Chapter 2

Wide awake, I opened up the books I had purchased. One of them had a loose heavy paper telling about the Colorado Prospectors Club and what an advantage it would be to become a member for an amateur prospector. I would ask Mary if she belonged.

I was at some disadvantage tonight when I looked at gems and minerals that were found in different parts of Colorado. I had no idea about the location of where Mary’s claim lay. One fact I did glean was that a claim was of about 20 acres in size. That was a lot of land. When you found a place you wanted to claim, it could be located on a map using GPS. Interesting!

Mary surprised me when she called at 7:00 AM and said she would meet me in the dining room for breakfast in fifteen minutes. I was up, but hardly awake. I had read and looked at pictures until early morning. Mary was waiting for me when I reached the first floor.

“You look tired?”

“I am. I was reading all about gems. I didn’t get much sleep.”

“I didn’t get as much as usual. I lay awake thinking about how much fun I had last night. I’ll remember it forever.”

“Great, but today is for the future and I need coffee. We’ll have something light and stop in a couple of hours for something heavier. We should be where we are going for lunch.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Mary, I have a lot of questions about your claim. We can talk about that while we are on our way. One question now, are you a member of something called the Colorado Prospector’s Club?”

“I am. You should join. Maybe you will want to file on the claim next to mine later if it is as good as last year and turns out to be lucrative.”

“My thought, exactly.”

Mary talked about her experiences on the mountain last year. “At most, if I went home to my cabin, I only could work about four hours. It was a long walk to get to the foot and then my claim was a thousand feet up to the claim. This was several hundred feet above the tree line. It is cold most days and if it rained, the cold drove right through you. And then there were the violent thunder storms. They moved in fast and you headed down for the tree line where you didn’t stand out.

“I do think it worth it. I found a lot of gem stones. The ones I showed you were the best of what I found. I sold many, many more of poorer quality and did realize $10,000. I’m hoping to be at the claim for longer periods during the day. I won’t personally have to carry so many tools. It is a lonely existence. As far as I know, there aren’t any other claims nearby. The word will get out though because what I found is a lot better than on many of the claims.

“How long are you going to work this claim?”

“Pete, in years, I don’t know. I may sell at the end of the season. I can’t imagine doing this for long. I do have a little money. Maybe someday I will find myself and settle into running a business.”

“Are you trained for anything?”

“Of course. I finished the high school course at sixteen. I went on to get an associate’s degree in money management. It is a good thing because my mother left me considerable assets. I entered college at nineteen and took business management. Much of it after finally getting to the meat of the subject I already had a grasp on from my associate’s degree. I didn’t finish.”

“And why was that?”

“You want the truth?”

“It would be nice.”

“Pete, I didn’t get along very well with my classmates. I was pledged because of my money. I made it through the initiation which didn’t go well at all. It was downhill from there. I finally had to get my own apartment. Everyone looked down on me and I was pretty much shunned by the bulk of the student body. I left in the third year.

“There were a few incidents along the way and I finally gave it up. It looked like I was going to be asked to leave anyway.”

“And the incidents, what were those?”

“There was a couple over the initiation. I settled that by threatening a suit. Over the next two years, I got my revenge. Nothing serious, you understand, just a bit of humiliation here and there. People did get the message.”

“Mary, so you ended up a social outcast?”

“If you say so.”

I didn’t speak until Mary said, “You think I acted wrong don’t you?”

“In one word, yes, but it is not in me to judge. I wasn’t there.”

“I’ve always felt as if the whole world was against me. That is my only defense. It began with my mother keeping me hidden for the first few years of my life. My youngest brother sneaked into where she was keeping me and saw me. She couldn’t keep me hidden any longer after one brother had seen me. They would come and take me out of her room so I could play.

“Pete, I did tell you my mother was very religious, didn’t I? She would show me to a priest and he would say blessings over me. All this time the priest made my mother do penances. I never under understood why. It must have been something she had done. I got even with her after she died. I didn’t follow her wishes and shared all the money she left me with my brothers. They were her step-sons and she hated them.”

“You’re rambling. I don’t make much sense of what you are telling me. It really isn’t necessary that I know.”

“Pete, for some reason I want you to hear my story.”

“I was just wondering how old you are, that is what was behind some of my questions.”

“Oh, why didn’t you just ask?”

“Mary, a man never asks a lady her age.”

“You must realize by this time, I’m no lady.”

“You could be.”

“No, I never could be. I’m marked with Stigmata. Mother told me it is the mark of the devil. I suppose now you want to see the mark?”

