The Boaz Scorekeeper–Prologue

The Boaz Scorekeeper, written in 2017, is my second novel. I'll post it, a chapter a day, over the next few weeks.

Kaden Tanner was awakened by a phone call at 6:00 a.m. Monday morning.  It was his father, Lewis, telling him his grandfather had passed away.  Micaden Lewis Tanner was dead at 96, twelve days short of his 97th birthday.  Claire, his live-in caregiver, had found him at 5:00 a.m. sitting in his bedroom chair when she brought him his morning coffee.  There was no sign of struggle. It appeared he had just gone to sleep. 

Lewis shared how he had spoken over the phone with his father last night as he did every night. He heard nothing that alarmed him.  He was encouraged.  Micaden had said his cold was better and he and Claire were driving to Huntsville today to take in the City’s Christmas lights. 

Kaden told his father he would book a flight to Huntsville but could be delayed.  Last night, both LaGuardia and Reagan Airports canceled flights in and out of New York City because of a blinding snowstorm. Lewis encouraged Kaden to try his best to arrive in Boaz before 9:00 a.m. Wednesday morning if possible, reminding him that Micaden might be dead, but his control continued.  Nearly five years ago, Micaden had announced his funeral plans.  Actually, he had shared his lack of funeral plans. He had asked to be cremated without any type of service or memorial, with his ashes scattered over his garden. At the same time, Micaden had revealed that he had instructed his law partners to choreograph an old-fashioned, will-reading ceremony three days after he passed. 

After hanging up with his father, Kaden lay back and reminisced.  Nearly a century before, 1954 to be exact, Micaden Lewis Tanner was born in a small country home, three miles outside Boaz, Alabama.  His parents were hardworking Scots-Irish Americans with his father toiling at Boaz Spinning Mills by night and, between naps, helping Micaden’s Mother and his grandparents maintain a farm by day—all, simply to eke out a living.  Micaden had an uneventful youth throughout his elementary and secondary school days up until the night of his Boaz High School graduation.  Kaden decided not to even think about that.  

Micaden was a decent athlete and an excellent student at Boaz High School.  He graduated in 1972 and went on to Emory University in Atlanta earning an undergraduate degree in English.  In 1980, he completed his law degree from Emory’s School of Law.  Micaden practiced law in Atlanta with the firm of Downs, Gambol, and Stevens for nearly twenty years before returning to Boaz and joining Matt Bearden’s law practice.  After a few years of general practice, Micaden found his passion to be criminal defense.  Until 2045 when he retired, Micaden was an accomplished and highly sought-after capital murder defense attorney all throughout North and Central Alabama. 

Kaden recalled his growing up years.  He and his Father lived in a mobile home on the backside of Hickory Hollow, Micaden’s hundred-acre farm eight miles outside Boaz.  Lewis’s wife, Kaden’s mother, had been killed in a car wreck leaving Lewis to raise two-year-old Kaden.  Lewis did the best he could but his truck-driving job took him out of town, usually just for the work week, but sometimes two or more weeks at a time.  Micaden and his wife Karla became Kaden’s parents by default. Kaden believed he received a dual education living with his grandparents.  Micaden encouraging him to think critically, and Karla inspiring him to root his life in the Christian faith. 

Kaden’s flight was delayed until late Tuesday night but arrived at Huntsville International Airport at midnight.  He drove his rental car to Boaz and Hickory Hollow.  He crept inside and up to his old room without waking his Father. At 7:30 a.m., he awoke to the smell of bacon, cheese-eggs, and burnt toast.  He and Lewis ate a hardy breakfast and speculated what, if any, surprises Micaden may have waiting for them at the law offices of Bearden, Tanner, Nixon, and Martin. 

The first surprise was Micaden’s choice to leave Hickory Hollow to Kaden rather than Lewis.  Instead, Lewis received the lake house in Guntersville and enough cash to greatly improve his retirement years.  Kaden knew Lewis was not disappointed with his Father’s wishes.  According to Micaden, Lewis had never been a true outdoorsman.  He had preferred fishing and sailing more than gardening, wood-splitting, and raising cattle and horses.  The second surprise was a bequest to Kaden of 80 acres described as Oak Hollow.  Neither Kaden nor Lewis had ever heard of it.  The last surprise Attorney Trevor Nixon read was Micaden’s bequest to Kaden of a safety deposit box at The Exchange Bank of Gadsden.  Lewis and Kaden had both known about and had access to Micaden’s box at First State Bank of Boaz.  But again, neither had heard of the box in Gadsden.  Nixon handed Kaden a key to the Gadsden box. 

After leaving the law office Kaden dropped his Father off at Hickory Hollow and drove to Gadsden.  The safety deposit box contained a letter and a book.  The author of The Boaz Scorekeeper was Micaden Lewis Tanner.  Kaden removed the book and turned to the copyright page, noticing the book had been self-published in 2046.  He laid the book on a small table, took out the letter, and sat down to read.  Kaden recognized his Grandfather’s writing on the outside of the envelope, “Kaden Lewis Tanner.”   

The letter was also hand-written by Micaden: “Kaden, I trust you continue to prosper in New York as an intellectual property attorney and an aspiring writer.  Well, life is over for me. If it weren’t, you wouldn’t be reading this letter.  We both know what a wonderful relationship we have always had, especially throughout your growing up years.  I believe it was built day by day as you grew up and we spent time talking as we enjoyed the outdoors at Hickory Hollow.  Our ability to be open with each other allowed us to explore topics that most people run from, but now I must confess.  I have not been totally forthright with you and I am ashamed.  By reading The Boaz Scorekeeper you will learn things about me that will shock you.  My hope is that you can come to understand why I did what I did.  I ask you to keep this book and its contents secret but it is your choice.  By the way, you have the only copy of my book.  I love you Kaden and hope you keep pursuing your own life’s meaning.” 

Another bank customer came into the vault.  Kaden pushed the book and the letter into the leather bag he had brought with him.  He left the bank and drove to Hickory Hollow, greeted a half-sleeping Lewis on the couch in the den, and went to Micaden’s book-filled library to read The Boaz Scorekeeper.