamie indicated that Mike could sit next to him. Mike knew Jamie already, but couldn't let on. _This boy has real grit_ , he thought, _if his father would just recognize him a little more and show him a thing or two, he could turn out to be a real man._

During supper Jake said to Janice, "Janice, you need to dig up a couple of extra blankets for Mike. Gets mighty cold out in that barn, even this time of year."

"Sure, Jake, I got some real heavy ones that'll do just fine," she said, but her look betrayed the fact that she was about as fond of the idea of Mike sleeping in that cold barn as he was.

However, Mike knew that in this part of the country the men folk did the master minding around the house. _That, of course, is not strictly true_ , he thought. The women really did the planning and thinking, but were quiet about it. The women had their ways of getting their thinking adopted and their plans implemented without making a fuss over it and without making their husbands mad. For right now though, he figured Janice would go along with Jake. Probably, she was putting him on trial, too and she wasn't going to make a fuss over him unless he earned the right to be fussed over.

"What grade you in, Jamie?" Mike asked nonchalantly.

"I'm a sophomore in high school," Jamie responded in a manner that let Mike know he wasn't going to let on that he had talked to him before.

"Let's see. That would be 10th then wouldn't it?" he responded just to make conversation.

"Yeah, I guess so, but we don't usually call it that 'cause it sounds too much like grade school."

"I see. Can't say as I blame you there. I didn't want nobody calling me a grade schooler when I was in high school either."

"You finish high school?" Jamie asked unabashed, as if he didn't already know the answer and ignored the look his mother gave him for being so nosy.

Mike caught the look, pretended he didn't and responded, "Yes, I did Jamie. You see, I had a Pa a lot like yours. He made sure I went to school. School came first and he didn't take no nonsense about it."

After supper Jake took Mike out to the barn helping him carry the blankets that Janice had scrounged out. Right now it felt pretty good and the extra blankets seemed a little silly, but he knew it could cool off fast up in these foothills on a clear night and this one was clear.

He arranged his blankets as Jake puttered around in the barn cleaning up here and there and combing and brushing the one horse he had. The two cows seemed content to have Mike's company and he stroked them each a few times just to make sure they knew he was friendly.

"Where you keep the milking buckets, Jake? Figure since I'm out here anyway I can just milk these cows when I get up. Save you the trouble," he said and wondered if he really could milk a cow. He had seen it done a couple of times. If not, he could always pretend he had overslept, which he might just do.

"Stuff's all over yonder," Jake said pointing to another corner of the barn that had the appearance of a small storage room.

Mike remembered seeing the wood piled up by the side of the house with an axe buried in the chopping block and he figured there was enough light from the side window of the kitchen to chop a little wood so he headed out that way.

Jake was puttering around with his worktable in the barn anyway and Mike couldn't have gone to sleep if he had been ready. He figured he was tired enough to sleep, but couldn't see going to bed this early. Besides, he had to make a good impression on Jake if he expected to be kept around long enough to do any good. Why he wanted that he still didn't know. Being around this poor, dirt farm made him uneasy, He couldn't relate to poor people. Still, he felt the need to stay. Maybe it was something in what Jamie had said or the way he had looked when he said it, but he had to stay.

## ~*~

After a while Jake quit tinkering in the barn and went in to the house. As he passed Mike who was still methodically chopping wood he said, "see you in the morning."

"Right, Jake. Night."

As Jake came in the front door of the cabin the kids were putting up their school books and getting ready to head for bed. He was thankful that for once neither had asked him to read a book to them or help with something or other in those baffling books. He would have loved to do either, but he just couldn't make sense out of words no matter how hard he tried.

"I'll say one thing for that man. He sure is a worker," he said to Janice

"He's been chopping wood since right after supper, Jake. Don't he get tired?"

"I expect he does, Janice, but he was raised on the farm himself, he says. I imagine he knows the value of a good pile of cut wood. Anyway, it's too soon to tell if he will keep it up and if he is trustworthy."

She responded, "Seems like a nice man and it seems to me that before it gets too cold in that barn you ought to be able to tell if he's fit to move in here and sleep in the loft."

"I figure that, too. I wasn't figuring on him staying in that barn all winter, but I wanted to know what he did when that was all that was offered. Seems to me he took it okay and that he may be just what he says he is."

"Which is what?"

"An out-of-work and out-of-money traveler who is just on his way to warmer parts of the country, and needing a place to lay over this winter. Though something don't feel quite right about him. I just get the feeling he isn't what he says. He talks kind of like poor hill folk, but he don't always carry himself like poor hill folk. Sometimes he don't talk quite like hill folk either."

"He's got some education I think. That probably is the difference. Educated men can be poor, too," Janice responded.

"Maybe. I ain't educated Janice, but I've done enough huntin in the woods to know when something don't feel right and this don't feel right."

"Well, I hope he works out. You could use the help."

## ~*~

The first few days passed quickly for Mike. Early to rise and milk the cows, then a quick breakfast and into the fields. He thought he had worked hard when he was a kid, but he quickly realized he had never worked. He couldn't imagine how Jake managed to get everything done on this farm by himself. No wonder the chicken coop was in such disrepair.

The north cornfield was completely harvested and the second about half way finished by the end of the second week and he was no closer to solving the problem of teaching Jake to read then when he had arrived. However, he did start to feel like he was being accepted and there was no doubt he was earning his keep.

Jake put him on the corn sheller at the end of the second week while he continued to harvest the corn from the field. When Jake brought in a load from the field Mike took every opportunity to strike up a conversation.

