
Part V — Away in a Manger
Chapter 28 — Can You be Born Before You’re Born?
As Jessica opened the kitchen door, a man in shorts carrying a large knife filled the doorway.
Christy and Jessica both shrieked.
“So… did you get the crystal?” Rick asked calmly.
Both girls flushed with recognition and quit screaming, then noticed he held a melon in the other hand, which he was cutting up for a fruit tray for breakfast.
“Are you gonna beat us?” Jessica questioned.
“That wouldn’t be fair, would it?” Rick asked.
Christy said, “Nope!”
“Well, I’m not feeling particularly fair at the moment,” he waved the knife around menacingly.
They both dashed past him toward the stairs, screeching again, this time in mock panic.
“Get back here!” he roared.
The girls stopped and moped back to him. He held out his hand and Jessica deposited the crystal in it. “The cube too,” he added, and Christy pulled it out of the bag, setting it on the counter. “Go put away your things and get back here. You’re fixing breakfast.”
They whined and complained about being tired, but did as they were told.
Anna heard Rick’s yell and emerged from her room just as the other girls tromped up the stairs. She walked over to Rick and hugged him. “I might as well help. You should be resting,” she pointed to a chair.
Rick hobbled to the table, grabbing the cube on the way. He opened it and started watching Jessica and Christy’s adventure.
The rest of the clan eventually joined them and all listened to the tale. Everyone was shocked at the mere descriptions; Jessica urged them all not to watch it.
After breakfast Rick insisted the three girls in Anderson’s class wear a necklace all day. Oddly though, Mr. Anderson made no strange moves, barely acknowledging the girls. Rick spent all day reading up on the birth of Jesus until it drove him mad and he opted to work on his video game instead. Abby was shopping for supplies for her upcoming expedition and didn’t come home until it was almost time to get Jessica from school.
“It seems nobody truly knows when Jesus was born,” he said with a sigh. “Some say December 25, year 0, of course, but they are in the extreme minority. It ranges from 8 BC to anywhere in the next twelve years. Some say he was born in Jerusalem, some in Jericho, some in Nazareth, some even say Mary wasn’t his mother! How can anyone claim to be sure, much less righteous, and proclaim with such certainty something so incredibly vague?” He threw his hands up in frustration.
“I’ll ask some of my friends tonight to see if they know anyone who knows something…”
“I was hoping for divine intervention… God would just lift the paper with the correct information from the stack.”
Abby sat on the arm of his chair and wrapped one of her arms around his neck. “It’s OK, honey, it’s not that hopeless. We’ll figure it out.”
It didn’t really help.
Abby left a little later to pick Jessica up. Rick decided to check out the latest message from Bergamiser. He was sick of the sadistic cruelty as soon as it started so he set it to only show when Bignose was in the room, carefully listening for clues. Everything he heard made his blood boil.
Bergamiser opened the door. The girls sprang from the bed at the sound and instinctively grasped each other. He carried a large bowl of something resembling oatmeal, but brought no utensils, and sat it on the bed. When he turned to sneer at the girls, he suddenly flew into a rage. “Oh, don’t you two look so pretty, even after the nice bath I gave you yesterday! You had to go ruin it, didn’t you? I bet your buddies, Alex and Kaylie, would think so,” he was looking at Beth. “We’ll have to fix that!”
Beth winced in pain as he grabbed her by the upper arm and hurled her violently to the floor. Landing face-first, she split her lip upon impact with the hard soil underneath the mud, leaving her dazed and tasting blood in the mud that filled her mouth.
He tried to pick her up by grabbing a handful of the back of her dress, but her dead weight caused it to rip and he dropped her on her face again — this time smashing her nose. She shrieked and clutched at her face with muddy hands, trying to sit up. Bignose grabbed the front of the dress and the fabric strained again. This time it held and he pulled her to her feet. She practically dangled from his hand, woozy from pain. He dragged her to where a pool of water still stood from last night’s mud-bath and pushed her down into it, rolling her around until she was caked with brown all over again. She lay there a moment, crying, trying to wipe the stinging mud from her eyes and face when he dragged her out of the mud by the straps of her dress, ripping one completely off in the process. He then went after Vespasia, who tried to hold onto the bed. He released her when her tunic started to give way and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her straight up — which made it impossible for her to keep her grip on the wooden frame. His muddy fingers slipped and she plunged straight back down onto the bed frame. It hit her just over the left eye and instantly knocked her unconscious, with her legs bunched up under her body and arms splayed out wide, face down in the soggy dirt by the bed.
Bergamiser wasted no time grabbing the back of her tunic again and flipping her onto her back, choking her with the neck of the garment. Her lifeless body flopped as he jerked her through mud. He finally realized she was out cold and her face was turning blue when she came to a rest on her back.
He untwisted the fabric and checked her pulse and breathing, determining she was alive. She had a huge knot on her forehead that was bleeding heavily. He grabbed a rag, dipped it into the slush, and wrung muddy water into her face. She awoke coughing and sputtering. Satisfied, he grabbed her feet and dragged her, screaming and flailing in confusion, back and forth through the muck, flipping her to her stomach and back until she seemed sufficiently covered. He finally propped her up beside a whimpering Beth.
Vespasia slumped over to hug her friend. And cried with her.
“She doesn’t look so pretty now, does she, Christy? What do you think, Jessica? How about you, Ricky? Isn’t she adorable now?” he taunted as he left the room.
Rick paused the image on the two girls comforting each other. “That’s it,” he said angrily, “he knows our names, he could come after us any time he wants, but that’s not what he’s after. He wants to lure us there!” A hot flame of anger shot through him before he broke out in a cold sweat.
Rick took the focus off Bergamiser momentarily and watched as the girls struggled to wash their faces. Vespasia’s eye was nearly closed and her face was red with blood. Beth had a steady stream of blood flowing from her nose mixing with the blood from her busted upper lip. She searched around for the two-inch wide strap Bergamiser had torn from her dress, washed it, and used it to clean their cuts. They raked the mud from their bodies, used some of the clean water to rinse, and went to eat in the bed. They each took turns pouring the mush into their mouths from the bowl until it was gone. Vespasia’s tunic was ripped at the neck and hung off one shoulder. It gaped open at the bottom, but she didn’t bother to look for the cord to tie it back together, it was buried somewhere in the slop. Beth’s dress hung limply by one torn strap. Neither of them cared anymore. They looked awful, completely deflated.
Rick seethed with anger as he watched Bergamiser that evening. He tossed them a huge bread roll, berated them a bit more, but physically left them alone, commenting on how he wished their friends would show up. “They must not care about you at all!” he laughed. That brought tears to the girls — and Rick.
Their brutal captor came back in the morning and caught them trying to clean up again as it was raining. He held a plate of bacon and another loaf of bread and tossed the bread to the bed. He dumped the bacon in the mud.
He gave them another mud bath and the girls didn’t even resist this time, actually helping him, acting as if they were having fun. Bignose lost interest quickly and left them sitting in the mess only half-covered. He stayed outside this time and watched through a crack in the door as the girls got up.
Vespasia fished the bacon out of the mud and washed it thoroughly in the bucket and they ate it, wet but clean. They showered in the rain again and refilled the bucket. They fell asleep, happy to have tricked the monster so they could clean up while it was still raining.
As soon as it stopped raining, Bignose sneaked back in and yanked the cover off the sleeping girls and methodically coated them in mud yet again, dragging Beth out first and shoving her with his foot deep into the mud before repeating with Vespasia.
