Silver

At the retreat, Linc took the tote into the house and then started
something to eat. He crushed a couple of packs of top ramen chicken
soup and put it on to cook. Mean time he opened a can of peaches and
poured them into a bowl. Soup done, he put some dog food in Angels
bowl and added some soup to it, got a tube of ritz crackers then sat
and ate. After clean up he got the coffee pot ready then got into the
jacuzzi tub and soaked away all the cold and stiffness out of his body
before falling into bed for a deep sleep.
He was awakened in the morning by Angel pawing him. He could smell
the coffee, and patted Angel and told her what a good girl she was.
He put on his robe and slippers , got coffee and went out to sit in
the sunshine.
After breakfast he and Angel went for a walk. Angel had to bring the
old dino along, and Linc tossed it as far ahead as he could, for her
to chase after..
Back at the house he went into the office with the tote and prepared
the reports, downloaded the pictures, put them in envelopes and then
in the various bags with the samples. It was late afternoon by the
time he was done. He was glad he thought to do this now. It would
save him time, and besides it best while events were still fresh in
his mind.
He grabbed an apple and decided to forego lunch, and have an early
supper. He took a large steak out of the freezer and set it to thaw
while he cooked some potatoes with the skins on. He boiled some eggs
at the same time.
Sifting through the cd's, he found some old big band era discs. He
put one on and turned up the stereo. He remembered his folks listening
to the old music and he thought of how he missed them. He liked it
loud right now, and there was no one here to complain. He remembered
how his folks used to dance to the music, and how he would try to
waltz along with them, get dizzy and fall down. His mother taught him
how to dance when he was about ten years old, and then he remembered
he hadn't danced since he got out of high school. How times changed
things.
After supper he went in and watched a video then went to bed.
He and Angel just walked and lounged around for the next couple of
days, then he began to get restless, so they went back to the motel
one evening. The group in the next unit had quieted down, and he was
able to get a few hours sleep.
The next morning he put the coffee pot on and went down the street and
got some breakfast sandwiches at Burger King for breakfast, then he
and Angel took a road out on the desert below Beatty. He passed some
low hills, and searched around, and found nothing of interest. He got
back to Beatty about lunch time. He got some lunch and then they
drove back up to the base of the mountains, below the pass he had
come over to get to Beatty. Off in the distance he could see a very
bright light shinning. He though that it might be a bottle or
something someone had thrown out, but as he approached, he could see
it was up on the side of the hill. His curiosity got the best of him
and he had to check it out. He was able to drive with in a couple
hundred yards of the shinny thing, then got out and walked the rest of
the way. What he encountered was a massive quartz vein. There was
one area in it that was almost a clear crystal face. The sun was
shinning on it, and the reflection was what he saw, that was so
bright.
Right away he could see a lot of rusty, crumbled quartz along with
some silver bearing ore. He picked around and saw that there was a
lot more ore as he dug back in the bank. The ore had a lot of
sulfides mixed with it. He flagged the area, took pictures and
samples, before leaving. This area had a lot of promise he felt. He
saw another spot on further along the hillside but it was getting too
late to do it now, so they went back to Beatty.
The next morning he drove back out along the base of the mountain, to
the spot he saw the day before. It too looked like a good prospect,
so he flagged, took pics and he went looking for any other spots that
might be of interest. By almost noon time he hadn't found anything so
decided to go back to town, get lunch, and maybe look on the other
side of Beatty. He got lunch at Burger King then went to a small park
nearby to eat and feed Angel. He was just about finished when he saw
an old woman walking down the street toward him. She was quite
stooped, and walked with a cane type stick that had four tiny feet on
it. She walked up to him, and said, "mind if I sit here with you ,
young man". " Be my guest, Linc replied, as he patted the bench".
Angel wagged her tail vigorously as the old lady sat down. She put
her paw out to the old lady, who took it and then petted her saying,
"my! but you are a sweet little girl, what's your name"? Linc said,
"this is Angel, and I have never seen her go up to a total stranger
before, like this". The old lady laughed and said, "that is because
she knows I love dogs". Then she said, "I usually stop here at this
bench every day when I can escape the nursing home, and I have never
seen you in town before. What brings you to Beatty"? "I'm a
geologist, Linc explained. I'm here to scout out some old silver
prospects for a mining company". The old lady laughed, and said, I
thought all prospectors went looking for gold". Linc smiled and
explained, " I didn't think there were any gold mines around here,
just silver"? "Oh no there young man. There is still gold
here-bouts. Look at this, she said as she reached in the neck line of
her dress and pulled out a big locket on a chain. She opened it and
showed him what was in it and asked, what do you think this is"?
Linc could hardly believe his eyes. In the locket was a beautiful
miniature tree, formed out of gold crystals.
Linc told her it was very lovely, but what was the story behind it.
She smiled and said, 'dear if you have time, I'll tell it to you.
Linc nodded, and she went on. Well it started way back in forty five
I believe, There is an old abandoned silver mine up near the top of
the pass above Beatty. A couple of brothers ran it along with three
other men. Older guys, because most of the young ones were in the
service. It wasn't a large mine, but was quite rich in silver. One
day one of the brothers got hurt in the mine and couldn't work in it
any more. He sat in the office and ran the mine. There was rumors
going around that the government was going to shut down all the mines.
