Chapter 13

The house was still under construction, but enough of it had been completed to see how it was laid out. Ed walked from where the living room would be to the kitchen and dining room. Trying to construct a mental image as he examined the layout, he decided that he liked it a lot. It would be a very nice house once it was finished. He turned to Mrs. Hayes who was still in the living room and said, “I like it.”

With a little smile in his direction, Mrs. Hayes said, “Of all the plans the architect showed us, I liked this one the best.”

Walking around the perimeter, Ed realized that there were four bedrooms. He commented, “Four bedrooms.”

“John said that we needed a study each, a bedroom, and a playroom that could be used for guests,” she replied as an answer to the unasked question. She didn’t quite understand why he insisted that she have a study of her own, but had gone along with the suggestion.

“I bet you can’t wait for it to be finished.”

That was an understatement. She had been trying to come to grips with the openness of the Carter Clan. Even after three weeks, she couldn’t go near the pool when the men were there. She said, “It’s not that I don’t appreciate everything you have done for us, but I’m just a little too conservative for your lifestyle.”

The comment about being too conservative reminded Ed of Linda Redman. While her cousin, Sarah, was a full-fledged nudist, Linda was just the opposite. After a major gift giving ceremony to the Carter Clan by her tribe, John had proposed that she live with them to determine if she was willing to accept marriage. The young lady was still a virgin and was just as conservative as Mrs. Hayes. He asked, “What do you think of Linda?”

Mrs. Hayes, Linda, and Leroy had become very good friends. Linda shared her same unease around naked people. Always a gentleman, Leroy had always made it a point to be dressed around both women. She answered, “I like her. She’s a very sweet girl.”

A horn honked outside the house disrupting their conversation. Ed said, “They’re here for you.”

Walking to the door with brisk strides, Mrs. Hayes said, “Thank you, Ed. We’ll be home after you are gone, I guess.”

“Alright,” replied Ed. He stayed behind to take one more look at the house. It was going to be a nice place when it was finished. As he heard the sound of the car pulling away with the characteristic whine of a fusion powered car, he went out the back door and headed to the house.

Entering the house, he stopped by the office. Cathy came to the door and said, “Kim called. She’s going out to the mine to perform a preliminary survey. She wishes you could go with her.”

Ed nodded that he understood the message. He answered, “Let her know that I plan to be back in four days, but it could be a little longer.”

Taking down the note, Cathy said, “The Antarctic Group wants to know if you’ll be able to go down there for ten days. They said they need their answer Monday.”

Frowning at the idea of being in the cold for ten solid days, Ed knew that he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to explore a totally virgin area for minerals. He answered, “I guess I’ll go. It’s an opportunity even if it is too cold.”

Cathy smiled as she said, “I had told them that you were likely to go.”

“Really?”

“If there is anything that you can’t resist, it’s the call of the wild rock,” giggled Cathy.

“Any other messages?” asked Ed, finding it hard to believe that thirty minutes out of the house had resulted in two messages for him. He wondered how many messages there would be when he returned from Colorado.

“None,” answered Cathy.

“Thanks, Cathy. I don’t know what I would do without you,” said Ed.

Cathy smiled at him and winked as she said, “You might want to check on the good doctor before you go. It appears that all of his naked nurses are causing him some discomfort.”

Ed laughed and replied, “Let the tension build a little more.”

As Cathy giggled at the suggestion, John arrived. He looked at Ed and said, “Can you talk to Kelly? She insists on wearing shorts and sandals.”

Nodding, Ed immediately went to find Kelly. After knocking on the door to her bedroom, she let him into her living room. Without greetings, she returned to her bedroom to finish packing clothes for her trip. Ed followed her and watched what she was putting in the backpack John had lent her. Commenting on her selection of clothes, Ed said, “I’d wear jeans if I were you.”

Angry, she replied, “I’m not you. I might listen to your advice if you were to go with me. Since you and John are being assholes by not coming, I’ll wear what I want.”

“This is a private journey that you are going on and you have to do it alone,” Ed replied as he picked up a pair of tennis shoes and threw them in the backpack.

She started to remove them, but saw the look on his face and left them there. She spat, “You don’t know that!”