Finally content with his handiwork, he yelled, “Don’t you understand? I want you to stay that way!” and stormed out.
Vespasia waited until she was sure he was gone then slowly climbed to her feet and scraped off what she could and washed with the rag until she was somewhat clean. Beth stayed in the puddle, propped her head up on two fists, laying on her stomach in the mud, and watched her friend clean up.
As Vespasia walked around, shaking her arms and hair dry, Bignose burst in again and slung her face first through the slime, skinning her chest and elbows when she landed, her feet nearly flipping over her head. She stayed down, fighting back the pain.
Beth quickly got up and playfully smeared Vespasia’s back with mud before sliding back down in it beside her.
“That’s better!” he screamed, kicking mud at them before storming out again.
Rick watched sadly as both girls stayed in the thick mess on their bellies, side by side. Vespasia started to get up but Beth told her, “No, stay there.”
“But my arms are getting numb,” she protested.
“He’ll come back. Act like you’re having fun when he does; he’ll get mad and leave again.”
Sure enough, they heard him coming and quickly started playing, wrestling around and giggling. He pushed the door open and stared as they ignored him, slopping mud on each other and flopping about. Five minutes was all it took, he shook his head and retreated. He could hear them still giggling all the way down the trail.
Beth rolled over on her back and put her hands behind her head and relaxed.
“What are you doing now?” Vespasia asked.
“I think I’ll just sleep here tonight,” she joked.
Vespasia copied her, and then sloppily got up. “No way! That stuff will dry on us then.”
“Cool, then we can just chip it off,” Beth giggled.
“You cannot be serious.”
Beth playfully pulled her down and pinned her. “No! But you’re washing my hair first,” she told her.
“OK, OK!” she gave in as Beth tickled her.
They rose and cleaned up, drip-dried, and curled up together under the blanket.
Rick skipped to the next, and last, entrance by Bergamiser, where he had threatened them with a whip. Rick stared at the two girls sitting on the bed, scared, but still defiant, and vowed to stop that madman, no matter what it took. He adjusted a few pillows, feeling a bit groggy from the latest dose of pain medication, tuned the UC back to his girls, and fell asleep.
Rick awoke to find Alex and Kaylie sitting on the edge of the bed at his feet, playing a video game. Anna was on the couch beside him, talking on the phone with a fashion magazine propped up on her raised knees.
He looked at the clock. “Is everyone here?” he asked nobody in particular.
Alex answered without taking her eyes off the game, “Christy and Jodie are in the hot tub, and Abby and Jessie are coming with pizza. She said she didn’t want to cook tonight since she’s leaving in the morning.”
“Ugh! Did I already forget she was leaving in the morning?”
“We got something for her, Dad, from all of us.”
“When did you… what did you get?” he asked.
“We got her a satellite video phone system, so she can keep in touch with us,” she answered.
He sat up sharply, “A what?”
“A satel—”
“I know that, but how?”
“Jodie and I skipped our workout,” she answered.
“I meant what did you buy it with?”
“Oh, I took one of those coins to the coin shop and sold it, the guy tried to tell me it was only worth a hundred dollars but I took a coin book from the shelf and looked it up right in front of him. It said it was worth ten thousand in just good condition, but this one was in excellent condition. He tried to argue the difference between good and excellent but when I told him about your coin collection — and he knew who you were — he agreed it was definitely excellent, or better. I told him I only needed $7500. You know what he said then?” she rattled off the story so quickly Rick could barely keep up.
He blinked a few times, and said, “He told you ‘when do you want it?’”
She giggled, “Close. He said, ‘Don’t move. I’ll be right back!’”
Rick shook his head, disbelieving, “I bet those coins would be worth ten times that. I can’t believe you did that though, and I’m starting to wonder if I’ve been fooling myself about raising you right.”
She paused the game, much to Kaylie’s agitation, and turned around. “What do you mean? I thought you would appreciate it.”
“I thought you would ask permission before doing anything like that!”
She shrugged, “It was a spur of the moment thing. And I thought you were watching us?”
“I guess your cell phone was broken, too, and you couldn’t call me?” he said angrily.
She hung her head. “Sorry.”
“Sorry? Alex, I don’t want to hear ‘sorry’ all the time after you do something wrong, I want to hear ‘may I please’ before you do!”
“I didn’t know—”
He slapped his hand down hard on the bed, startling everyone, “You didn’t know because you didn’t ask! Or worse… you thought you knew, but didn’t! We cannot go around selling artifacts from the past to get what we want! Go to your room!”
She turned defiant, “Go to my room? Dad! I’m twelve, not six!”
He slowly removed the covers and leaned toward her, “Go to your room, or go to your room with your butt sore. Your choice.” He gave her the ultimatum, and waited for her reply as if there would be one.
She got up and stomped toward the stairs. Kaylie stood and started to follow her.
“Alone!” he yelled.
Kaylie sat back down.
Alex screamed, “I am not a child!”
Rick just smirked and replied, “Said the child…”
Alex clomped up the stairs, muttering to herself the whole way.
Anna got off the phone and started to defend Alex, “What’s the big deal? It’s just one coin; you already gave away a coin yourself.”
He turned to her with a stupid look on his face. “No, not you too? It’s just like what Dr. Taylor was trying to stop Bergamiser from doing. Profiting from the past, ultimately changing the balance of the future. Don’t you see?”
“That coin was found in the present,” Kaylie added.
“Yeah, technically all of these coins were found in the present. We found them all in the cave,” Anna argued.
He glanced at her and chuckled. “OK, shut up. Technically, you have a point, but it’s really got nothing to do with that. I can’t have you girls running around doing whatever you feel like without thinking of the consequences.”
“Fair enough,” Kaylie nodded. “Did you want to hear about all the other stuff she got?”
He rolled his eyes, “Sure, Kay. I might as well know the totality of her irresponsibility.”
She frowned, as if she were betraying her friend when she was really trying to help. “She was only trying to—”
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” he shot back, cutting her off.
She rolled her eyes, “Well, they got some of those battery-less flashlights that you shake to charge and a lantern that can last up to eighteen hours that you crank for that pool room down there in the cave so it’s not dark when we come out of the water.”
Rick found himself saying, “Cool,” unconsciously.
“So are you gonna forgive her?”
“No.”
“Jerk,” Anna said.
He turned to her and smiled, “I love you too, Anna, now would you like to go to your room as well?”
“No,” she muttered.
“Girls,” he started.
It was Anna’s turn to do the eye-roll, “Oh no, another sanctimonious speech.”
“And a good one, too!” he proclaimed. “Now, I’m glad she thought about Abby, really I am. I’m glad she got Abby a gift and the other stuff. But if you girls would just come to me before doing things like that, I’d appreciate it.”
“Would you have let her do it?” Anna asked.
“No. Not that way. I probably would have gone with her and bought it myself. I’m mad that I didn’t even think of it. I’ve just been so busy researching and resting,” he sighed.
They heard Abby and Jessica coming in upstairs with the pizzas. “OK, lecture over. You’re excused. Now go help them, get the drinks,” he commanded.
“Can I tell Alex to come down, too?” Kaylie asked.
He thought a moment and nodded. “Get Christy and Jodie out of the hot tub too, please.”
“Cool, thanks,” she yelled over her shoulder as she darted from the room.
“Here we go: one large pan with everything, one large hand-tossed with pepperoni, one large pan with extra cheese.” Abby placed those three on the coffee table along with six other boxes. “Bread sticks, cheese sticks and wings. And one large hand-tossed with pepperoni, sausage, ham, onions, tomatoes, banana peppers and jalapenos for you.” She laid that one on Rick’s legs.
