Joe sighed, and looked over at his wife of three years, and still his best friend. "It's dead, we're lucky to have gotten this far." "I can't understand why an elderly, disabled man like Uncle Joseph would live so far out in the woods, and up a mountainside in the bargain."
He hit the button for On Star." "Now we wait, I'm sorry."
Angie smiled, though rather nervously. Joe had never been reckless or foolish before but had rushed this trip the instant he'd learned that it was his uncle Joseph. She had never met the old man. Just knew that Joe had been named after him.
"Mr. Carson, this is Randall from On Star, we just got a signal from your car that you have a problem?"
"Yes, our motor just quit." "We were trying to reach the Joseph Carson farm, but have no idea where the place is. We are following a gas station attendant's information that he lives on this terrible old road."
"The map shows you within eighty feet of a driveway; it looks like there is just a turn ahead, then the driveway Sir."
"Your kidding, we are that close? Thank you, can we walk to the house, and have help sent in the morning. My Uncle Joseph was adamant I go see the place."
"Yes, sir, which is not a problem. Our people will meet you at the house in the morning." The unseen Randal answered. "Goodnight, Mr. and Mrs. Carson."
They walked to the house along the old dirt road, Joe's flashlight showing only the usual circle of dirt or foliage where ever it was pointed.
"Gate!" Angie cried out. She was not a wilting pansy, but the darkness was oppressing in this strange place.
It was just a house and a garage. The yard was weed grown, the bushes gone wild and the big oak in the yard unfriendly looking in the dark.
"Why does the mailbox say 'Smith' - if your uncle lived here?" Angie puzzled as they passed it.
Opened, it held Joe's last letter to his uncle, a Wild Bird magazine, and a letter to 'Joseph Smith' - from Kendrick Van Dyne of Toyne, West Virginia.
They went on to the house, eager to look at the letter. Perhaps it might explain the alias.
To their surprise, the door was not locked, in spite of Joe having the key his uncle had sent in his letter.
Here are the two letters:
1. Received from Joe's Uncle Joseph;
Joe, if you receive this, I have died of old age, or my stupid habit of snooping into things best left alone.
Please go to my house on TailbackMountain. It is yours. Look in the mailbox. It is important.
There may be a letter in the mailbox from my old war buddy Ken Van Dyne. If it is not signed - Kendrick Van Dyne, I beg you to burn it without reading it. He always signs his full first name in our letters. That's the only place he signs his name that way. It's a code we began long ago in the war.
God willing, there will be some letters, small trinkets and other items in a small box in the false wall in the basement. You will recognize the same piece of art I always put in front of my stashes.
They are for you. If Ken asks to meet with you, please meet him. He has saved my life on more occasions then I can name. You might be able to help me return the favor.
I beg you, please take anything you want from the house. There are no contenders. As you know, I have no children. You are my only heir. There is a key to a lock box in the Bolston City Bank. Bolston is north of where you are.