“I’m in their service already. Accept that John and I know a few things about becoming Druids,” replied Ed. They had this conversation many times over the past few days, but she refused to accept the inevitable. Disturbed by her behavior, he left her room and went to his. He grabbed his saddlebags in which he had packed his clothes for the trip and, as he stepped out the door, picked up his bedroll.

Ed put his stuff in the back of John’s Jeep and stood around waiting for John and Kelly to arrive. As an afterthought, he picked up his bag with his rock hunting equipment. Once that was in the back of the Jeep, he leaned against it considering the events of the past two months. It seemed impossible that so many things could happen in such a short period of time. Beth died, Bob had been injured in an attack on John, Leroy came to live with them, Linda came to live with them, and he had broken a horrible crime ring.

The next month promised to be just as busy with two consulting jobs, a trip to Denver, and a conference presentation in Albuquerque. While this trip wasn’t exactly a vacation, he didn’t have anything to do except drop off Kelly and then wait for her to return. His private musings were interrupted by the arrival of John and Kelly.

John pulled into the parking lot of the Sporting Goods Store. After a glance at Kelly and receiving a glare for his troubles, he went inside. Ed said, “Kelly, I know you don’t want some advice, but I’m going to give it to you anyway.”

Sighing, Kelly said, “I want your advice, I really do. More than that, I want you two to go with me.”

Sorry that he couldn’t give her the answer she wanted, Ed looked down at his lap. With regret obvious in his voice, he said, “Kelly, you will understand in time, but we can’t go with you. When you challenged the Goddess, you set this in motion.”

“Well, she wasn’t doing her job. She let Beth die and those bastards attacked us in our own home. Where was she then?” retorted Kelly.

Remembering when he had challenged the Gods and Goddesses, Ed cringed. Challenging the Gods and Goddesses was not a good idea. If he hadn’t worked so hard to retrieve the medallion, the Two-Sided One would have let him die.

John returned to the car and handed three MREs and three large bottles of water to Kelly. The MREs were full military style packages including toilet paper. He said, “Here are three MREs. I noticed that you didn’t pack anything to eat. Follow the instructions, they are pretty simple and taste pretty good.”

Kelly shrugged as she examined the foil wrapped packages. She hadn’t thought to bring food or water. She stashed the items in her backpack and sat there holding the pack on her lap. As John pulled out of the parking lot he asked, “Do you remember how to use the GPS?”

They had drilled her on using the GPS for the past week and she knew that she could use it in her sleep. She answered, “Yes, I remember.”

As John pulled over to the side of the road, he said, “We’re here.”

Suddenly afraid, she asked, “What can I expect?”

John said, “Imagine making love to the force that creates a tornado or an earthquake. Even the gentlest breeze requires so much force to create it on the scale that it exists. The Gods and Goddesses seldom deal with an individual. When they do, their raw strength is overwhelming. When they make love to us, it feels like rape only because it’s so forceful.”

His words scared her even more, but she chose not to say anything. With a moment of hesitation, she stepped out of the car. After looking back at them, she walked into the woods. Ed watched her go with tears in his eyes and said, “There she goes.”

John smiled and said, “Don’t worry about her.”

“I can’t help it.”

“Neither can I.”

The two men laughed as John turned the Jeep around and headed back into town. As they drove by the sheriff’s office, Ed noticed a number of people standing around outside. With a mischievous look on John’s face, he pulled up in front of the office. The men got out of the car. As Ed held the door open for John, John stepped inside and shouted, “I confess. You don’t have to beat any more, Sheriff. I’ll tell you anything you want!”

Ed looked at the faces of the people that had been standing in front of the office expecting to see shocked looks. A grin spread over his face when he saw that the Sheriff was one of the people in the crowd. The Sheriff had hidden behind one of the other people when he spotted John heading towards his office. The crowd laughed as one of the men said, “Looks like you have a visitor, Sheriff.”

The Sheriff laughed as he answered, “It’s just John Carter. Any of you want to help me lock him up?”

Everyone in the crowd shook their heads. John stuck his head out of the office and said, “He’s not here.”

The Sheriff extracted himself from the people in the crowd and said, “Nice to see you, John. I enjoyed hearing your confession.”

Laughing, John replied, “At least it wasn’t wasted.”

“So what are you doing here?” asked the Sheriff wondering if the whole Plutonian Circus was going to show up this time.

