The Emerald Frontier Project

                                                                 Chapter One

   It was a beautiful day here in the mountains of central California. As I looked out over the valley from our patio I could see for miles in every direction. The patio is our pride and joy. Lauren and I had worked very hard pouring the concrete and leveling the flag- stones. There was a little wall, no more than eighteen inches high that bordered the ravine. The Patio ran from one end of the ranch style house to the other. The house was stucco and there was a three-car garage on the end, which I loved because of all of the storage room. There were two big fireplaces, one that burned natural gas and the other, which burned wood. I don’t use the wood burning one much because it makes too much of a mess. It certainly does smell good though and it somehow feels better than the gas on a cold morning. My name is Max Brown and my wife Lauren and I moved here twenty-five years ago from Pennsylvania. People back east think that it is always hot in California but you can get a pretty cold morning here in the foothills. There are plenty of mornings when there’s a lot of frost on the ground and quite a few days that a fire feels really good. It’s nothing like northern Pennsylvania though. Thank goodness. Some days the breeze blows in from the ocean even in March and April and it can get pretty cool.

    I can see the tops of the roofs down on the next street but there is nothing up behind us but state game lands and nothing over to our left but a big ravine. The neighbors up behind us on the right were fifty feet away and there house looked more to the right than towards us. Their names are Bill and Linda Brink. They’re nice enough folks but we don’t see much of them. Bill has MS and doesn’t get out much and Linda is almost seventy and is kind of trapped at home in case bill needed something. Lauren goes up once in a while and stays if Linda has to go get her hair done or buy groceries. They have a couple of grown up kids that live off somewhere in Northern California. I think one is a doctor and the other is a professor at one of the universities. If I remember right, Bill was an engineer for one of the aircraft companies. They made a little money over the years and seem pretty comfortable. It’s a shame that soon after they retired, Bill got sick. He seems to have gotten progressively worse over the past few years. I should go over more often but I’m embarrassed to say, that it reminds me of my own frailties and I’m afraid it scares me more than a little bit to see him like that.

    As I was looking out over the valley and kind of daydreaming I didn’t hear Lauren come up behind me. She kind of startled me as she spoke. “Hi Hon, do you want another cup of coffee?”  As I turned around there she stood in her robe and slippers with a pot of coffee in her hand. “Yeah Babe. That sounds good.” I responded. “Is that the real stuff?” I asked. She’d been trying to get me to drink decaf recently, since she had read some sort of article in a health magazine. “Yes, It’s the stuff that will kill you!” She replied. “You know your wouldn’t be able to tell the difference if you’d just try decaf.” “Maybe not.” I said but I really do like the smell and the taste of real coffee in the morning and I don’t drink nearly as much as I used to down at school.” “I know Hon.” She said sympathetically. “But from what I’ve been reading we shouldn’t be drinking regular at all.”

    “ I think we need to do something with our time other than reading magazines and watching TV.” I said. “If I do any more of this healthy eating and drinking it’s going to kill me. I’ve been thinking that we should go back to work, or at least I should.”

    Lauren put her hand on my face and said “I don’t know why you’d want to do that Max, We’ve got it really nice here.”  “I know Babe, but I feel I’m wasting my mind and my time. I want something more.” I said. “Maybe a little later I’ll go down to the high school and see if there is something I can do once in a while to help out.”

     “That would be nice for you, but don’t get yourself so involved that we can’t get away when we want and do things.” Lauren said scolding. “I know, but even when I was teaching full time we still had plenty of time off. I don’t know why I was looking forward to being retired so much.” I said only half joking.

    Today was Wednesday and I went in to get dressed and ready for the day. It felt good to be getting ready to go to the school, I could almost believe I was headed back to work even though it was ten in the morning and in the days when I was working I was always at my desk by seven. I showered and shaved and was hurrying around as if I had an important date or a major lecture to give. I wasn’t allowing myself to think that they may not need or want me for anything. I was positive that I still had important things to say and enough energy to make kids listen. Yes, this was going to be a very good day.

    As I stepped into the kitchen from the hallway, Lauren was doing dishes in the sink and wiping off the counters. I walked up behind her and gave her a big hug and a kiss on the neck. “I love you Hon.” I said warmly.

    Well if this is what your going to be like if you start working again, maybe it is a good thing.” Lauren said smiling. “Go get em tiger, but just remember, I still want you around when I want to go places and do things. Don’t get too tied up I know we had lots of time when we were working full time but you don’t seem to remember the late night meetings, the papers and exams to be corrected and all the planning and fussing that we both did in order to do those jobs the way we wanted to.” She said continuing to smile, giving me a kiss on the cheek. “Now get out of my