"Seems to me that we could get this harvesting done quicker if I was to help you in the field. That boy of your'n looks big enough to handle this sheller. Make the harvest a lot quicker," he said when Jake was loading corn into the crib.

"Besides, I'll be done shelling this dry corn before you get all that new corn in."

"Boy's got book learnin to do. Book learnin is more important," Jake said with finality.

Mike was silent, pondering the situation. Suddenly his mind was back in his youth. His own father was with him and he remembered something. A feeling, a different perspective. Then he said, "it is, for sure, Jake, but a boy's got to learn to be a man, too. He don't get that from no book. Boy gets that from watching and help'n and listening to his Pa. He wants to help, Jake. I can tell the way he looks and talks."

"Plenty of time to work the farm. He needs to get his learnin in at school first."

"Sure, he needs that, but when I was young I done both. Made for some long days, but I learned more from my old man in two hours than I did all day in them books. I learned how a man was supposed to act and how he was supposed to do his work. Cain't learn that from no book.

"This ain't none of my business and I hope you don't take it wrong, but I got to say it. You keep pushing that boy away from you and into those books and you are gonna lose him. One fine day you'll git up and he'll be gone. He'll be off look'n for someone who will pay attention to him and teach him the things he cain't learn in no book. You want some stranger teaching your boy how to be a man?" Mike ended flatly, wondering if he pushed too far too soon.

Jake was silent for a while chucking ears of corn into the crib. Then he said in a quiet and meek sounding voice, "I guess I never gave that part no thought. I reckon that boy is a grow'n up faster than I figured. I see what you is a say'n. I seen it a long time ago, but there's other things causes problems. You see I never got no education. I vowed my kids would get what I never got. I don't want my kids breaking their backs on this dirty little farm forever. There's more out there than that. I ain't never seen it, but I heard tell. I expect you've seen it. Ain't ya?"

"I've seen a sight of it and I'm telling you it don't compare to what a father can give a boy right here on this dirty little farm, as you call it. That boy can't make it out in the world I've seen, without education from school, and from you. All the books in the world ain't going to make him a man and that's what he needs to be. You didn't get no formal education, Jake, but you learned to be man just the same. Now I ain't trying to take nothing away from book learning, but there's more and you know it. That boy don't get it from you he might get it somewhere else and it might not be so good."

"Mike, you told Jamie you finished high school, right?"

"Yes," Mike said simply, but didn't add that he also finished college and then went on to get a master's degree. That would go over about like a lead balloon and he felt like he might be getting close to an opening here.

"Well I didn't. I never even seen the inside of no high school. I barely seen the inside of a grade school and that only for one year. Not enough to learn me nothing. All I ever done is worked this farm. Day in and day out. I don't want that for my kids. They got to go to school and get their homework done."

Mike was disappointed. He was sure Jake was leading up to telling him the real problem, but he didn't, so he decided to push just a little more.

"Jake, what are you really trying to tell me? Lots of fathers, in fact, all fathers want their kids to have more than they had. You ain't no different than any other father."

"I'm different," he responded dismally.

"How different?"

"Just different. That's all," he said with finality and turned toward the field again.

"I guess I'll be moving on in the morning," Mike said, thinking in desperation that he had to get this show moving.

Jake stopped dead in his tracks and he said, "Why do that? Winter's just getting ready to set in hard."

_Here goes_ , Mike thought and said, "cause I can't stand to be around a man who don't like his own kids."

Jake blew sky high. Not physically, but internally. Mike could see him seething inside, but his outside was as calm as a summer lake in the morning.

"What do you mean I don't like my kids! They got all I can give 'em. I can't help being poor! I ain't educated like you. I do the best I can and I ain't punishing them by making them go to school. An educated man like you ought to see that!" he finished, starting to heat up on the outside now.

"Then why do you push them away all the time? Especially Jamie, when all he wants to do is help you and learn from you. And you never go in early and just talk with them. I never seen you read them no stories or help them with their homework.

"If you are so all fired intent on them being educated why don't you go in and help them with their homework and read to them? Because you don't like them, that's why, and I ain't go'n to spend the winter around a man what hates his own kids!" Mike finished, with feigned vehemence and mentally crossed his fingers.

That did it. Jake was mad inside and out now and he said, "I near work myself to death for those kids. Just to make sure they can go to school like I never did. For an educated man you ain't too smart!"

Jake was mad now and Mike could tell he wasn't thinking. His guard was down and that is just what Mike had wanted.

Jake raved, "Didn't you just hear me say I never got no school'n? How you expect a man with no school'n to help his kids with their homework! How you expect a man cain't read a lick himself to read a story to his kids!" he spat out and stopped as if struck by an axe handle. Mike could see that Jake had just realized what he had said. His most closely guarded secret was out.

Mike sat perfectly still letting Jake's rage subside and letting him recover from letting slip, his own best kept secret and then he calmly said, "so it ain't you don't like your kids. It's just that you are afraid if you get too close to them they will find out you cain't read. I doubt that would make a bit of difference to them. You may not believe me, but I have a feeling those kids of yours think you are the greatest thing that ever walked this earth. You may not think so, but they do. I've seen it in their eyes as they watched you from afar. Even Jamie when you push him away. He still looks back and I can see it in his eyes.

"I see the hurt in his eyes, too and there ain't no hurt like I've seen in that boy's eyes when you push him away. But if you think that you have to learn to read to have your kids love you, then learn to read. Ain't no big deal."

