Page 27 of Luke
"I fell asleep. The jet lag finally caught up to me."
"I'm surprised you even get jet lag as often as you travel."
"I am good at adjusting to new time zones, but the last few days were rougher than most."
"I'm sure."
"Who's Kaitlyn sitting with?" he asked.
"Nancy is the gray-haired woman. She's head of housekeeping. Karina is the blonde on the other side. She runs the arts and crafts program. They've both been here for over a decade. Your father kept on a lot of the staff when he bought the place."
"So that can happen," Luke remarked. "And it can turn out well."
Lizzie did not miss his point. "Sometimes it works out well. You never know what a new owner will want to do." She paused. "I think Tom is about to start."
He directed his gaze across the campfire.
"Once upon a time," Tom began, "it was rumored that there was gold at the top of the mountain behind us. It could be found only at the highest peak, nuggets as big as a man's fist. But it was impossible to get to. Many men tried. Many men died," Tom said in his deep, booming voice. "One day the son of a man who had perished in his attempt to get the gold decided he would climb to the top of the nearest peak and bring back the gold his father had spoken of. His mother said no, but in the early morning light this fourteen-year-old boy snuck out of his tent and went up the mountain."
Tom paused, and the crowd leaned forward in anticipation. "The young man climbed for hours. He was exhausted, his legs shaking, his will weakening, but he didn't want to let his father down. He wanted to bring the gold back to the family, to his mother and three younger sisters. He had just passed Wolmer Falls when the ground started to shake. He didn’t know what was happening. The earth was moving. Rocks were falling. An enormous boulder, bigger than a one-story building, came flying down the mountain straight toward him. He jumped out of the way as the boulder crushed against the rocks, blocking the upper trail."
Tom took another breath, and Luke had to admit his own heart was pumping a little faster as he waited for the end of the story.
"The boy thought all was lost, but then he saw the sliver of light, the small opening where a person might squeeze past the boulder to get to the other side—to the mountain—to the gold. He stared at the boulder for a long minute. Was it a sign that his way was blocked? Should he turn back? But he knew there wouldn't be another time to try. They were leaving in the morning. Winter was coming. He had one last chance before the spring…"
Tom gave another dramatic pause, then continued. "The boy squeezed past the rock and climbed to the top of the mountain. The earth shook again as he reached the summit. And then he saw the most miraculous thing—gold. It was as bright and shiny as his father had described, even bigger than his fist. As he tried to pull it out of the dirt and the rocks that surrounded it, the earth began to shake again. The skies opened up and rain began to fall."
Tom lowered his voice another notch. "It was almost as if the mountain was weeping, as if the earth was begging the boy to leave the gold where it belonged. He looked into the sky and thought he saw the spirit of his father. He had done this for him—for the family, but his dad was waving at him to go back, to be safe, to live a long life and to leave the gold."
Tom looked around the campfire group. "The boy thought about what to do for a long minute and then he finally let go of the gold and got to his feet. Water came out of the sky, flying down the mountain, creating a massive waterfall where none had existed, and the gold he'd found was now behind a wall of water. The boy ran down the mountain as fast as he could, terrified the rushing water would catch up to him. He squeezed past the rock and made his way back here, the site of the camp. His mother was waiting and she hugged him as tight as she could, telling him she didn't want the gold; she wanted him to be safe. They left the next morning."
"To this day no one has ever found the gold behind the upper Wolmer Falls," Tom added. "Several men have made it all the way to the top, a few have died or been severely injured while trying, but no one has found the gold that the mountains refused to give up."
As Tom finished his story, a bunch of kids broke in with questions that Tom answered patiently.
"Was that supposed to be a cautionary tale?" Luke asked Lizzie.
She smiled. "I'm not sure. He tells a bunch of stories, and that's his favorite, but sometimes I worry he's only inspiring people to go after the gold." She tilted her head, giving him a speculative look. "I have a feeling you'd see only the challenge, not the caution."
"I have a feeling you'd be right. But I'm not motivated by gold."
"Just by the experience?"
"Exactly." His stomach rumbled. "You know, I missed dinner, and I have nothing in my cabin. Any chance you'd let me raid the kitchen?"
"Of course. We do have a snack kitchen for guests, but since you're the owner, I'll let you in the main kitchen. Shari made a vegetarian lasagna for dinner that's to die for."
"Lead the way," he said, getting to his feet.
"Sure. Let me just tell Kaitlyn where I'm going."
Liz had barely stood up when Kaitlyn came over and said she was going to bed.
"Do you want to get some food with us?" Liz asked. "We're going to the kitchen."
"Nope." Kaitlyn shot Luke a dark look, and then walked quickly toward the lodge.
"I guess she's not hungry," Liz said as they followed in Kaitlyn's steps. "I should probably just be happy that she even came to the campfire. I thought she might hang out with some of the kids who are here this week, but I didn't see them around."
