The Digger's Rest Read Online Free PDF Page B

the young doctor, already knowing the answer.
    “ N…n…no, sir,” the young man stuttered,
his mind reeling, the hair on his arms standing up with the thrill
of it.
    “ Well you’re going now, so we’d better
get down to brass tacks. Time is of the essence. Go and get
whatever notebook or laptop…blackberry, blueberry, gooseberry, palm
parachute you need; whatever you young people use to write things
down on these days and come back ASAP. We’ve got plenty to do to
get the two of you ready for what needs to be done.”
    Simon was out the door at a pace faster
than he’d ever moved before, the brace on his leg feeling light as
a feather for the first time in his life, thinking, An excavation project and an important one, and
with Dr. Bramson, in England. Ohhhhhh, God! It can’t possibly get
any better than this! His head swam with it all so
that he had to struggle not to faint and make a fool out of
himself.
    “ God, I’ve become such a dinosaur.
Might as well send me out to pasture now,” Jack said, laughing to
himself and hitting the button on his intercom. “Alida, could you
come in for a moment, please?” he said into the box on the desk. A
moment later Jack’s newest executive assistant came in, a very
shapely, dark-haired, dark-eyed Latin woman of about fifty, smartly
dressed in bright colors. She stood by Jack’s side with an old
fashioned steno pad in her hand, then put the pad down on his desk
saying, with a light Spanish accent, “Jour tie is crook’d, Dr.
Edgeworth,” as she reached her hands naturally to his neck to
straighten it. Mitch smiled at him slyly, thinking, You old seadog!
    “ Thank you, Alida, I don’t know what
I’d ever do without you,” Jack said, a slight blush coming into his
cheeks as he caught Mitch’s expression.
    When Simon returned with his notebook, he
hesitated for a few seconds before pulling out a small black
plastic box, clicking a switch with his finger and sitting it down
on the corner of Jack’s desk. “A tape recorder,” he said shyly as
if expecting a frown from Jack. “…I don’t want to miss a thing,” he
said, shrugging and blushing slightly.
    “ Good boy!” Jack said with a wink.
Simon took a deep breath and let it out with a silent
Whew!
    The remainder of the meeting went on, with
planning for payment of their house bills by the Museum in their
absence, considering they might be gone as long as three months or
longer. It was also agreed that Mitch would take Simon out and buy
him some real man’s work clothes suitable for digging and sifting,
mud and rain. Alida took careful notes regarding the financial
arrangements since she knew it would fall on her to follow them
through.
    As the meeting closed, they all agreed to
meet back in Jack’s office in three days to iron out the remaining
details, travel arrangements, and coordination with Lord Cotswold
for the initial research to be done at the British Museum into the
background of the area. Alida left first, then Simon, leaving Mitch
alone with Jack. Mitch got up to leave and was almost to the door
when Jack took a deep breath and spoke, stopping him.
    “ He worships the ground you walk on,
you know,” Jack said sentimentally.
    “ As I always have you, Jack,” Mitch
replied quietly, his hair falling in front of his face as he turned
to go, feeling like an only child being sent off to school for the
first time alone as he shut the door behind him.

Chapter IV
     
    JACK
     
    One day Papa called me to his dyin' bed Put
his hands on my shoulders And in his tears he said, He said,
Patches I'm dependin' on you, son To pull the family through My
son, it's all left up to you. . .
    Patches,
    …… ..As performed by Clarence
Carter
     
     
    Alone again, himself feeling very much like a
single father sending his only son off to school for the first time
alone, Jack turned in his chair to look out of his office window at
the drizzling, gray sky; a wave of memories washing over him. He
thought back to