Jake was calmer now. Almost too calm. He was clearly in shock after letting out his most guarded and devastating secret and he said, "what do you mean it's no big deal? Maybe not to you, you can read, but it's big to me. If it ain't a big deal how come I've worked so hard all my life to hide it? You're crazy, that's what you are."

"I'm serious, Jake. Lots of people older than you learn to read. It ain't as easy as it is when you are young, but it ain't like climbing Mt. Everest, either."

"It ain't that I don't think I could do it so much, but I ain't got the time nor the money," Jake seemed almost relieved that he was able to talk to at least one person openly about his secret.

"Well, it really don't take money, Jake. There is writing all around you. You just got to learn the basics and then practice a lot. I can help you learn the basics if you want and there is a way you can do it that won't take you from your work."

"How you figure? Got to go to school don't you? I ain't go'n to no school where my kids is above me. Don't you understand what it is like to know your kids is smarter than you are? You ever wondered what that feels like? Well I'm telling you I know and it ain't a good feeling."

"There you go again, Jake. You always equate smarts and love with book learning. There's education, and there's education. Right now you know more than those kids because you're the old man and you've lived a sight longer. Maybe you can't read or do your sums, but you know how to survive in a tough world. You're smart. I know it.

"Look at that bathroom you fixed in the house. No dummy could figure that out. Reading, writ'n, and arithmetic ain't the whole world, but it does make some things easier. And you are right to want your kids to know that stuff, but you are wrong to shirk your duty as a father and not teach them the other things they have to know that aren't in books. Now...you tell me if you want to learn to read or not," Mike finished adamantly.

"Course I do, but I don't see how," he said sadly.

Mike had originally thought he could just give this man the money to go to school, but now he saw that wouldn't work. Now he had to do some fast thinking. Money wasn't going to get him out of this one. He couldn't buy a solution to this man's problem with money. Mike understood how to make things happen with money, but this problem would take more than money. This was a new train of thought for him. He wished he had turned that motorcycle down the hill toward the hard road instead of up toward this dirt farmer.

With his head spinning and calculating he barely realized that he was talking when he began. "I'll show you the basics. I'll teach you your letters and how to put 'em together and how to sound 'em out when you put 'em together. We'll do it late at night, in the barn, after the kids are in bed. Won't be long you will start to make sense of it and by then my friend back home will have sent me the next course."

"What next course?" Jake asked skeptically.

Mike hesitated a few seconds thinking that this was not an image he was selling now. This was reality and he would have to back it up with some real substance. "I got a friend up north and I'll have him send us a set of discs with a player that you can carry around with you while you work. Believe it or not, listening to the tapes and hearing words sounded out and you copying the sound, will help you learn to recognize the sounds on paper.

"I'll have him send us a couple of simple story books, too. I can hide them in my things and you can practice on 'em later. Okay? Want to give it a try? Or you want to keep living in a different world from your kids? You want them to go on thinking you don't like them?"

Mike could see that had struck home.

"Okay," Jake responded simply.

Mike was smiling now on the outside, but he was cringing on the inside. _I hope I can pull this off_ , he thought, and then he asked himself why it made any difference whether he pulled it off or not. The answer, he decided was simple. _It just did_.

## ~*~

Doc Collins sat at his usual winter perch, the kitchen table, going over his mail and sorting out his bills by due dates. The ringing of the phone brought him out of his thoughts and he got up and grabbed it off the wall.

"Hello," he said into the phone.

"Doc, it's Mike Maltby."

"Hello, Mike, how's it going? Where are you?"

"Well, I'm in West Virginia. The Appalachian foothills."

"What's going on there, Mike?"

"Got a little deal working. I need a set of standard CDs that have phonics lessons on them."

"CDs? Phonics?" Doc said perplexed.

"Yes, it isn't all that new of a system, but it helps a person learn to read by listening to the pronunciation of words. It makes it easier to recognize the words on paper and sound them out to yourself."

"I know that, but what are you up to? Why in the world are you calling me for something you can get at a local book store?"

"Well. You are the only one I know who could do this for me, keep it quiet and understand."

"Well, I don't understand, but I'll see what I can come up with."

"Now listen, they can't be new, Doc. I want used CDs that look like they have seen some wear. I told someone that I was borrowing them from an old friend. I don't want to get any new CDs. Oh, I also need a good used CD player with batteries. The type you can strap on and carry around with you. Nothing fancy, but sturdy. Plenty of batteries and oh, a set of earphones, too."

"Used! How am I going to do that? Not many yard sales going on this time of year."

"Go into the library in town. Go buy some new CDs and a new player and trade the library for their old ones. I can't do it myself or I wouldn't ask you. I got to stay close here and I need used stuff."

"How quick you need this stuff?"

"Yesterday, but I don't want to cause no fuss when they are delivered. Federal Express the package overnight to me, care of the general store in town. I'm there now using the phone and I'll ask the owner to sign and hold the package for me. Oh and throw in a couple of basic reading primers, too. You know, the first and second grade levels. I'll check tomorrow for the package."

"Tomorrow!" Doc screamed. "Mike, I'm not even sure I can come up with this stuff. How do you expect me to find it and get it to you overnight? And what town? I don't know where you are."

"Oh yeah. Sorry. I'll give you the address."

"Just a minute, Mike. Hang on," Doc said and reached for a note pad.

After writing down the address Doc asked, "Found yourself yet, Mike?"

"No, Doc, I don't think so."

