Mountain Top
Page 79
IT WAS PITCH DARK when Moses woke from his nap and untied his boat from Mr. Fussleman’s dock. A neatly lettered sign on the gray post read “Reserved for Mr. Moses Jones—Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted.” He quietly slipped the long pole into the murky water and pushed the boat downstream. Twenty minutes later, he let it drift closer to the bank. When he reached the right spot, he lowered the cement-block anchor and waited for the ripples to fade. Dawn was still a hope away, and he wanted to catch something fresh for breakfast. He hummed a note or two—with a smile on his face.
Moses wasn’t far from the spot where he’d taken Mr. Carpenter. One Sunday morning the lawyer met him near the base of the new highway bridge and sat in the front of the boat while Moses took him to the burial place. Neither man spoke as the boat, like a funeral barge, passed noiselessly through the water. Trees along the shore had grown tall, died, and fallen into the water since Moses laid the little blonde-haired girl to rest, but he knew when he reached the right spot.
“This be it,” he said, halting the forward progress of the boat.
Mr. Carpenter bowed his head for a moment, then placed a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers on the water. An invisible eddy caused the flowers to swirl slowly in a circle before the main current captured them and carried the memorial toward the ocean. The two men watched until the bouquet disappeared from view.
“She be gone for good,” Moses said.
“Yes, Mr. Jones. And it’s good that I finally know where she’s gone.”
“You ready to get home?”
Mr. Carpenter nodded. Moses pushed against the slow current toward the bridge. After a few minutes, he spoke. “That tall girl who isn’t a real lawyer. She help me more than you be knowing.”
“How is that?”
“She show me where to lay my burdens down and not be picking them back up again. That day at the big court, it change me forever and forever.”
“Tell me what you mean.”
And for the next few minutes a man with little formal education taught a man with multiple advanced degrees.
When they reached the bridge, Moses skillfully held the boat steady while Mr. Carpenter stepped onto the bank.
“Thank you, Mr. Jones,” he said. “For everything.”
“You be more than welcome. And if ’n you need my help, I be here for you.”
MOSES DEPOSITED TWO FAT FISH into the white five-gallon bucket. Breakfast was secure. Dinner still swam beneath him. He baited a hook and lowered it into the water. There was a slight effervescence to the fishing line that caused it to shimmer in his fingers as he played it out. He waited. A fish broke the surface. It was a top feeder. Moses leaned over the edge of the boat and peered into the dark water.
No images rose to terrify him. The faces had fled. Fear no longer held his future.
The water stilled and became a mirror to the few remaining stars. Moses looked up and tilted his head to the side. Sometimes, if he listened closely, he could hear a whisper of an invitation.
One day, he would rise to accept it.
Acknowledgments
Writing a novel is both a solitary and collaborative process. I greatly appreciate my wife, Kathy, who safeguards my creative solitude. During the collaborative stage, Allen Arnold and Natalie Hanemann at Thomas Nelson Publishing, along with Traci DePree (tracidepree.com) and Deborah Wiseman, provided invaluable input.
Reading Group Guide
1. In the Bible, a name change bears notable relationship to a life transformation (e.g., Saul to Paul, Abram to Abraham). What significance does Tammy Lynn’s name change to “Tami” bear?
2. Compare and contrast life in Powell Station for Tammy Lynn with life in Savannah for Tami. What are her support systems in each? How are those lives different from her life at school at the University of Georgia in Athens. Where is she most alone?
3. Are all the standards of Tami’s family faith as hard and fast as she believes? Discuss times when her parents were more flexible than she had thought they’d be. Discuss instances in which Tami makes allowances in her beliefs. Is this hypocritical or part of maturing as a believer?
4. Is Tami judgmental? Does her character evolve?
5. In what ways does Zach’s shared background and beliefs comfort Tami? Likewise, how do their dissimilarities challenge or frighten Tami?
6. How do Vince’s and Zach’s differences with one another affect Tami? Which character holds the stronger possibility of courtship with Tami?
7. What accounts for Tami’s relaxing the rules where Vince is concerned while she passes all considerations regarding Zach through her parents?
8. There are several biblical references in this book (“Joseph and Maryanne Carpenter,” “Moses” in the river, etc.). Is there a “Christ figure” (traditional redemptive character)? If so, who is it?
9. How has Tammy Lynn’s upbringing, background, and birth order prepared her to be a caretaker for Mrs. Fairmont?
10. Shakespeare frequently raises the theme of mental instability in characters vital to the storytelling process. This creates issues of doubt and trust with the reader. How does the question of Moses’ and Mrs. Fairmont’s states of mind affect this narrative? Are the most factually reliable characters necessarily the most trustworthy?
11. For all of her endeavors to do the right thing, how does Tami misstep? Recall instances of her not revealing the whole truth. How does her selective editing strike you? Is this an oversight or a calculation?
12. Who do you believe Tami brings home to visit her parents?
13. Deeper water can be more challenging to ford or more buoyant. It can reveal spots teeming with fish to delight fishermen or conceal corpses and frustrate lawmen. In what ways did this book lead you to deeper waters?
About the Author
ROBERT WHITLOW is the best-selling author of legal thrillers set in the South and winner of the prestigious Christy Award for Contemporary Fiction. A Fuman University graduate, Whitlow received his J.D. with honors from the University of Georgia School of Law where he served on the staff of the Georgia Law Review. Whitlow and his wife, Kathy, have four children. They make their home in North Carolina.