Hard to believe this was all market gardens once; mud clear to your eyeballs, that's what Papa had told him. Except for summer, when it was all dust and flies. And all those city people with their noise and sinful ways, it got so it wasn't a fit place for decent folk. Then the stench from the meat packing plant they built just down the street, that was the last straw.
"What kind of sinful ways, Papa?" Jerry asked.
"Never you mind, sir. You'll find out for yourself soon enough, I expect. Gitup there, Mike! Gitup there! Cursed sack of bones gets slower every day. Devil's horse!"
Jerry could hardly contain himself as they reached the end of Armstrong Road and turned right. When they rose to the crest of the last hill, his heart pounded in spite of himself. Windows flashed in the distance. "Fallbrook, Papa!" He pointed excitedly down the road.
"Mighty suprised if it weren't," his father growled. "Been there for years, I believe."
They stopped in front of the blacksmith's shop which sprawled under a huge sugar maple. The tree's red leaves blazed as hotly as the forge behind it.
"Please, Papa!" Jerry pointed to Cameron's general store next door. A huge man with a thick, black beard emerged from the workshop to shake his father's hand. "Please, Papa!" Jerry pleaded.
"Oh, go on then! Young fool! 'A fool and his gold are soon parted': truer words were never spoke!"
The blacksmith laughed. "Fool's gold. Plenty of that in these parts."
Jerry ran into the store. He stopped just inside the doorway, squinting his eyes in the gloom, still blinded by maple leaves and sunlight. He was stunned as always by the sweet, smoky smell of harnesses, deer hides, apples and molasses. He licked his lips; he could taste it too.
"Well, who have we here? Haven't seen you, young man, in many a day. Comin' in for another look-see are ye?" Mrs. Cameron's chubby face beamed like a sun-ripened apple.
"And I got the money," Jerry blurted. "I mean, I got the money to pay for it, missus." He felt his face flush hotly as he fumbled open his handkerchief. "It's all here; fifty whole cents!"
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