“Aah, you remembered!” he said as he opened the box and peered longingly inside, quickly snatching a piece.
“No, actually Jess ordered that one for you special,” Abby revealed.
Jessica smiled and bowed, then grabbed a plate and loaded it.
They each gathered around and selected their own personal pizza favorites.
Abby put in one of the movies she and Jessica had rented and started it before settling at Rick’s feet on the bed, as close as she could get to him. They ate while watching the first movie, and they all pitched in to clean up.
Christy and Jessica went to their room while the rest went to play in the hot tub, leaving Rick and Abby cuddling on the bed. They discussed her upcoming trip. Rick promised to move the remainder of her things to his house before the end of the month so she wouldn’t have to make another rent payment. She estimated six months on this site. It was hard to think of six months apart after being together for only a week. Rick was already planning to take the girls and spend half the summer on her dig, and every other weekend — or at least once a month — during school.
Each girl sat in one of the four underwater seats in the hot tub and laid back, relaxing as the water bubbled around them. They plotted another late-night escapade.
“He left it sitting right on the counter,” Alex whispered.
“We don’t even have a clue where or when we’re going,” Kaylie reasoned. She didn’t like the idea of deceiving Rick yet again. She was obviously in the minority.
“We can just do like we did in Salem, find the missing time,” Alex offered.
“Are you even sure it’s Jesus’ crib or manger or whatever? That doesn’t make sense at all. It says, ‘No virgin was she, but a vixen you see. At His birth, in His bed, lays a diamond of red,’” Kaylie argued.
“Yeah, Mary was a virgin!” Jodie claimed. She was the only person in the house who attended church every Sunday and always quick to defend her faith.
“How do you know?” Anna asked her sarcastically.
“Because it says so in the Bible!” was Jodie’s patented reply.
This always brought the same argument on, which always turned nasty and hateful.
“The Bible is fiction,” Kaylie declared, which was her stance and she stuck to it. She found it a hobby to study the Bible’s inconsistencies.
“It’s historical fact! It was written by first-hand witnesses to the life—”
“Embellishments, no more than folklore! Greeks told of great Gods coming down from heaven and doing many things, are these true, too? The Norse Gods, who lived in Valhalla… their version of heaven, I guess, had entire bloodlines elaborately detailed and written out as if it were fact; did they exist, too? Just because someone wrote it down?” Kaylie stated.
“Some of the books of the Bible weren’t even written until a hundred years after the fact, by people who just heard a story from a friend of a cousin’s dog’s brother’s owner,” Anna added her opinion.
Alex chimed in, “It wasn’t like an unbiased reporter wrote the stuff either, these people were very biased and had a personal interest in making their religion sound better than anyone else’s, so they exaggerated, embellished, lied… at least that’s what Dad said…”
Kaylie added to that, “Yeah, Zeus was created as the ruler of all gods for the Greeks, Odin for the Norse, solely for the purpose of arguing with people of other religions that ‘My god could beat up your god.’ They elected to give this supreme ruler of gods the ability to slay other gods, because none of them could kill each other because they were supposedly immortal.”
“My anti-god can beat up your anti-god!” Anna joked.
Jodie ignored this remark, aiming at Kaylie’s. “That’s not true! These ‘gods’ were all made up, they weren’t real at all. Jesus really existed! Nobody ever saw Zeus—”
“People claimed they did,” Kaylie snapped back quickly, “Just like ‘God.’”
“I knew a guy named Jesus once, I think he was real, too, and when people called him, they said ‘Hey, Zeus!’ Does that make Zeus real?” Anna joked; all three girls looked at her unappreciatively.
“OK, that was lame, Anna,” Alex giggled.
Jodie shook off her joke again, “That’s still not true! They had no reason to lie, and thousands of people witnessed all the miracles—”
“Yes, some of them even wrote about them, the Catholic Church has hundreds of contradictory writings hidden away in underground vaults so people like you don’t read them and accidently find out the truth and quit following them and giving them billions of dollars,” Kaylie stung her with that one.
“That’s right. Dad has actually shown us copies of things Abby’s friends have sent,” Alex supported.
“Those had to be from blasphemers, trying to destroy the faith,” Jodie argued.
“Oh, yeah, they couldn’t be lying to promote a false idea, only to tear one apart, could they? You’re saying their writings can’t be true, but your guys can’t be false when they’re doing the same thing? Where’s the logic in that?” Alex said sarcastically.
“Why do you guys always gang up on me?” Jodie yelled, frustrated.
“Because you’re always wrong,” Anna said, in her usual casual tone implying Jodie was stupid.
Jodie stuck her tongue out and splashed Anna, who simply laughed. “Well, you can’t convince me Mary wasn’t a virgin. I know she was, and I believe in one god, the true god. It’s faith, not logic!”
“Blind faith,” Anna mumbled, “which equals stupid.”
Jodie stared a hole through her again and splashed her harshly.
Kaylie rolled her eyes. “Oh gosh, how do you know that for sure? Were you a close personal friend of hers or something? Did she confide in you? You don’t even know how old she was when she became pregnant, do you?”
“No, the Bible says—”
Anna interrupted her, “Did you like see the results of her pelvic exam or something?”
“Yeah, you got a copy of that, so we can read it? Was it done by a qualified gynecologist?” Alex joined in.
Jodie had no answers except, “I think a midwife declared her a virgin. I read that somewhere and I don’t know how old she was.”
“A midwife? That’s someone who helps you give birth!” Anna roared with laughter. “It’s too late by then, they were declaring her a virgin long before then, I hope.”
“Jodie, ‘virgin’ back then simply meant ‘unmarried,’ not what it means today. Did you even know that? And she was eleven years old! So you’re saying your god impregnated an eleven-year-old girl? What kind of pervert was he?” Kaylie spat out.
“Prove it!” Jodie screeched.
Kaylie shot out of the tub, grabbed a towel and dried off somewhat then went out to Rick’s bookshelves in search of a book she had read.
Rick heard Kaylie come out in a hurry and head for the books, fingering through the titles. “What are you doing?” he asked, turning to watch her.
“Looking for that book about biblical myths,” she answered without looking back.
“Unh unh,” he said, “not while you’re wet. Are you guys tormenting Jodie again?”
She turned around, “Well, she’s saying ‘the Bible says’ again and I—”
“Kaylie, go back in and play, you need to leave that girl alone, too. Besides, you know I don’t allow you to take my books in there, they could be ruined. Some are very valuable, you know?”
She slumped her shoulders, “But she said—”
“Go on,” he ordered, not allowing her lame argument.
Kaylie moped back toward the door, “But she’ll call me a liar!”
He pointed and she turned back and went through the door.
Rick sighed and started to get up.
“You’re gonna go give them another speech?” Abby groaned.
Rick limped around the couch and to the first bookcase, instantly grabbing the book Kaylie was seeking — he had used it earlier that day — and motioned to Abby. “Join me, it’ll be fun.” His sardonic tone translated well.
“I bet it will be,” she replied as she joined him, dragging a chair for him to sit on in the room.
“You’re stupid!” Rick and Abby heard Anna say as they opened the door.
“She’s lying!” Jodie yelled back.
“You’re still stupid!”
“Aah… raising intellectual debate to new heights, as always, are we?” Rick smiled sardonically.
The girls all yelled at once as he strained to have a seat, laying the book calmly on his lap before holding up a hand. “Stop! The arbiter is in. One at a time now. Jodie,” he motioned to her, “you first, since you’re probably the underdog.”
