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About one hundred years from now a boy scout is going to find something funny looking inscribed with a picture and perhaps a name on it. He'll show it to his scoutmaster at the evening campfire (when all boyscouts bring out their trail finds) and the scoutmaster will examine it.
He'll say, "My grandfather once told me a story about something that happened around here. Many years ago in the pioneer age of space exploration, they used something called a "space shuttle" to explore and conqouer space. It was a primitive vehicle by today's standards. It was very dangerous, using rockets and the wind to control the ascent and descent."
The young boy looks at the patch that he found.
The scoutmaster continues, "that, my friend, is a genuine artifact of that great pioneer era, when one of those early ships disintigrated upon reentry into the earths atmosphere."
The young boy's draw will drop. "You mean they didn't have electromagnetic gravity engines?"
"No, they had courage and dreams. If you go walking in these woods, you'll find pieces laying around. They are spread out among the trees."
"What should we do with it?" the boy asks.
"They have an old memorial in Nacadoches. I'm sure they'll know what to do. We'll break camp and go visit there tomorrow - and you can see some of the other things that they found."
The boys slept that night - dreaming dreams of what it must have been like to explore space in those olden days.
- - - - -
I still go hunting for arrow heads in the hills surrounding Lago Vista. You'll find them, and when you do - you'll think of the people who came before you.
I hope a boy scout will know what to do when that day comes. As for me, I know what I would do.
I'll look up and see that pioneer trail blazing across the sky in my memory for the rest of my life.