“All right but I really don’t like this idea.”
“I know, I’m scared too, for both of us.”
“Where are you now?”
“Somewhere alongside highway thirty, why?”
“I’ll make one quick loop and if the coast is clear you can jump in.”
“All right I’d say I’m just north of Gravois and highway thirty.”
She sits in the shadows along the road side as she waits for the Mustang once again. She sees Norman drive past the deserted road going the other direction as he turns around at the flashing red light. She checks both ways that no one is coming then steps out onto the shoulder. The car pulls up and the trunk opens, Wren tosses in everything including herself and slams the lid. She feels the car start moving as it accelerates to highway speed and her phone starts to ring.
“What’s up lover boy?”
“I’m just going to head toward the motel if all is clear I’ll let you out there.”
“Sounds fine to me. At least this time I know you're only a call away.”
Shortly she feels the car stop and the engine shut off then she hears the key inside the lock and for the second time in her life she is freed from her own car’s trunk.
With Norman's help she soon strips herself of her latex skin and after a quick shower they both head to bed falling asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows.
The next morning the young couple wake early and after a quick breakfast Norman pulls up in front of the post office and Wren goes in. She comes back out soon though with a sizable pile of mail in her hands.
“Anything interesting?”
“Electric bill, Archeology today, hmm, this is interesting.”
“What is it?”
“A letter from Lima Peru, department of antiquities.”
Wren opens the letter and starts to read:
Dr. Jose Hernandez
Director of antiquities
National historic conservation dept.
Lima, Peru
Dear Miss. Robbins,
I have received your letter and resume and upon its review and consultation with your professors who had nothing but praise of your work and consultation with others within our ministry I have decided to offer you a position within our department.
Your supervisor will be Dr. Manuel Garcia he is in charge of all high altitude investigational areas and is in need of a self motivated and energetic assistant for a new site. We have recently found a site situated in the general area of Machu Pichu it is approximately one hundred fifty meters higher in elevation and six kilometers Southeast. Most of the work thus far has been spent in getting an access trail established to the site and the initial survey work of the mountain top.
The job we are offering would be to oversee the excavation of this new site. This will require living on site. We will provide all necessary supplies for cataloging and storage/shipping containers for the artifacts. We will also provide all food and fuel for camp operations. Re-supplies will be flown in by military helicopter when required such as over winter. However to protect digging most supplies will come by burrow.
You will need to supply your own tools, personal quarters (i.e. tent), personal living items (i.e. sleeping bags, pillows, etc.), cooking gear, lighting, and so forth.
We can offer you a yearly salary of thirty-five thousand U.S. plus food, medical, dental, and vision benefits.
Attached you will find a copy of the employment contract and a site map. Please sign and return the contract as soon as possible. If you do not find the terms acceptable please contact me so we can either work out the details or I can get in touch with our second choice. Either way I hope to hear from you soon and look forward to meeting you around the first part of August.
Sincerely,
Jose Hernandez
“The first part of August?”
“Well, that makes sense for their digging season but, it doesn’t leave me much time to finish my work here.”
“Not much at all and if it’s not done will you leave?”
“I don’t think I could, not at this point.”
“Peru, there’s no extradition treaty with them. So even if they did figure out you were doing in this gang they couldn’t bring you back.”
“But what about you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean we’re married and I need to know what you think about this. Two years on top of a mountain, giving up your law career, and leaving everything behind. Can you really be alright with this?”
“I will go wherever you go. I may not like the risks you are taking now, but I love you and I will sacrifice what I need to, to know you’re safe. Now what do we need for this new job?”
“We’ll need to supply pretty much everything we need, except food. And there’s not many places where we can get all of what we need. It’s a two year contract that’s good. By the map they sent they’ve allowed a fairly decent sized area for the workers camp and they even marked off a separate area for me. Let’s see ten meters by fifteen meters that is about thirty feet by fifty feet. Pretty good size area sheltered on two sides by the mountain itself.”
“Two years of consistent oversight?”
“Well that could only mean we’ll have to winter it up there.”
“What are winters like there and at that altitude?”
“I would assume they couldn’t be all that bad or the Inca’s wouldn’t have built an entire city up there. We on the other hand will not have as good a housing as they did. A tent will be cold if not properly outfitted. I’m going to have to come in to work with you so I can use the internet and start looking for gear.”
