Chapter 7
New York State Thruway
Catskill Mountains, New York
“We’re coming up on Exit Twenty,” Laurie said, pausing the podcast she and Jack had been listening to.
They were in a bright red, four-wheel drive Grand Cherokee that they had rented for the week and which Jack had picked up that morning at the crack of dawn.
The idea was that the vehicle would come in handy if they decided to do any back-road exploring in Hamilton County.
At the same time it was also large enough to accommodate Jack’s bike in the back seat with its front wheel removed.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Laurie continued.
“I imagine I am,” Jack said. “We could stop and say hello to the kids. This is the exit if we were to do it.”
“It’s tempting, but I don’t think we should. Do you?”
“I don’t,” Jack said. “Especially not to Emma’s camp. To be honest, I’m surprised we haven’t gotten any calls from them, and we should let sleeping dogs lie. I couldn’t be more pleased for her. As for JJ, he’d probably tell us we were interrupting whatever he’s got going on.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Laurie said. “By the way, I’ve been so preoccupied with getting ready and dealing with George, now that we’re underway, I realize I never asked you exactly how your friend reacted when you called him back and told him we were coming. Did he sound pleased?”
“Bob couldn’t have seemed more delighted,” Jack said. “Truly, and he said we were going to be bowled over by Essex Falls in the summer. I didn’t have the heart to admit to not being much of an outdoorsman like he apparently is. As you know, I’ve never been into fishing and certainly not hunting.”
“Me neither,” Laurie added. “But I do appreciate unspoiled scenery, and like most people, I’m a sucker for a nice waterfall and a clear, unspoiled lake.”
“Me too,” Jack said, laughing. “Mostly I’m just happy for us to get out of the hot, bustling, intense city and relax.
Bob also assured me he was going to get right on arranging accommodations, and since he didn’t call back, I’m assuming there were no problems. He also gave me his office address and said to come directly there when we get to town. ”
Both parents eyed Exit 20 as they passed. Although they recognized it was probably best not to bother their children, they missed them. Instead, Laurie restarted the podcast, and settling back, they continued their journey north.
A half hour later as they neared Albany, the New York State Thruway took almost a ninety-degree turn due west, which they followed for another twenty minutes.
Finally exiting the highway, they again drove due north on progressively narrower back roads.
The small towns they passed through also became steadily tinier. They were now in Hamilton County.
“We’re now entering what’s called the West Canada Lake Wilderness,” Laurie announced. She was following their progress on Google Maps.
“Aptly named,” Jack commented with a nod.
The mountains had become higher, some with rocky crests, and the forests denser, and there had been longer stretches without signs of civilization.
For both Jack and Laurie, who hadn’t been out of the city for years except for occasional day trips like taking the kids to camp, it seemed incredible that such dense and expansive woodlands existed just a little more than three hours by car from Manhattan.
There were also lots of beautiful lakes, a few with no houses whatsoever visible on their shores.
“Finally we’re getting close,” Laurie announced after nearly another hour of driving. “In the next few minutes we should start to see the outskirts of Essex Falls.”
“It certainly is isolated,” Jack said.
Fifteen minutes later Jack and Laurie were shocked when they rounded a bend and abruptly entered the town.
There’d been no warning. Their first impression was that it was definitely larger than they had expected, with Main Street lined with impressive, two-story Victorian Gothic Revival brick buildings with commercial spaces on the ground floors and residential apartments above.
At a glance, it was apparent the town was struggling economically, as half the shops were empty.
Whether the apartments above were occupied wasn’t obvious.
Mesmerized and frankly charmed by the surprising scene, they drove in silence along Main Street, which was four blocks long heading east. The street itself was wide enough to afford angled parking on both sides.
At that moment only about half the spots were occupied, and mostly with black pickup trucks with small American flags on tiny poles attached to their tailgates.
They saw only about a dozen or so pedestrians.
In the approximate middle of the town, facing each other on either side of the street, were two large Richardsonian Romanesque stone buildings.
One was the Margery C. Malone Elementary School and the other was the Bennet Library.
At each of the corners they could see down the side streets.
To the north the view was into a residential area composed of matching, single-family houses, some in poor condition, a few abandoned that they guessed had been company built.
To the south they could see that the town was a block away from the Roaring Fork River, which Laurie was able to name from still having Google Maps open.
“It looks a little like the town was caught in a Victorian freeze-frame,” Laurie said.
