Spencer's Mountain (34 page)

“Be a good boy,” said Olivia.

“I will,” he promised.

“Give 'em hell, son,” said Clay.

“Good-by, Daddy,” he said, and held his father's strong rough hand in a quick handshake, and then the bus was there and he was on it.

For a few minutes after he reached his seat his eyes were clouded with tears, but when they were clear again he saw that the bus was nearing the top of a steep mountain road.

“Goen far, son?” asked an old farmer sitting next to him.

“Right far,” the boy said, and watched as the bus arrived at the top of the mountain and went on into the beckoning world.