Anna burst out, “She’s stupid!”
Rick casually handed the book to Abby and whispered in her ear. Abby stood and strolled over and whacked Anna on top of the head with it, just hard enough to get her attention, then returned.
“Ow! That’s child abuse!” she growled.
“Then go tell someone and have them take you away. Or… quit being hateful,” he warned.
Anna quickly opted to remain silent and Abby returned the book.
“Jodie?” he continued, as if daring anyone else to interrupt.
She sat up straight, adjusted and fidgeted nervously a moment. “Well, they said the Bible isn’t real—”
Rick perked up. “Isn’t real? I’ve seen one! This debate is over!” he teased, faking like he was getting up.
“OK. They said it’s fiction, and they said it was written by biased religious people promoting Christianity or something, that none of it is true. They also said Mary was not a virgin—”
Kaylie cut her off, “Did not!”
Rick handed the book to Abby, Kaylie apologized immediately, “Sorry!”
Rick nodded and Abby returned the book with a slight smile on her face. She was enjoying this.
“Continue, please,” he invited.
“Um… they also said Mary was eleven years old when she got pregnant and Moses didn’t part the Red Sea and Jesus didn’t walk on water and the—”
This time Rick interrupted her, “Hold on, let’s try a few at a time. Kaylie, arguments?” He motioned to her.
Kaylie sat up at this time, fidgeting as well, but angry. “Well, I said we don’t have any proof that Mary was a virgin or any of that other stuff and that book shows lots of evidence against those things.” She pointed to the book he held and lowered herself back into the water.
“Very well. Any others?” Nobody made a move. “Alrighty then. This book does have evidence against all those things—”
Kaylie sat up, preparing to sneer at Jodie; Rick motioned with the book to Abby. She thought better of the rude gesture she was about to make and slumped back to her neck in the bubbles.
“As I was saying, this book has evidence against those things,” each girl tilted her head in unison. “Evidence, just like the Bible. Neither of these things are solid proof and, even worse, it’s all further complicated by language interpretations. For instance, an account of a close family member remarks on Mary’s extreme resilience in giving birth, stating it was uncommon for a child, not yet of age to wed, to even survive birth. Some people argue her age was twelve and all records indicate that to be true, although there were exceptions of those impregnated before the age of twelve being allowed to marry. Either way, she was very young. But another stated she had not yet become a woman according to their translation, which was generally considered to be thirteen.”
As for the seven loaves miracle… one account was translated to say ‘each carried seven loaves and seven fishes upon them’ and goes on to say they ‘returned for more.’ This is believed to have been the account which was later confused and mutated into a miracle. There are many more contradicting the other things as well.”
Kaylie started gloating a bit and Alex began the process of taunting her friend. Rick silenced them both.
“But, as I said, this is no more proof than the Bible itself, neither are any more reliable testaments to history than Homer’s ‘Iliad’ is a true account of the Trojan War or ‘The Odyssey’ proves Cyclopes existed,” he lectured.
The four girls looked at each other suspiciously, checking to see if there would be any further arguments, but none had any.
“Good. I’d love to answer all these questions and I’m sure we’ll find the truth to many of them soon. In the meantime, to paraphrase a famous quote, ‘two topics you should never argue with friends if you wish to remain friends: politics and religion.’ I hope you girls understand. Each of you are free to believe in whatever you judge to be the truth; faith, science or nothing at all if you want, but don’t try to force that belief on someone else.” He stood up, bowed with a playful smile and motioned Abby to walk out the door with him. The two left arm in arm.
As soon as the girls heard them back on the couch, they resumed planning their own search for the truth, two thousand years in the past.
“Keep your bathing suit on,” Alex whispered when Jodie stood and started to untie her bikini. She gave Alex a confused look. Kaylie explained the pool in the cave and she quickly retied it.
Anna had checked on Rick and Abby, confirming they were asleep, and returned with the news. They tiptoed out and up the stairs to gather supplies — mainly their new lights and some clothes — which they put on over their wet swim suits. They picked up the cube on their way out and went to the garage, collected their bikes and silently stole off into the night, confidently racing through the now familiar moonlit path.
The four girls arrived at the pool at 12:30, Jodie was completely in awe, and the other three girls quickly shed their clothes and stuffed them in a bag, urging Jodie to do the same. Alex cranked up the new lantern, which easily illuminated the entire room, and sat it on the ground. They left their flashlights with their bikes and, after nudging Jodie into the water, swam through to the chamber, Alex going with her to familiarize her with the route.
The girls hurriedly dried and dressed, except Jodie, who stared, stuck in a statue-like pose, until Alex prodded her to do the same.
Anna and Kaylie shot toward the lockers, looking for clothes to wear or make to fit the era. Kaylie decided she could use some of the same types of fabrics they had used in Rome and started designing some outfits on paper first.
Alex and Jodie dug into the treasure, trying to find appropriate coinage or jewelry to use. Her four books of currency she had bought that day on her unauthorized shopping trip came in quite handy.
Kaylie hopped up and dug out the cube, tracing the swirl pattern on one side and watched it open on the table. She grabbed her red necklace and put it on, planning to fire up T and check the local fashions, but the time stone was missing. In horror, she checked each necklace and the UC, as if it could have attached itself to them and hidden. It simply wasn’t there.
“What do you mean gone? It can’t just disappear!” Alex yelled, incredulous.
“That’s what I said! Duh!” Kaylie held up the contents as proof.
“This is no time for a joke,” Anna trudged over to her.
“Maybe it fell on the floor?” Alex suggested. They looked around a moment, but knew it was futile. It was nowhere to be seen on the pristine floor surface and would have stood out like an elephant in a penguin exhibit.
Kaylie put everything back and closed the cube, then took off her shirt and stuffed it in the bag violently.
“What are you doing?” Alex asked.
“We can’t go anywhere!” Kaylie huffed.
“Come on, we can still get clothes and money together at least.”
“I don’t have anything to base the clothes on for certain,” Kaylie argued. She went to the line to grab her bathing suit, jerking it off and knocking half of the others to the floor in her rage. She picked them up, muttering at each one as she draped it carelessly back over the line.
Jodie then began doing the same; Alex reopened the cube and searching quickly on the UC, found half a dozen videos of the time and place.
“Wait!” she stopped them and showed the first video she could find, “See! We can still learn something since we’re here.”
Jodie looked at Kaylie, who looked back at her with a sheepish grin. “Ok,” Kaylie finally relented.
The two girls reversed course and quickly got back into their clothes.
Alex handed over the chronicler and Kaylie dove back into fashion mode. With the new information in front of them, the girls quickly assembled two new outfits. Jodie and Anna were modeling their clothes while Kaylie made alterations before starting two more. The activity was growing slower and slower as they became exhausted. Alex finally announced it was past 3:30. She was sitting in the midst of a small fortune in jewels and coins, Anna and Jodie hung their garments up as they all agreed to call it a night.
Moments later, they were back in their bathing suits and traversed the tunnel.
Alex was proud to see the light was still on as she rose into the well-lit grotto. Each of the girls absently tucked their suits into a plastic bag, climbed back into their clothes, and mounted their bikes.
They pedaled away from the pool, deflated.
They had stowed their bikes and began to walk through the garage when they spied the note attached to the kitchen door.
“DOWNSTAIRS! NOW! WAKE ME UP!” the note read.
“Oh boy! The final insult. I’m going straight to bed,” Anna grumbled, determined to avoid punishment.
