The Rock On The Mountaintop

by Mason Roulston

the water from his extra bottle into it. With the lid on, Adian knew, the water would take about five minuets to boil. He now turned his attention back to the hiker.

  “How ya holding up?” He asked the man.

  The hiker didn’t respond. Adian shook him awake, the situation was worse than he thought. The man needs to get warm and fast. Just before the water came to a boil, Adian turned off the stove. He opened his trusty “emergency cold kit” and pulled out a box of powdered Jell-O. He added the powder to the hot water and poured the mixture into the water bottle that he then handed to the man.

  “Drink this, it will warm you up and the Jell-O mix will give you some much needed sugar to get you going again.”

  The man gratefully took the hot water and began to drink it. Almost instantly the drink made him feel better and color slowly started to return to his face. Adian packed up the stove and “emergency cold kit.” Just as he was about to put them back into his pack, he remembered he had an extra set of mittens. The words of his father rang in his head, “Bradshaw’s prepare for anything.” Adian took out the extra mittens and handed them to the hiker.

  “Thanks a lot kid, you just might have saved my life.” The man humbly said.

  “We hikers have to look out for one another out here.” Adian responded with a grin. The man finished his hot drink.

  “Well kid, I better get off this mountain before I end up frozen. Thanks again.” With that, the man turned and headed down the trail. Right away Adian noticed the hiker was having an easier time walking, the tracks left by his snow shoes packed down the loose snow so the man’s steps hardly broke through the crust. Now almost out of sight, the man turned and waved to the boy who, without a doubt, had just saved his life. Adian waved back as he righted his pack and continued on his way towards the summit.

  He knew his grandfather would be proud of him for being so prepared and willing to help a stranger. He also knew it was the right thing to do and that’s the main reason why he did it. The switchbacks were getting closer and closer together, a sign the trail was getting steeper. Adian noticed the trees were getting smaller too, that meant he was getting closer to his goal, closer to the summit. Up and up he climbed, the trees gave way to boulders, the boulders to rocks. He knew he was close. As he rounded an outcropping of rock, Adian could now see the summit. His heart swelled with such a feeling of accomplishment he suddenly felt as light as the snow that was silently falling around him. From somewhere deep inside he felt a rush of energy that caused him to quicken his pace for the last remaining stretch of trail that led to his summit goal. He kept thinking to himself “I did it, I really did it!” Adian was now on the summit. He stood next to the huge cairn that marked the top of the mountain. It is thought to be good luck to add a stone to a cairn when you pass one and for this very purpose, Adian brought a small rock he found in his backyard last fall. He chose this one special rock because it was shaped like a pyramid, just like the mountain he now stood atop and because it was rather small and light, he didn’t want to have to carry a huge rock to the top, which was a smart idea, especially for a 12-year-old boy. He took the rock out of the top pouch of his backpack along with the compass his dad had given him for this hike. Adian brushed the snow away from the cairn until he revealed a crack large enough for his rock to fit; he wanted to make sure it would stay there. Next he opened the compass so he could tell which way was southeast, the direction of his town and home.

  Click, the compass opened and to Adian’s surprise there was a key taped to the inside of the signal mirror. The key had symbol on it that Adian knew he had seen before. Quickly the image came to him. It was the same symbol he saw on a wooden box in his dad’s study. He remembered his dad told him the box has been passed down in the family for generations. It first belonged to his great-great-grandfather. The symbol was a builder’s square and compass overlapped with a G in the middle. Adian always thought that G stood for grandfather. Now the summit or the view didn’t matter to him, all he wanted to do now was get home and see if the key opened the box. Adian took one last look in the direction of his home, wishing only he could fly to get there sooner.

  Like a blur, he was back on the trail barely noticing as the rocks turned to boulders, the boulders to trees. Before he knew it he was at the spot where he helped the cold hiker. The vision of the man stumbling down the trail missing one mitten shook Adian out of his trance. He realized he had to slow down and be careful. If he got hurt, there was no one around to help him. Now, under control he continued down the trail. It took all the willpower he had to contain his excitement and subdue the instinct to run.

  Adian arrived home just before dark. He barely managed to take off his pack and winter clothes before he was in his dad’s study. There, on the center shelf on the bookcase against the wall, the box sat. Adian examined the key he now held in front of the box. Just as he thought, the same symbol was on them both. Slowly, he inserted the key into the small hole on the front of the box. Turning it, he heard a click and the lid cracked open. Unthinkingly, he took a few steps back and sank into a chair in the corner of the room. He opened the lid. There, lying on top of a pile of what seemed to be photographs was an old faded, black and white picture of his great-great grandfather and great-grandfather. They were both smiling widely on the summit of a mountain. Adian held it closer. He could tell it was Pyramid Mountain, the mountain he had just climbed. The two men stood next to the cairn that Adian had just added a rock to, although in this picture it was barely knee high. He picked up the next picture. It was the same scene only this time it was his great-grandfather and his dad next to the cairn that was now waist high. There was one more picture in the box. Adian recognized it immediately; it was of him and his dad on that same summit. He remembered the exact moment when it was taken last summer, right before they both added a rock to the cairn that was as tall as him.

  Years later Adian was sitting by a crackling fire in the dead of winter in his house by the mountain when his son marched into the room and exclaimed: “Dad I’m going hiking.” Adian smiled as he glanced at the box on the bookcase and said:

  “All right son, be careful and don’t forget your emergency cold kit and your compass.”