Doc smiled into the phone and said, "I think you have, you just don't know it yet."

"What's that mean?"

"You'll figure it out someday and when you do remember that this is your home."

"Whatever you say, Doc. I'll check tomorrow on the package. Thanks. I got to go."

"Now wait! I didn't say I could get them to you by tomorrow!"

"Sure you can, Doc. You're a country doctor and they can do anything," Mike finished and he hung up just as Doc was just opening his mouth to respond.

Doc heard the dial tone and closed his mouth. _Well_ , he thought, _I'd better get to the library._

## ~*~

Mike was smiling to himself as he hung up the phone and walked over to the owner who was standing at the counter drinking a cup of coffee. _That ought to give Doc a little snap in his step,_ Mike thought _._

"Be a package coming in tomorrow for me," he said to the owner. "Could you sign for it and I'll come in to get it late tomorrow?"

"Sure thing. Your birthday or something?" the owner questioned.

"Or something," Mike said casually and walked out the front door.

He climbed in the old pickup that Jake had loaned him and as he started to head for the farm he noticed the gas tank read empty. He stopped at the gas station on the corner and filled it up. Probably the only fill up the station attendant had performed all week by the look on his face. Mike was willing to bet that Jake had never seen this gas gauge on full before, either and smiled again to himself.

Twenty minutes later, he pulled the old truck carefully into the equipment shed behind the barn and saw that Jake was in the barn overhauling some harness.

He stepped into the barn and said, "I'll need to run in to town tomorrow and pick up a package, Jake."

"You might be runn'n at that," Jake responded casually, "Weren't hardly enough gas in that old truck for that trip."

"Yea, I noticed, so I filled her up whilst I was in town," he responded easily.

"Filled her up!" Jake exclaimed. "Why that old truck ain't never seen a whole tank of gas. Why it's liable to burst at the seams. Probably won't be worth a hoot for driving no more," he finished lightly with a smile. The first genuine smile Mike had ever seen on his face.

"I expect it will bear up, Jake. Seems like a good old truck to me. I had a couple of extra bucks put back and I figured I might as well put some gas in her. That a way might be you'd let me borrow her again if'n I needed."

"Sure, Mike, anytime you want, but I thought you didn't even have gas money for that motorcycle of yours," Jake said pleasantly.

"Last night I ran across some money I forgot I had hidden in my sleeping bag lining," Mike said easily and continued, "oh and I did some work after everyone went to bed. I wrote out some alphabet charts for us to go over later tonight. Everyone else will think we are just tinkering out here."

"Okay. If you say so, but I got to tell you, I tried to learn that alphabet one time and I got lost a'fore I got started," Jake said dismally.

"Was anyone helping you?"

"No. I sneaked one of Eloise's books out to the barn here a few years ago."

"Well, it makes a difference when someone is helping you. Take my word for it."

"Sometimes you don't talk like just an ordinary wandering worker. Who are you? Where you really from? What really brought you here?" Jake asked earnestly.

"I'm nobody special, going nowhere special. I'd just like to be your friend and it don't matter much where I'm from. I'll teach you to read, if you're willing to work."

"I'd be mighty beholden to you if'n you can. You don't know the times I dreamed of read'n a story to my babies, but they ain't babies no more and I'm almost too late now," he said sadly.

"Ain't never too late to learn, Jake. You should know that better than anyone."

"I reckon you're right, and I meant no offense about who you was or where you was from," he said meekly and continued, "but I am curious as to just what brought you here?"

"You brought me here, Jake, and no offense taken," Mike said as the dinner bell resounded throughout the yard and ended the conversation before he had to elaborate further.

## ~*~

Later that night after the kids were in bed, Mike and Jake sat in the barn going over the alphabet charts. _He is catching on fast_ , Mike thought, _we've only been at this an hour and already he is recognizing a lot of the letters with few errors. He is intelligent_. Mike recognized that was the shame of situations like this. Sometimes the most intelligent people went through life without ever having had the opportunity to use their intelligence. In this case it wasn't Jake's fault. He had been given no choice, but he was smart enough to make sure his children had the choice he never had.

"A," Jake said with pride, then, "E".

"No, that's 'F' Jake," Mike said gently and continued, "those two are tough to distinguish for a while. The 'E' has three lines and the 'F' only two. You'll get it. You're doing great. When we get the CDs and you start listening to the sounds of the letters and how they are put together it will get easier."

"I know you been to high school, but how far'd you really get in school?" Jake asked.

"Eighteenth," Mike answered hesitantly, not wanting to cause despair in Jake.

"Eighteenth!" Jake exclaimed. "I didn't know they went that high. Eighth is all I knowed about until Jamie got to high school. Can you get to eighteenth in high school?" Jake asked with awe in his voice.

"Well, they don't call it eighteenth, Jake. They call it a master's degree and it's after high school. After high school you can go to college and then after that they call it post-graduate work. I did two years of post-graduate work and they call that a master's degree, if you pass."

"What good did it all do you, Mike? You're as broke as I am and you just ride around working for meals and such."

"You can't look at it that way, Jake. It ain't what education does for you, it's what you do with education that counts. I have a choice you see. I don't have to ride around and work for meals. I could do something else, but right now I don't want to. The point is I have a choice.

"My Pa always told me he didn't care what I did so long as it was legal and honest. He didn't care if I dug ditches or hauled garbage or became a rocket scientist, just so long as it was legal, but he made sure I was educated and could make the choice.