Chapter 28 — Can You be Born Before You’re Born?
As Jessica opened the kitchen door, a man in shorts carrying a large knife filled the doorway.
Christy and Jessica both shrieked.
“So… did you get the crystal?” Rick asked calmly.
Both girls flushed with recognition and quit screaming, then noticed he held a melon in the other hand, which he was cutting up for a fruit tray for breakfast.
“Are you gonna beat us?” Jessica questioned.
“That wouldn’t be fair, would it?” Rick asked.
Christy said, “Nope!”
“Well, I’m not feeling particularly fair at the moment,” he waved the knife around menacingly.
They both dashed past him toward the stairs, screeching again, this time in mock panic.
“Get back here!” he roared.
The girls stopped and moped back to him. He held out his hand and Jessica deposited the crystal in it. “The cube too,” he added, and Christy pulled it out of the bag, setting it on the counter. “Go put away your things and get back here. You’re fixing breakfast.”
They whined and complained about being tired, but did as they were told.
Anna heard Rick’s yell and emerged from her room just as the other girls tromped up the stairs. She walked over to Rick and hugged him. “I might as well help. You should be resting,” she pointed to a chair.
Rick hobbled to the table, grabbing the cube on the way. He opened it and started watching Jessica and Christy’s adventure.
The rest of the clan eventually joined them and all listened to the tale. Everyone was shocked at the mere descriptions; Jessica urged them all not to watch it.
After breakfast Rick insisted the three girls in Anderson’s class wear a necklace all day. Oddly though, Mr. Anderson made no strange moves, barely acknowledging the girls. Rick spent all day reading up on the birth of Jesus until it drove him mad and he opted to work on his video game instead. Abby was shopping for supplies for her upcoming expedition and didn’t come home until it was almost time to get Jessica from school.
“It seems nobody truly knows when Jesus was born,” he said with a sigh. “Some say December 25, year 0, of course, but they are in the extreme minority. It ranges from 8 BC to anywhere in the next twelve years. Some say he was born in Jerusalem, some in Jericho, some in Nazareth, some even say Mary wasn’t his mother! How can anyone claim to be sure, much less righteous, and proclaim with such certainty something so incredibly vague?” He threw his hands up in frustration.
“I’ll ask some of my friends tonight to see if they know anyone who knows something…”
“I was hoping for divine intervention… God would just lift the paper with the correct information from the stack.”
Abby sat on the arm of his chair and wrapped one of her arms around his neck. “It’s OK, honey, it’s not that hopeless. We’ll figure it out.”
It didn’t really help.
Abby left a little later to pick Jessica up. Rick decided to check out the latest message from Bergamiser. He was sick of the sadistic cruelty as soon as it started so he set it to only show when Bignose was in the room, carefully listening for clues. Everything he heard made his blood boil.
Bergamiser opened the door. The girls sprang from the bed at the sound and instinctively grasped each other. He carried a large bowl of something resembling oatmeal, but brought no utensils, and sat it on the bed. When he turned to sneer at the girls, he suddenly flew into a rage. “Oh, don’t you two look so pretty, even after the nice bath I gave you yesterday! You had to go ruin it, didn’t you? I bet your buddies, Alex and Kaylie, would think so,” he was looking at Beth. “We’ll have to fix that!”
Beth winced in pain as he grabbed her by the upper arm and hurled her violently to the floor. Landing face-first, she split her lip upon impact with the hard soil underneath the mud, leaving her dazed and tasting blood in the mud that filled her mouth.
He tried to pick her up by grabbing a handful of the back of her dress, but her dead weight caused it to rip and he dropped her on her face again — this time smashing her nose. She shrieked and clutched at her face with muddy hands, trying to sit up. Bignose grabbed the front of the dress and the fabric strained again. This time it held and he pulled her to her feet. She practically dangled from his hand, woozy from pain. He dragged her to where a pool of water still stood from last night’s mud-bath and pushed her down into it, rolling her around until she was caked with brown all over again. She lay there a moment, crying, trying to wipe the stinging mud from her eyes and face when he dragged her out of the mud by the straps of her dress, ripping one completely off in the process. He then went after Vespasia, who tried to hold onto the bed. He released her when her tunic started to give way and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her straight up — which made it impossible for her to keep her grip on the wooden frame. His muddy fingers slipped and she plunged straight back down onto the bed frame. It hit her just over the left eye and instantly knocked her unconscious, with her legs bunched up under her body and arms splayed out wide, face down in the soggy dirt by the bed.
Bergamiser wasted no time grabbing the back of her tunic again and flipping her onto her back, choking her with the neck of the garment. Her lifeless body flopped as he jerked her through mud. He finally realized she was out cold and her face was turning blue when she came to a rest on her back.
He untwisted the fabric and checked her pulse and breathing, determining she was alive. She had a huge knot on her forehead that was bleeding heavily. He grabbed a rag, dipped it into the slush, and wrung muddy water into her face. She awoke coughing and sputtering. Satisfied, he grabbed her feet and dragged her, screaming and flailing in confusion, back and forth through the muck, flipping her to her stomach and back until she seemed sufficiently covered. He finally propped her up beside a whimpering Beth.
Vespasia slumped over to hug her friend. And cried with her.
“She doesn’t look so pretty now, does she, Christy? What do you think, Jessica? How about you, Ricky? Isn’t she adorable now?” he taunted as he left the room.
Rick paused the image on the two girls comforting each other. “That’s it,” he said angrily, “he knows our names, he could come after us any time he wants, but that’s not what he’s after. He wants to lure us there!” A hot flame of anger shot through him before he broke out in a cold sweat.
Rick took the focus off Bergamiser momentarily and watched as the girls struggled to wash their faces. Vespasia’s eye was nearly closed and her face was red with blood. Beth had a steady stream of blood flowing from her nose mixing with the blood from her busted upper lip. She searched around for the two-inch wide strap Bergamiser had torn from her dress, washed it, and used it to clean their cuts. They raked the mud from their bodies, used some of the clean water to rinse, and went to eat in the bed. They each took turns pouring the mush into their mouths from the bowl until it was gone. Vespasia’s tunic was ripped at the neck and hung off one shoulder. It gaped open at the bottom, but she didn’t bother to look for the cord to tie it back together, it was buried somewhere in the slop. Beth’s dress hung limply by one torn strap. Neither of them cared anymore. They looked awful, completely deflated.
Rick seethed with anger as he watched Bergamiser that evening. He tossed them a huge bread roll, berated them a bit more, but physically left them alone, commenting on how he wished their friends would show up. “They must not care about you at all!” he laughed. That brought tears to the girls — and Rick.
Their brutal captor came back in the morning and caught them trying to clean up again as it was raining. He held a plate of bacon and another loaf of bread and tossed the bread to the bed. He dumped the bacon in the mud.
He gave them another mud bath and the girls didn’t even resist this time, actually helping him, acting as if they were having fun. Bignose lost interest quickly and left them sitting in the mess only half-covered. He stayed outside this time and watched through a crack in the door as the girls got up.
Vespasia fished the bacon out of the mud and washed it thoroughly in the bucket and they ate it, wet but clean. They showered in the rain again and refilled the bucket. They fell asleep, happy to have tricked the monster so they could clean up while it was still raining.
As soon as it stopped raining, Bignose sneaked back in and yanked the cover off the sleeping girls and methodically coated them in mud yet again, dragging Beth out first and shoving her with his foot deep into the mud before repeating with Vespasia.