“Well a two year camping trip in a cold drafty home, sounds kind of like growing up. But that is to our advantage, I know how to survive without modern conveniences, I can build with hand tools and I even learned how to thatch roofs.”
“I can live off the land with the knowledge passed down to me from Dad and Painted Buffalo and from spending time with her and from digs in college I have no problem living without too many modern conveniences.”
“So I take it, it's settled then?”
“I’ll give him a call this morning and talk to him once we’re at your office and you can look over the contracts.”
As they drive on to Norman’s office Wren pulls a pen out of her purse and starts writing a list on the back of the large white envelope from Peru. By the time they’re parked she has a fairly sizable list already compiled and it is still growing when she gets out of the car. They head on into his office unlocking the door as they go. Wren follows Norman into his office and turns on the speaker phone then starts dialing the number on the letter where a woman answers in rapid Spanish forcing Wren to also speak in Spanish although much slower.
“Hello department of Antiquities Doctor Hernandez’s office.”
“This is Wren Robbins is Doctor Hernandez in?”
“Per his instructions he is in if you call, please hold and I will get him for you.”
“Jose Hernandez speaking, am I right in hearing that this is Miss Robbins?”
“Well it was, now it is Mrs. James.”
“Congratulations, but this also saddens me as I now know why you have taken so long to call and I must need to contact my second choice.”
“Actually I took so long because I was on my honeymoon when your letter arrived and I was calling to discuss your terms and conditions seeing as I have a partner that will be coming with me.”
“Your husband wishes to join you?”
“Yes sir if that would be alright with you.”
“Oh it is perfectly fine I personally had some reservations about having you alone up there. I will need a copy of your marriage certificate but I can extend to your husband the same benefits I offer you and the additional food for him as well. Does he speak Spanish?”
For the first time Norman enters the conversation in perfect Latin.
“No Latin is as close as I can come but it is pretty close.”
“Yes as you say it is very close and you should get along just fine. If you don’t mind sir what is your occupation?”
“Lawyer.”
“Ah a very learned man indeed. Then you can appreciate the level of education your wife has. I will send you a new contract today and you should have it tomorrow.”
“That would be fine but you’ll need to send it to a different address. The old one is no good anymore.”
Wren gives him the address for Norman’s office and after a few cordial goodbyes she hangs up the phone and turns to Norman.
“Five weeks, not a lot of time to finish and gather the gear.”
“I know from our little foray into camping gear that finding that amount of gear isn’t going to be easy. I mean where do you even start?”
“For that type and quantity of gear the only place I know of is Cabella’s.”
“Well why don’t you leave the contract with me and you can start looking on the web.”
Several hours later and several calls to her insurance company later Wren has started to accumulate a rather lengthy list of gear when Norman comes in to find her.
“Want some lunch?”
“Yea, sure.”
“Anything wrong?”
“Oh just adding up the cost of the gear thus far and realizing it’s going to cost a fortune to ship let alone buy.”
“Well shipping won’t be too much of a problem, your new employer has agreed to cover the shipping cost of all your gear.”
“That’s good now all I have to do is get the gear to ship before we arrange a shipping date. Take a look at this tent and tell me what you think.”
“Nice looking, kind of reminds me of something from the gold rush days. I think I would go with the twelve by seventeen model and get a cook shack for each end.”
“Why so much?”
“Kind of lets you separate your living area from storage and work by kind of giving you an office. And they would add extra warmth in the winter because each end has an entire extra room to keep the wind off. A set of tarps along the guy lines to the ground and a rain fly would help with the sides and roof. Depending on the native surroundings you might be able to find some insulating materials to build up along the sides. I’ve seen some remarkable insulating material at the lumber yard that would work great for the roof.”
“You know you are amazing. You think we need a stove in each unit?”
“I would, I’d put the largest you can get in the main tent and a smaller one in each end so you could light them if it gets really cold.”
“With as short a notice as we have, how are we going to pay for all this? I can’t charge it.”
“We’ll just use my debit card and until we get some cash from the insurance on the house and truck we’ll just have to watch what we spend out of it. Now let’s go get some lunch while we try to make up a list of what we are going to need for this.”
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