Free 6 Miles With Courage by Thomas LaCorte

a Bobcat . Rob had to kill it. It attacked him.” She said. “Way up there in those vines is a large hornet nest,” Judy pointed to a basketball-size lump of gray paper.
    “My God, how did he ever get to that nest without getting stung?”
    “He said he smoked them out on a cold day.”
    Bob shuddered at the thought and turned away from the atrium to inspect one of the glass cases that lined the walls .
    There were four glass cases in all , and four doors in all (counting the door that they entered from.) The room was laid out like a stop sign. The top, bottom, left, and right sides are doors, and the other four angular sides are walls with glass display cases of various artifacts pertaining to land surveying.
    “What is Rob doing with all these old surveying instruments?” Bob said referring to a glass case full of brass compasses, transits, and measuring chains.
    “He is a collector as well.” Judy said as she turned a light on inside the case, lighting up all the shiny brass within. She saw a sparkle in Bob’s eyes as he moved to the next case. Judy followed and lit up that one as well.
    “Old bottles, that’s very nice.” Bob said as he admired the many colors of the old glass. There were shades of purple, brown and green. Some were black and many were clear. Judy moved ahead while he was looking intently at the bottles. Then she lit up the third case.
    “What are th ose?” Bob said, referring to the brass disks, pipes and broken concrete monuments. There also was a wooden post on top of the glass case in a box being readied to be shipped.
    “Those are destroyed and displaced boundary stones or survey markers.” Judy said.
    “And the wooden post?”
    “That’s a very old survey marker. Rob is shipping it off to the Smithsonian.” Judy said, “Do you want to head over to his office now?”
    “What’s in the last case?”
    “Oh, let me light it up for you,” Judy turned the light on inside the case, “It has a bunch of old maps and deeds, and old field notes.” She said.
    After he admired the maps for a while he gathered the coffee cups and taking a look around he said, “This is quite some place Rob has here Judy. It really gives you a feel for what Rob does for a living.”
    “Yes it does, and when a client starts to haggle with Rob about a price for a survey. Rob likes to bring them out here to show them what he has to deal with in performing their survey. They always come away with a new level of respect.” Judy said proudly. They finished their coffee and left their cups on the last display case.
    “Well let’s head over to his office then, shall we.” Bob said. He too had a new level of respect for how Rob makes a living.
    Judy led them through a set of double doors and into Rob’s office. She turned on a light. The room was chock-full of maps and plans scattered about.
    “I don’t know where to start looking.” She said.
    “Well, didn’t you say that the last job he did was on the Oklawaha River?” Bob asked as he dug around inside a pile of aerial photographs.
    “Yes, that’s right.”
    “Well than look for a photo or plan with a river on it, we can start from there. Rob told me that he was going to be north of the last job he finished.” Bob said.
    “Wait a minute. Did he not meet with his new client recently?” He asked.
    “Yes he did , yesterday as a matter of fact.”
    “Does he have a conference room?”
    “Why yes, right across the hall.”
    “Take me over there.” Bob said, and without a word she turned out the light and with Bob in-tow they headed across the hall to the conference room.
    Judy switched the light on . Bob was greeted by the sight of a conference table with a large aerial photo on it.
    “We may have something here,” Bob said as he pulled the aerial over to him for a closer look. At the bottom of the photo was the Oklawaha River , but farther to the north near the top of the photo, was a large boxed out area outlined in red pencil. In the