06/09/20XX +1
Dear Mr. L:
Hi. My name...well, the name Mr. S gave me is Young Xerxes. He explained why at one time and showed me the reference in the book he got it from. I smiled and nodded – I do that a lot with Mr. S – and just wrote it up to the most unusual nickname I had ever gotten.
Mr. S insisted that I write a letter to you. I explained to him that I had never met you and why would I write a letter to someone I had never met if I did not need anything and was likely not to meet them. He insisted though; he is very polite about his insisting but very firm. Sometimes it is just easier to do it. When I asked him what to write, he said “Just tell him about yourself”.
When I was twelve years old I got a book called One Man’s Wilderness. You may have read it; it is about a guy who moves to Alaska and builds a house for himself. Seeing the pictures and reading his story, I decided that the sort of thing I wanted to do when I grew up. As you might imagine, when I told my parents I was going to go live in the woods for a living, they did not have a great response. They laughed, told me to study hard and finish high school and go on in my education, and then I could think about vacations in the woods wherever I wanted to go.
I listened to what they said – and kept reading, anything I could find on roughing it and camping and learning to build things and really, just survival. And practiced everything I could – I scorched our lawn so much from practicing starting fires I was finally banished from it.
I left home when I was 20: I took an AA degree at my local community college and did not look back. I wandered for a few years – turns out with the right set of skills you can always find work and living cheaply is not a problem for a single young guy that would rather save money than live fancy. The goal was a picture I kept on the sun visor of my truck of that cabin the guy had built in One Man’s Wilderness: my own place, away from everybody.
My being here in The Garnet Valley was luck as much as planning. One of the organizations I really followed had a number of people that lived up here doing the sorts of things I wanted to do. I always looked for property everywhere I stopped and worked. Here, something worked – it was essentially a dirt spot by the river, but it became my dirt spot by the river. With power, which was more than the cabin in One Man’s Wilderness had.
Traveling around and finding work all the time, you find out it is pretty easy to make friends and meet people. Just be useful, listen a lot, and give a little more than is expected. As I worked on living here – the first Winter was harder than I thought, and I tried to be ready – I met people and just sort of fit in with the folks and their mindset here.
I met my girlfriend – Mr. S. calls her Statera or Statira or something like that, he explained it and showed me the book again – while I was doing that. She’s a dream, Mr. L – likes what I like, likes living here, and likes the idea of doing things for yourself when possible. Her mom is pretty great as well. As this letter is just between you and me, I’m hoping things work out for her and Mr. S. He won’t say anything to me about their relationship, but she and my girlfriend talk a lot about him and her.
I like Mr. S. I sort of knew who he was before everything happened – it is a small town, after all – but I really did not get to know him more until everything fell apart. He is pretty cool and knowledgeable about something things – every time I have a question about something, he almost always is able to find something in his books – and pretty clueless about other things, especially living here. That’s not surprising – lots of people who move here have to learn a lot; it’s a tough place to live if you’re not ready.
I hope I get to meet you someday, Mr. L. If Mr S. is any indication, you are a pretty cool and knowledgeable guy too.
Your Friend, Young Xerxes
A post that throws more light further into a dark room.
ReplyDeleteNylon12, it is a funny thing: often times I feel with this series that I am writing myself into a corner - and then, almost every week, something presents itself. In some ways, the harder I try to "work" on it, the less easy it is. But if I do not try too hard, things just come into my mind. It suggests the characters have taken on a life of their own, which is always nice.
DeleteAppears to be a very personable young man. He found what he wanted to be early in Life and rather than give up the dream to 'become a success', he prepared himself to live a Life of Self Reliance and Living Simply in the woods. Good on him !
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in my high school years, I dreamed of moving to Alaska and becoming a hunting guide or other occupation which demanded time in the wilderness. I gave up on that though and became the person I am today. I sometimes look back at the Road Not Taken and I can say I have a few regrets not pursuing it.
Nice chapter sir !
This all sort of started with a comment by Friend-Of-This-Blog Leigh some months ago, where she mentioned something about Young Xerxes' mysterious history. It has been bubbling back there in my mind this whole time.
DeleteIn college English Lit class we read a book called The River Why. I cannot remember all of the specifics, but the general gist was young man who decides he wants to live in the wilderness and fish for his life - so he does.
I, too, can look back even recently and see where the road took a turn and I chose one direction instead of the other - and have some regrets. I suspect that is true of most of us.
Sir. Would Xerxes be spoken as Zerk-at-ease? Woody
ReplyDeleteWell played Woody, well played.
DeleteI read One Man's Wilderness many years ago and loved that book. But it was only a couple years ago that I learned that Richard Proenneke grew up near where I grew up and there is a replica of his Alaskan cabin in the local library there.
ReplyDeletehttps://riverbendjournal.blogspot.com/2021/12/one-mans-wilderness.html
Ed, your post jogged my memory! Far easier to see there than traveling to Alaska, at least for most of us.
DeleteI just reread the comments and see that you read and left a comment of it back then so nothing knew was revealed in my above comment.
ReplyDeleteThis is a pleasant change of pace. And an interesting peek into the life of Young Xerxes. But I haven't read One Man's Wilderness, so now, of course, I would like to!
ReplyDeleteThanks Leigh - as indicated to Nylon12, he literally more or less just "showed up" and inserted a letter this week.
DeleteI highly recommend the book (I actually now want to re-read it). It talks about about Richard Proenneke's move to Alaska and building a cabin by hand in the Alaska Wilderness and part of his time living there. I am jealous that Ed has access to a copy of the cabin itself.