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county was as she passed through it when heading north for one reason or another, and those occasions had been few and far between. Once again she looked down at the ornate lettering of the return address and was convinced this lawyer was most definitely "putting on the dog", trying to appear as if he were some big-time, big city law firm, when in fact he was more likely simply a small time storefront solicitor from a small coal region town.
    Stephanie was familiar with the names of many of the small towns and cities in Schuylkill County from reading various articles in the local Berks County newspaper. She knew of the city of Yuengsville, because that was one of the larger cities in the county and where the county courthouse was located. It was also the home of America's oldest brewery. She knew of the town of Ashton, which was located some fifteen or twenty miles north of Yuengsville. She recalled Ashton had a tourist attraction, a coal mine called the Miner's Tunnel where visitors could ride in coal cars over a mile down under the ground inside what was once a working coal mine. She had been meaning to take her family up there soon before Jeremy was too old and too "cool" to appreciate it, but just hadn't been able to find the time. Perhaps they could get there this year over the summer.
    She also was familiar with Ashton because the manufacturing company where her husband, Jason worked as an engineer, had a sister facility just outside of the town at its lower end. Since Ashton was built along the slope of a hill, locals often referred to its east end as "downtown" or the "lower end of town" and its western end as "up town". On occasion Jason would have to make trips to the facility to coordinate some sort of manufacturing related activities. She didn't understand exactly what Jason did, but knew it was important enough for him to be paid a decent salary. And as long as he was able to earn a living and the bills got paid, that was good enough for her.
    Jason would always come home from his visits to the small community with stories of how that particular manufacturing plant was one of the few places in the area where anyone could hope to earn an adequate wage and he would tell her of how hard the local people had to struggle to make ends meet. He would often joke that if they could live in Ashton while still earning his higher Berks County salary, they could live like royalty. However, since both of them had spent their lives among the rolling farmlands of western Berks County, they believed they could never be happy living anywhere else.
    As a young girl, Stephanie had also heard stories of how some of her ancestors had once lived in Schuylkill County. She knew her grandmother had moved to Berks County as a young woman seeking employment opportunities and had met her grandfather, fallen in love, married and the rest, as they say, was history.  Once in passing, Jason had also mentioned that one of his grandmothers was originally from Schuylkill County as well.
    Her parents as well as Jason's parents were also natives of Berks County and had attended local schools. Unlike some of their high school friends who couldn't wait to graduate and get as far away from the area as possible, both she a Jason loved the calm and quite of Berks County and had no desire to ever move.
    Stephanie turned the letter over and over in her moist hands, unsure if she should open it or wait until Jason returned home from work. It might be easier to face whatever potential bad news awaited her inside the letter with Jason by her side. Jason had a stalwart, logical mind men in his profession often seemed to possess, and having him with her would make it all less stressful; no matter what the news might be.
    Then she realized by the time he got home from work, her stepson Jeremy, and her daughter Cindy would be home from school as well, and the house would be thrust into the type of chaos that only a twelve and ten year old could create. Not to