Wanderlust

“One in the same, darlin’. You ever been?”

“No, but I want to.”

“Oh, it’ll blow you away. Right beautiful it is. ’Course nothing’s as beautiful as what Candy had to show us—”

“How far away is it?”

He scratched his forehead. “About five hours or thereabouts.”

My spirits sank. That was a long way away for someone with no transportation. Or money. I toyed with my eggs, but I could feel Jeremiah’s curious gaze on me.

“You know,” he said. “There was a time I had dreams about those falls, even if I knew they wouldn’t come to nothing.”

“Really?”

I figured he was just saying that to make me feel better. How many other people hung their hopes on a waterfall? But I appreciated the gesture.

“Well, if you haven’t noticed, I’m a bit of a hermit. But even us hermits, we have people we look up to. Something to work toward. And ain’t no hermit better than the Niagara Falls hermit.”

I made a face. “You’re pulling my leg.”

“Nuh-uh. He was a real guy back in the eighteen hundreds. Francis something-or-other. He lived on an island right in the falls. He’d climb over some wooden planks and sit on the end like he was on a dock somewhere. People would scream, thinking he was going to fall.”

Despite myself, I was intrigued. This hadn’t been in my book.

“Did he fall?”

“Nope. Lived there happy as you please for years. Then one day he was gone into a shallow portion to take a bath like he always did. Went under and never came back up. Just goes to show.”

“Uh. What does it go to show?”

“Goes to show people think what they want to think. The man was highly-educated, well-traveled. Been to all these countries. Famous for his music. But he goes to live in the falls and everyone assumed he was crazy.”

“But you don’t think so.”

“Nah, he just knew a good thing when he found it. The falls is beautiful, so why should he leave?”

I couldn’t stop thinking about that man. The hermit. He knew a good thing when he found it. Was that Hunter, living isolated in his truck? Or was I trying to romanticize something so it would sit easier with me? It didn’t really matter. In the end, Hunter did what he did. And like Jeremiah said, people would think what they wanted to think.

In two more days I was strong enough to go outside. I took short walks but kept close to the cabin. I’d need to leave here soon, and that meant I needed money.

I asked Jeremiah about it when he came to stand on the porch to smoke his pipe.

“I know this is a long shot, but you wouldn’t know anyone around here who needs graphic design work, would you?” I sighed. “That’s pretty much the only marketable skill I have.”

He seemed thoughtful. “Nope, can’t say that I do. I barely know what to do with those computer things, but I have one if you want to look around for a job or something.”

I raised my eyebrow, doubtful. “You have a computer?”

He grinned, showing off his missing tooth in the front. “Bet you thought I was just an old stupid hillbilly, didn’t you?

Well, I am. But my daughter keeps trying to get me hooked into that stuff, so she got me set up. It’s in the kitchen cabinet underneath the sink.”

Excited, I ran to the door. On a whim, I stopped and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

“You’re not old or stupid.”

His eyes danced. “But I am a hillbilly.”