them part of his catch for dinner. "Yes."
"Well, well. Then perchance I'll teach you someday, Mr. Cameron Vaux."
He studied Taylor. "For someone so well known in Three Peaks, you're a difficult man to track down."
"Do you believe in God, Cameron?"
He almost laughed. Three Peaks: spiritual central. Did everyone here ask about a person's spiritual life so freely?
"My dad did. So did my wife."
Taylor pointed at him. "You know what I'm going to say next, right?"
"You're going to say, 'I wasn't asking about them, I was asking about you.'"
"Correct."
"I don't know." Cameron looked down the creek and gave a tiny shake of his head. "I really don't know."
"It's born into us. We're not humans with a spirit. We're spirits with a body. We're made to follow something bigger than ourselves. So we latch on to things to fulfill the way we were made."
"Your point?"
Taylor chuckled. "For some people around here, that 'something' is a magical, mystical book that exists only in their minds."
"Can we talk about that?"
"Why do you want to talk to me?"
"All roads seem to point to you."
"All?"
"Many."
"And do those roads say I'm a hermit?"
Cameron laughed. "I was going to say reclusive."
"How long after meeting someone is it before you form your own opinion of him?"
Cameron sat on a boulder and rested his elbows on his knees. "Jason says you're Machiavellian and control the people in this town; that you try to keep people from talking about the book."
"Machiavellian? I'm impressed. I didn't think Jason capable of coming up with such a precedent metaphor." Taylor winked.
"Most men's vocabulary and elocution don't allow the use of words with such eloquence."
Taylor nodded. "I like you, Cameron."
"Would you be willing and able to answer a few questions about the history of the Book of Days?"
"Able? Sure." Taylor pulled a ten- or eleven-inch redband trout out of the creek, removed the hook from the fish in one swift motion, set it back into the shallow water at his feet, and watched it swim away. "Willing? Nope."
Cameron assumed he was kidding. "I imagine you know why I'm here asking—"
"Yes. You've talked to Jason, maybe Arnold Peasley or Kirk Gillum, and they've told the young video producer, whose dad claimed to have seen the book, to ferret out the hidden knowledge buried deep in the cranium of Taylor Stone."
Cameron stared at the man. Had he been tracking Cameron as much as Cameron had been tracking him?
"Would you like to hear some hard, cold reality?" Taylor continued without waiting for Cameron to comment. "Although it's a truth you know well, allow me the liberty of stating it. Life for the majority of Americans is exceedingly boring. Work, eat, sleep, then hit the repeat button. It's why legends like the Book of Days bloom and multiply like dandelions. It makes life more interesting. And when you add in the New Age element that is rampant in Three Peaks, a cottage industry is created. People see things they want to see. They start hearing voices that don't exist and see pictures and visions in their minds that aren't real. They believe things that only reside in their imaginations, and they create evidence for past and future events where there isn't any."
Taylor caught and released another trout.
"So the Book of Days is a hoax?"
"You can find Web sites that prove Paul McCartney died in 1966 and was replaced by a look-alike, but I'm one of those who says he's still alive and well."
"So the Book of Days is a hoax."
"Not a hoax, a fable. A made-up story Jason and his followers have tried to turn into a religion.
"Do you believe in those books that say we can tap into a hidden power floating beyond our vision? That we can create our own reality just by thinking of it?
"Millions of people bought those books and believe the message. They are spiritually starving, so when a book like that arrives, promising to fill their empty souls, the unsuspecting lap it up like a starving cat in front of a bowl of microwaved
"Well, well. Then perchance I'll teach you someday, Mr. Cameron Vaux."
He studied Taylor. "For someone so well known in Three Peaks, you're a difficult man to track down."
"Do you believe in God, Cameron?"
He almost laughed. Three Peaks: spiritual central. Did everyone here ask about a person's spiritual life so freely?
"My dad did. So did my wife."
Taylor pointed at him. "You know what I'm going to say next, right?"
"You're going to say, 'I wasn't asking about them, I was asking about you.'"
"Correct."
"I don't know." Cameron looked down the creek and gave a tiny shake of his head. "I really don't know."
"It's born into us. We're not humans with a spirit. We're spirits with a body. We're made to follow something bigger than ourselves. So we latch on to things to fulfill the way we were made."
"Your point?"
Taylor chuckled. "For some people around here, that 'something' is a magical, mystical book that exists only in their minds."
"Can we talk about that?"
"Why do you want to talk to me?"
"All roads seem to point to you."
"All?"
"Many."
"And do those roads say I'm a hermit?"
Cameron laughed. "I was going to say reclusive."
"How long after meeting someone is it before you form your own opinion of him?"
Cameron sat on a boulder and rested his elbows on his knees. "Jason says you're Machiavellian and control the people in this town; that you try to keep people from talking about the book."
"Machiavellian? I'm impressed. I didn't think Jason capable of coming up with such a precedent metaphor." Taylor winked.
"Most men's vocabulary and elocution don't allow the use of words with such eloquence."
Taylor nodded. "I like you, Cameron."
"Would you be willing and able to answer a few questions about the history of the Book of Days?"
"Able? Sure." Taylor pulled a ten- or eleven-inch redband trout out of the creek, removed the hook from the fish in one swift motion, set it back into the shallow water at his feet, and watched it swim away. "Willing? Nope."
Cameron assumed he was kidding. "I imagine you know why I'm here asking—"
"Yes. You've talked to Jason, maybe Arnold Peasley or Kirk Gillum, and they've told the young video producer, whose dad claimed to have seen the book, to ferret out the hidden knowledge buried deep in the cranium of Taylor Stone."
Cameron stared at the man. Had he been tracking Cameron as much as Cameron had been tracking him?
"Would you like to hear some hard, cold reality?" Taylor continued without waiting for Cameron to comment. "Although it's a truth you know well, allow me the liberty of stating it. Life for the majority of Americans is exceedingly boring. Work, eat, sleep, then hit the repeat button. It's why legends like the Book of Days bloom and multiply like dandelions. It makes life more interesting. And when you add in the New Age element that is rampant in Three Peaks, a cottage industry is created. People see things they want to see. They start hearing voices that don't exist and see pictures and visions in their minds that aren't real. They believe things that only reside in their imaginations, and they create evidence for past and future events where there isn't any."
Taylor caught and released another trout.
"So the Book of Days is a hoax?"
"You can find Web sites that prove Paul McCartney died in 1966 and was replaced by a look-alike, but I'm one of those who says he's still alive and well."
"So the Book of Days is a hoax."
"Not a hoax, a fable. A made-up story Jason and his followers have tried to turn into a religion.
"Do you believe in those books that say we can tap into a hidden power floating beyond our vision? That we can create our own reality just by thinking of it?
"Millions of people bought those books and believe the message. They are spiritually starving, so when a book like that arrives, promising to fill their empty souls, the unsuspecting lap it up like a starving cat in front of a bowl of microwaved
Similar Books
