Chapter 19

"When we get settled lets go out and explore." She said.

"Okay," he replied, distracted with his gaming system. She knew that he really didn‘t care about going outside in the heat—not when there were video games and his IPod inside of an air-conditioned gingerbread house.

But she‘d done a great deal of research on Estill County, specifically Cobb Hill. And although she was here for more than just a vacation, she still intended to enjoy her summer.

Stella had to practically pull Adam away from his game but once he was outside in the fresh air he looked around curiously.

"I don‘t see any mountains," he said.

"That‘s because we are on the highest point of Estill County. Cobb Hill is the mountain."

He gave her a dubious look. "There‘s no snow."

She placed her hand on his shoulders and smiled. "The word mountain might be a stretch by every day standards. Now let‘s explore."

"Okay Mom, but there might be bears." Adam said. Although now that he was outdoors he was interested in taking in the sights.

"We‘ll probably smell a bear before we see it."

Behind the two homes was a cultivated area including an old picnic table, clothes line and barbecue grill made from a rusted barrel. From there they could see a small creek that was narrow enough to leap over…well if you had long legs like Stella and her son. After only getting slightly wet they went on a short hike, being sure to keep the house in their sights.

During her research, Stella had read that these woods led right into West Virginia. She had her cell phone with her but there was no way that she wanted to get lost in them. She warned Adam not to go out alone.

He gave her a look of surprise as if to say that he wouldn‘t be in them now if it wasn‘t for her. A squirrel darted up a tree right next to them and Stella ducked as if a bat had tried to land on her head. Adam‘s eyes brightened in interest.

"That squirrel was so close I could have touched it."

"Well don‘t. It might bite." She replied.

He continued to stare up at the large tree, craning his neck. "I want to climb that tree. Can I?"

"Okay, go ahead. I‘m going to as well." Both discovered that the tree was much too big for them to climb without some type of handholds so they found a smaller tree with branches closer to the ground.

They found themselves perched fifteen feet in the air straddling sturdy branches. Stella couldn‘t help but think that if they were back at home she wouldn‘t dare allow her son to do this. But climbing trees in the country was what this vacation was all about.

When they were done with that she climbed down first and then stood cautiously beneath her son as he quickly made his way down, leaping to the ground for the final four feet. He smiled at her proudly.

They explored a while longer, picked flowers, watched birds and rabbits. And once the heat began to cause their clothes to stick to their bodies they made their way back to the house.

"I‘m getting hungry." Stella said once they were back at the cottage. "What about you?"

"I‘m starving."

"I think we should see if we can find a restaurant close by." She pulled out her smartphone and began a search for nearby restaurants.

"Pizza?" He asked hopefully.

"Yep, that sounds good. Go wash your hands."

A search for a pizza joint was not to be found on Cobb Hill so they drove down to the nearest town. Adam looked around nervously as they made their way down the winding road.

"You just said that you weren‘t going to drive down this hill again until it was time to leave…"

It was true that the steep hills had made her sweat despite the frosty air conditioning. "If I can navigate through the Smokey‘s then I can navigate this ginormous hill."

"More people probably drive up to the Smokey‘s then this road," He said sensibly. She ignored his comment, carefully taking a sharp corner at just ten miles an hour. It was so narrow that she wondered what would happen if another car approached going even a smidgen faster.

She exhaled in relief once they were down the mountain. Even Adam relaxed in his seat. She gave him a wry smile.

"Scary, wasn‘t it?"

"Nope," he said.

They drove around for a while, not worried about getting lost. The navigation system had gotten them up Cobb Hill the first time with no problems at all and she had no doubt that it would do it again. They past a few pizza joints but after the strenuous drive down the hill they both agreed that a chain pizza joint was not close to a payoff for all the stress that they‘d just endured.

They decided on a buffet at a restaurant called Michaels, which had very good reviews on Yelp! It was pretty crowded for just lunch so she knew the food would be good. Once inside she looked around and saw no blacks except ones working in the kitchen. She wondered if all blacks did a similar search when they visited an establishment in an all-white town.

The hostess greeted them and showed them to a booth. She walked with confidence although nearly everyone at some point stared her up and down. She always walked with confidence just for that reason, and also she never wanted her son to see her being anything less.

They checked out the buffet together and Adam gave her a curious look.

"There‘s no pizza or hamburgers on the buffet. No French fries either."

"That‘s because this is a country buffet. We eat food like the people in these parts eat." She had no complaints about the selection. There was the standard fried chicken and fried catfish but to Stella‘s surprise there was also a full Thanksgiving spread including real turkey, fluffy dressing, turkey gravy, and a chunky cranberry sauce. There were also things that she wasn‘t quite used to such as cabbage and a dish made of green peas floating in an off-white sauce. When she saw others taking up big piles of it onto their plates she dished a bit onto hers but didn‘t hold out any high expectations.