Jack nodded. Although Bob had described what had happened to Essex Falls some fifteen years previously concerning the closing of the Bennet Shoe factory, Jack hadn’t imagined it was still going to appear quite so obvious, nor had he been prepared for the town to be as quaint or as large or as truly isolated as it was.
By far, the most impressive aspect of the town for both Jack and Laurie was the huge, empty red-brick Bennet mill building that loomed up at the far end of Main Street where it abutted Bennet Avenue.
At eight stories it was shockingly tall in comparison with the rest of the town.
Attached was a clock tower almost twice as high as the main part of the building.
“Bob described the building as being in the ‘Venetian vernacular’ style,” Jack commented.
“I can understand why, looking at the clock tower,” Laurie added.
As they approached the empty factory, Jack and Laurie were transfixed by its size and a bit saddened by it being a forlorn, empty shell with some of its multipaned windows broken.
The main entrance was straight ahead with the oversized double doors chained shut.
To the right was a second structure of the same architectural style but only two stories tall and obviously in use with cars in its parking lot.
“That’s the old Bennet Clinic building for sure,” Jack said, nodding toward the smaller building. “It’s just as Bob described. It’s where he has his office and where we are supposed to meet up with him.”
Since there were no other cars behind them, Jack stopped in the middle of Main Street facing the old factory building.
Between the mill and the clinic building they could see part of a dam with a low volume waterfall spilling over its top.
Beyond the dam was an expansive reservoir ringed with tall, heavily forested mountains.
It was a gorgeous scene complemented by a deep cerulean, late July sky dotted with puffy, white cumulus clouds.
“It’s breathtaking,” Laurie said. “Especially for us so accustomed to New York City’s cement canyons. Central Park is nice and we think of it as nature, but it can’t compete with this.”
“I can see why Bob called it a summer paradise,” Jack said.
Laurie redirected her attention to the Bennet Clinic building and then glanced down at her watch.
“I have a suggestion,” she said. “It’s lunchtime, which means it might not be the best time to arrive for Bob.
Besides, I’m hungry. Why don’t we go back into town.
I saw at least two places where we could get a quick bite. ”
“Good idea!” Jack said. He took his foot off the car’s brake and powered forward.
He turned left onto Bennet Avenue, heading north for a block before turning back the way they’d come.
Very quickly they’d left the commercial part of the town to enter the residential area with its plethora of small, similar, apparently company-built homes that they had caught brief glimpses of from Main Street.
As they drove along they could tell that a significant portion of the houses were clearly abandoned.
Of those that were occupied, they noticed many had signs either on stakes in the overgrown lawns or attached to rickety porches with the words: Diehard Patriots.
“What could this ‘Diehard Patriots’ be all about?” Laurie questioned.
“No idea,” Jack said as he made a turn to head them back to Main Street. “We’ll have to ask Bob. It’s curious seeing so many. He did mention that there’s been some right-wing extremism in the local youth thanks to the lack of employment opportunities. Maybe it has something to do with that.”
“You mean it might be an organization like the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers?”
“That’s what I’m thinking, something like that.”
“That wouldn’t be so nice in ‘paradise.’ ”
“Should we try Ted’s Diner?” Jack questioned, pointing out the restaurant through the windshield.
“Why not?” Laurie answered.
Ted’s Diner turned out to be a quick visit to the past, reminding Jack and Laurie of scenes in movies depicting the previous century.
It also reminded Jack of the small town in the Midwest where he grew up.
The narrow restaurant was dominated by a long counter fronted by fixed stools whose tops spun around.
A single row of tables lined the opposite wall.
The kitchen grill, cooktop, and deep fryer were directly behind the counter and manned by an older cook whose apron was none too clean.
Several female servers were dressed in matching timeworn black dresses with aprons that were marginally cleaner.
The menu was spelled out in white plastic letters in a large, framed black velvet board on the wall above the grill.
The word cheeseburger lacked the s, reminding Jack of an old skit on Saturday Night Live.
What was most obvious to Jack and Laurie about Ted’s Diner was its popularity.
It was filled with people of varying ages and sexes enjoying their lunches.
Thanks to the aged, pressed metal tin ceiling and the equally aged tile floor, the sound level was almost deafening.
Luckily there were two empty seats next to each other at the counter, which they were able to squeeze into.
A moment later one of the women in the matching black dresses put empty glasses in front of them, which she proceeded to fill with water.
She did this while carrying on a loud, animated conversation with her co-worker who was servicing one of the four-top tables behind Jack and Laurie.