“Good morning sweetheart” Soña said as her young son came down the stairs. “Where’s dad?” Andor replied groggily as he rubbed his eyes with his fists and yawned. “He got called out to a wildfire, very early this morning.” Soña replied as she yawned then held out her arms welcoming her son for a hug.  Andor scampered over and buried his face into his mother’s stomach as her arms wrapped tightly around him.  “How did you sle..?” Soña’s questions was interrupted by the shrill ring of the telephone.  Without finishing her sentence she walked over to the phone on the counter and answered it “Hello King residence.... Oh I see… That’s too bad… Uhhuh… Oh my… Alright well there is nothing for it I guess…. Thank you for calling.” then she hung up the phone and set it back on the counter.  Andor stared at his mother a puzzled look on his face.  “Who was on the phone?” he asked as he poured some cereal into his bowl. “It was your principle. He said your teacher Mrs. Maiorano called in sick this morning and then a pipe burst at your school flooding the classrooms… So, there is no school today.” Soña said a look of worry spreading across her face.  “Yippee!!!” Andor shouted as he jumped into the air.  “No, not yippee.” Soña replied crossly her hands resting on her hips. “I HAVE to go into work today. Our clients flew in last night and I am expected to give the orientation brief for them in an hour.”  “Well I can stay at home with Quickdraw.” Andor offered. Quickdraw, who was patiently laying on the floor waiting for the inevitable barrage of crumbs and table scraps to rain from the bountiful land known as the table, perked up at hearing his name mentioned and let out a whine of excitement.  “I don’t know…” Soña said wistfully as she gazed at the phone and then back at Andor. “Oh come on mom, I’m eleven now. I’ll be fine. Plus Quickdraw is the best guard dog in the world. He’ll take care of me.” The look in his mother’s eyes told Andor that she knew he was right and she was going to let him stay at home alone. As he stormed up the stairs to his room, no longer interested in breakfast he could be excused for not hearing his mother’s admonition. “Fine… but don’t stray to far from home while I’m gone.” Andor’s family lived in a small mountain town, nestled in the foothills of the Bridger Wilderness. It was a quiet town, struggling to stay on the map after the gold had dried up. In its heyday there had been close to five thousand people living there. Now all that was left was a post office, a general store, an elementary and middle school for forty seven students, a church, and not even one stop light. Surrounded by towering mountains and steeped in Native American folklore - it was a phenomenal place for a young child to grow, thrive, and explore. Andor watched his mother back her car out of the driveway and then he waved as her car disappeared around the bend in the road.  “Alright Quickdraw! What da ya say we go for a hike?”  Quickdraw barked and then spun around in circles chasing his tail.  Andor grabbed his knife, a small pack which he had stuffed with some food and a canteen of water, his binoculars - and ran out the back door.  The morning was crisp. In the shade it was chilly but oh how delicious was the sun! After the long cold winter feeling the warmth of the delightful golden orb in the sky could fill even the most dismal person with a sense of joy, a promise of a season of growth, exploration, and possibility. The dew was dripping from the wild grasses and the tender bright green leaves bristling from the branches of the trees waking up from their winter’s nap.  The cacophony of the forest - bird calls, the screech of a white tailed hawk, and the wind rustling the tops of the trees was momentarily parted by the pitter patter of a young boys feet as he deftly moved through the forest, his panting dog close at his heels. The river, which flowed by their home was getting bigger as the snow was beginning to melt off. He bounded from rock to rock and delicately crossed a log lying between two boulders above the river. On the other side he sprinted deep into the woodlands. The pine forest swallowed them up in its darkness. It was cooler under the canopy which blocked out most of the sun’s warm rays. “Gotta climb above the tree line to get back in the sun.” Andor said aloud with a shiver to no one in particular.  The birds sang, a gopher snake slithered through a clump of Indian paintbrushes, and a squirrel chastised the boys dog from the safety of bow high above the ground. The boy picked up a stone and placed it in his sling which he had stuffed in his back pocket. Twirling it above his head he flung the stone hitting a sapling about two inches around almost fifty feet away with enough force to snap it in half. He smiled and continued on his way. As the boy climbed higher into the mountains he stopped at a spring and drank till he felt his belly would burst. It was the last water source the boy knew of and so he filled his canteen and plopped it back into his pack. As he climbed higher he paused to watch a herd of mountain goats graze, but then Quickdraw caught sent of the goats and with a yip of joy the chase was on. Before Andor even had a chance to call after Quickdraw both the dog and the herd of goats were gone. The sound of stampeding goats and a barking dog were quickly swallowed up by the subtler sounds of the forest.  Andor first noticed the mountain looming over his house earlier in the winter. He thought it a bit odd he had never noticed it before. It had been there his whole life, yet he had only just recently “discovered” it. After gazing up at the mountain for several weeks he began to wonder what it was like on top. Then he had a brilliant idea - why not climb to the top and find out? Once the thought entered his mind it was all he could think about. It was far from home though and it looked so tall and formidable. He asked his mother if he could hike up there but she only replied “Maybe next year, when you are a bit older my dear.” He was not happy with her reply. So, he started making plans of his own.  ![[AndorMountain-i2.jpg]] As he climbed higher the trees changed, they became shorter and more gnarled. There were large formations of schist rock, it was easy to distinguish them from the other rocks because the grey rock had large quartz and mica linear deposits which made the stone glitter in the sunlight. Andor not only considered himself an explorer but a geologist, botanist, entomologists, biologist, and a survivalist. He was a naturalist in every sense of the word. Something he took great pride in. While his friends were watching TV or playing video games he was outside exploring a ravine, a meadow, a tree-top, and now this mountain! After an hour of arduous cross country hiking and scrambling Andor stumbled upon a lake. On the far side of the lake he could see the steep parapets and scree fields of his mountain.  “Oh my!” Andor exclaimed as he struggled to catch his breath. The color of the lake, a deep topaz, shimmered under the hot afternoon sun and the banks were lined with quaking aspens, large cedars and sugar pines. “It's absolutely beautiful!”  As if in reply Quickdraw flopped onto the ground and wriggled about, rolling like a puppy, in the meadow grass and flowers.  Andor flopped into the grass next to his dog and pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He ripped it in half and tossed one half to Quickdraw who gobbled it up in one large bite and then stared longingly as his master at the other half.  Suddenly Andor jumped to his feet “Well I’ll be!” he exclaimed holding his flat hand above his eyes to shield them from the sun. “It looks like an island out there in the lake.” he said pointing with his other hand. Quickdraw just stared blankly back at the boy. “Let’s go check it out!” in a flash the boy grabbed his pack and dashed back into the forest towards the lake. At the water’s edge he stripped down to his skivvies, stuffed the clothing into his pack, and pushed a large log into the water. Once the log was floating he gingerly balanced his pack on it and using it as flotation began swimming towards the island.  “Oh my gosh it's FREEZING!” Andor yelled into the mountain air.  Back on the shoreline Quickdraw paced back and forth whimpering. Then with a yelp he plunged into the water and began paddling after the boy.  A minute or two later and the boy and the sopping wet dog arrived at the bank of the island huffing and puffing.  Andor collapsed onto the soft, and thankfully warm sand and gazed into the blue sky while he caught his breath. Quickdraw shook himself violently flinging water droplets into the sky and caught the breeze before momentarily becoming a rainbow. Then the dog turned and bounded into the forest.  Thankfully Andor dried out and warmed up quickly under the afternoon sun. Soon enough he was dressed and lacing his boots up. He skirted around the island, following the shoreline. Construction plans for forts and day dreams of summer days spent lazily floating across the lake danced through his mind. The island was covered in trees and brush. However, to his delight, in the center of the island, there was a large rock outcropping which hung over heavily on one side creating a cave of sorts about fifteen feet wide at the mouth and ten feet deep and ten feet tall.  As he continued around the island he discovered on the far side from where he had arrived by swimming that there was a plethora of stones that over the ages had tumbled off of his mountain and into the lake. They were spaced just far enough apart he could hope from stone to stone. With a little concerted effort he could make it on and off the island, from this side, without having to swim. It was a wonderful discovery. Safe and dry and off the island Andor again turned his attention to the mountain rising a thousand feet upwards out of the lake. He would need to hurry if he was going to reach the top today.  He began the trek up the steep talus fields which blanketed the lower portion of the mountain. As he climbed higher the air grew thinner, he was accustomed to the mountains but he seldom ventured this high. As the boy gained altitude the talus fields were replaced with sheer granite cliffs. He continued upward squeezing through vertical crevasses and negotiating seemingly blank faces of vertical rock faces stretching hundreds of feet above the talus. He could hear the wind blowing up the side of the mountain and smell the musty scent of the cool, lichen covered granite he was clinging to.  Far below him he could see Quickdraw laying down for a nap on a grassy ledge at the foot of the cliff. It was truly awe-inspiring - and a bit scary too.  It was during this moment Andor realized what he wanted to do with the rest of his life: be an adventurer and explore.  After a harrowing scramble Andor reached the mountain top. The late afternoon sky was beginning to fill with puffy white clouds. Occasionally they would drift in front of the sun and he would shivers in the chilled mountain air. The sun would be setting soon but Andor wasn’t worried it was going to be a full moon tonight and he knew he could find his way home by moonlight. His mom might be worried but this day was worth a thousand punishments she was sure to bestow upon him for this adventure. Andor sat down on the summit of his mountain and drank in the vista. Far below he could see a deer and her foal grazing in a meadow. The wind was calm and he could hear the creek which emanated from the lake cascading and splashing its way through the forest. The air was fragrant as the smell of pine needles, wildflowers, and the fresh scent of rain drifted lazily over the summit. Then as the sun sank further into the valley the mountains burst into reds, oranges, pinks, and yellows. Despite the rapidly dropping temperature the alpenglow was spectacular and Andor didn’t want to miss a second of it. So, he sat in his perch and drank in the beauty. It was a clear evening - he could see his village in the valley below. Smoke billowing from chimneys and the occasional car driving up the road most likely the driver returning from a day of working in the big city about an hours drive away. He was free to dream up here with out interruption or interference. This was the beginning of his obsession with climbing in the mountains and as he grew older he would return here time after time to gather his thoughts and to dream.  --- _My dad had no way of knowing then how much of an impact this place would have on his life. This clandestine trip had set in motion a story filled with love, yearning, adventure, sadness, loss, and discovery which would forever change the world… And reshape the cosmos._ ### Next Chapter: [[3 - A Most Unexpected Day 💞]] ### Previous Chapter: [[1 - Introduction 👋🏾]]