"Take Jamie there. You are making sure that he is educated and he will have a choice. Maybe he will decide to stay on this farm forever and farm with you and after you are gone, but the point is he has a choice. You are giving him that choice. He isn't going to stay on this farm just because he has to or because he doesn't know anything else. Jamie will stay if he wants to and he will leave if he wants to. That is his choice and you are giving him the ability to make that choice.

"Someday he'll thank you, if he hasn't already."

"He has."

"Good. That's more than I did for my father."

"Guess you could still do it."

"No. He's dead. Been dead a long time, but that's beside the point. The point is...both Jamie and Eloise deserve the chance to leave here and go out on their own. Right or wrong. Mistakes and all.

"That's the terror parents face. They give their kids the choice to go or stay and sometimes they go. But that is the way of things. You wouldn't want them to stay here against their will. You won't fail to see they are educated just so that they will never leave. What kind of a father would do that?

"So you see, Jake. It isn't what education does for you so much, but it's what you can do with education. If you choose. Knowledge is freedom. I'm happy doing what I'm doing even though I have a master's degree. What else matters?"

"Okay, Mike, but there's more to you than that. I won't ask no more though. You are a good man, but not an honest one. I've felt it from the start. You aren't what you say you are. I ain't much, but I can figure some things pretty good. Why you've lied to me I don't know, but I have the feeling it wasn't for a bad reason. I appreciate what you are doing for me. Your business is your business, but one honest man is worth ten educated men."

"I'm just a poor traveling man, Jake."

"You can cut the malarkey. I know you aren't poor hill folk like me. I can't pay you for what you are giving me, if ever you need something from me just ask. If I kin do it I will. I got no money to pay for education like you're giving me, but I can do some stuff," he said earnestly.

Mike thought about the look on Jamie's face when they first talked and just smiled to himself and said, "no problem. The pay is taken care of already."

Jake made no response and bent his head once again to the alphabet charts looking closely at the 'E' and the 'F'.

A few minutes later Mike said, "you're right, Jake. I've lied to you. I'm not what I said I was. I never worked on a farm or ranch in my life. In fact, I've never worked in my life. Not real work. Not like you do.

"I'm not poor, either, Jake. I got money. Lots of money. I have so much money that I could buy this farm of yours 100 times and still have plenty of money left."

Jake was thunder struck and said, "I knowed your story wasn't true, but I never thought you had money, especially money like that. How'd a man with money like that come to be a wandering motorcycle bum?"

"It's a long story, Jake and I'm not sure I could tell you the reason. I just am."

"Found out didn't you?"

"Huh?"

Jake smiled, waved his hand around at the inside of the barn and said, "found out that all the money in the world can't buy you this. This is a good life. Hard, but good. I got no money and I never will have, but I got a good life. I got a good family and an honest job. Money can't buy you that, Mike. For an educated man you ain't so smart."

Mike thought a minute and answered, "Right again, Jake. That may be the reason all right. Like I told you. There's more than one kind of education."

"But why ride around on that motorcycle if you figured that out. Get you an honest job like I have and a nice family. It's better than money. It really is."

Mike said dismally, "Had a family, once. Nothing left now but ghosts. Got no place to go and nowhere to go back to. I just ride now, that's all there is."

Jake said no more and went back to his letters. After a while Jake looked up at Mike and said, "Mike, it's starting to get mighty cold in this here barn. Come tomorrow I'm going to have Janice fix up the loft for you so you can move in there where it's warmer. We can still come out here a while at night and putter," he finished with a wink.

"I'd appreciate that. I really would. Getting so these blankets just aren't enough out here. Sorry I lied to you, Jake, but I meant you no harm."

"I believe you, Mike, that's why I'm inviting you in to my house. I meant it when I said I thought you was a good man. Besides, I'm going to be starting deliveries pretty soon and I'd feel better if'n you was inside the house looking out after my family. Sometimes I get snowed in and don't get back for a night and I worry about them being alone. With you in there I'll feel better if it happens."

"I'm honored at your trust in me and I'll watch out for your family. Don't you worry, and thanks. Not only for the warm house, but for the education. I think maybe I'm learning as much from you as you are from me."

After a moment's hesitation Jake asked, "Mike...do you think I can learn to read by a month from now?"

"It's my intention that you will be able to. But why do you ask?"

"Well...I gots me a speed'n ticket some time back and I got to get my license renewed in a little over a month. I got to be able to read good enough to get those answers right on the test. I got to be able to read!" he finished with anguish in his voice.

It was now clear to Mike what Jamie meant by there being no time to go to school and he responded, "Don't you worry, Jake. I plan to have you reading good enough by then. We will use the 'Rules of the Road' book as a reader later on. That way you will even be familiar with the words they use."

Jake had relief all over his face. "Thanks, Mike! I'd be forever in your debt."

"Let me tell you how you can pay that debt right now. You stop pushing those kids away from you and start making some time for them. That's all I ask. Deal?"

"Okay, but you know why I been a doin' it. It ain't cause I don't like them. It's cause I'm scared they will find out how stupid I am."

"You're not stupid, Jake."

"You know what I mean."

"I know your kids are tougher than you think and I know they ain't going to stop loving you just because they find out you can't read. You don't seem to realize that there is more to being a good father than being able to read, but we'll do our best to make sure they don't find out. Okay?"

"Okay."

"And by the way, Jake. Just in case you don't pass that driver's test you don't have to worry. I can drive and you can show me where to make the deliveries. We'll do that if we have to, until you can read good enough to pass that test. But I still plan on you being able to pass the first time."

