The old man awoke from his slumber. He looked around in somewhat of a daze. He didn’t remember falling asleep on the porch, nor did he remember it being daylight when he lay down. The Sun shown brightly through the trees making the shadows crisp and clear. He did not recognize this place. Where was he?

Sonny stood up from the hammock where he had awoken. He had the strange realization that this wasn’t the porch of his rickety little shack. There was also something else different. His legs, once stiffened by age, no longer groaned remorsefully as he applied his weight. He stretched tall as he realized his body was no longer feeling its age. He had been fairly healthy for a man of his seasons. Even so, he had begun to feel the effects of his years of life on the mountain. He turned to look out through the woods. This was not his shack, nor was this his woods. Colors and sounds were more crisp and clear. He tried the door to the cabin. It was locked. He knocked on the door with no response.

Sonny stepped off the porch and headed up the well groomed trail. He delighted in the fact that his bony legs carried him now much as they had done in the years before his father died. Memories flooded back of those days. He and his father had always lived alone on their mountain. They enjoyed the quiet. He felt at home in the woods, even now, when he had no idea where he was. His father had taught him to hunt and fish on the mountain. “Yes. Yes…” he thought, “I remember this woods now.” This was the woods he had grown up in as a small boy, long before the Ranger, before the fire tower on the ridge. “How could this be?” he thought to himself as he looked around, quickly picking out his favorite places from his youth.

He continued down the path. The lake was clear during this time of his life, no boats or people milling about. He looked forward to finding his childhood fishing spot where he and his father spent so much time. Sonny came upon a man sitting on a fallen tree along the path. “Finally awake? Thought you were gonna sleep all afternoon” the man said. “Come, we have much to do this day.” Sonny followed the man. He pondered who this man was. “Yes… Sonny, you do know me.” The man gently stated. Sonny began to speak “Then who are ya?” The man never broke stride until he reached the lake, nor did he speak again.

Sonny examined the man’s clothing as they walked along the shore in the bright sunlight. He hadn’t seen any clothes like these before, not that he’d met a lot of people on the mountain. Even the city folk in their shiny SUV’s never wore clothes like this. The man stopped as he reached the spot where Sonny and his dad would fish. “You remember this spot, Sonny?” the man asked. “Yeah..” Sonny responded. “Pop and I fished ‘ere ‘lot”. “Good fishin’. Always gots us ’nuff fer supp’r!” Sonny exclaimed. He felt like a kid again inside.

The man turned to Sonny. For the first time, Sonny could see his face. “Pop?!” Sonny whimpered through his astonishment. “Yes, Sonny.” his father said. “I have watched you these many years since my passing.” Sonny realized now what was happening. He too had passed on. His father, long since gone, now stood before him. “What is this?” Sonny asked as he collapsed to the ground. His father took him by the hand and helped him up to sit upon a large rock at the waters edge. “You know what it is, Sonny.”

Sonny and his father talked for hours about all things that had come to pass on the mountain since his father’s time. Sonny felt peaceful inside. He and his father walked back to the cabin. He remembered now. This was the cabin as it was in his childhood. Sonny’s father explained to him that he could have whatever it was that he wanted here. The mountain had taken shape of Sonny’s wishes and fondest dreams. As they sat at the table eating the best bread and jam Sonny had ever had, Sonny realized there was one thing left that he wanted… no… he needed. “Pop? You said you been watchin’?” Sonny stammered. “The youngin’ wit da shiny car. What happen’d to her? Never did hear wh…” His father cut him off and pointed out the window. The outside had somehow changed and there standing on the rugged path as Sonny had remembered it, was a young women, slightly better prepared for her surroundings then when he met her the first time. She stared into the woods and then began walking away. Sonny got up and ran to the door. As he drew the door open, the young women turned and blew him a kiss as though she realized he was standing there. “Goodbye young lady.” he replied as he watched her drive away. He slowly closed the door and walked over to sit back down with his father. “It has been a good day… a good life.” He picked up his bread and took a bite as a tear trickled down his cheek. He was happy again.