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In no way, shape or form is the information within these pages true to the subject matter at hand or insinuating that certain situations go on within the military. As stated in my disclaimers, these stories are works of fiction and are products of my warped imagination only. Nothing more, nothing less. Absolutely no money was earned nor distributed.
Her attention was slowly drawn back to the huge slab of stone hovering over her and her husbands head. To her shock, they were lucky to have found this wonderful artifact buried beneath a dried tree stomp in an area designated to have no history of ever having had a civilization reside there. But then, once the stone was uncovered, they'd found an enormous amount of evidence to dispute that claim. They had discovered several life size monumental statues and building foundation structures buried in the surrounding area. To their surprise, they had mapped and concluded that a large rich city once stood there. The only problem, was that all of the names of the royal families that ruled the city had been scratched off. There was no way of telling who the people were or if any of the neighboring cities even heard of it or knew if it ever existed. Broken from her thoughts, she heard her husband giving instructions and saw him out the corner of her eyes waving his arms. She stared at the slab of stone and felt a sickening feeling deep within her. She watched it as it swung slightly from side to side as they attempted to adjust it properly. A loud explosive sneeze startled her out her reverie.
She knew that her son didn't have many friends in his life. Mostly due to the constant travelling that they did. The few friends that he did have were more than four times his age and worked with them on their digs. She yearned for the day when her son would come running through the house with kids his own age trailing behind him. 'If they ever stayed long enough where that could happen,' she thought sarcastically. She stiffled a sharp startled gasp as she felt her husband tap her on the shoulder. "Honey, you think we should move it a little to the left?" he asked as he stared up at the stone.
She looked up and studied it before answering, "Yes. It seems to be cutting off some of the heirglyphs on this side. Maybe about a half an inch." Dr. Jackson began to relay his wife's instructions and placed a hand on her shoulder automatically. He could feel her tensing up again as the stone slab was lifted once more and swung slightly above them. He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze as he continued to shout out instructions.
'What am I going to do?' he thought to himself as he stared at the pages without focusing on them. 'I know that they can't take me with them this time. Mom has told me too many times that she doesn't want me to stay out of school for that long.' He shifted his position on the floor slightly. 'Like it's really going to make a difference. I've already skipped two grade levels,' he thought sarcastically. 'Maybe if I learn as much of these ruins as I can before they leave, Dad can convince Mom that he needs me to help him out on some things,' he thought to himself as he let out a half laugh half sigh. 'Yeah right, Dad need 'my' help. That'll be the day.'
He knew that his dad didn't need his help on anything, but he also knew that his dad got a thrill out of discovering artifacts and sharing it with his entire family present. His dad wouldn't admit it, but little Danny had caught on to it long ago and used that well known fact to keep him on their digs. Plus, he really hated being left behind. The only friends that he had we're Miguel, Sarah, Amonti, and Jim and they were all apart of his parents crew. Granted they were all adults, but they seemed to be the only ones who understood him. And they didn't pick on him and call him names.
Broken from his thoughts Daniel looked up and felt his nerves pulsate throughout his body as the huge stone slab was lifted once more into the air. He felt his stomach turn upside down as something about the way the stone swung caught his attention. He slowly stood up and dusted off his pants. Tilting his head slightly and furrowing his brow, he studied the stone.
Daniel wanted to scream, but he couldn't find his voice. He wanted to move and help the other people who were trying frantically to uncover his parents, but he couldn't move. He watched with unblinking eyes as people ran chaotically around him. He soon heard a shout from one of the people who was helping out and looked up to see a small hand covered in dark red blood and dust. Staring intently, he noticed the small twinkle of his mothers wedding ring as the ceiling light reflected off of it. Unconsciencely, he lifted his left arm and wrapped it around his stomach, grasping his shirt with a clenched fist. He stared as another piece of stone was moved out of the way to reveal his father's upper part of his body. Daniel felt his body shaking uncontrollably as he took in the sight of his father's appearance. He felt the biol beginning to make it's way up as he noted that the condition his father was in. It was clear that his neck was broken and.......Suddenly, Daniel turned to the side and began to vomit. He clenched his chest as he tried desperately to breathe between hurls as he began to feel hot tears stinging his cheeks. Once he was finished, he breathlessly fell against the wall and slowly slumped down to the floor completely exhausted as he plummetted into the comfort of the darkness awaiting him.
Daniel sat staring out of the window as the car slowly came to a stop. "So, are you excited?" Dr. Marilyn Pacey asked as she began to drive again. Daniel sighed to himself before answering, "A little....I guess." "Danny," Dr. Pacey said in a soft tone. "I know these last two years have been really hard on you. And I know that moving in and out of foster homes isn't helping any." "No," he sighed interrupting her. "But I've gotten used to it." She nodded her head and continued, "I know. But this family has expressed an interest in adopting you."
"So has every other home I've been to for the last year and a half," he stated sarcastically. Dr. Pacey sighed silently to herself, "I know that dear. But they are really impressed with your academic achievements and are astounded to hear that you have college scouts already trying to recruit you at such a young age," she stated hoping she sounded more enthusiatic then she felt. 'Eight homes in the last three months,' she thought to herself. 'This has really got to be tearing him up inside.' "I think that things may be different this time Danny," she said.