"Okay. You're a good man, Mike...the best."

"Some would disagree with that statement. More than some I'm sure."

"They better not around me. Besides I know you're a good man. You worry about how I act around my kids. Only a good man would be that way."

"Maybe, or one with first-hand experience."

Jake was silent for a long time studying his letters and then he asked, "Who'd you learn about being a man from if it weren't your father?"

Mike looked at him evenly and then said, "see Jake. You're no dummy. You figured that out all by yourself and pretty quickly, too. You're right. My father pushed me away and I learned a lot of the wrong things from the wrong people, but that's history and we are studying English."

"Mike?"

"Yeah."

"How'd you make all that money you got?"

"Not like you, Jake. Not honest work. Oh, I didn't steal it, but I didn't always earn it nicely, either. I used people and things to put together big deals. I cashed in on those deals pretty big. A lot of people got hurt financially though and that was the problem. I never cared who got hurt as long as it wasn't me.

"Like I said, it wasn't really honest work, but it wasn't illegal, either. Still, it was the way I did it. I was smarter and quicker and sharper than the other guy and I made that work for me. It was legal, but it wasn't moral. I'll bet you pretty much figured that out for yourself though. Right?"

"Pretty much, but I wondered if you knew it."

Mike replied dismally, "Yeah. I knew it, or at least I know it now."

## ~*~

The next morning bright and early, Jake was up and in a better mood than he had been since he got that ticket. He felt like Mike could really teach him to read. After just one evening he knew most of the letters already and he was amazed at how easy it had been. _Knowing your letters and reading must just be about mostly remembering,_ he thought. _I'm good at remembering cause I can't read, so I have to remember a lot more_.

He went out to bring in some wood for the stove and noticed that Mike was already up and probably milking the cows. _He's a good worker_ , Jake decided, _despite what he had confessed last night_. How he came to be here in this place as educated as he was still mystified Jake. It seemed to him as if Mike was wasting a good education riding that motorcycle around. Especially when he knew what his past errors had been and could correct them.

But he had said he had nowhere to go back to. Jake could not relate to that. _What could be so wrong that you couldn't go back?_

When he went back inside with the wood, Janice was cooking breakfast and he could hear the kids stirring around getting ready for school.

"Janice, fix up the loft today for Mike. Getting mighty cold out in that barn and blankets ain't going to do the trick much longer."

"Bout time, Jake. That poor man must have near froze to death a couple of times last week," she said with a chastising voice.

"I know, but I had to be sure I could trust him," he said defensively.

"Well, he seems like a right nice man to me and if you hadn't let him in pretty soon you would have heard about it from me," she said sharply.

He walked over and gave her a hug and said, "yea, I figured as much, so to avoid your tongue lashing I thought I better tell you to fix up the loft."

She pulled away and with a smile took a swipe at him with the spatula she had in her hand, saying, "Jacob Sadler, I ought to smack you for that." He ducked quickly and with a chuckle returned to stacking the wood.

"What's all the racket?" Jamie said, as he walked in from his bedroom.

"Nothing Jamie, just your Ma trying to whup on me this morning. Thought she'd catch me while I was still half asleep, but she didn't," he said, with a sly smile and a wink.

## ~*~

Mike knocked and walked in saying, "Good morning."

"Morning, Mike. Perfect timing. Janice has just about got the breakfast burnt clean through," Jake chuckled.

"Jacob Sadler! I'm going to smack you yet!" Janice screamed in a friendly manner.

Mike just smiled and set the pail of milk down on the table where Eloise, who was just coming into the room, could easily reach it.

"Jamie," Jake said, "you get home tonight from school you get on that homework quick. We got work to do. Lots of wood to chop and haul. Bout time you started pulling your weight around here. Us two just can't handle it all anymore. Right, Mike?"

"That's right, Jake, we need us another man on the job."

Jake continued, "Now that don't mean your homework don't get done right. Ya hear? It means you get your homework done and then get on the rest of your work with us. Understand?" he said, not unpleasantly.

"Sure, Pa!" Jamie exclaimed, not quite able to hide the excitement in his voice.

Janice had breakfast on the table and they all sat down to eat, chatting easily about the day ahead and the weather.

"Jake, I got to run in to town later. Okay if I use your truck?" Mike mentioned, in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Sure thing. Anytime, but don't put no more gas in her. She ain't used to having a full tank and I don't want to spoil her," he finished with a chuckle.

"Deal, Jake," he said, picking up his breakfast dishes and taking them over to the sink, on his way out the door.

## ~*~

Mike made it in to the general store that evening on and as promised, the storekeeper had signed for the package and had it waiting for him. The storekeeper's curiosity was burning in him, Mike observed, but Mike just thanked him for his trouble and left without giving him the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity.

Mike slipped quietly into the barn with the package and before he even had it open Jake was standing there with the eyes of a child on Christmas morning.

Mike took out the player and loaded it with batteries. As requested, Doc had included an ample supply of batteries and the player looked well used. He explained its use, which was as foreign to Jake as the reading he was trying to comprehend. Jake immediately hooked the player on his belt, put on the earphones and began mouthing the sounds from the tape.

Over the next couple of weeks Mike never saw him without the CD player strapped on. Mike made the veiled comment to the other members of the family that he had loaned Jake the player and some music CDs to pass the time during deliveries.

