Jacob Abraham

 

Jacob Abraham had been missing for weeks. The dogs had searched the farm and the surrounding areas which consisted of woodlands, a meandering creek that ran through the property, and also a series of small back roads. Nothing was found save for some refuse such as an actual kitchen sink that someone had dumped near a gully. The town I imagined was worried, the pastor was concerned, and there was not a shop or home where the talk surely wasn’t about Jacob and his possible whereabouts. Jacob had twelve acres, which as the county went, was not a little and was not a lot. He farmed feed corn and kept some livestock. His children had grown and moved out to surrounding towns as life had led them on their vocational, familial, and even spiritual paths. His wife was there at the homestead alone, waiting. I live just down the way in a ramshackle old home. Its not much, not hardly anything actually beyond bones, but I manage. I have been thinking about him a lot. Could it have been that he was killed by a pack of coyotes? That would be quite rare. Nobody had actually been killed by coyotes since earlier in the century in fact. Was it that he chose to disappear? It didn’t fit with his character, but like they say, How well can you really know someone. Jacob wasn’t a gambler or risk taker. He did go for long walks. Some people said that it could have been some kind of robbery, but what robbers waited in rural lands for a passerby? Jacob had completed his morning routines, and gone about the afternoon in his own way, which meant a long walk after lunch. Only one problem remained. He never returned from the walk.

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I wanted to find him. We had not talked in a long time, but were friends back in the day. I was convinced that I could come across some trace of him. I thought that he had fallen, or maybe did meet with some foul play in those woodlands. So, I packed up a rucksack and decided to dedicate a whole weekend to the task. I packed food, cooking utensils, the proper clothing. I also had a one person tent rolled up and attached to the top of my rucksack. I set out at 5:30 A.M. on August 20th, 1981. I remember the time because I couldn’t sleep, and finally decided to leave then instead of waiting for the sun to come up. That was the beginning of my journey. I closed off all the lights, locked the shed door and the front door, and glanced backwards at the old cedar shake shingles that made the roof. I have never married and don’t have any children. It was just the trusted dog, named Wolfe, and myself. I went ‘round the back of the property and then bobbed down the steep path that led to the greater forest. I was going to find Jacob if possible, but if not I would definitely have some kind of adventure.

The sky began to turn from black to that darkest sort of blue and then lighter, lighter, lighter. I passed a large porcupine and I saw a fox scurry off in the distant brush. The creek that came down from Abraham's property sang a little song by my side as I wandered along. There was no point in rushing. 

 

I thought the dog might pick up a scent but it didn't happen. He treed a few squirrels, played in the creek, and seemed happy. Once or twice he stopped by the side of the path and looked with curiosity, head angled, but nothing came of it. All I saw that wasn't part of nature during that first day was a few old tires and a drum that was an old style washing device where there is a top ringer to clean out the water from the soaked cloth. How any of that got down there I don't know, but there was once perhaps one or more actual dirt roads leading into the area. 

 

I think someone told me that anyhow. I'm older now, and have what Dr. Robinson calls 'lapses'. Whatever the case, there was no sign of Abraham. 

 

At the night I had a fire and cooked beans and put them over some bread. For dessert I ate an orange and an apple both. Listening to the fire, I thought of some strange radio shows I had listened to about creatures of the forest like dog-men, Sasquatch, and other bizarre sightings. What if old Abraham had met with some creature yet discovered. Or aliens? There was a huge group of books in the local library about that topic. Nah, I said aloud in front of the fire that crackled and lit up a little corner of the immense forest, You must be going soft in the head.

 

The next day I made some coffee and ate a piece of bread and set out again. I left the creek behind and wandered the forest trying to think about what old Abraham might have done or what trouble he could have come upon. The few hours I walked I could not surmise a thing. I did see plenty of purple and yellow and even orange wildflowers. I also noted that there were hundreds of yellow buttercups, some wild red Sumac, and all kinds of mushrooms. The forest was a rich place if you spent enough time there. I wonder if Jacob could have made a mistake, eaten the wrong mushroom, had kidney failure, and then been eaten by wild animals. What an ending that would be for a man. 

 

I must have gotten lost staring up at the clouds as I rested at a little place where the forest opened to a field. I fell asleep and dreamed a peculiar dream. In the dream there was a river and the river was aquamarine. There was red coral in the sides and the sky was yellow. I was in a boat and a man was at the side and calling to me while he waved his arms in the air, so I pulled the boat in. I hopped out and said, Partner, are you okay? Friend, do you need help? The man pointed to the sky and I looked up but there was nothing there. When I looked back the man was gone. I called out some and ventured into the brush but found nobody. I was getting back in the boat when I was awoken by the sound of the dog barking. I got up, startled, and heard something running behind me through the forest. Then silence. I moved about and called out but nothing came of it. Dusk was on its own far side and I figured it was as good a place as any to camp so that's what I did. 

 

That night was lonesome. I had brought a book though. The book was called Rag Water Echo and was about a man, a former nickel miner, that goes to the mountains to find gold but does not find any gold at all.  He does live in a cabin, a hermetic life, and ends up dying happily at a ripe old age even though he is alone. It helped pass the time. 

 

I finally fell asleep and woke to the morning sun lightning up the tent a bit. The day was like the last; pretty and vast and full of interesting flora and fauna, but no Abraham. In the late afternoon I slipped on some river-tumbled rocks while crossing some water and then walking along the sandy side of the water's way. I was okay but something else happened. An item fell out from my pocket. It was my wallet and when it fell, all the cards scattered. I picked them up. I noticed when I was putting the cards back in that Jacob Abraham's drivers license was one of the cards. I was startled. Dismayed. Confused. Had I found the wallet and forgotten about it? And come to think of it, where the hell was my own wallet? I have not told anybody about it yet, and I gaze at the wallet as I write this.

 

I have grown worried, troubled by something, by something I can't name.