Chapter 4

She was a typical Asian beauty, it was always a pleasure to see her. We met under the veranda next to the pond. The carps were enjoying themselves in this weather.

"Did you enjoyed my present?" She smiled and asked, as polite and elegant as always.

"What are you trying to tell me?" I replied. I was straight-forward because I was impatient. Every minute I delay may push my dream back even more.

"Oh My, aren't you an impatient one? I thought that the story related to you, the one about the gold mine," she answered. Jessica was always helpful, but she was never direct, she likes to take her time. She never had a sense of urgency.

"What about the miner? What am I not seeing here?"

"Why don't you tell me? I'm sure you're smart enough to figure it out, right?"

I re-imagined the story of the Darbys and their gold mine. Darby's uncle had been struck with gold fever, so he traveled west to seek his fortune. He only wanted to find gold. Sure enough, he discovered gold there, but required machines to extract them.

After covering up the gold, he went back to the east and got his relatives to invest in his venture. They were overjoyed when they extracted the gold, but the mine soon dried up. However, they didn't give up because of the money they owed, so they kept on digging.

In the end, they lost hope and sold the mine to a junkman. The junkman always wanted to be a miner and was very committed to becoming one. After acquiring the mine, he hired a mining engineer to inspect the mine and found out that there was gold a mere three feet from where the Darbys had stopped digging. Needless to say, the junkman became a gold miner and made a fortune of the failure of the Darbys.

But the big question was, what has this got to do with me?

"Are you implying that I should make up with my father and seek his knowledge?" I questioned. So it was a father that arranged this.

"Your father really does love you, Zedd, Even though he might not have shown it, everything he did was for you and your mother," Jessica gave me a warm smile as she said these words, her kindness was the thing I admired about her.

"Thank you for your time today," I tried not to be rude, she was a childhood friend after all.

Just as I stood up, she said, "You do know he arrange me to talk to you, right?" I nodded. I had known that much already. "He knows the real reason for you to all this, Zedd. It's because you don't want to feel like a liability to him, right?" She continued.

How did he know that? It doesn't matter.

I walked out on her, yet she continued, "Then don't be the Darbys, Zedd. I believe you're better than that. Choose to be the junkman instead,"

I turned back and looked her in the eyes and said, "Thank you, I appreciate your words and your time," she felt my sincerity. It always helped to have her believe in me, at least I'm not the only one now.

Now I just have to decode the message of the Darbys, no, the junkman.