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Mark I:
As the three strangers from Amelia Island crossed the Florida state line and into
the last three miles before Folkston, the one named Jack thought that it might be fun to
hassle Merc, his neice Ida's husband. "Ida and Merc are known to be wealthy. Think I'll do something that might be funny to them. They've both retired amd were into banking and investment."
"Haw!!Haw!!Haw!!Haw!!Haw!!!" Jack proclaimed from the rear seat behind Merc. Merc,
could you find it in your heart to spare two-hundred dollars??"
Then glancing over and nodding to his wife, Merc said: "Give him back the fifty dollars he gave you, Ida. I hardly ever carry that much cash. It's dangerous. We use a credit card for almost everything."
"No Merc," Jack said. "I'm just kidding you. I have plenty of money. Please keep the fifty."
As the strangers reached Folkston, Merc asked: "Where do you turn Jack? This is a new one
for me. A lot of people and businesses here, aren't there?"
Making a left turn west down Folkston's Main street, Jack saw that most of the
old business district was intact; buildings standing but unoccupied."Used to be a hardware store there, a soda shop and pharmacy there, a movie theatre, and some grocery stores. It can be brought back to life with a street sidewalk mall. That's the
way we did it in Hillsboro, Illinois. Our town is booming with that sidewalk mall concept, and it was my idea that did it."(Of course Merc and Ida could not read Jack's mind. They sat in silence, curiously taking-in the town as first time tourists.)
As the three strangers later stood on boatdock at east entrance to The Great Okefenokee Swamp in Charlton County, Georgia the memory of a The Journey To Chase
Prairie reached out towards him, forming a super-nova within his brain cells. That 1953 adventure belonged only to Jack. Fufilling an endeavor that was needed, the explosion was sensed as clear as day; as vivid and true as crystal. That Mr. Chesser,his guide for that day long ago, had been righteous in his assessment that:
"The book of life is written from its beginning to its end. It is finished from its
beginning to its end. We cannot change it. No matter how hard we try."
That visit to Charlton County, Georgia was ended by 4:00 P.M.on February 12, 2012. Three strangers from Amelia Island had shared a wonderful time on a splendid
day. The sky had been overcast just enough to allow flawless photography. But not
before they had visited Jack's childhood habitat, two historically significant cemetaries, and that number of churches.
Upon returning to Amelia Island where Ida and Merc lived, Jack waited until darkness had come and sat alone on a balcony of their stylish, two-story home.
Jack listened to a young lady pedestrian conversing with a man she had encountered. "Hello," she said. "We're your new neighbors. We moved here to Amelia
Island from Champaign."
From the place Jack was sitting, he communicated with those two residents that he
was also in that area. "Haw!!Haw!!Haw!!Haw!!Haw!!........"
(This story is not completed from its beginning to its end, but it is likely that the book of life is.)
