LC 02 - Questionable Remains Read Online Free PDF Page A

laid it on the tissue.
    "What is it?" they asked.
    "It's green," said Mike. "More copper?"
    "Yes," Lindsay answered, staring hard at the piece, teasing it with the pick. "And it has something attached to it
that has been preserved by the oxidized metal."
    The object was mainly a mass of green oxidized copper with four thin extensions at ninety degrees to one another.
It was attached to what looked like wood carved into small
spheres or beads.

    "A rosary," Lindsay said with surprise. "I think it's a rosary."
    "My goodness," said Grace Lambert. "The fellow was a
Christian."
    "What do you reckon he was doing in them earrings?"
asked twelve-year-old Joshua Lambert.

    Roberto Raphael Lacayo squinted as he looked out over the ocean
at the speck he had been observing for the last two days, wondering if he was hallucinating or if it could be a ship. Oddly, he felt
the taste of red wine in his mouth; odd because he had not tasted
wine for how long? Twenty years? Twenty-five years? Who knew
anymore? He unconsciously fingered the copper ornaments in his
earlobes and looked down at his deerhide clothing and tattooed
arms. Only his hirsute appearance gave a clue that his origin was
not here in this alien wilderness, but across the ocean. Roberto
remembered the day he had left Spain: Cristina crying and laughing at the same time. His mouth twitched into a slight smile. She
was an adventurer, too, and she would have come with him if she
had been allowed. His mouth turned down again. She had probably married. Her children would be grown now. Cristina would
have grandchildren. Roberto couldn't imagine it; she was still so
young in his mind-young, but faceless. He couldn't remember
what she looked like. He had expected to go home rich, marry
Cristina, and be a powerful man. But instead.... He sighed and
dug in his doeskin pouch. He pulled out his prayer beads and
began to whisper as the salt water lapped at his feet. "Ave Marie,
gratia plena, Dominus tecum . . . "
    The ship-Roberto now could see that it was a ship-was heading along the coast, northward. Estupido, estupido, he thought.
No hay oro aqui. He could tell them, "There is no gold here," but
they would not believe him. They could take him home. He felt his ears again; the lobes were permanently stretched. So much about him was
different. But he still wanted to go home. He began walking northward.
There were only a few safe harbors where a ship could anchor.

    Lindsay packed the bones and gave them to Mike with directions
as to where at the University of Georgia to deliver them for further
analysis. Now she would drive home, get a good night's sleep, and
make another start tomorrow on her vacation. She was getting into
her Land Rover when the Lamberts approached.
    "Please stay for dinner," Grace asked.
    "Thank you," said Lindsay, "but I need to shower and change....
She looked down at her clothes.
    "We have a guest room," interrupted Grace. "You have your
luggage. You could stay the night and leave from here."
    "I couldn't impose-"
    "You wouldn't be imposing," said her husband, putting an arm
around his wife's shoulders. "We would be honored if you would
stay."
    The trip to the Lambert farm had been an interesting diversion,
and Lindsay was looking forward to resuming her vacation plans,
but there was an urgency in their request that caused her to consent. Besides, she was tired. Excavation was hard work.
    Marilee jumped up and down when she heard that Lindsay was
staying. After Lindsay took a shower and changed, the irrepressible five-year-old took her on a tour of her bedroom, which shouldn't have taken long in a ten-by-ten room. But Marilee was a collector: rocks, leaves, various kinds of teeth, bird nests, dolls, and just
things she found, all nicely categorized and neatly placed on
shelves in her room.
    Lindsay named the teeth for her. She had a tooth from a cow, a
horse, a dog, a raccoon. As Lindsay identified each one, Marilee
asked, "How