how warm the water got inside the cave?”
“Yeah.”
“Is it possible that a warm stream runs underneath Dad’s gravesite?”
“That’s good thinking, Jacob, that is a very good possibility. The tunnels we were in last summer, who knows how far they run. We aren’t that far from Red River, only six or seven hundred yards as the crow flies.” When we got back in the truck to head home, I noticed steam coming up around Dad’s headstone. That must be the reason why. What else could it be, and how could I find out – or should I? So many questions were running through my head I didn’t know which way was up.
I believed Grandfather knew a whole lot more than he was letting me in on. He wasn’t going to tell me more than I was ready for. You’ve heard the old expression that you don’t feed a baby meat, you feed it milk. You can only feed it what it’s ready for. The same is true about the words we speak; you can’t explain things to someone if they aren’t ready to understand it yet. They may have ears, but they can’t perceive what you are saying, or they have eyes and still are not able to see what is going on around them. Grandfather was very wise, and I trusted his judgment in what he wanted to share with me. He knew what I was ready for and what I wasn’t ready for and I was okay with that.
After I let Grandfather out at the house, I drove back home to spend a little time with Mom before school started. I knew she knew more about what was going on than she was saying. Mom was letting Grandfather teach me all he could about life and how it should be lived, although she did teach me a lot of things that he couldn’t teach me from a woman’s point of view. I just wish I could understand it as easy as I do the things Grandfather had taught me.
Two more months of school to go and I would be out of high school. It didn’t seem possible it was almost time to graduate. I studied extremely hard the next few weeks hoping to keep up a 3.5-grade average. Boy, was I surprised when I ended up with a 4.0 Man, what a shock!
I finally got my SAT score and was shocked and amazed at the results; it was higher than I thought possible. I thought they must have gotten my results mixed up with someone else’s, but they told me it was correct. That is okay with me because now I have several colleges offering me scholarships, but I wasn’t going too far from home. I had too much to learn from Grandfather to move far away just yet.
Graduation day was almost here, and they wanted me to give the valedictorian speech for our senior class. I wasn’t sure what to write about but, with Mom’s and Grandfather’s help, I figured it out. Tonight is the night I give my speech – I hope I’m ready.
The auditorium was full; there must have been five hundred or more people there. When I got up on stage, I asked if I could have my mother and my grandparents could join me. I had Mom sit on my left because that is the side that is closest to my heart. I had my grandparents sit behind me to my right because they always stand behind me backing me up with my decisions. I asked Grandfather if he would stand with me tonight as I gave my speech. I had just a few minutes to talk to our class and the people that were there. When he stood up and walked over, everyone in the auditorium stood and applauded, I didn’t think they would ever stop.
I asked Grandfather if he would play his flute with me and continue when I started reading. We played together for about five minutes then I laid my flute down and started reading.
“Today is a new day for us; it is a time that we will be going our separate ways. Most of us have been in class together since the first grade, but after today that will all change. Some of us will go on to college and some will not. That doesn’t mean that some aren’t as smart as the ones that do, by no means. They, they just have a different path to travel down. The Class of 1974 must remember our friends and our family that sacrificed time and money to help us get to this day. My Grandfather taught me that today is all we really have; there is no promise of tomorrow. Today is a present from GOD. The reason we call it the present is because it is a gift from GOD. What each one of us must do is seize each and every day that GOD gives us to make the most of what He has given us to work with. Because Today is Tomorrow’s Yesterday at hand, and it is up to us to make the most of every day. Life is very short; it’s like unto the frost on a cold winter morning, it’s there early in the morning but when the sun climbs high up in the sky it vanishes without a trace. I ask that each one hearing my voice will live every day as if it were the only day that GOD gave you to live. Live it with compassion for others. Reach out to others that need a helping hand, pick them up off the ground and dust them off when you see them stumble and help them on their way. You may be the only person that sees them stumble. You never know what is going on in their lives you could be saving their life. To the Class of ‘74 and all that can hear me, I pray that GOD is with you and bless you in all that you set out to do and may you all accomplish peace, joy, and love in your lives. We made it, we graduate tonight our lives are just beginning, seize the day my friends; seize the day. Thank you all for listening so intently. Goodnight.”
I picked up my flute and then Grandfather and I stepped away from the podium. I hoped my speech was taken to heart by everyone, along with my Grandfather playing in the background.
They handed our diplomas to us and congratulated us on our accomplishments. The night was over; it was time to start planning for the summer and to pick the college I was going to attend.
It was my eighteenth birthday and I could hardly wait to be with Grandfather. What were we going to do today and what would be the new clue this year? Grandfather phoned me last night and told me not to come until noon today. He had a couple of things to do before he would be ready for me. When I entered the drive, it was twelve o’clock straight up. When Grandfather said noon that is exactly what he meant not a minute before or a minute after. He was standing in front of the barn when I drove up.
“Hello Grandpa, what’s the schedule for today?” He handed me a leather bag with beadwork and fringe on it and asked me to open it. I pulled out a pipe; the bowl was carved out of black rock to look like the head of a wolf. The stem had carvings of bear, deer, turkey, fox, and beaver. There were words carved in a spiral around the stem under each animal. It was the most beautiful pipe I had ever seen.
“Lets’ go for a walk, Jacob.”
“OKAY, Grandpa, where are we going?”
“Today we’re going to go to the top of the mountain, there is a ledge overlooking Red River with a circle of stone where I will teach you how to use this pipe.”
Grandfather led the way to the top. He had never shown me this route before. I thought I had been all over that mountain and thought I knew every foot of it, as many times as Grandfather had taken me out in the forest. This path was hidden; you could walk right by it and never know it was there. I don’t know how many times I walked past it and never found it. It was between two big overcup oak trees with honeysuckle growing between them next to a rock bluff. Looking between the trees, all you could see were three huge rocks but, once you stepped past the trees and rounded the boulders behind them, there was a path and steps that were carved into the mountain leading to the top. When we got to the top, the ledge was about fifty feet wide and about seventy-five feet long. It had an overhang twelve to thirteen feet above it. It was impossible to see from the river, but you could see for miles all around. It had a spectacular view of the mountains and the valleys. The way the Red River twisted and snaked through the valley was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen. We sat down beside the circle of stones and Grandfather built a fire as we unpacked our gear. I watched him take his pipe and hold it up and give thanks to GOD for this day and for the many blessings He had bestowed upon our family. Then he began filling it with tobacco and held the bowl of the pipe over the fire and said, “Let us be one with all things that are good.” Then he took a twig from the fire, lit the pipe, took a couple of puffs from it, and handed