"Oh," he stated nervously as he took in the sight around him. "Here we are," Dr. Pacey said cheerfully, desperately trying to lift the young boy's spirits. She was falling apart inside. Too many times over the last two years had she given him this same speech. The people wanted him, up till they learn the truth of his misfortune. Either that or that he was too much of a genious that it scared them away. Oh how she wish she could take him into her own home and look after him. But the company wouldn't allow that. They couldn't risk the possibilities of something going wrong and having to start from scratch with a different social worker. She looked at Danny, "So?"
"So?" he repeated staring at a small one story house. There were two large windows on either side of the front door and a walk way splitting the front yard in half. To the right was a small drive way big enough for about two or three cars. Taking a deep shuddering breath, he nervously watched the window on the left side of the front door as someone peaked out. Shortly afterwards, a tall slender woman with shoulder length brunette hair stepped out of the house. She was wearing a navy blue pant suit with a cream colored blouse underneath. Quickly following her, a tall man stepped out. He was in his Air Force dress uniform.
"Yeah," he sighed unconvincingly. He turned to look at the couple again when he heard the car doors unlock. He felt his nerves go haywire when he watched Dr. Pacey approach them and begin to talk to them. 'What if they don't want me?' he asked himself as he watched Major Stuart help Dr. Pacey unload his bags. 'What if they 'do' want me?' he asked himself as he watched Major Stuart come over to the car and squat in front of his side of the window. He gently tapped on the window and waited for Danny to roll it down. "Hi Danny," Major Stuart said with a warm smile on his face. He slowly took off his hat and raked a hand through his short blonde hair.
"Hello." "So, I hear you have an interest in Archaeology," he stated cheerfully studying the child before him. "Yes Sir." "So do I. I mean, it's more so like a hobby to me," he stated and smiled as he noticed that he caught the boys full attention. "Yesterday, I got wind of some Minoan ruines that has just been discovered about two weeks ago. So far, only the scientist involved, the military, and government officials know of the discovery. I've got some photos if you want to see it?" he said patiently. Danny studied him a bit before he nodded his head slowly and climbed out of the car. He reached back in and grabbed a medium size suitcase that seemed to be a little to heavy for him, but he managed.
"Whatcha got there?" Major Stuart asked after Danny refused his help with the suitcase. "Just some books," he stated possessively. Major Stuart nodded his head slightly, grabbed the other suitcases, and followed his wife, Dr. Pacey, and Danny into the house where a new life would begin.
"Hey DJ," Sean said cheerfully as he walked in and sat on Danny's bed. "Hey," he said smiling. "I know I'm running late, but I kind of lost track of time. I was studying the latest info on that Minoan site. I was relating it to the site they found in Egypt. Some of the markings seemed to be very similar." Sean let out a hearty laugh, "Mary figured it was something like that which had your attention. After the seventh time we called for you, she decided to send me in here to make sure you weren't morphing into a book." "Huh?" Danny said completely confused.
Sean just shook his head smiling, "Never mind. I came to let you know that you've got an extra half hour before Ben gets here, so you can relax." "Oh?" "Yeah, his plane was slightly delayed." "Uhm...O.K." Danny said sitting down next to Sean nervously twiddling his thumbs in his laps. Sean studied him a bit before asking, "You all right?" "What?" "You seem a bit nervous," he said gently. "Wanna talk about it?" Danny nibbled on his lower lip and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "I...." he started nervously. "I'm just wondering what he's like."
Sean knew that's not what the boy was going to say, but he let it slide. "Well, he's nothing like me," he said smiling. "Our parents used to say that we we're like oil and water. We could never see eye to eye on anything. And we constantly fought for their attention. Always in competition over any and everything. Until that day." "The plane crash," Danny stated following his thoughts. "Yeah. I don't know what happened. But after our parents died in that crash, things changed. Suddenly, instead of trying to beat the crap out of my little brother, I had to start taking care of him," he said with a thoughtful look on his face. "And the funny thing about it, is that he let me," he chuckled out. Taking a deep breath and placing his arm around Danny, he said, "Don't worry DJ. My brother may be a lot of things and we may fight constantly, but that doesn't mean that the two of you want hit it off. In fact, I think you'd be surprised how much you two have in common, not to mention that you two look alot alike," he said reassuringly.
"Ya think so? I mean, that we'll hit it off?" "Yes I do," he said patting him on his back. "I'm possitive of it. Now, when ya finish up here, Mary needs your help setting up the dinner table." Danny looked at Sean suspiciously, "And what about you?" "Uhm...well....I've gotta make a quick run somewhere." "Ducking out on her again huh," Danny said amusingly. "No...who me....no way." Danny titled his head to the side and stared at Sean. "What?.....What?....O.K....O.K...I'm just not a house cleaning, table setting kind of guy O.K." Danny just shook his head smiled at him. Sean got up to leave and stopped at the door, "Oh yeah, if she asks where I went..." "You had to run a quick errand and you'll be back in five." "Yeah," he said smiling and leaving. Danny chuckled slightly to himself, finished getting dressed and headed towards the kitchen.
Hearing that all the time, Danny had begun to feel like Ben was his older brother. They had shared a bond different from the bond he had with Sean and Mary. While they treated him just as good, Ben was more on his level. Ben had become, in his mind, his best friend, his role model, a person that he could tell any and everything to and not be criticized for it. Sean and Mary were good listeners too, but they were more like his parents, and some things, he just couldn't see talking to them about. The way things were going, nothing could have ever prepared Danny for the events that were about to happen which would have a profound effect on the rest of his life.