“No, I don’t want to see it. Besides, Stigmata are usually the mark of Jesus that he supposedly received on the cross. The most seen are scars of the nails through the hands and feet. Many times there are scars on the head from the crown of thorns. And sometimes there is a scar where a lance was driven into his side. Stigmata is usually defined where they are positioned on your body.”

“Pete, you know about this condition?”

“I do. Remember, I told you I read a book one time.”

“You’re making fun of me.”

“Mary, no I’m not. Have you ever been examined by a doctor or doctors?”

“Never. Why do you ask that?”

“Because in the book I read, this condition is often faked. In fact, about eighty percent of the time someone will mutilate themselves for gain or notoriety. I don’t believe you would do that and I don’t know what your scars look like.”

“I’m not going to show you.”

“I don’t want to see. I’m no expert. I suspect you are scarred, probably badly from a birth mark or some injury. Even when someone has an ugly birthmark, it is said to be the mark of God. Some people have had these removed, and others have learned to live with them. Apparently you have done neither.”

I paused, “It could be your mother left all of her assets to you in recompense for you being injured when a child. Let’s leave off talking about it. We must be close to the end of our journey. This trip hasn’t been all bad. I enjoyed our date last night and we have the whole summer before us. Maybe we will have a few good dates during our time together while here.”

“You really had a good time taking me out?”

“Mary, I did. A man always enjoys having a lovely lady by his side.”

“We’ll talk about it again. That was beer I tried last night. You know I may get to enjoy the taste. After I said I didn’t like it, I wanted to try it again. Pete, take the next right and in a hundred yards you’ll see my cabin.”

“Wow, this is a tiny cabin. It has bunk beds. Who gets the top?”

“Pete, you do. You go to bed first and you will have to turn against the wall when I get into my pajamas.”

“Okay, good enough. Hey, I’ll start unloading the Subaru. Are you going to cook something or are we going into the village?”

“We might as well go into town. We need supplies. We can eat at the diner. Their food is good. Maybe I’ll see some of the other rock hounds I know.”

“Mary, how do the other people that dig for minerals and gems see you?”

She turned to me and said, grinning. “Hey, I’m as normal as the rest of the gang. They are going to notice I did something with my hair, of course.”

“I’m your hired helper, right?”

“Yeah, I can’t introduce as my boyfriend or they’d disown me after what I said about men last year.”

“Mary, do they think you are of a different sexual persuasion?”

“I don’t think so. I was approached by one of the women and I made sure that it was understood I wasn’t like that. Actually, I may be asexual.”

“Mary, oh, I think you would know if you are.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Indications.”

“What indications?”

“Think back to the last dance last evening.” Mary’s face flamed.

“Pete, you read too much into what you think I was feeling. I was just very happy, that’s all.”

“Okay, I was feeling very close to you and I thought the feeling was mutual.”

“You are making me uncomfortable. Let’s go get groceries. We’ll unload our things when we return.”

We chose shaved steak sandwiches which came with chips and a salad. It was good and filling. We went into the grocery store and loaded up a cart. “We do have electricity. A lot to the cabins here don’t. They have to use a gas fridge and gas water heaters. You take your shower first. Watch how much water you use because the water tank is small.”

Mary had transformed into ‘Boss mode.’ That was okay. I was used to taking orders. When bedtime came, I was told to face the wall, which I did. “Goodnight, Pete. There may be some snow we have to cross when we get to the bottom of the mountain we have to climb. The mountain is steep so we can’t go straight up. There will be some trail if a slide hasn’t buried it.” I didn’t answer and didn’t turn over. The bunk was fairly comfortable and I went to sleep.

It was dark outside when I awoke next. I had to pee. The toilet was connected, but you had to step out and cross the tiny porch to get to it. I stepped out doors to look at the stars. They were brilliant. It was cold and fresh air I was breathing and I soon came back in. There was a ladder to the top bunk, but I was strong enough to boost myself up and in. A flashlight came on. “Is it cold out?”

“It feels like zero, but it probably is in the low thirties. Do enjoy your trip.” Mary giggled. I went back to sleep.

Eggs, bacon and toast were for breakfast. It was just getting light. Mary spoke as she put food on my plate. “We’ll keep it simple today. We’ll take what food we will need and the small tools like rakes and maybe a small bar. I’ve found that a heavy potato hook works well to get a lot of the rocks out of the way. These things are stored in a shed behind the cabin.”

We loaded the Subaru and she said she would drive. It was five miles to where we would have to leave the vehicle. “There is a good trail, but there are too many rocks in the way to go further.”

