Grizz
2002, North Carolina
Grizz stiffened as the father he’d never known invaded his personal space and clung tightly to his only child. When he pulled back, he allowed himself to meet the old man’s eyes, and what he saw caused him to look away.
Micah Hunter looked at his grown son with a love that was timeless. It didn’t matter that they’d never met before today. There was acceptance, joy, and a certain expectation in the man’s gaze, and Grizz wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about any of it. He could only surmise that Ginny hadn’t told Micah everything about him. No. There had to be things he wasn’t aware of because he certainly wouldn’t be welcoming him with open arms.
Grizz cast a wary glance over at Ginny and then at the people who’d gathered in Micah’s yard.
As if sensing his son’s discomfort, Micah told him, “My excitement got the best of me, and I planned a pig roast to celebrate, but don’t worry, they know they’re not allowed to stay. They’ve already cleaned up from supper and were just getting ready to head out anyway, but hung around just long enough to get a look at you-uns.”
Micah called out to those gathered on his property. “I thank you all kindly for being here to welcome my son and his family home.”
Ginny was standing next to her children and chanced a peek at their faces after Micah’s reference to family. Mimi and Jason were both grinning ear-to-ear.
“But,” Micah continued, “like I told y’all when we sat down to supper, this is a bit much for them. For me, too. So we’ll save introductions for another time.”
Grizz watched with obvious relief as the guests, respecting Micah’s wishes, started gathering their families. Smiling parents shooed their children toward cars and trucks as they balanced paper plates covered in tinfoil. A few kids hung back, and it was obvious they wanted to meet Ginny’s children. Eventually, they were shuffled off, too.
“How many of them do you think there are?” Jason asked his mother, eyes wide.
She shook her head. “Too many to count.”
She’d been watching as an older woman, almost mannish in appearance, seemed to take charge of herding the guests toward their vehicles.
Micah was now making small talk with Grizz, Mimi, and Jason, but Ginny wasn’t paying attention. She watched as the older woman said goodbye to the last family and, after slamming their car door shut, made a beeline for Micah.
“Don’t you think for one single second, Micah Edward Hunter, that I am going to be sent away before I get to meet my nephew!” the woman said in a loud voice. The conversation stopped as Micah turned to face her. “My late husband was a Jamison, so I have connections to this boy from both sides of my family, and I’m not being run off with the rest of ’em!”
Ginny smiled at her reference to Grizz as a boy.
Micah sighed. “Jamison, Ginny, Mimi, Jason...” He gestured toward the woman who was now standing with hands on hips, her gray hair pulled back in a severe bun. “This is my sister, Matilda, and ever since her husband and my Margaret Mae died, she thinks it’s her responsibility to take care of me. Thank the good Lord she doesn’t live with me, but I’ve no doubt she would if I’d allow it.”
“I’m Tillie, Aunt Tillie to the four of you,” she told the small gathering as she stared into each of their eyes with a look that dared them to call her otherwise. “Now. I want some hugs!”
After Aunt Tillie got her hugs and headed for home, Grizz and Micah carried the suitcases into the house, and Ginny realized the cabin was far larger than it looked from the outside. They walked in through the front door and noticed a staircase on the immediate right that led to a second floor. They walked further into the house and found themselves in one large family room with a tall fireplace on the right side wall. The ceiling was high, and above the massive glass sliders there were trapezoid windows that showcased a spectacular mountain view. To the left was a large kitchen and an island that separated it from the family room. There was a small bath off the kitchen and a hallway that led to a master bedroom.
Standing in the center of the family room now, they looked up and could see an open hallway fenced in with rustic mountain laurel railing.
“Hi, Mom!” Jason waved down to Ginny. She hadn’t seen him remove himself from the group and was a little embarrassed he’d run up the stairs uninvited. “You should see the view from up here.”
“Jason, please come back down here!”
“His room is up there anyway, might as well let him take a look around,” Micah said, smiling.
“Where does that other staircase go?” Jason called down, pointing from the second story open loft to another staircase in the kitchen. It was barely noticeable.
“That’s the basement. It has two more bedrooms and two full baths,” Micah said.
“This sure is a lot of house for one person,” Grizz said to nobody in particular.
“I thought so, too, when I first built it, but Margaret Mae told me we’d be filling it up. Obviously, it didn’t happen that way. Almost sold it ten times over, but something told me not to.”
He winked at Ginny and told them where their rooms were.
A few hours later, their bellies full and their luggage unpacked, Ginny and Micah were standing on the deck overlooking the expansive back yard. If it could even be called a back yard. Micah’s property went on as far as the eye could see and gave the optical illusion that it dropped off before butting up to the mountains.
They watched as Mimi swung lazily in a hammock reading a book. She was now wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Spring in the mountains could still be pretty cool. Grizz and Jason were a little further off. They had set up some tin cans they’d found in Micah’s barn, and Grizz was teaching Jason how to use an old slingshot they’d come across on one of the shelves. Ginny could tell that Grizz’s posture seemed relaxed. He was enjoying himself.
Ginny had been talking to Micah about the layout of the town. She had met him last year at a diner and was wondering where it was in relation to Micah’s property.
“If you’d kept going straight instead of turning off at the old schoolhouse, you’d have run right through the center of town.” Micah pointed. “The diner would be on the right, right before you got to the crossroads.”
