December 2009

        "Grab it! Grab it, Ben.  Quick!  I can't hang on to it.  It's too heavy.  Come on, Ben.  Get over here and pull it off!"

        Marion swung her body around with full force.  The fish pole in her delicate hands came around too.  It plopped down on the rough rocks as she let go of it.  Eight year old John clambered up the steep path from the Creek, jumped ahead of his big brother Ben and pulled the fat trout off Marion's line.

        "Hey, Marion!  Look, it's great!  It's heavy!"

        John quickly put the squirming fish in his basket, closed the cover and started up the path toward home.  As he walked, he turned sideways and yelled, "Come on, Ben!  Come on Ella, You too, Doris, Let's go."

        Ben, Doris and Ella scrambled up the winding path behind John.

        "Hey look!  There's that little garden snake again.  John turned his head quickly to look but he was too absorbed in getting his basket and Marion's fish home, to pay any attention to a tiny, wiggly snake.

        It took only a very few minutes for Ben, John, Doris and Ella to be right in front of the porch.  Grandfather sat in his favorite rocker with something on his lap.  But, nobody stopped to talk with him.  They pulled the screen door open, ran inside and the door slammed behind them.

        Grandfather sat quietly chuckling to himself as he glanced down at the small stack of papers on his lap.  He picked up the paper on top of the pile, looked at it and burst right out with a bolt of laughter so loud the ten crows who had been eating worms on the front lawn suddenly spread their wings and flew up to the barn roof.

        Marion, coming back out on the porch said, "Grandpa, what's so funny?"

        Grandpa pulled himself up a bit straighter in his rocker, looked up at Marion and said, almost in a whisper, "I can't believe it."

        "What Grandpa?  What is it you can't believe?"

        Grandpa just sat for a few minutes, shaking his head.

        "Come on, Grandpa.  Tell me what you can't believe."

        "It's this."

        He raised the top paper so Marion could see it.

        Marion looked puzzled.  "What does all of that handwriting say?"

        Without another glance at the paper, Grandpa said, "It tells how George West lived very frugally and saved enough money to buy the Empire bag factory in Rock City Falls."

        "George West?"

        "Yes."

        "Your friend George West?"

        "Yes."

        "The one who stopped here last week and asked you about some machines he planned to use in his Empire Mill?"

        "Yes, you know we've been good friends for many years.  He knew I was familiar with machines somewhat like the ones he just got for Empire and he wanted me to look at them."

        "But Grandpa, that's not funny.  You weren't really laughing about just a machine, were you?"

        "Well, not really, Marion.  Not really."

        "What was it then which caused you to laugh so loudly you scared the crows away?"

        Grandpa opened his mouth and started to speak but quickly closed his lips, sat for a minute and began again.

        "I have an idea.  The other day Ben told me Mr. Steele was almost late for school last Wednesday and when he got to the classroom he just said he had been to Rock City Falls."  He did not say anything else, so Ben asked me to see if I could find out why his teacher had gone to Rock City Falls."

        "Did you?"

        "I didn't have to.  I already knew."

        "You knew?"

        "Yes, Mr. Steele was at Asahel Porter's house on Friday afternoon when I went over to talk with our County Board Supervisor about the road plans the County is working on."

        "So, what did Mr. Steele tell you?"

        "The first thing he said was a question for me.  He asked if I had ever seen the Kayadross Creek in the bright sunlight.  Then he went on to describe the great pleasure he felt last Wednesday as he watched the golden bubbles of water dance around under the blazing, early morning sun.  George West's name came up right after that."

        "Remember Grandpa.  We saw the Creek like that last summer when we were looking for fossil stones."

        "Yes, that was truly a beautiful sight, but let's go back to your question about why I laughed so hard."

        "Was it Mr. Steele's words which made you feel so funny?"

        "Yes, but also what I was told by George himself."

        "Well, what did they say?"

        "Marion, your mother asked me to go down and collect the eggs from the henhouse now, so why don't you, Ben and John come down to the barn right after school tomorrow.  I'll be there doing some repair work.  We'll talk about Kayadross * Creek and Rock City Falls then, and I will tell you about the gigantic, monsterous, surprising, almost unbelievable accomplishments my friend George West has completed and when George was here yesterday he added to what Mr. Steele had already said."

        "Fine grandpa.  I'll go and tell Ben and John.  I can hardly wait to hear all about your friend George and all the great things he's done and especially what he's going to do.

* This spelling will be used for all future chapters.