We took two potato hooks, a lawn, a leaf, and garden rake. We had food, water, and small tools in our back packs. We shouldered everything and set off on foot. It was two miles to the foot of the mountain we would be working her claim on.

The trail wasn’t difficult at all and wasn’t obstructed except for some large boulders that had rolled into the trail. They had come down through the trees and stopped where the land had leveled out between two mountains. It took us almost an hour to reach where Mary had set up a small shelter last year. She had of course removed this when she left last fall.

There was the beginning of a footpath that angled up the mountain. It wasn’t that steep at first but got increasingly so. Finally, we reached the tree line. The wind hit us and we were glad we were wearing parkas. Mary looked up to where her claim was. “Oh, no, there has been a slide and it looks like it covered my claim.”

“That’s bad?”

“Hard to tell. If it stopped on it, it may have piled up several feet of stones and rocks and we’ll have to remove that to get to where there is mineral-bearing soil to work.” We started out. From here, there were three long switchbacks so in reality we had to traverse twice the distance. We finally reached her claim.

She stopped and stared at it. “Well it could be worse. Most of the boulders and larger stones are below my claim and their path isn’t that terribly wide. We won’t have to move those. We’ll dig into the piled up slide and see what came down. We may find some good gems in it. Or maybe we won’t find anything. If we don’t, where the slide covers the claim, it will be almost useless. There are some open areas around the edges so we can work those places.”

“What is my first chore?”

“Would you rake stones off an area five or six feet square? When you get that done, I’ll dig into it and see if there is anything of value.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going up and look at the ledge outcropping near the top of the claim. I want to be sure it is safe and not tumble down on us while we are working. Apparently some broke loose and that’s what started the slide.”

I paid no attention to what Mary was doing. It wasn’t long before I removed my heavy coat. I kept my eyes on the ground, hoping to see something of value. I didn’t really know what I was looking for but kept looking anyway. I got a spot four feet square cleared down to where I had small stuff and pebbles.

I used the lawn rake, gently brushed over the ground. There were two items with a dull shine showing. These had to be crystals of some sort. Mary would tell me when she came down. I began clearing another patch of ground. Was I excited? A little bit, maybe—Ha!

Mary began speaking from twenty feet above me. “Pete, it looks safe enough to continuing working here. Oh, good you have a spot cleared. Did you find anything?”

“You tell me.”

“You spotted something, didn’t you?” She came rushing own to my side.

I pointed to the two small items, still buried but did have a flat facet showing. Mary leaned down and poked them out with her finger. “These are what we are looking for. They are not very good condition but are worth a few cents. We sell these by the pound. They are worth digging for.”

“You climbed up where the slide came down. Did you see anything?”

“I found a broken piece of Smoky Quartz. I’ll search in that area and maybe find other pieces. Sometimes there is more than one set together. They’ll be underground and hard to get out without breaking, but they can be quite valuable.”

“Should I keep doing what I have been doing?”

“Yes.” Mary was the boss. What I really wanted to do was dig through the cleared spot and see what I could find. I continued getting patches of the ground cleared. This wasn’t too difficult as it was on a steep incline and most of the large rocks and boulders had traveled faster than the small ones and had gone past the edge of Mary’s claim where they had come upon an outcropping that had stopped the slide.

I worked and really thought I was doing great until I took a breather and looked at what I had accomplished. Christ. I only had cleared a few square yards in more than two hours. There must be nearly two acres in the slide travel path. Above this was where Mary was poking around. Mary stood and glanced back down the slope at me. “How is it going?”

“Slow.”

“We have all summer.”

“It’s going to take me all summer to clear this. And then when I get this done, we have to sift through what is below what came down in the slide.”

“I know but think what we will discover. Take the time to scratch into it little. That will give you the impetus to keep at it when you find something. This is fun.”

“I’ll tell you when it gets to be fun.” I looked down and saw a faceted stone. I picked it up, holding it high. “Is this what I’m having fun finding?”

Mary came sliding down and took it out of my hand. She turned it over and around. “I’m happy with it. You should be too. That’s about $9 worth of smoky quartz. That’s wholesale price. It probably would be a couple of hundred dollars of ear rings or pendants when processed.”

“Great, a $10 backache and a $9 stone.”

“You aren’t going to quit on me are you.”

“No. I’m just using muscles I haven’t used for a while. I’ve been raking and prying stones out of the way for nearly three hours. Christ, in the army we were given a five minute break every hour. You’re working me harder than any squad leader ever did.”

“I do intend to get lost in what I’m doing. Take five.”

This pissed me off. “Thanks.”