Finally content with his handiwork, he yelled, “Don’t you understand? I want you to stay that way!” and stormed out.
Vespasia waited until she was sure he was gone then slowly climbed to her feet and scraped off what she could and washed with the rag until she was somewhat clean. Beth stayed in the puddle, propped her head up on two fists, laying on her stomach in the mud, and watched her friend clean up.
As Vespasia walked around, shaking her arms and hair dry, Bignose burst in again and slung her face first through the slime, skinning her chest and elbows when she landed, her feet nearly flipping over her head. She stayed down, fighting back the pain.
Beth quickly got up and playfully smeared Vespasia’s back with mud before sliding back down in it beside her.
“That’s better!” he screamed, kicking mud at them before storming out again.
Rick watched sadly as both girls stayed in the thick mess on their bellies, side by side. Vespasia started to get up but Beth told her, “No, stay there.”
“But my arms are getting numb,” she protested.
“He’ll come back. Act like you’re having fun when he does; he’ll get mad and leave again.”
Sure enough, they heard him coming and quickly started playing, wrestling around and giggling. He pushed the door open and stared as they ignored him, slopping mud on each other and flopping about. Five minutes was all it took, he shook his head and retreated. He could hear them still giggling all the way down the trail.
Beth rolled over on her back and put her hands behind her head and relaxed.
“What are you doing now?” Vespasia asked.
“I think I’ll just sleep here tonight,” she joked.
Vespasia copied her, and then sloppily got up. “No way! That stuff will dry on us then.”
“Cool, then we can just chip it off,” Beth giggled.
“You cannot be serious.”
Beth playfully pulled her down and pinned her. “No! But you’re washing my hair first,” she told her.
“OK, OK!” she gave in as Beth tickled her.
They rose and cleaned up, drip-dried, and curled up together under the blanket.
Rick skipped to the next, and last, entrance by Bergamiser, where he had threatened them with a whip. Rick stared at the two girls sitting on the bed, scared, but still defiant, and vowed to stop that madman, no matter what it took. He adjusted a few pillows, feeling a bit groggy from the latest dose of pain medication, tuned the UC back to his girls, and fell asleep.
Rick awoke to find Alex and Kaylie sitting on the edge of the bed at his feet, playing a video game. Anna was on the couch beside him, talking on the phone with a fashion magazine propped up on her raised knees.
He looked at the clock. “Is everyone here?” he asked nobody in particular.
Alex answered without taking her eyes off the game, “Christy and Jodie are in the hot tub, and Abby and Jessie are coming with pizza. She said she didn’t want to cook tonight since she’s leaving in the morning.”
“Ugh! Did I already forget she was leaving in the morning?”
“We got something for her, Dad, from all of us.”
“When did you… what did you get?” he asked.
“We got her a satellite video phone system, so she can keep in touch with us,” she answered.
He sat up sharply, “A what?”
“A satel—”
“I know that, but how?”
“Jodie and I skipped our workout,” she answered.
“I meant what did you buy it with?”
“Oh, I took one of those coins to the coin shop and sold it, the guy tried to tell me it was only worth a hundred dollars but I took a coin book from the shelf and looked it up right in front of him. It said it was worth ten thousand in just good condition, but this one was in excellent condition. He tried to argue the difference between good and excellent but when I told him about your coin collection — and he knew who you were — he agreed it was definitely excellent, or better. I told him I only needed $7500. You know what he said then?” she rattled off the story so quickly Rick could barely keep up.
He blinked a few times, and said, “He told you ‘when do you want it?’”
She giggled, “Close. He said, ‘Don’t move. I’ll be right back!’”
Rick shook his head, disbelieving, “I bet those coins would be worth ten times that. I can’t believe you did that though, and I’m starting to wonder if I’ve been fooling myself about raising you right.”
She paused the game, much to Kaylie’s agitation, and turned around. “What do you mean? I thought you would appreciate it.”
“I thought you would ask permission before doing anything like that!”
She shrugged, “It was a spur of the moment thing. And I thought you were watching us?”
“I guess your cell phone was broken, too, and you couldn’t call me?” he said angrily.
She hung her head. “Sorry.”
“Sorry? Alex, I don’t want to hear ‘sorry’ all the time after you do something wrong, I want to hear ‘may I please’ before you do!”
“I didn’t know—”
He slapped his hand down hard on the bed, startling everyone, “You didn’t know because you didn’t ask! Or worse… you thought you knew, but didn’t! We cannot go around selling artifacts from the past to get what we want! Go to your room!”
She turned defiant, “Go to my room? Dad! I’m twelve, not six!”
He slowly removed the covers and leaned toward her, “Go to your room, or go to your room with your butt sore. Your choice.” He gave her the ultimatum, and waited for her reply as if there would be one.
She got up and stomped toward the stairs. Kaylie stood and started to follow her.
“Alone!” he yelled.
Kaylie sat back down.
Alex screamed, “I am not a child!”
Rick just smirked and replied, “Said the child…”
Alex clomped up the stairs, muttering to herself the whole way.
Anna got off the phone and started to defend Alex, “What’s the big deal? It’s just one coin; you already gave away a coin yourself.”
He turned to her with a stupid look on his face. “No, not you too? It’s just like what Dr. Taylor was trying to stop Bergamiser from doing. Profiting from the past, ultimately changing the balance of the future. Don’t you see?”
“That coin was found in the present,” Kaylie added.
“Yeah, technically all of these coins were found in the present. We found them all in the cave,” Anna argued.
He glanced at her and chuckled. “OK, shut up. Technically, you have a point, but it’s really got nothing to do with that. I can’t have you girls running around doing whatever you feel like without thinking of the consequences.”
“Fair enough,” Kaylie nodded. “Did you want to hear about all the other stuff she got?”
He rolled his eyes, “Sure, Kay. I might as well know the totality of her irresponsibility.”
She frowned, as if she were betraying her friend when she was really trying to help. “She was only trying to—”
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” he shot back, cutting her off.
She rolled her eyes, “Well, they got some of those battery-less flashlights that you shake to charge and a lantern that can last up to eighteen hours that you crank for that pool room down there in the cave so it’s not dark when we come out of the water.”
Rick found himself saying, “Cool,” unconsciously.
“So are you gonna forgive her?”
“No.”
“Jerk,” Anna said.
He turned to her and smiled, “I love you too, Anna, now would you like to go to your room as well?”
“No,” she muttered.
“Girls,” he started.
It was Anna’s turn to do the eye-roll, “Oh no, another sanctimonious speech.”
“And a good one, too!” he proclaimed. “Now, I’m glad she thought about Abby, really I am. I’m glad she got Abby a gift and the other stuff. But if you girls would just come to me before doing things like that, I’d appreciate it.”
“Would you have let her do it?” Anna asked.
“No. Not that way. I probably would have gone with her and bought it myself. I’m mad that I didn’t even think of it. I’ve just been so busy researching and resting,” he sighed.
They heard Abby and Jessica coming in upstairs with the pizzas. “OK, lecture over. You’re excused. Now go help them, get the drinks,” he commanded.
“Can I tell Alex to come down, too?” Kaylie asked.
He thought a moment and nodded. “Get Christy and Jodie out of the hot tub too, please.”
“Cool, thanks,” she yelled over her shoulder as she darted from the room.
“Here we go: one large pan with everything, one large hand-tossed with pepperoni, one large pan with extra cheese.” Abby placed those three on the coffee table along with six other boxes. “Bread sticks, cheese sticks and wings. And one large hand-tossed with pepperoni, sausage, ham, onions, tomatoes, banana peppers and jalapenos for you.” She laid that one on Rick’s legs.
