Larry: Chapter 1
He strolled down the raised stone sidewalks of the hot Pompeian street; his shoulders rounded from the black backpack filled with his tools. The sun was climbing up the sky in the east, heating the cobble stone roads and walkways. There were very few trees in the Pompeii excavation site, no protection from the relentless heat.
“Buongiorno Larry,” a voice greeted from behind, causing him to stop in his tracks.
Larry turned around to see one of his friends approaching him. His thick, broad shoulders, and square jaw would have made his image intimidating had it not been for the glasses he wore over his eyes, and gentle personality.
“Hey Greg, how’s it goin'?” Larry asked as he waited for his friend to catch up. He pulled out a small red bandana and wiped some sweat from his forehead.
“Good,” Greg said coming alongside Larry. Larry turned and began walking again. Greg fell in stride. “Are you ready for some more exciting ‘archeology’ today?” His words dripped with sarcasm.
Larry brushed aside his dirty blond hair that had fallen over his sunglasses. “Oh, you know it,” Larry responded. They were members of a ten-person internship sent from UCLA to Pompeii for a month over the summer to get a first hand experience in archeology. They were walking to their last day on site, the sun casting shadows behind them, one large and broad from Greg, and a slimmer shade from Larry.
Larry thought this internship would be different. He thought there would be more hands-on activities, but so far they learned the history of the area and observed some excavations on site and on videos. He couldn’t complain though: he got to visit Italy and see all of the ancient Roman ruins in places like the Forum, and the city of Pompeii.
“Maybe today will be different,” Greg said as they headed towards the eastern outskirts of the ruined town. To their left, they could see Mount Vesuvius the looming giant that caused so much destruction thousands of years before. Along their right came ruin after ruin of old homes and shops. Many of them were similar: three walls to mark where an old shop use to be and stairs leading up to a missing second story where the living areas of the merchants had been.
“Maybe, but somehow I doubt it,” Larry said as he moved his blonde bangs to the side of his face again. “We’ve been doing the same thing every day, and now our time’s almost up. If we were going to do something different, we would’ve done it by now.”
“You never know,” Greg said still being hopeful. “He could be saving the best for last.”
“Sure, whatever,” Larry said as they continued to walk through the searing streets. They came out of the city on the far east side. There, a group of archeology students were gathered, and their instructor, Mr. Borecci, was waiting for them.
He gave his instructions with a slight Italian accent. “Today is our last day here,” he said. “Today, we will dig up artifacts, but not real artifacts. Many months ago, I buried throughout this field some of my own artifacts, in preparation for this internship. The one who finds and documents the most correctly will win a prize.”
Larry turned to Greg, and showed his excitement through a big smile. This was what Larry had been hoping the internship would be like. Not just an extended class, but actual hands-on activities. He couldn’t wait to start digging and seeing what it was really like being an archeologist.
“We will begin now, and end when the sun is down,” Borecci said to everyone through a salt and pepper beard, his large belly moving with each word. “Begin.” With that final command, everyone began to move through the field, and started digging wherever they wanted.
Greg and Larry started digging near each other, yet far enough to not interfere with the other. Greg was the first to find something. “I have something!” he said in elation as he started to dust away the dirt and carefully excavate the rest of the artifact. He made the appropriate notes in his journal for the documentation, and finished this excavation. He uncovered his prize, a cheap plastic cup.
Shortly after Greg found his cup, Larry stumbled on something. He began to dig around it more and document his find. As the minutes passed, he began to see what it was; a plastic necklace for a small child. As he was finishing up with his first find, Greg had come across his second.
When the sun was a few hours away from setting, Larry was behind Greg by two artifacts. He had to work as hard as he could to try to beat his friend. Larry walked over towards the edge of the boundary to find some dirt that had not been disturbed by other students. He knelt down and began to dig. After digging about a foot below the surface, he was about to give up and find another spot, but his small-hand shovel hit something.
Larry began to clear away the soil to see what he had found. As he moved more and more dust away, he began to see the reddish brown color of the object he was uncovering. As he brushed and wiped away the dirt he noticed that it was not made of plastic like all the other artifacts found that day, but instead real clay. He made sure to make all the correct documentation he had learned as he uncovered this strange object.
As he was working, the leader of the site, Mr. Borecci came up and looked over Larry’s shoulder at what he had uncovered. “What do you have there, Larry?” he asked as he looked at the clay pot that Larry was slowly uncovering and pulling out of the soil.
“I’m not sure, I thought it was one of yours,” Larry said as he gently lifted the pot out of the ground.
“No, everything I buried here was made of plastic. This is something different.” His eyes examined the object as Larry held it. “Place it on my desk, and I will examine it further,” he ordered.