“Just came by to say hello and let you know that Ed and I will be here for a couple of days,” replied John.

Winking at the Sheriff, Ed added, “He just came by to harass you is more like it.”

“I’d believe that. So are you staying over at the Sporting Goods Store?”

Shaking his head, John said, “I’m spending a couple of days at Doc Wilkins’ place.”

Ed said, “I’m going up the mountain a bit to look at the rocks there.”

The Sheriff looked over at Ed for a minute and then said, “Why don’t you let me take you up to one of the diamond mines? I’m sure they would be happy to show you around.”

John looked over at Ed and said, “I’ll take the car and come up to pick you up in two days.”

The Sheriff answered, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll bring him back.”

Surprised at the offer, Ed said, “Sounds good to me.”

Retrieving his saddlebag, rock gear, and bedroll from the Jeep, Ed went over to the Sheriff and said, “Any time you are ready to go.”

John waved and then headed off to the hospital to meet with the childhood friend of his late brother. Ed watched him go, not surprised that he would leave so quickly. He viewed this trip as a mini-vacation with the opportunity to visit old friends.

The Sheriff said, “Let’s head out. I think you’ll like this operation. It’s one of the few diamond mines in the US.”

As Ed got into the Sheriff’s car, he asked, “How far is it from here?”

The Sheriff replied, “It’s about a three hour drive. It’s along the Wyoming border.”

“That’s a long trip to make just to drop me off,” said Ed.

The Sheriff grinned and said, “I’m not dropping you off. I’m taking a vacation.”

Surprised, Ed asked, “You were planning on going up there anyway?”

“No, it’s just with John in town, I know that nothing interesting is going to happen around here that my deputies can’t handle,” replied the Sheriff. Reaching over to the dash, he picked up the radio handset and said, “Deputy Ramsey, I’m taking three days off.”

From the radio, the deputy responded, “Okay, boss.”

“By the way, John Carter is in town,” said the Sheriff into the microphone.

The deputy answered, “No wonder you’re taking a couple of days off.”

The Sheriff asked, “Could you get in touch with Sammy, and have him call his cousin up at the diamond mine? Let him know that I’m heading up that way.”

The Deputy laughed and said, “Sure thing.”

The Sheriff smiled and ended the discussion. Turning to Ed he said, “I carry a couple of changes of clothes in the back just in case I get trapped somewhere for a day or two.”

Turning on the radio to a country western station, the Sheriff sang along as he drove out of town. Watching the man, Ed realized that the Sheriff had been around Druids for a long time. The effect on people was often subtle, but recognizable as an ability to focus on the now and enjoy what ever was happening. Neither one said much through the entire drive.

When they reached the mine, they were met by a security guard at the gate. The Sheriff talked to the guard for a minute and then they were waved through. Parking in front of the office which was little more than a trailer, the two men got out and stretched. A man came out of the office and approached them. Hand extended, he said, “I’m Matt Carlen, owner of this operation. What brings you here?”

The Sheriff took the man’s hand and said, “I’m Sheriff Dan Grayson and this is Ed Biggers.”

The manager immediately turned to face Ed and asked, “You are the Ed Biggers?”

Surprised at being recognized, Ed answered, “I’m an Ed Biggers.”

“The Ed Biggers from Arizona?”

“That’s me,” replied Ed wondering how this guy knew of him. The Sheriff shook his head, amazed at how these guys would show up and people would bend over backwards to help them.

Matt said, “Well, come on into the office. We’ll talk a bit and then I’ll show you our operation here.”

The two men followed Matt into the trailer where two desks were set up. There was a woman behind the other desk and she just glanced up at the pair before returning to her work. Matt pulled up a couple of chairs and asked, “So what do you know about our mine here?”

Ed answered, “Well, this is a Kimberlite mine. Kimberlite is a most interesting igneous rock. It’s only occasionally diamond bearing. Some of the characteristic minerals found in Kimberlite are olivine, pyrope garnet, enstatite, diopside, ilmenite, phlogopite, perovskite, magnetite, and spinel. Kimberlite intrusives originate at depths of 150 to 200 kilometers or more and are often injected into the crust in an explosive manner, carrying diamonds from depth.”

Amazed, Matt sat back and said, “You really know your rocks.”