Mary looked at me. Maybe she could see how I felt. “Pete, that was supposed to be a joke. Lighten up a little. Rest anytime you feel like it. Let’s take a break now. I’m weary, myself. We’ll eat something. I’m glad it has warmed up a little.”

I got two MREs from my back pack. Mary handed me a bottle of water. She dug into hers. We sat down on a big boulder below the claim. “Hey, this is pretty good. Why didn’t I have these last year?”

“See, I’m good for more than common labor.”

“You’re way more than common, Pete.” I let that go. I was pleased though. We sat staring down into the valley, not saying anything after consuming our lunch. “I feel like cooking. I think I’ll make meatloaf for supper tonight.”

“Sounds good.” Another fifteen minutes and I saw a cloud obscuring the sun. I pointed and asked, “Do you think there is any rain in that?”

“Probably, it’s headed this way. It looks like a twenty minute shower. We’ll stay right here. Our parkas are rain proof.”

Mary was right. We huddled together during the shower. God, it was cold. When it reduced to a few raindrops, I got up and went back where I had left my rake, ready to begin again.

“Hey, look at that. The rain was hard enough to wash some of the fine rock chips, sand, and disturbed soil away. Look at all the pretty stones that are showing.”

“Good, we’ll pick them up and rake this patch you cleared and maybe the next shower will show more on the surface. After that let’s call it quits. You must be tired, I know I am.” I didn’t argue. We picked up several aquamarine mineral crystals and Mary got real excited when she found another sample of Smoky Quartz. This one was a tad larger than the one I had picked up.

“At least we didn’t have to dig for these that we found today.”

“That’s good and bad. A lot of what we picked up are partial crystals and many are scratched so the value is low. I am surprised we found what we did. When we get this detritus out of the way, we will begin digging carefully and find some good specimens. That’s my hope anyway. I found some good places where we might find other gems above the slide other than what you uncovered. I’ll begin in those places, tomorrow.”

“So it is more of the same for me?”

“Yes. I’ll have you digging down through the material that piled up in the slide. I’ll have you work laterally instead of up and down. When you get down below the material that piled up, we will dig into the ground below that. I’ll have you as you work another section of the slide fill in the holes of where you previously dug. This way the material from the holes will go to return the surface to nearly normal. A claim shouldn’t be left with a bunch of holes all over it.”

“Is that a rule?”

“Pretty much. This way will be a lot slower way to work the claim, but we won’t miss as much either.”

“How to have fun in the summer, right?”

“I can see this is just a job for you. Wait until we dig up an unusual or a valuable specimen. I guarantee it won’t be so much work afterward.”

“If you say so.” We bunched our tools and made sure we didn’t leave any trash. We made our way down the mountain and had the two mile walk ahead of us. It was a long day. I got into my bunk about eight after taking a shower. Mary was finishing up the dishes when I went to sleep. I awoke at midnight and went right back to sleep after relieving myself. Would I be able to move come daylight?

I could and did. I was surprised at how well I felt. I put coffee on and put toast in. I glanced at the bottom bunk. Mary must be sleeping. I turned my back and poured the brew. I heard her stirring after the toast popped up and turned to watch her get out of bed. “Please pour coffee for me.”

I went to the stove for the pot. When I came back to the table, Mary was finished wrapping herself in her robe. She grinned at me.”That worked well. We’ll get up every morning like we did this morning. I suppose I’m acting shy but I don’t want you staring at me.”

“I won’t stare. When you want to get dressed, tell me and I’ll go outside. If it is late enough I can do an errand or gas up the car in town. We’re going to be together a lot and I don’t intend to make you uncomfortable.”

“You’re a strange person, Pete.”

This was our routine. I toughened up enough so my back didn’t ache as much and my hands became calloused. We had a tarp at the site and some of the poles so we had shelter if the sun was bright or a storm came up. A ranger came by once a week to see what we were finding. I continued to sift through the landslide material. Mary would dig when I got down through the material that had slid from above. She worked in the area where the slide had removed the top soil. Mary claimed she would know by how the soil looked if she felt she was getting close to something good.

There was always seemed to be rocks to move. I would work a small area where I removed the obvious rocks and sifted the soil, often finding some crystals. I would get through what had been brought down with the slide. Mary would then come down from above and examine the ground. She would then direct me to dig into the soil a few inches to look for crystals that hadn’t moved in the slide and would be pristine if I didn’t damage them digging them free of the ground.

Mary set me to digging. It didn’t take long before I found something and it didn’t look like aquamarine. I shouted to her to take a look at what I had to show her. “Oh great, that is amethyst. I’ll help with that.” It was small and she popped it out of the ground. “That’s nice, but not very valuable.”