Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 122097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
This album looks a lot like those others that I have picked. Very thick and made of leather that is cracked and worn, like it’s been collecting photos for generations.
I pull it towards me, then take a seat in a chair and open it up.
The inside title page says ‘Monroe Family’ and there’s an image of a family tree with lots of names and dates starting down at the roots and going all the way up to the highest leaves at the top.
Ike is near the top. But not the very top. On his same level are a couple of women too. And, of course, Lasher, his twin. They share the same bough. I do the math and figure out he’s thirty-four. I didn’t actually know that. It always felt like he was so much older than me because nine years ago, I was practically a child and I can’t imagine Ike ever being small.
But he’s only three years older than Collin. Which is kinda weird, since Lasher is the same age and he was, at one time at least, Collin’s uncle.
I have to shake my head here. Of course, this wasn’t by marriage or blood. Lasher was dating Collin’s aunt—his mother’s little sister—and that’s how the relations got that way. That’s also how Lucas got to be Lasher’s stepson.
Who Lucas’s real daddy is, I have no clue. Maybe one of these Blackberry people and that’s why Lasher took over like that?
For the first time I begin to wonder why so many parents in these Trinity towns run off and leave whole families behind.
Then I scoff. I mean… these parts are weird. These towns are weird. And it’s a small, small world out this way. It makes a lot of sense to run off if you’re the kind of person who likes a bigger world better than a small one.
But to leave your kids behind? And Lucas, God, he was a gorgeous kid. Not that it matters—anyone who runs off on a kid, regardless of how they look, might be an asshole. I say ‘might’ because I don’t know what the situation was and it’s really not my place to judge.
Lucas, though. Gorgeous child. I remember him. And… well, I have to laugh here. Because he was so much like Collin. Because that’s almost exactly what Collin looked like as a boy too.
I turn the page and find two very fine old photographs of a young man and his bride. The names below these pictures say ‘Ginny McMann’ and ‘Theodore Monroe.’ They are pretty people too. Even if they are rather skinny and gaunt. I bet they had a hard life up here in these hills. They might even be the original people from this village. The ones who built those cabins.
I turn the page and find more people. Smaller, less fine pictures. And in groups. All with names under them. More Monroes, of course. Then I have to squint my eyes and blink a little, because I see the name McBride under one of these women. It’s dated nineteen twenty-two and her name is Lindyn.
I just look at her for a while, seeing a little bit of myself in her light hair and eyes. I can’t tell what color they are, since the picture is in black and white, but she does look like me.
She’s got two brothers. Oren and Acacius. And when I page forward, I see that Acacius married a woman called… Elowyn.
“Oh, wow.” I whisper this out loud as my fingertip glides across the woman’s face. Elowyn. Lowyn. She is related to me. Or, at the very least, I think I was named after her.
I keep paging forward, but there are no more McBrides. Lots of other names appear. McGill, and McMann, and dozens of others along that line.
Sometimes they look hardened and tired. Like they work way too much. I might not know first-hand what it was like to grow up in the Appalachian hills, but I know more than most. No running water, no electricity, just a wood stove in the winter to keep you warm. No washing machines, no dishwashers, no TV. So these people probably didn’t even know how hard they had it.
It’s the life of a pioneer, is what it is.
Now, in this house, Ike has everything. All the modern comforts. When I look around, I don’t see a TV, but everything else seems to be here. There are speakers, so there’s some kind of sound system. Plus, I saw that room with all the computer screens last time, so I know he has those. Maybe not here, but he’s got them somewhere.
Ike changed the direction of this town. He was born here—this album proves it. But he’s part of something bigger too.
That’s why I asked Collin if he was with the government. I didn’t specifically think he was connected to Blackberry Hill, but it did cross my mind that he might be. So I asked him and he said no.