“Aah, you remembered!” he said as he opened the box and peered longingly inside, quickly snatching a piece.
“No, actually Jess ordered that one for you special,” Abby revealed.
Jessica smiled and bowed, then grabbed a plate and loaded it.
They each gathered around and selected their own personal pizza favorites.
Abby put in one of the movies she and Jessica had rented and started it before settling at Rick’s feet on the bed, as close as she could get to him. They ate while watching the first movie, and they all pitched in to clean up.
Christy and Jessica went to their room while the rest went to play in the hot tub, leaving Rick and Abby cuddling on the bed. They discussed her upcoming trip. Rick promised to move the remainder of her things to his house before the end of the month so she wouldn’t have to make another rent payment. She estimated six months on this site. It was hard to think of six months apart after being together for only a week. Rick was already planning to take the girls and spend half the summer on her dig, and every other weekend — or at least once a month — during school.
Each girl sat in one of the four underwater seats in the hot tub and laid back, relaxing as the water bubbled around them. They plotted another late-night escapade.
“He left it sitting right on the counter,” Alex whispered.
“We don’t even have a clue where or when we’re going,” Kaylie reasoned. She didn’t like the idea of deceiving Rick yet again. She was obviously in the minority.
“We can just do like we did in Salem, find the missing time,” Alex offered.
“Are you even sure it’s Jesus’ crib or manger or whatever? That doesn’t make sense at all. It says, ‘No virgin was she, but a vixen you see. At His birth, in His bed, lays a diamond of red,’” Kaylie argued.
“Yeah, Mary was a virgin!” Jodie claimed. She was the only person in the house who attended church every Sunday and always quick to defend her faith.
“How do you know?” Anna asked her sarcastically.
“Because it says so in the Bible!” was Jodie’s patented reply.
This always brought the same argument on, which always turned nasty and hateful.
“The Bible is fiction,” Kaylie declared, which was her stance and she stuck to it. She found it a hobby to study the Bible’s inconsistencies.
“It’s historical fact! It was written by first-hand witnesses to the life—”
“Embellishments, no more than folklore! Greeks told of great Gods coming down from heaven and doing many things, are these true, too? The Norse Gods, who lived in Valhalla… their version of heaven, I guess, had entire bloodlines elaborately detailed and written out as if it were fact; did they exist, too? Just because someone wrote it down?” Kaylie stated.
“Some of the books of the Bible weren’t even written until a hundred years after the fact, by people who just heard a story from a friend of a cousin’s dog’s brother’s owner,” Anna added her opinion.
Alex chimed in, “It wasn’t like an unbiased reporter wrote the stuff either, these people were very biased and had a personal interest in making their religion sound better than anyone else’s, so they exaggerated, embellished, lied… at least that’s what Dad said…”
Kaylie added to that, “Yeah, Zeus was created as the ruler of all gods for the Greeks, Odin for the Norse, solely for the purpose of arguing with people of other religions that ‘My god could beat up your god.’ They elected to give this supreme ruler of gods the ability to slay other gods, because none of them could kill each other because they were supposedly immortal.”
“My anti-god can beat up your anti-god!” Anna joked.
Jodie ignored this remark, aiming at Kaylie’s. “That’s not true! These ‘gods’ were all made up, they weren’t real at all. Jesus really existed! Nobody ever saw Zeus—”
“People claimed they did,” Kaylie snapped back quickly, “Just like ‘God.’”
“I knew a guy named Jesus once, I think he was real, too, and when people called him, they said ‘Hey, Zeus!’ Does that make Zeus real?” Anna joked; all three girls looked at her unappreciatively.
“OK, that was lame, Anna,” Alex giggled.
Jodie shook off her joke again, “That’s still not true! They had no reason to lie, and thousands of people witnessed all the miracles—”
“Yes, some of them even wrote about them, the Catholic Church has hundreds of contradictory writings hidden away in underground vaults so people like you don’t read them and accidently find out the truth and quit following them and giving them billions of dollars,” Kaylie stung her with that one.
“That’s right. Dad has actually shown us copies of things Abby’s friends have sent,” Alex supported.
“Those had to be from blasphemers, trying to destroy the faith,” Jodie argued.
“Oh, yeah, they couldn’t be lying to promote a false idea, only to tear one apart, could they? You’re saying their writings can’t be true, but your guys can’t be false when they’re doing the same thing? Where’s the logic in that?” Alex said sarcastically.
“Why do you guys always gang up on me?” Jodie yelled, frustrated.
“Because you’re always wrong,” Anna said, in her usual casual tone implying Jodie was stupid.
Jodie stuck her tongue out and splashed Anna, who simply laughed. “Well, you can’t convince me Mary wasn’t a virgin. I know she was, and I believe in one god, the true god. It’s faith, not logic!”
“Blind faith,” Anna mumbled, “which equals stupid.”
Jodie stared a hole through her again and splashed her harshly.
Kaylie rolled her eyes. “Oh gosh, how do you know that for sure? Were you a close personal friend of hers or something? Did she confide in you? You don’t even know how old she was when she became pregnant, do you?”
“No, the Bible says—”
Anna interrupted her, “Did you like see the results of her pelvic exam or something?”
“Yeah, you got a copy of that, so we can read it? Was it done by a qualified gynecologist?” Alex joined in.
Jodie had no answers except, “I think a midwife declared her a virgin. I read that somewhere and I don’t know how old she was.”
“A midwife? That’s someone who helps you give birth!” Anna roared with laughter. “It’s too late by then, they were declaring her a virgin long before then, I hope.”
“Jodie, ‘virgin’ back then simply meant ‘unmarried,’ not what it means today. Did you even know that? And she was eleven years old! So you’re saying your god impregnated an eleven-year-old girl? What kind of pervert was he?” Kaylie spat out.
“Prove it!” Jodie screeched.
Kaylie shot out of the tub, grabbed a towel and dried off somewhat then went out to Rick’s bookshelves in search of a book she had read.
Rick heard Kaylie come out in a hurry and head for the books, fingering through the titles. “What are you doing?” he asked, turning to watch her.
“Looking for that book about biblical myths,” she answered without looking back.
“Unh unh,” he said, “not while you’re wet. Are you guys tormenting Jodie again?”
She turned around, “Well, she’s saying ‘the Bible says’ again and I—”
“Kaylie, go back in and play, you need to leave that girl alone, too. Besides, you know I don’t allow you to take my books in there, they could be ruined. Some are very valuable, you know?”
She slumped her shoulders, “But she said—”
“Go on,” he ordered, not allowing her lame argument.
Kaylie moped back toward the door, “But she’ll call me a liar!”
He pointed and she turned back and went through the door.
Rick sighed and started to get up.
“You’re gonna go give them another speech?” Abby groaned.
Rick limped around the couch and to the first bookcase, instantly grabbing the book Kaylie was seeking — he had used it earlier that day — and motioned to Abby. “Join me, it’ll be fun.” His sardonic tone translated well.
“I bet it will be,” she replied as she joined him, dragging a chair for him to sit on in the room.
“You’re stupid!” Rick and Abby heard Anna say as they opened the door.
“She’s lying!” Jodie yelled back.
“You’re still stupid!”
“Aah… raising intellectual debate to new heights, as always, are we?” Rick smiled sardonically.
The girls all yelled at once as he strained to have a seat, laying the book calmly on his lap before holding up a hand. “Stop! The arbiter is in. One at a time now. Jodie,” he motioned to her, “you first, since you’re probably the underdog.”
