Tale of Morgan

By Sherman E. Hister

Have you ever felt like you have a lion by the tail? Morgan only understood how he looks at the world and that was not ever affected. He only knew himself and found that too interesting not to follow. This brought on a life that was full of possibility. Morgan found residence in an abandoned church on the side of a mountain.
The Tale of Morgan is a sense of the depth it takes to reach the promise in the heart the heart thrives on. He shared his residence with a horse and a mountain lion. There was gold in the hills there had to be. Morgan found his water in a stream that was already flowing. In the mountains, streams flow because snow falls then melts. That is how it works, snow thaw brings it out, down from the mountain it flows.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Yorkshire Publishing
• Release date: Mar 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781952320019

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ISBN: 978-1-952320-01-9

Tale of Morgan

Copyright © 2020 by Sherman E. Hister

All rights reserved.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are totally the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, events or locales, is entirely coincidental. Opinions expressed are entirely those of the author.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below.

Yorkshire Publishing

4613 E. 91st St,

Tulsa, OK 74137

www.YorkshirePublishing.com

918.394.2665

Printed in the USA

Chapter One:

Tale of Morgan

Morgan was setting out on what he had finally worked for it felt. He was going to be able to buy exactly the place he had hoped and dreamed for. Not exactly that similar to the vacation home of sorts, but the home in which he could live it up. Mr. Morgan was not the most in trend setting, but chose a way of life for him.

The years he spent mining was not a career, but a means to reach a certain point. Not only the means to purchase his home field, but the advantage to live there. Because of his remote location he had to find a way to deal with any emergencies that could potentially occur. So he purchased what could once have been a sightly standard in the automotive industry, but over several off road heavy duty additions would make a good way to quickly get down the mountains to town, if need be. We are talking some serious horsepower with a hell of a cool saddle.

Really though automatic horsepower those days needed a comfortable saddle for an easy ride that might seem to go up hill and down hill. He found his horse in town before the move to the old church on the mountainside that almost became the horse that pulled the fire engine in town, or one of them. Morgan derailed a bear cub back to its mother before she did any more to the horses or firemen. As they were trying to get the cub down safely from a light pole the mother came from behind, as a bear mother would do for her bear cub.

The display of pure carnage was only for Mr. Morgan to deflect from any more damage to the fire cart pull team or that of the fire fighting squad. When bear mother and cub were on their way up a desired mountain path, those who needed consoling were along with the town veterinarian being called.

Morgan left alone and humbled by yet again another nature encounter that he has always been somewhat use to. A week later a horse from the horse team Morgan made safe was a gift from the fire chief from town. The horse was a true stature that matched the size of its hooves.

Since Morgan had his plow horse he needed his plot. A homestead where he could live the way he wanted too, able to do all that he desired at any given time. No matter the time or season, Morgan needed the freedom he felt to thrive while existing. He had reached a point that this would not go on any longer, without his freedom. Being under the confines of what he knew would take to get him to this place. So it was time to take his place. And he did.

For many years he had known the temperature below the surface. He knew whom to watch after learning them while working. And leave none of his plans out while working. Morgan knew the days of work where not for conversing. Collecting pay from a job service was like putting money in a pocket with a hole, if talking about ones plans made arduous task doable.

Morgan has known of a sight for the majority of his life that no one seemed to pay attention to. Since being a boy from the town he was from, he knew about this place and its location. There were myths circulated by the town elders to keep anyone from purchasing it. On it was an old church that a lot of the myths’ derived from. Morgan never paid attention to that, he liked to see things for himself. So he did a lot. He frequented that site enough to know that one day it would be his.

It took him long enough, but that was only a matter of fact. The first part of his renovation would be to add a fence around a perimeter he would designate as his working yard. The reason for a fence was so that no wild life could destroy or interrupt anything he was working on or needed.

The elk were prevalent in these parts, and usually traveled in herds that seemed to always have their predatory adversaries in a proximal prowl. The sheep in these parts were a spectacle for Morgan he loved their big horns, and liked the sound they made during the mating season when the males would bump heads in pursuit of an attracted mate. The fence would take some digging for the postholes, which didn’t even bother Mr. Morgan. His expertise in drilling holes in the hard rock he mined, gave him an easy access through the mountain soil.

