The expression ‘the last frontier’ has a certain allure. It implies a place that is as yet unexplored. Mining it may bring unexpected valuable information. Or danger. And perhaps pleasure. Part of the inherent excitement lies in the unknown, hopefully soon to become known.
Something may be hidden beneath the surface. Maybe gems lying hidden beneath the surface. Or something else.
We don’t know how deep we will have to dig, but eventually, we may come upon something surprising and/or valuable.
A farmer had an annoying rock in his field. Every time he would plough, he would have to go around it. How long it’d been there he didn’t know. It was there when he acquired the property.
It was a large stone, almost as wide as it was long.
As long as his tractor.
Thinking it was also deep, he left it alone.
Finally, one day he had had enough.
He got out his shovel and pitchfork.
To his pleasant surprise, the rock was almost flat.
He didn’t have to dig deep at all.
It came up easily.
“Had I known,” he thought to himself, “I would have dug sooner.”
Discovery is the reason we read a whodunit. Like ones written by Agatha Christie or Sue Grafton or Walter Mosely. Insert your favorite author.