Nobody Knows Your Secret

30

Maury looked out into the darkness and wondered what in the world was taking Skip so long. He'd told his mother he was going to the farm and check out the land he had inherited from Bill's father.

 Skip's farm consisted of more than 150 acres of hardwood-covered, mountainous land. It had been in Bill's family for generations.

The term "farm" was a misnomer. The land was rocky and not really good for much of anything, but somehow Bill's family had scratched out a meager living. It was the reason Bill Whittaker decided to run for sheriff.

Farm implies rich soil, and tons of it. To have made this land produce anything, you needed prayer and a miracle. It was hard, back-breaking, heart-rending work. More often than not, the elements blasted you with late frosts that killed your crops, or Mother Nature turned her back on you and roasted you with long, scorching days, barren of rain.

Or maybe the skies pelted you with hail. More often than not, something came along to make it harder to see a profitable year. 

Scrape by and pray for more of the same. Bill had watched the land and Nature break his father, turning him into an old man before his time.

***

Growing up had been hard for Bill. The family lived from hand to mouth, not knowing where their next meal was coming from at times, or even if there would be a next meal. This was not a way of life Bill wanted for his new family. He had never loved the land for the land's sake. His son, however, had.

Skip was born with a passion for the hills. He loved roaming the mountain slopes with his grandfather in all seasons, regardless of the weather. 

Bill's dad, Jubal willed the farm to Skip after he died. Jubal hoped his grandson would keep the land in the family for another generation and that Skip would have a child someday to share his stories and experiences with. It made a man's life worthwhile to have someone to pass on the knowledge and family history.

***

From the time the toddler could walk, Skip followed Jubal up and down the mountains. Jubal knew the land, and he taught Skip about the native plants and wildlife that grew there. 

Skip cherished the rocky slopes just as much as Jubal. Recently, Skip had been spending more and more of his free time up in those hills. Maury wondered what he was doing up on that mountainside.

Skip would drive up, spending hours at the old cabin. He wandered the slopes, remembering the tales of his grandfather.

Jubal had been a marvelous storyteller. Skip soaked up all his grandfather's stories and kept them close to his heart. 

The young man worked at Pixies but his heart was on the mountain. Skip was fixing up the old cabin. Every extra dollar went to buy supplies. Just like Jubal, Skip wanted to find a way to live off his land.

Bill had questioned his son at length about spending so much time on the farm. As sheriff of Hope Rock County, Bill knew too well the kinds of trouble young people were getting into. Skip denied any wrongdoing, and Bill, not wanting to drive Skip away, pressed his son no further.