The Legend of Bob Boyden and His Gold

Brave, valiant, heroic, and innovative. These are not just words that describe me, but they also describe the distinguished line of gentlemen from which I am descended. One of the more storied gentlemen to whom I am blessed to be progeny to is Bob Boyden.

Bob Boyden’s legend begins in the humblest of beginnings. You see this man of mythical proportions was born a slave in South Carolina. An environment that had to at times be filled with such hate and such desperation that a better time would never arrive that it had to be almost debilitating. Many any this situation wilted, but not Bob. He sat back and he plotted an escape, but an escape that wouldn’t leave him another victim of the south’s brutal punishment to those who attempted to run away.

While toiling in his master’s gold mine in South Carolina the idea hit him like a Rick James forehand across the face of Charlie Murphy. The plan was simple. Upon entering and exiting the mines the slaves were weighed as to prevent the theft of their precious gold. So what this genius ancestor of mine did was to place a small pebble under his tongue upon being weighed and find a gold nugget of the same size to place under his tongue. The plan was now in motion. A few years of this genius plot and Bob had enough to purchase his freedom and land in Mississippi. The legend states that upon his arrival in the Magnolia State he buried his gold in creek, there the gold stayed. On his deathbed he proclaimed that no one should touch his gold or else.

Years after his death an intrepid young man heard of the gold of my ancestor and its location. He struck out, determined to find the gold that the heroic man hid and in death could no longer use. He spent all day and he spent all night digging and he came close to the fabled spot where the treasure was hidden. As he got to the exact spot a mighty wind blew in and slapped him across the face with so much force that he was never able to turn his head forward again. He was buried with his head still turned from that faithful day in the creek.

Bob Boyden reached across from the afterlife and slapped that young man. Now that’s my family for you.