Anna burst out, “She’s stupid!”
Rick casually handed the book to Abby and whispered in her ear. Abby stood and strolled over and whacked Anna on top of the head with it, just hard enough to get her attention, then returned.
“Ow! That’s child abuse!” she growled.
“Then go tell someone and have them take you away. Or… quit being hateful,” he warned.
Anna quickly opted to remain silent and Abby returned the book.
“Jodie?” he continued, as if daring anyone else to interrupt.
She sat up straight, adjusted and fidgeted nervously a moment. “Well, they said the Bible isn’t real—”
Rick perked up. “Isn’t real? I’ve seen one! This debate is over!” he teased, faking like he was getting up.
“OK. They said it’s fiction, and they said it was written by biased religious people promoting Christianity or something, that none of it is true. They also said Mary was not a virgin—”
Kaylie cut her off, “Did not!”
Rick handed the book to Abby, Kaylie apologized immediately, “Sorry!”
Rick nodded and Abby returned the book with a slight smile on her face. She was enjoying this.
“Continue, please,” he invited.
“Um… they also said Mary was eleven years old when she got pregnant and Moses didn’t part the Red Sea and Jesus didn’t walk on water and the—”
This time Rick interrupted her, “Hold on, let’s try a few at a time. Kaylie, arguments?” He motioned to her.
Kaylie sat up at this time, fidgeting as well, but angry. “Well, I said we don’t have any proof that Mary was a virgin or any of that other stuff and that book shows lots of evidence against those things.” She pointed to the book he held and lowered herself back into the water.
“Very well. Any others?” Nobody made a move. “Alrighty then. This book does have evidence against all those things—”
Kaylie sat up, preparing to sneer at Jodie; Rick motioned with the book to Abby. She thought better of the rude gesture she was about to make and slumped back to her neck in the bubbles.
“As I was saying, this book has evidence against those things,” each girl tilted her head in unison. “Evidence, just like the Bible. Neither of these things are solid proof and, even worse, it’s all further complicated by language interpretations. For instance, an account of a close family member remarks on Mary’s extreme resilience in giving birth, stating it was uncommon for a child, not yet of age to wed, to even survive birth. Some people argue her age was twelve and all records indicate that to be true, although there were exceptions of those impregnated before the age of twelve being allowed to marry. Either way, she was very young. But another stated she had not yet become a woman according to their translation, which was generally considered to be thirteen.”
As for the seven loaves miracle… one account was translated to say ‘each carried seven loaves and seven fishes upon them’ and goes on to say they ‘returned for more.’ This is believed to have been the account which was later confused and mutated into a miracle. There are many more contradicting the other things as well.”
Kaylie started gloating a bit and Alex began the process of taunting her friend. Rick silenced them both.
“But, as I said, this is no more proof than the Bible itself, neither are any more reliable testaments to history than Homer’s ‘Iliad’ is a true account of the Trojan War or ‘The Odyssey’ proves Cyclopes existed,” he lectured.
The four girls looked at each other suspiciously, checking to see if there would be any further arguments, but none had any.
“Good. I’d love to answer all these questions and I’m sure we’ll find the truth to many of them soon. In the meantime, to paraphrase a famous quote, ‘two topics you should never argue with friends if you wish to remain friends: politics and religion.’ I hope you girls understand. Each of you are free to believe in whatever you judge to be the truth; faith, science or nothing at all if you want, but don’t try to force that belief on someone else.” He stood up, bowed with a playful smile and motioned Abby to walk out the door with him. The two left arm in arm.
As soon as the girls heard them back on the couch, they resumed planning their own search for the truth, two thousand years in the past.
“Keep your bathing suit on,” Alex whispered when Jodie stood and started to untie her bikini. She gave Alex a confused look. Kaylie explained the pool in the cave and she quickly retied it.
Anna had checked on Rick and Abby, confirming they were asleep, and returned with the news. They tiptoed out and up the stairs to gather supplies — mainly their new lights and some clothes — which they put on over their wet swim suits. They picked up the cube on their way out and went to the garage, collected their bikes and silently stole off into the night, confidently racing through the now familiar moonlit path.
The four girls arrived at the pool at 12:30, Jodie was completely in awe, and the other three girls quickly shed their clothes and stuffed them in a bag, urging Jodie to do the same. Alex cranked up the new lantern, which easily illuminated the entire room, and sat it on the ground. They left their flashlights with their bikes and, after nudging Jodie into the water, swam through to the chamber, Alex going with her to familiarize her with the route.
The girls hurriedly dried and dressed, except Jodie, who stared, stuck in a statue-like pose, until Alex prodded her to do the same.
Anna and Kaylie shot toward the lockers, looking for clothes to wear or make to fit the era. Kaylie decided she could use some of the same types of fabrics they had used in Rome and started designing some outfits on paper first.
Alex and Jodie dug into the treasure, trying to find appropriate coinage or jewelry to use. Her four books of currency she had bought that day on her unauthorized shopping trip came in quite handy.
Kaylie hopped up and dug out the cube, tracing the swirl pattern on one side and watched it open on the table. She grabbed her red necklace and put it on, planning to fire up T and check the local fashions, but the time stone was missing. In horror, she checked each necklace and the UC, as if it could have attached itself to them and hidden. It simply wasn’t there.
“What do you mean gone? It can’t just disappear!” Alex yelled, incredulous.
“That’s what I said! Duh!” Kaylie held up the contents as proof.
“This is no time for a joke,” Anna trudged over to her.
“Maybe it fell on the floor?” Alex suggested. They looked around a moment, but knew it was futile. It was nowhere to be seen on the pristine floor surface and would have stood out like an elephant in a penguin exhibit.
Kaylie put everything back and closed the cube, then took off her shirt and stuffed it in the bag violently.
“What are you doing?” Alex asked.
“We can’t go anywhere!” Kaylie huffed.
“Come on, we can still get clothes and money together at least.”
“I don’t have anything to base the clothes on for certain,” Kaylie argued. She went to the line to grab her bathing suit, jerking it off and knocking half of the others to the floor in her rage. She picked them up, muttering at each one as she draped it carelessly back over the line.
Jodie then began doing the same; Alex reopened the cube and searching quickly on the UC, found half a dozen videos of the time and place.
“Wait!” she stopped them and showed the first video she could find, “See! We can still learn something since we’re here.”
Jodie looked at Kaylie, who looked back at her with a sheepish grin. “Ok,” Kaylie finally relented.
The two girls reversed course and quickly got back into their clothes.
Alex handed over the chronicler and Kaylie dove back into fashion mode. With the new information in front of them, the girls quickly assembled two new outfits. Jodie and Anna were modeling their clothes while Kaylie made alterations before starting two more. The activity was growing slower and slower as they became exhausted. Alex finally announced it was past 3:30. She was sitting in the midst of a small fortune in jewels and coins, Anna and Jodie hung their garments up as they all agreed to call it a night.
Moments later, they were back in their bathing suits and traversed the tunnel.
Alex was proud to see the light was still on as she rose into the well-lit grotto. Each of the girls absently tucked their suits into a plastic bag, climbed back into their clothes, and mounted their bikes.
They pedaled away from the pool, deflated.
They had stowed their bikes and began to walk through the garage when they spied the note attached to the kitchen door.
“DOWNSTAIRS! NOW! WAKE ME UP!” the note read.
“Oh boy! The final insult. I’m going straight to bed,” Anna grumbled, determined to avoid punishment.