Caleb Loved His Mother: by Julianna Rowe
15-year-old boy hiking with friends goes ahead of them like
all competitive young men might do. Who can get to the top the fastest, and he
did. The other two kids were not as
interested in the fast jaunt to the top so they could do the “Rocky” dance
while displaying their man boy muscles not yet developed. Not to mention the knobby knees of an
underdeveloped young man.
Caleb was always an overachiever, a smart boy moved onto the
gifted classes at school. No one knew that underneath his desire to achieve was
a human being who had been told he wasn’t good enough all his life. His mother
was a frightened anxiety ridden woman who couldn’t stand up for herself much
less her son. Caleb’s father was a
perfectionist making life unable to live for most who inhabited their home on
the side of Bear Mountain. An
unbelievable to most log home with a stream or should I say river running under
it. Caleb’s father designed the water
embellishments against the county’s orders stating the dangers that could develop
over the years and weather conditions.
But Cecil never did what pleased anyone or did what anyone else
wanted. He did what he wanted. And so,
he hired some fancy attorney’s who found Cecil a loophole in the law giving him
the rights to have a river running under and around his magnificent log
home. Caleb’s mother had a fear of the
river but Cecil could have cared less what she thought or felt. Only Caleb cared about his mother.
The logs had been shipped in from Montana and while its
construction took place Cecil became known as a Czar in the area.
Nothing could be done to please his
perfectionism.
Some of the workers quit
midway through the job due to his arrogance and lack of knowledge as to how to
build a three story log house on the side of a mountain with a river running
under and around it.
Engineers from
around the world had to be called in to assure the safety of not only the home,
but the workers and the townspeople at ground level.
But Cecil didn’t care.
Hell, he had more money than God.
Why he had just won the lottery in small town
USA Colorado.
That alone added to his
belief that he was God and not just believed in him.
No, Cecil was a man hard to reckon with.
Caleb and his mother tried to stay out of
Cecil’s way. Nevertheless, the sounds of that damn river would keep a person
awake most nights just from the fear of the power of it.
It was useless.
You couldn’t swim in it.
You couldn’t drink the water from it.
You couldn’t fish in it, well you could but
who would want to fish from the cement border walls that kept the rushing water
from taking the house from its foundation down the side of the mountain and
everyone and everything in its path.
Cecil didn’t want to swim or fish or bother to look at it.
Cecil wanted to show everyone he could do
what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it and how he wanted to do it.
That was Cecil.
The boys always let Caleb win because they knew what his
life was like at home. Not many teenagers
would do that but those young men did. And so, there was Caleb doing his Rocky dance
atop the mountain his father would imminently destroy.
Caleb was so far ahead of the others he decided to do some
new trailblazing in the area. He had
left his cell phone behind which was rare.
But what no one knew is Caleb had a plan that day to save he and his
mother from the wiles of Cecil D. Crumbsworthy II. You see there was a reason Caleb jaunted to
the top of the mountain ahead of his friends.
Caleb needed time to put his plan into action and he did just that. He had also looked ahead and left a note in a
fireproof bag for the people of Huntington Glen to know the truth about his
father.
Caleb brought with him several rounds of dynamite in hopes
of changing the course of the river away from their home. His father Cecil had built a two-story office
adjacent to the house where he stayed most of the time. He left Caleb and his Mother to the darkness
of the river and its fear. He was a mean
person who used unkind words and deeds to maintain his control over his family
and anyone who chose to be around him making him a target for hatred by
many. Caleb knew this and had planned to
use it.
When his friends made it to the crescendo, he entertained
them for a time and then as dusk fell upon the day, he shared with the guys he
wished to stay up top the mountain for the night, that he had come
prepared. Michael and Shawn, his
buddies, had never heard of him doing this before but he convinced them with
what he had inherited from Cecil in terms of the positive side of manipulation.
And so, after a time of playful nonsense the boys trekked back down Bear
Mountain to the safety of their homes in Huntington Glen leaving Caleb to spend
a peaceful night under the stars with no worries at all. Little did they know what Caleb had in mind.
Caleb being an honor student thought he had figured it all
out. He had checked out books on engineering and how to but he was not a water
resource engineer, nor was he a structural bridge engineer, nor was he a civil
engineer, but boys who want their father dead will claim to be one of the above
or whatever works to attain the outcome.
And so, Celeb set out to kill his Father. The man who didn’t care a bit about his
mother or him. Only his stupid loud mean
dark river that would frighten even the fish that had to enter a house outside
their main habitat, swim through mazes of concrete and trap doors that held
back the force of the river maintaining it so the house remained steadfast on
its foundation. Everyday was insecure
for him knowing what he knew.
Caleb only shared his secret inside that fireproof bag in
hopes someone would find it and tell the world the truth. The truth about the man he hated to call
father. Cecil D. Crumbsworthy.
Interesting how sometimes a name means more than it should and in this
case it fit.
And so, Caleb set about his plan to change the course of the
river to bypass their home and furiously move to the West and demolish his
father and his fathers two story office building he so kindly built for himself
leaving the furious river to someday their demise. Little did he know his son had the simple
skills of an engineer without training.
A kid good at physics and fireworks and that is all that was needed. Not
a large group of hired men from all over the world could save his mother but he
could. And so, he set forth placing the dynamite he got online for a fake
rocket project of which he embellished to fit his needs. Over the past few days, he had strategically
placed dynamite with remote control devices attached, in various areas to
change the flow of the river his father had developed to kill he and his
mother. Caleb had found his father’s
little black book with numerous additions of proof his father was a sex
trafficker as well as having multiple affairs.
Sadly, Crumbsworthy’s reverse plan was in place.
Of course, Caleb didn’t realize his father knew of his plan because
he intervened in his computer and had already devised a way around it. He had removed Caleb’s dynamite and reversed
the process meaning the river would take out the house, his mother, and Caleb
in the process.
`That evening Caleb removed his shoes, clothes, all but his
undershorts. His thinking was he could find his way down the river to his
mother and safety but his plan failed. He forgot one important factor, his
father’s evil ways. Always backing up every plan more than once. Caleb had not backed up his plan at all. And
when he pushed the remote control to change the course of the river it blew up
likened a mushroom cloud taking Caleb downstream ramming him into his childhood
coffin along with his mother. Caleb knew what had transpired as he cascaded
downward to his death. Oddly he and his
mother were found at the base of the mountain near Huntington Glen at the
cemetery where his grandparents lay at rest.
Odd but fact. Sometimes our loved ones help us at the end and this time
was one of those.
Caleb’s father did not go free because the contents of the
firesafe waterproof bag were found by a local who turned them in to the
Sheriff. Cecil was arrested for sex
trafficking and attempted murder of his wife and son. The local University renamed one of its
Buildings Caleb Hall, University of Huntington Glen. Forever remembered as a
hero.
There was a sister, Corina, who lived with her mother’s aunt due to
Cecil’s unhealthy lifestyle. She came to the funerals and to veiw the walls of Caleb Hall. She also
visited the mountain where her brother passed away. She had heard he placed his basketball shoes
on posts at the top of the mountain so everyone knew he had been there no
matter what happened. The Chamber of
Commerce showed Corina where more than one thousand pair of shoes were placed along the
river on posts as well as around campus.
Kids were placing their shoes on posts everywhere in honor of Caleb’s
love for his mother and for taking his evil father out of the world’s way.
