Mountain Top(300)

“The marsh looks different early in the morning,” I said.

“The tide is in; it’s deeper water.”

I smiled. We walked down the path to the gazebo. Zach sat on the steps; I stood between him and the marsh.

Zach reached down and pulled up a few straggly strands of grass. “I thought a lot about the Moses Jones case while we were traveling yesterday,” he said. “Did you talk to Vince and Mr. Carpenter?”

I nodded. “Vince apologized to me, which was crazy but sweet. He barely let me get in a word of remorse. Mr. Carpenter showed me pictures of Lisa in his study at home last night and has no idea what I thought he was doing. He thinks I’m a tiger or a jaguar.”

“Jaguar?”

“They’re the most unpredictable of the big cats.”

“And Moses? How did you leave it with him? I know you stayed behind after we left the courthouse.”

I looked out over the marsh. Somewhere in the backwaters of the coastal rivers, I prayed, an old, almost toothless man was having a pleasant morning. Tears came to my eyes.

“It was wonderful,” I said simply.

“Can you tell me?”

I sat down on the steps, and in a soft voice I told Zach what had happened in Moses’ heart and soul, the unforeseen fulfillment of a promise birthed in my heart in Powell Station. He listened quietly. When I finished, we left the gazebo and walked to the edge of the water. The marsh grass looked more vibrant than I’d remembered.

“It’s your turn,” I said. “What is your evaluation of State v. Jones?”

Zach leaned back against a post. “There’s so much you did wrong I don’t know where to begin. But you hung in there with Moses past the point anyone else would have bailed out, and in the end earned Mr. Carpenter’s respect.”

I waited. Zach’s eyes revealed more thoughts.

“What else?” I asked.

He leaned closer to me. “My opinion doesn’t matter. Heaven only sees what you did right.”


LATER THAT EVENING I called home. Mama answered.

“I finished the criminal case I mentioned,” I said. “My client pled guilty and received probation.”

“Thank goodness for that. It worried me that you would help someone who is guilty try to escape justice.”

“He got justice and mercy.”

I expected Mama to ask for details, but she wanted to move on. “Now that the case is over, are you going to be coming home for a long weekend?” she asked. “We really miss you.”

“Yes ma’am. And I’d like to bring someone. Is that still okay with you and Daddy?”

After a brief moment of silence, she said, “Yes. Who is it?”

I’d known this important question was coming and had given it prayerful consideration. I’d imagined Zach Mays and his ponytail sitting at the kitchen table explaining to my parents why his family, like the early Christians, spent years in a commune sharing everything; and I’d wondered what would happen if Vince Colbert, his BMW coated with red clay, sat on the edge of the sofa in the front room and told my daddy and mama how he’d become a Christian in the Episcopal church.

I took a deep breath.


IT WAS PITCH DARK when Moses woke from his nap and untied his boat from Mr. Fussleman’s dock. A neatly lettered sign on the gray post read “Reserved for Mr. Moses Jones—Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted.” He quietly slipped the long pole into the murky water and pushed the boat downstream. Twenty minutes later, he let it drift closer to the bank. When he reached the right spot, he lowered the cement-block anchor and waited for the ripples to fade. Dawn was still a hope away, and he wanted to catch something fresh for breakfast. He hummed a note or two—with a smile on his face.

Moses wasn’t far from the spot where he’d taken Mr. Carpenter. One Sunday morning the lawyer met him near the base of the new highway bridge and sat in the front of the boat while Moses took him to the burial place. Neither man spoke as the boat, like a funeral barge, passed noiselessly through the water. Trees along the shore had grown tall, died, and fallen into the water since Moses laid the little blonde-haired girl to rest, but he knew when he reached the right spot.

“This be it,” he said, halting the forward progress of the boat.

Mr. Carpenter bowed his head for a moment, then placed a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers on the water. An invisible eddy caused the flowers to swirl slowly in a circle before the main current captured them and carried the memorial toward the ocean. The two men watched until the bouquet disappeared from view.

“She be gone for good,” Moses said.

“Yes, Mr. Jones. And it’s good that I finally know where she’s gone.”