Each night they would meet in the barn late at night and work on the alphabet and formulation of simple words. Mike was amazed at how quickly Jake was picking things up and wondered to himself what he could have been had the opportunity to go to school not been taken away from him so young.

It was obvious to him that Jake had above-average intelligence, but as Mike knew, intelligence was useless without proper training, and exercise, just as the best rifle in the world couldn't hit anything if it was improperly aimed.

He now realized that a mind was a terrible thing to waste and that there was more than one way to waste it. Jake had taught him that, or reinforced what he had already figured out.

Mike decided he was going to be sorry to have to leave this family. _Jamie especially_ , he thought. Now that he was sleeping in the house he was practically a part of the family and Jamie took every opportunity to talk with him when others weren't around. He knew that Jamie saw him as a person he could talk to and ask the questions that all young boys need to have answered. Jake did not have the time with his reading classes, chores, and deliveries.

_Yes_ , he thought, _I'll be sorry to leave this place, and Jamie_. Only last night he had a talk with Jamie while Jake was out delivering and Janice and Eloise were working in the chicken house. It was a conversation between a man and a soon to be man, who was questing for the answers to his life.

Jamie had begun, "Mike, what's it like out there in the world?"

"The world is not out there, Jamie. It's here and everywhere. You are in the world right now. When you are home and when you are at school."

"You know what I mean. What's it like away from here...outside these mountains?"

"Well, it depends upon where you are at the time. I've seen a lot of the world outside of this place and every place is different, just like every person is different. It's a big place and it takes more and more knowledge all the time to get along in it."

"Ma as much as told me that," Jamie stated. "She said Pa wanted me and Eloise to learn so that we could go out into the world if we wanted and get along. She said it took a lot of knowing to get along out there."

"She's right. Depending upon where you go and what you do, it can take a lot of knowledge to survive."

"Pa, he ain't never been outside these mountains, according to Ma. I think maybe he is afraid he can't get along out there. I don't like to think of my Pa being a coward," Jamie ended with a statement that was just one more question for Mike to answer.

"Your Pa ain't no coward. It's just that he isn't comfortable going outside the mountains he knows and loves. Most people fear the unknown more than the known. It's natural. Everyone is afraid of something at some time or another. You ever meet a man who says he ain't never been afraid and you steer clear of him. That man is either a liar or a fool.

"A coward is someone who lets his fear keep him from doing what he knows he ought to be doing. A brave man does what he knows he has to do, even though he is afraid. That's what they mean when they say 'a coward dies a thousand deaths, but a brave man dies, but once'.

"Your Pa isn't a coward. If he was, he wouldn't make those deliveries in the middle of a snowstorm when no other person alive would be out. He doesn't do it just for the money. He knows the people need that medicine and they have to get it. Your Pa disregards the danger to himself to help them out. A coward wouldn't do that. A coward would find an excuse for not going and then hate himself the next day."

"Okay. I see what you mean. I wondered about that cause lots of times I get scared and think maybe I'm a coward."

"You aren't a coward just because you get scared, Jamie, as long as you do what you have to do despite your fear. Now don't confuse fear with caution. Caution is a good thing. There is something inside all of us to warn us of danger and that tends to make us cautious, but you got to control the caution so that it doesn't turn to fear. Understand?"

"Yes, I do," Jamie responded and like the young boy he still was, he immediately changed the subject without warning or logic. "Does God always answer prayers?"

Mike thought for a minute and said, "I suppose, Jamie. Can't say for sure. Friend of mine says he does, but not when you expect and not always at the time you want. Could be it would take years to answer a prayer and the answer might not be recognizable at the time. So my friend says. Don't know myself."

Jamie half blurted out and then caught himself, "But Pa ain't got years...."

"What was that?" Mike asked, knowing what Jamie meant, but not wanting him to know that he understood.

"Nothing. Guess I'd better get my homework done."

Mike said nothing, but smiled to himself and thought that he was not quite enough of a member of the family to be told everything. Mike liked that. It showed him that Jamie took his family and its trust seriously. A man kept his word and Jamie was growing into enough of a man to recognize that. The fact that a 14-year-old boy recognized that, was a good sign. It showed character and Mike's first impression was reinforced. There was steel in this boy. Good steel.

But now, as he thought back, he knew his time here was short. December was rapidly approaching and the driver's test was, too. Jake was picking up his lessons well and Mike had no doubt he would be good enough by the time of the test to read the questions. Not read them fast and well, but good enough. Time and practice would cure the rest. There was no limit to what Jake could learn once he had learned to read. He would stay out the winter, but time was still growing short. Come spring he would no longer have an excuse to stay. His task would have been accomplished and the thought saddened him.

## ~*~

The day for the license renewal finally arrived. Actually, Jake could have gone to get his renewal at any time after he had gotten his notice, but he delayed it as long as he could to make sure he could read well enough. Mike observed at breakfast that Jake was as nervous as a kid at his first dental appointment and he knew that Jake had been up long before sunup doing odds and ends to pass the time.

After breakfast and a few more chores the time had finally come to go to the town up the road, not the one in the valley, the real town. Mike drove for fear that Jake was so nervous he would get another ticket before he got to the driver's licensing facility.

He walked with Jake into the building and stood beside him as he presented his form to the official. "How long do I have to finish the test?" Jake asked nervously.

The official looked at his form and input his driver's license number into the computer and asked, "What test?"

"The written test," Jake said quietly.

The official replied, "You only take a written test when you've gotten a ticket since your last renewal. I'm not showing you with any ticket. Your renewal form doesn't say you need a test. What makes you think you have to take a written test?"