I had a boy friend who loved rocks and minerals. He loved crystals
most of all.. Well my boy friend was too young to go in the service,
and since he was a cousin to the brothers, he went to work in the
mine. One day, he and another man went to work on the second level.
They ran into a big pocket of crystals, and my boy friend gathered
them up and put them in his lunch pail, before the other miner dug it
all up. The pocket contained some high grade silver ore, that they
loaded into two ore cars and pushed them out. When they got to the
first level, and pushed them to the ore bin, the cousin came and told
them they might as well go home because he had to close the mine. That
was the end of the mining.
They took the rails, ore cars and sold it for scrap. Well one day my
boy friend came around with this locket, said he found this gold in
with the crystals he got out of the mine. He said there were a couple
of them. But this was the biggest and best one. Since our folks would
not let us get married because we were too young, he gave me this and
said we were engaged. The next year, he lied about his age and went
into the navy. His ship was sunk. I cried my heart out, but I never
did get married. I just stayed on the farm and helped my folks.".
Linc took hold of her hand and told her how very sorry he was to hear
about her boy friend. He could sympathize with her on two counts.
Her loss and because he to loved rocks. And crystals were the best
things in his collection. She patted his hand back and then said, "
So you see young man, there really is gold here in these parts. By
the way, my name is Matilda, but you can call me Mattie". Linc
laughed, and told her his name was Lincoln, and she could call him
Linc. He also told her, that Matilda was his Mother's name. She
smiled and patted his hand again.
Just then a nurse came up to them and told Mattie it was time to go
beck to the home, so she got up and left.
Linc decided since it was only just afternoon there was time to drive
up to the top of the pass to see the old mine. He was thinking about
what Mattie had told him about the ore bin.
At the top of the pass he could see that it was only a short hike over
to the old mine, that was down on the hill below the pass. Hike down
was pretty steep and he slid quite a bit getting down there. He
thought maybe the ore bin would be out at the end of the tailings,
but saw there was a short rickety trestle out to it, Didn't look too
stable. Darn he thought, I really want to take a look in that bin.
He walked out on the shaky timbers, and looked in. The bin was almost
full of ore. He lay down on his stomach and then reached over in the
bin to collect a couple bags of specimens. And one good sized chunk of
ore. Got a couple of crystals too. He slid back and got up and left
the trestle. He figured he would get some material from the tailings
down below. He picked up a bunch of chunks that showed a lot of
sulfides, put them in his pack, then hiked back up the slippery slope
to the truck. Back at the truck, he took pictures of the mine from the
pull off at the top of the pass.
He wanted to ss if there was a road to the mine from below, off the
main highway. He went down the pass slow as he could with what
traffic there was, and found a road going off to his right . He drove
in on it, but didn't get very far because it was both overgrown with
brush and trees, and washed out in other places. No driving up that
road for sure. He decided he would come out in the morning and walk up
it and check out any other digs that might be up that way.
The next morning he drove up to the road he saw and walked up it for
about a mile or so. He did see a couple of digs and took samples. .He
didn't find much of interest so he went back to Beatty. This was his
last day here so he thought he would drive out from Beatty the other
way. Out west of Beatty the land scale looked barren, so he went
back to town. He got some lunch and went to the little park. He saw
Mattie come out from between some buildings, she came to sit on the
bench with him. She smiled at Linc, and said, " so we meet again,
then she petted Angel who stopped eating and went to her. So nice to
see you again". Linc offered to get her some lunch, but she said she
had just got done having lunch like, every day before her walk. Told
Linc to go on eating. He did and told her about going up to the mine
and getting samples. Told her he found a couple of crystals for his
collection too. Mattie started to look at him, and she looked so sad.
She looked as if she might start crying. Then she reached up and took
the chain with the locket on it over her head. She then kissed it and
put it over Linc's head. Linc was flabbergasted. He started to take
the chain off but Mattie patted his hand and said, 'there is no one I
would rather have this, than you I am eighty nine years old. Not
long for this world. I have no one. When I die one of the nurses at
the home will just take it from me and sell it. Means nothing to
them, and I know you will add it to your collection of crystals".
Linc hugged her and thanked her profusely.
Linc leaned back then asked her about who might own the mine now.
Mattie told him, that the younger brother went into the service and
died there, and the older brother had one child who was mentally
retarded and was now living in the same nursing home she was. There
were no others left in the family that she knew of, at least anywhere
around Beatty. Linc told her that this was his last day here at
Beatty, and he would be going back to Goldfield later that day. They
sat there and talked about their families. until the nurse came for
her, then he hugged her again, and kissed her cheek. As they left.
he heard the nurse ask Mattie what the hell was that all about, and
heard Mattie tell her, it was none of her damn business. He had to
laugh at that. Before he went back to the motel, he went to a flower
shop and ordered a big bouquet of red roses for her to be delivered to
the nursing home. And for a bouquet to be sent each week for the
rest of the month, with a card to say, " From your secret love".
That ought to give the nurses something to talk about, and give Mattie
a good laugh as well.

He went to the motel, packed and started out of town. He had to pass
the park bench on the way out, so he got out of the truck and put a
note on the bench. Love you, Linc.

To be continued.