L2-5-2

The father took the young man's travel bag.

�Are you going to Vermont ?� the older man asked.

�Yes, to Burlington� the traveler replied.

�I wanted to reach the valley tonight, but when I saw the light in your window I decided

to stop.

I would like to sit and enjoy your fire and your company for a while.

As the young man took his place by the fire, something like heavy footsteps was heard outside.

It sounded as if someone was running down the side of the mountain, taking enormous steps.

The father looked out one of the windows.

That old mountain has thrown another stone at us again.

He must have been afraid we would forget him.

He sometimes shakes his head and makes us think he will come down on top of us, the father explained to the young man.

But we are old neighbors, he smiled, and we managed to get along together pretty well.

Besides, I have made a safe hiding place outside to protect us in case a slide brings the mountain down on our heads.

As the father spoke, the mother prepared a hot meal for their guest.

While he ate, he talked freely to the family, as if it were his own.

This young man did not trust people easily.

Yet on this evening, something made him share his deepest secret with these simple mountain people.

The young man's secret was that he was ambitious.

He did not know what he wanted to do with his life yet, but he did know that he did not want to be forgotten after he had died.

He believed that sometime during his life he would become famous and be admired by thousands of people.

So far, the young man said, I have done nothing.

If I disappeared tomorrow from the face of the earth, no one would know anything about me.

No one would ask, who was he? Where did he go?

But I cannot die until I have reached my destiny.

Then let death come. I will have built my monument.

The young man's powerful emotions touched the family. They smiled.

You laugh at me, the young man said, taking the oldest daughter's hand. You think my ambition is silly.