Jake continued, just as quietly, "Cause I gots me a ticket for speed'n last fall. I lost the copy I was supposed to keep. That ain't a problem is it?"

The official continued, just as calmly as before, "It doesn't matter, Mr. Sadler, because the computer doesn't show you got a ticket. It also doesn't show you have a ticket pending. Did you pay this ticket?"

"Yes. I sent in the copy of the ticket I was supposed to, with my money and got my license back. Took some real scraping to get that there money together, I'm here to tell ya. See, here is my license."

The official took the license and held it up to the light and said, "you must be mistaken, Mr. Sadler. You've never posted this license as bond. If you had there would be staple holes in it where it had been stapled to the court copy of the ticket and there aren't any holes. You must be remembering a ticket you got before you renewed your license the last time."

"No, I never got no ticket before," Jake responded, with a perplexed look on his face.

"You never got a ticket ever," the man said firmly and continued, "at least, not according to our records and they are what we go by. Where did you send your ticket and money to?"

Jake stopped short and finally said, "don't rightly know. Didn't pay no mind to where it was addressed to."

"What department gave you the ticket and what did the officer look like?" the official asked in a tone that said it was more to sooth Jake than because he really cared.

"State trooper. Don't recall his name, but he was a big guy. Sort of oldish with longish white hair. About six foot tall I recall and about 180 pounds."

"Don't ring no bells with me and I know all the troopers in this district," the official said and punched some more keys on his computer. "Nothing showing on the computer. You must have been mistaken. Now let me ask you a couple of questions and then after you pay your fee we will take your picture and get you on your way."

Jake looked at Mike with a resigned look and relief showed evident in his face. Mike just smiled back and wondered to himself how Jake could get and pay a ticket without there being any record of it. Jake might not have been able to read, but he was no dummy. If he said he got a ticket, then he got a ticket, but what happened to it? Mike recalled what a friend once said, maybe his only friend, ever, "God moves in mysterious ways and can do anything with nothing."

_Maybe so_ , Mike thought, _maybe so._

## ~*~

Despite the fact that Jake had gotten his driver's license renewed without taking a test, the impetus of the learning did not wane. He went at his studying harder than ever and by late March was reading as well as Eloise, if not Jamie. Motivation was the key to all learning and if ever someone had motivation, Jake had it. He was starved for education and like a man short of food, he gorged himself once it was made available.

By early April the level of his learning was made evident when he came in one evening from his chores. As he walked past Jamie, who was busily writing out a theme paper, he stopped and took a second look. "Jamie, that ain't how you spell 'justice' you better look that one up."

Jamie was stunned, as was Eloise and Janice, who almost dropped her sewing.

"What do you mean, Pa?" Jamie asked in amazement.

"I mean you need an 'i' where you got an 'a'. Look it up. That's what your Ma bought you that dictionary for. A job worth doing is a job worth doing right." Jake finished as he walked on passed to his bedroom and winked at Mike who smiled back knowingly.

Later that night, with pride in his voice, Jake read a story to Eloise. Not a big one, but a story just the same. For the first time he was reading to his children and able to help them with their homework and it was evident from his face that his life was now complete and he could die tomorrow with no complaints.

As happy as Mike was for Jake, he was equally as sad for himself. The time had come. His job was finished and he had to move on. From now on he would only be in the way.

## ~*~

A few days later Jamie got up early to milk the cow before getting ready for school. He noticed that Mike's bed was empty and felt sure that he had beat him to the cow. He hurried out to the barn and opened the door with a smile to say good morning to Mike, but he was not there.

He hurried around to the back of the barn to find Mike loading his motorcycle.

"What's up, Mike?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Time to go, Jamie. I told you I was just passing through. I've stayed longer than I planned already. A lot longer."

"But...."

"No 'buts' Jamie. My job's done."

"What job?"

"The job you asked me to do last fall."

"I never asked you to do nothing."

"Not in so many words, but it was all over your face. Your Pa can read now and his education will come in time by itself. You can rest easy knowing the secret isn't necessary anymore."

"You were the answer to my prayer."

"If you say so, but I'm just a man passing through. I'm going nowhere and I'm coming from nothing. I've no place to go back to, so I just keep going on."

"On to where?"

"Just on."

"Will I see you again?"

"Can't say. It's a big world, but sometimes it can seem mighty small. I've seen people again I never thought I would. I've also never seen people again that I thought sure I would and wished I could."

At that, Jamie noticed a faraway look in Mike's eyes and he thought he detected a wetness there, too.

"Where exactly you heading, Mike?"

"Wherever. Don't much matter. I ride where the spirit moves me."

"What spirit?"

"Just a saying, Jamie. Didn't mean nothing by it. I just ride where I feel like riding, when I feel like riding. That's all. So long," he finished as he climbed on his motorcycle, thumbed the electric starter button and the bike roared to life.

"So long, Mike," Jamie muttered as he watched Mike wheel the motorcycle around and head down the lane to the hard road below.

# The End

To find other titles by Robert James Allison, visit his website at:

www.robertjamesallison.com

Robert James Allison is an attorney who practiced law in Central Illinois for over 25 years. He has since retired from the private practice of law and moved to Louisville, KY. In the 1970s he served in the U.S. Army as a Military Policeman and later was a Captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corp, Army National Guard. Robert draws on his life experiences in his writing and melds his experiences with his characters to give them a realism that draws the reader into their lives.