Larry stood up, his eyes fixed on the clay pot he had uncovered, and began to walk towards the desk that Borecci had set up. His eyes were so transfixed on the pot that he did not look where he was going. He stepped into the hole he had just dug, twisting his ankle sending him tumbling down. The pot flew out of his hands and Mr. Borecci watched, mouth open, as the artifact flew in a high arc towards the ground.
It landed, shattered, and a slur of Italian curses came out of Borecci’s mouth. “Stupid fool,” he said at last in English as he looked at the mess Larry made.
Larry stood up and limped over to where the pieces were scattered and looked to see if anything could be salvaged. He sorted through fragments and realized that the pot had been sealed, and filled with sand. As he looked, he saw something different, something dark, black it seemed. “Mr. Borecci, come here,” Larry said as he brushed the rock clean and bent over to look at it. Something had been engraved on the stone. Mater. “What do you make of this?” Larry asked as he looked down at the Latin writing. “Mother?”
“It could not be...” Borecci began.
“The Magna Mater?” Larry had never thought much about the Magna Mater outside of history class. The possibility of finding a fragment of it was something he had never considered.
“We must not jump to any conclusions, this may just be what it appears, a dark stone with an engraving. Here, hand me the stone,” he commanded putting out his right hand.
Larry reached into the sand and scooped up the stone. The edges were sharp, despite being surrounded by sand for thousands of years. It cut his little finger, his blood welling out.
The pain spread like lightning up his finger and into his head. He grabbed his head in pain, covering his ears trying to stop a sudden loud sharp noise. When he looked up, everything was different. The world was dark, as if looking through a jade glass. Screams filled his ear as people ran scattered around him dressed in togas, stollas, tunics, and other strange outfits from the east. The city was whole, but he could see a growing cloud above Vesuvius. Chaos was everywhere, but standing in the midst of it all, he could see Alice, his girlfriend, pointing up at the mountain.
“Ashes we fall. Darkness in the light. They are coming. They are here. Darkness in the light. Ashes we will rise,” Alice spoke, in a voice that was not her own. It was deeper, strange, almost inhuman. Over and over again she repeated those words. Until everything changed again.
“Larry,” the word shook him back. Borecci was standing before him, his hands still out. “Are you hurt?”
The students were looking at him, at the stone he held. “What?”
“Your hand, here give me the stone. Greg, do not stand there with your mouth open. Quick Larry is needing a bandage for his finger.”
“No, my hand is fine,” he could not make sense of what had happened. He placed the stone in Borecci’s, half expecting his instructor to experience the same thing he felt.
Borecci took the stone back to the table, without so much as a pause. The students began to huddle around the table wanting to get a glimpse of the black green stone. Greg was soon by his side, bandaid in hand.
“Here,” he said offering the bandage.
Larry took it without a word and placed it tight around his finger. “Is everything alright?” Greg asked.
“Yeah,” Larry said as he looked back at the volcano to see if anything was amiss. It stood there same as earlier in the day. A massive mountain, with whips of clouds around it’s peak.
“It’s okay to feel out of it,” Greg said. “You just found something not made of plastic, you should feel proud. This may be something important. So it said mater on it. What do you think that means?”
“I have no idea.” Larry stood up and walked towards the table where the other students were gathered. They were all handling the stone, passing it from one person to the next, careful not to cut themselves on the stone. Everything seemed normal. It was just a stone, wasn’t it? Then what the hell did I see?
“I think this is enough for today,” Borecci announced to everyone. “Begin packing up your things, we will leave as soon as we can.” He then turned to Larry. “I will take your discovery to the museum in Napoli as soon as I can. Their team will look at it and see if they can make heads or tails of what you found. Who knows, maybe you found a piece of the Magna Mater that was brought to Rome.”
The sun set in the west over the ocean as everyone began cleaning up their equipment and supplies. A soft murmur was heard all the while as people discussed what had just happened.
Larry returned to his station and began packing up his tools. He glanced back at the mountain, remembering what he had seen when he touched the stone.
“What do you think that stone is?” Greg asked as he moved beside Larry cleaning up his own tools.
“I don’t know,” Larry said putting his shovels and brushes back in his bag. Pausing from his cleaning, he asked his friend, “Have you ever had a waking dream?”
“What do you mean?” Greg responded, his hands moving methodically picking up one tool and placing it in his bag, then moving for another.
“Like a day dream, but not. I don’t know. I’m not making sense. Just forget about it.”
“Alright,” Greg said with a shrug of his shoulders and continued cleaning.
Larry finished gathering his things and headed back to the hotel room that he and Greg shared. After opening the door to his room and walking in, he dropped his backpack at the side of the bed and sat down.
“What are you going to do now?” Greg asked as he placed his bag down as well and stretched out on the cream colored covers of his bed.
“Nothing,” Larry said looking up at the white ceiling that was covered with so many cracks and holes in the paint that it looked like some strange map. He kicked his shoes off as he lay back on the bed. “I feel like I should call Alice or someone, and tell them about the stone.” He hadn’t spoken with Alice for three days; practicality and the cost stopped him from calling as often as he would have liked.
