Family Land Secrets chapter 20 part 5

Family Land Secrets chapter 20 part 5

"Ha, Charlie Brown," Abe said from the bookshelf where he was thumbing through another old book.

Steven glared, but then looked back at the picture. "So much family history buried up here. So, our name should be Brown, not White?"

"I've been thinking about that," Jordan told his father. "Enoch Brown died with a fortune, but it wasn't enough while he was alive. He could not be satisfied with what he had. Silas White let go of his greed to live his life and take care of the people he cared about.

"John White had a father because of Silas, and Enoch's widow was taken care of. I understand what drove both men, but I am honored to have Silas's family name."

Abe grunted. "What's this about a fortune?"

"None of your business." Steven ground out through gritted teeth.

"Long gone," Jordan said. "The contents of a rich gold vein the two miners were working on, but probably stolen over a century ago.

"So how do people still not know about the Bigfoot?" Steven asked. "They're huge, and... I mean, there must be thousands of them in the United States alone. How..."

Abe laughed. "Best let you manage this one son." He said to Jordan.

"Dad, Megan, Kaitlin, and I all work for a quasi-governmental entity called the Bigfoot Research Organization, or BFRO. They work to keep the knowledge of Bigfoot a secret."
Jordan's father frowned. "That's not their right. Why? Why would they keep that from us?"

Jordan sighed. "Dad, what do you think would happen if campers, hunters, and everyone else knew that there were Bigfoot out here in the mountains? Would it be legal to kill one like an animal? Could you sue one like a human?"

"People are smart. We would learn to live with them." Steven held his ground.

"They're nocturnal, so rarely come out when people are around. Normally they are as terrified of humans as we are of them. They avoid us, and we are ignorant of them." Jordan said. "If people knew they were here, they would go looking for them. Once a Bigfoot encounters humans in their range, they usually leave and seek unfamiliar territory."

"That is true," Abe said. "So why are yours so friendly?"

Jordan told both men the story of how he discovered Jane, beaten and near death; how he nursed her back to health and shielded her from the alpha. He showed them the remnants of the bloody handprints on the eaves of the cabin where the rain had not yet washed them away and pointed out his repairs.

He told them about the fight with the alpha when all his females teamed up to kill their tyrant. Jordan told them about the mineshaft turning into a mausoleum and Jane sharing his food. He told them Megan's theory about territory having a carrying capacity and how by feeding the Bigfoot and fighting for them, he had taken on the role of the Alpha.

Both men stared in disbelief, asking no questions, so Jordan kept the story going, telling about taking first Megan and then Kaitlin into the group, leaving out the sexual details. He told them about Jane's kidnapping and her rescue.

During his story, Abe's face grew darker. Jordan stopped when his scowl had returned.

"I thought my Kat was done with all that Bigfoot nonsense when her smelly friend took off. Now you've put her right back in the middle of it." Abe fumed.

"Remember what we talked about last night?" Jordan asked. "She's an adult. She makes her own choices."

Abe looked between Jordan and Steven and seemed to lose a little of his anger. "Are we gonna spend the morning gossiping like hens or are we here to ride horses?" He turned his back and walked outside.

Jordan followed him outside. The sun was high in the sky, and the horses had lowered their heads to graze in the tall green grass outside the cabin. There was no sign of the Bigfoot as the three men approached their mounts and climbed into the saddle.

"They're not supposed to graze with bits in their mouth," Abe told Jordan absentmindedly. As he swung onto Dixie.

Abe set off towards the stream, while Jordan offered his father a hand getting on Rose.

"So, I'm not supposed to know about the Bigfoot, right?" Steven asked his son. "How many people know?"

"Tens of thousands, maybe a hundred thousand worldwide." Jordan guessed. "You've seen them. You can pretend you didn't but now the BFRO is going to be monitoring you for a while to see if you are going to try to expose the secret to the world."

"What would they do if I did want to share that secret?" Steven asked.

"Depends on how far you took it, but they'd probably work to discredit you and make you look crazy. It's what they did to Uncle Ira." Jordan said.

Steven slapped his head. "Crazy Uncle Ira... He told me about Bigfoot. Thirty years ago, he was a few bottles in and started ranting about Bigfoot and government conspiracy. I thought he was... he sounded so crazy. Your Grandpa stopped inviting him over around that time." Steven looked over at Jordan. "He wasn't though, was he?"

Jordan shook his head. "Not about Bigfoot, no. He was an alcoholic and a hoarder, though."

Steven nodded. "I'm glad he left this land to you." Steven did not explain that statement anymore but followed Jordan as he moved to catch up to Abe.

"Jordan," Steven called after his son as Jordan pulled away. "Your mom can't know about this, can she?"

Jordan slowed Brutus to ride alongside his father once again. "No." He finally answered after a long pause.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" Steven asked.

Jordan did not answer.

"Thank you for bringing me here," Steven replied to his son's silence. "You can count on me. It won't be easy, but I'll keep your secret." They rode on in silence until they entered the meadow where Jordan and the women were building the new cabin.

He showed them the project and his progress on it. Steven was impressed by his son's handiwork, but Abe merely grunted. He no longer looked angry, but he had little to say. Both men were excited about the brand-new ATV, though both declined the offer to take it for a spin.

After the cabin, Jordan took the men on a tour of the land, retracing the route Kaitlin had taken him on, past several test holes and the century-old campground littered with old, rusted cans and wood fragments. Finally, it was time to return to the truck.

Abe was the first to remove all the tack from Dixie and begin loading the trailer, accepting gear from Jordan and Steven as they removed it.

"Your mother's a good woman," Steven said out of the blue. "But she's not good with secrets."
Jordan nodded.

"It's my fault, I guess. I wanted to take care of her... of both of you. A stay-at-home wife: the ultimate status symbol. I never pushed her to find something she loved, so she turned to gossip with her friends.

That is all your Bigfoot would be to her. Gossip." Steven let Jordan lift the saddle off Rose.

"I know, Dad. I trust you. I would not have told you about the Bigfoot, but only because I did not want you to have to keep it from mom. I wanted to get to them before they knew I was here. I wanted them to stay back and let you to see the land the way you thought of it before. Boring. Dead. Part of our family's history." Jordan was trying to explain himself.

To be continued