The four-way stop sign was considered the center of town and referred to as the crossroads by the local folks.
They went inside, and Micah started a pot of coffee. Ginny sensed he wanted some alone time with Grizz, and she told him she wanted to take Jason and Mimi into town.
“I’d like to make dinner tomorrow night. I’m pretty sure I remember where the one grocery store is. I passed it the last time I was here,” she told him.
“Yes, ma’am. If you make a right at that stop sign and go down just a-ways, it’ll be on your left.”
**********
The next few days passed by in a whirlwind of new faces. It would be impossible to remember all of the names, but little by little, Grizz’s extended family showed up to introduce themselves. Some would drop in with a homemade pie or something they’d canned. Others stopped by under the guise of helping Micah repair some piece of farm equipment or to return a borrowed tool. Eventually, they all came, and it was amazing that the visits never went too long or overlapped into someone else’s stay. If she hadn’t known better, Ginny would’ve guessed that Aunt Tillie had made up a secret schedule and passed it out to Grizz’s relatives.
Ginny watched in awe as Grizz let down his guard and chatted with his cousins about everything from NASCAR, hunting, and farming to homemade remedies for wart removal and toothaches. Grizz’s extended family was full of homemakers, teachers, business owners, farmers, mechanics, professionals. One cousin was a deputy with the local sheriff’s office.
It was obvious the people who lived in this tiny mountain town were in no way ignorant of the fast-paced world that surrounded them. They’d seen it and deliberately chosen the quiet solitude and fierce loyalty of family over the noise of the world, and Ginny was moved by their love for one another. How different would Grizz have been if he’d been raised here? She wondered more than once.
“I won’t remember all their names,” Grizz was telling Micah one afternoon. One of Grizz’s cousins had stopped by to borrow something from Micah’s barn, and he was loading it up in the bed of his truck. He’d brought his two sons, who were off somewhere on the property with Jason. His teenage daughter was Mimi’s age, and the two girls were sitting on Micah’s porch swing laughing about something. Ginny was inside tidying up.
“Yes, you will,” Micah told him, patting him on the back. “Yes, you will.”
They were all invited to hear Micah preach that Sunday and, of course, Ginny, Mimi, and Jason went to the service, but Grizz didn’t. When they returned, they found Grizz in the barn tending to an injured dog.
“How’d you get your hands on that one?” Micah asked. “I’ve been trying to get him to come to me for months.”
“I don’t know,” Grizz said. “He just came to me.”
After a big breakfast, Micah took them on a tour of the small town. The kids were amazed that Pine Creek only had one school, and it was for children in kindergarten through twelfth grade.
“We only have about two-hundred kids in the whole school, and you’re related to most of them,” Micah said as he looked at Mimi and Jason.
“Cool!” Jason grinned. “Do you have sports here?”
Ginny saw Micah’s face light up as he answered, “Our school has every sport except for football. Don’t actually have enough boys in the right age group to make a team, but we have everything else.”
I hope Micah’s not getting his hopes up that we might live here one day. She couldn’t imagine her children or even Grizz wanting to be removed from the city life they’d all been accustomed to.
Ginny had been invited to a ladies’ night at one of Grizz’s cousin’s homes. At first, she’d been a little reluctant to go, concerned mostly about questions she wasn’t ready to answer. But after some gentle prodding from Aunt Tillie, she decided to accept the invitation. Mimi had been invited as well, but after learning there wouldn’t be any cousins her age, she’d elected to stay at the cabin with the guys.
Driving up Micah’s driveway on her way home from the gathering, Ginny reflected on the evening and how much she’d enjoyed being around people that accepted her as family. A delicious white chicken chili had been the main course, and the women had played a game called Bunco. She was made to feel at home among the ladies, who had welcomed her without hesitation. Apparently, Micah had a lot of family, and he was dearly loved and respected by everyone. That love and respect was trickling down onto Ginny, and she basked in its warmth. She would’ve stayed longer but Aunt Tillie announced that there was the possibility of a spring snowstorm, and since Ginny had no experience driving in snow—especially on dark mountain roads—they all thought it best to call it an early night.
Ginny let out a sigh of relief as she pulled up to Micah’s cabin. It had started snowing on the way home and, like Aunt Tillie had said, she wasn’t used to driving in it. It had been a good call to go home early.
After letting herself in the front door, she felt like she’d interrupted a private moment between Micah, Grizz, Mimi, and Jason. A fire was blazing in the hearth, and they were seated around a large coffee table that held some kind of board game. They all just stared at her.
Jason broke into a wide grin. “Hi, Mom!” Ginny noticed Mimi gently elbow his side, and he told her, “I wasn’t going to say anything, Mimi.”
“Say anything about what?” She laid her purse and jacket down.
“Nothing,” Grizz said. “He was just excited about the snow.”
“Yeah, that’s it. I’m excited about the snow. We’re going to go out in it tomorrow, aren’t we?”
“I think we need to get some warmer clothes, or at least the right kind,” Ginny said. “We didn’t come prepared.”
“Write down all your sizes, and I’ll have Tillie make some calls. Everything you need will be here tomorrow. Don’t need to find a store when we just need to ask some kin to send the right clothes and boots over,” Micah said.
“How was your hike today?” Ginny asked, trying not to yawn. She was exhausted.
“Best hike ever,” Grizz said, giving the kids a wink.