Chapter 6 - The Trail of Moss and CedarFor the first time in their lives, the five adult children felt the crushing weight of what they had done.
They hadn't just forgotten their parents; they had discarded them like old furniture once they were no longer convenient.
Determined to find themânot just for the four-million-dollar contract, but out of a sudden, desperate need to beg for forgivenessâRichard hired a local mountain tracker named Caleb, who knew the old forest trails Harold used to patrol as a ranger thirty years ago.
âIf Harold Harmon went into the mountain,â Caleb told the five siblings as they stood at the edge of the dense Cascade forest, âhe went to the place he loved most. The Old Cedar Basin.â
The five childrenâwearing expensive city clothes and designer bootsâfollowed Caleb through four miles of dense forest, rain soaking their jackets, mud coating their shoes.
They walked past towering Douglas firs, crossing rushing mountain streams, their arrogance completely stripped away by the vast, silent majesty of the wilderness.
After three hours of grueling hiking, Caleb stopped in a high clearing beneath a towering four-hundred-year-old tree.
In the center of the clearing stood a simple stone hearth with smoke rising gently from a hollow branch high above. Near the base of the massive trunk was a hand-carved oak door fitted directly into the root system, flanked by blooming wild rose bushes and a wooden bench.
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Richard stepped forward, his heart pounding in his chest, his eyes wide with disbelief.
The "homeless" parents they thought they were rescuing... had built a fairytale sanctuary beneath the earth.
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