“Do you think you should wait till the results are back from the museum, you know, just to make sure you have all the details?”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Larry said as he sat up on his bed. “What do you think of the rock?”
“Honestly?” Greg asked as he rolled over resting his head on his hand.
“Yeah, honestly. What do you think of it?” Larry asked turning to face his friend.
“I think it’s just some rock, from, if you’re lucky, ancient times, but it probably is from at the earliest medieval times, maybe even ten years ago. Someone probably thought it was important,” he admitted. “The real prize was probably the pot you shattered,” Greg laughed. Larry joined with him, all the while his minds eye recalling that green vision. Darkness in the light. “Besides, I always thought the Magna Mater would have been bigger.”
Dinner was served in a small restaurant on the first floor of the hotel. They waited in the lobby for the other students, and Borecci to get ready. The lobby and the dining room were full of replicas of old Roman statues, and had a floor made of jade colored tiles. Jade, like the stone I found.
They were served a light salad to begin with, and a dish of pasta. They had had pasta with every dinner since arriving in Italy. Larry usually liked pasta, but after having it everyday, he had begun to grow tired of it. However, they never had the same type of pasta as the night before. It was always in a different type of sauce or with different noodles, making the endless pasta just a little more bearable. After the pasta and salad, the main course came. It was generally a plate of meat, either chicken or beef. Sometimes Larry enjoyed it; other times, he could not stand the way it was prepared, and simply picked at his food while waiting for the others to finish. Those times were very few, thankfully, but during those nights he would go to bed hungry, and then make up for it the next day during lunch.
This night, it was the same as all the nights before. Larry sat with Greg, and their instructor, Mr. Borecci. “When do you expect results about the stone I found today?” Larry asked Borecci as he ate some of his pasta.
“I have it with me, up in my room right now. First thing tomorrow I plan on taking it down the the museum in Naploi myself. They will have the tools needed to make a thorough examination of it. They will call me the moment they have the results.”
“Do you know how long it will take for them to run their tests?” Larry asked taking another bite of pasta.
“No, but I would guess they could get results back as soon as the end of the week,” Borecci said as he began to eat again. They finished their meal, and then were free for the rest of the night to go exploring downtown in Naples, or to stay at the hotel and rest.
Larry went back to his room, when he entered, he could feel his exhaustion more than ever. He collapsed on his bed closing his eyes as Greg began to get ready for a night on the town.
“Come on, Larry. Aren’t you gonna spend some time around town? It’s your last chance, we leave tomorrow.”
“I know,” Larry replied, feeling sleep luring him even more. “I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t go out right now. I’m too tired. I think I’d rather just sleep.”
“Suit yourself. I’ll see you in the morning I guess.”
“Yeah, good night.” The door shut with a loud slam, and not long after, Larry was asleep. In his dream, he was up against a cliff on a small ledge. He didn’t remember how he got there, but he knew where he had to go. Holding onto the rock as best he could, he moved one foot along the ledge to his right, and shuffled his other foot after it. He didn’t look down, but knew that the floor was hundreds of feet below. He could hear an eagle screaming above him. He looked up and saw it circling around, its wingspan must have been twenty feet. It was the largest bird he had ever seen.
He put his attention back to his task and scooted along the cliff some more. He could smell rain in the air, though none had started to fall. His fingers were growing numb from the cold. Just a few more feet, then there’s a cave. Just a few more feet. The bird screamed overhead again, startling Larry and causing him to loose his footing for a second. The sound of the pebbles falling down the cliffside nearly stopped his heart as he grabbed onto the brown stone with all his strength. He took another step. Another, and another. He shut his eyes tight and kept moving. Soon he could feel the edge of the cave. It was warmer inside the mountain than out in the cold of the canyon wall. He used the last of his strength and pulled himself inside.
Larry tumbled down to the floor of the cave, his chest rising and falling with each heavy breath. His heart began to calm down, now that the danger of falling to his death had passed, but something still didn’t feel right. He looked up at the entrance to the cave, and saw the eagle perched on the lip of the rock. It’s massive. It’s body swallowed the opening to Larry’s refuge. Larry began to scoot back away from the bird slowly, until his hands ran into something soft. He turned and saw it was a bare foot, he looked up and saw Alice standing behind him, clothed in a flowing white gown, staring at the bird completely ignoring Larry.
Larry sat up in his bed, tossing the covers off of him. The dream seemed so real. He checked the time. It was four twenty one. Everyone had to wake up in two hours to get ready to go to the air port. The room seemed strangely cold. He looked towards the widow, and saw the curtain blowing softly in the wind. That’s funny, I don’t remember opening the window. He climbed out of bed and closed the window. Greg must have opened it before he went to sleep. Larry covered himself with his blankets again and shut his eyes.
No comments:
Post a Comment