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September, 1939 The crystal chandelier cast a warm glow over the round, marble topped table. Ten men, wearing expensive, tailored suits ringed the table in plush, leather bound chairs. An aide, a white towel draped over one arm, kept a close eye on the liquor glasses and snack dishes. Rich, walnut paneling adorned the walls with a pastoral painting above the wainscoting around the circumference of the room. A large portrait of Adolf Hitler hung in a prominent position. He held a look of kindness and compassion. A tall, grey bearded man arose from his seat and searched the nine faces. “So, Comrades,” he began, “you have seen the film twice. It still seems inconceivable. I talked this morning with our great leader in Berlin. I described the film and what we have heard of those affected in the Montana’s governor’s office.” He raised the yellow telegram. “We have our orders. We must take him at all costs. Immediately. I want you three men,” and nodded to each one, “to get to Montana as soon as possible. Charter a plane. A fast one. Get there before they leave. I trust you to act in the most efficient and expedient manner. Be on your way in one hour. That will be all, gentlemen.” August, 1939 Low, timbered hills ringed the flat, grass covered valley. Patches of yellow tamarack trees, needles burned by an early frost, splashed across every hillside and, mingled with the ever-present green of the fir and spruce, created a tapestry only nature could paint. Several hundred whiteface cows still grazed on the short grass, the month being the driest in many years. Adam Bly, nine years old and the only son of Carson and Ursa Bly, rode the fence line in the far southwest corner of the ranch. Tall, well muscled with a shock of dark hair and deep set brown eyes, he carried his weight of work every day on the ten thousand acre spread. He had determined, even at such a young age, that this ranch would be his life. It would fall to him someday and he would do nothing to betray the trust of his parents. He loved the mountains and forests in this northwest corner of Montana. Even the winters. There was outside work to keep up regardless of the cold. Feeding the cattle, breaking the ice on the small creek and toting in the firewood. He enjoyed it, being able to smell the future, but the inside time he loved even more. His mother’s good vittles, his warm feather bed, his doing of the homework and reading the many good books in front of the crackling fireplace. The two mile ride to the one room school house each day sometimes required all the clothes he could squeeze into. Worth it, though. He loved the learning, especially the history. His favorite fantasy was to have been one of the first to ride into this wild, uncharted country. To see things no other white man had seen. To make friends with the natives, to learn their ways. To sit at their councils and sleep in their lodges. But as fate would have it, 1930 was the year he made his presence known. He would grow to manhood with dignity and honor. How could it be otherwise, he often wondered, with the kind of parents he had to keep him headed down the right trail. He now rode fast, strained low over the neck of the horse. The lathered animal raced around the last finger of lodgepole pine that snaked out onto the valley floor and was yanked to a sliding stop at the porch of the log ranch house that nestled in close to the tree covered hillside. “Ma,” he yelped as he burst through the door. “Ma, come quick, something awful happened.” His breath came in ragged gulps as his mother ran in from the back room. “Adam, what in heaven’s name…?” She clapped both hands to her mouth, an unbelieving stare in her wide eyes. “Oh,” she grunted, stumbled to the table and sank heavy into a chair. She jerked her eyes away, shook her head and turned an unwilling stare back to her nine year old son. His eyes were no longer brown. They were blue. Bright, piercing blue. Book Titles Available | | The BANYON NETWORK | Betty Byers | Whitlow Synopsis | INNER-VIEWS WITH CELEBRITIES | ECLECTIC REVIEWS | BOOK REVIEWER'S CORNER | The NEWS | SHORT STORIES CORNER | | Return Home | GREAT LINKS | WHAT'S NEW? | CONTACT US | |
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