The fence holes were set with the wood poles that Morgan had purchased with a roll of chain link wire, he would use for the fence, he bought after his last day at the mine. He bought extra high poles so he could bury them deep enough not to move, and so the fence was still eight feet high.

The poles reminded him of the light post the bear cub was on when he got his trusty horse that he named, Clyde. Morgan pets his horse and let him know, You’re not an ass. That happened to have moved Clyde, who might have had a tear go to his eye. Not a problem, as Morgan was leading Clyde along as the wire roll trolley, he stopped at the next section needing a cut of chain link wire to fit. When he stopped at this lower elevation section he noticed a hole that seemed to be tucked back into a couple of larger boulders. Morgan had seen this in similar places before, but no sign of what could be living there.

He doesn’t bother with too much investigation, and this could come in a later date because the fence included the spot with about a four-foot area from that corner of the fence. Morgan and Clyde get the fence done, and shut the fence’s entrance Morgan made out of the poles and fence wire he used.

Because the size of the old churches’ front doors where so large, Clyde had no trouble walking in. Morgan had originally thought it would be more customary to let Clyde live in doors with him. He knew he wouldn’t have to build a barn or stable to board the horse. All Morgan did was push all the pews against the walls to open up the floor space. The tile floor only called for a snow shovel to disregard any horse manure Clyde may leave behind.

The rest was up to Morgan to create a residence, and by hanging a thick enough rope Morgan was able to keep Clyde on the tile side. The place below the tile floor was wooden steps leading down to a staging area that was also made of wood. This would be the kitchen and the back rooms would be for sleeping. The renovation would take a while.

There was an outhouse located out of a back door from one of the two rooms on the back end of the old steeple building. The steeple building had seen some weather on the roof and steeple. At the time, there was no running water in the steeple building, not even when it rained. Morgan had a good one, he was going to take a bucket some soap and a scrub brush to the stream that runs above them, and clean out the bucket then fill it with water from a cool mountain stream. The one he was going to do the washing in. So he did this and Clyde followed along just to see what the odd character was up too. Morgan left the doors open to let a mountain breeze in. Smelled like horse, should he leave the back door open, nope, on too the stream he goes.

On the way as he was walking back, he could have sworn he heard a cat sounding call. This gave the awareness Morgan had gotten use too as a boy. Hiking around like he did when he was younger taught him he wasn’t always alone, and could be eaten if he wasn’t careful.

When they get back due to the sun’s angle Morgan could see the silhouette of a puma. Morgan sets the bucket down real slowly, and cups his hands around his eyes so he can see clearer down to the end of his enclosure. Above the two rocks where soil from higher ground built up, a mountain puma sat. Morgan was mystified. The area he thought could have looked like a den might have been. Well, there it sat, enclosed in confinement. It called out again, and Morgan only knew what it was saying. So he walked down to swing the door open to the enclosure. He walked back to go inside as Clyde was coming out to see what the heck he was doing. They made eye contact and followed in. Morgan had to build a fire.

The church did have one amenity that was still intact. But even Morgan wondered why there was a fireplace the first time he noticed. Must get cold up here is all he could come up with. But who cared he needed one, its getting cold up there too. After the fire got lit Morgan wanted to check on the two rooms to get an idea of what he would be working with.

One room had a tile floor and what seemed to be an old tub in it. This seemed customary because the door led to the outhouse. So this must have been a bathroom of some type how ever long ago. The other room was wider and had a wood floor. So this must be a bedroom, and he guessed someone used to live here is what it looked like. Morgan was glad he had washed his face at the creek with the soap he had cause he could tell the tub hadn’t been washed out for years because it had more dust in it that would come off someone needing a wash. The room with a wood floor in it didn’t smell to bad so Morgan threw his sleeping bag in there, and decided this is where he sleeps.

Clyde was pleased and gave a snort of relief when Morgan did this, Morgan looked back at what he was doing not knowing why the snort. Morgan didn’t know how bad he snored, but Clyde knew it sounded like wood was being sawed when Morgan was asleep, like down by the mill near the firehouse.

It was getting cold so Morgan went to the doors to close them to keep the heat in. As Morgan was walking in that direction he noticed something outside the window. When Morgan saw what it was