“All right, sweet dreams,” she whispers as she closes the door to one of the bedrooms. She heads quietly downstairs to the living room when the phone rings. She hurries into the room and grabs the receiver.
“Hello,” she says softly?
Felix’s voice is on the other end saying, “Hi, sweetheart. How are things?” Izzy leans through the doorway next to her and cranes her neck to listen upstairs and make sure the children aren’t stirring from the noise. She certainly doesn’t want to have to corral them back into bed.
It’s quiet so she breathes a sigh of relief.
“Oh fine. I just got the children into bed.”
“I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t wake them.”
“No, I think it’s fine. Are you coming soon?”
“Yes, I was just calling to tell you I’m on my way out now. I’m bringing some tartlets back I thought you might enjoy.”
Izzy smiles at her husband’s thoughtful gesture. “Ooh, yes. I’ll put the kettle on for some tea to have with them.”
“Okay, see you soon. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
***
Felix and Izzy are enjoying the tartlets and tea snuggled up on a couch in the living room.
Felix asks, “How are the plans coming for the fiddling competition on your end?”
“Oh, pretty well. Your sister and Gus arranged most of it before they left town, thank goodness. What about at the hotel?”
“Simon’s excited. He’s got the dining room booked for the night, with the seating arranged in front of the platform for the performers. And the refreshment tables will be in the lobby. I’ve got the menu pretty much done.”
“Good.”
“I know Simon is a little wistful organizing it all without Aunt Hetty though. He told me it was strange for him to plan an event without her. I guess this is really the first one he’s done without her help.”
Izzy frowns, “Oh yes, I bet that is hard for him. They were always so close. I mean they almost got married!”
Felix chuckles, “I know! I can’t imagine if that had happened though. Both of them were too set in their ways.
Izzy nods and is quiet before saying, “Felix, do you think your aunt ever regretted not marrying?”
Felix smiles, “I don’t think so. She valued her independence too much. You know, when I was growing up, I always thought Aunt Hetty kind of pathetic for never marrying. I pitied her for it.”
“Well, she had opportunities along the way.”
“I know. I realized eventually that she chose to remain a spinster. It took me awhile to realize that if she had stayed single she never could have taught for so long, or had a writing career or gone into business with Simon. She would have had to forgo all that to raise children.”
Izzy is stares off into space and mutters, “Mmm.”
Felix notices her distracted silence and turns to face Izzy, “Dear, have you ever regretted giving up a career in nursing to marry and have children?”
“Of course not,” Izzy replies too quickly with a plastered on smile. “I would never have wanted to give up having a family or being married to you just to have a career.” She means it but she is also not entirely truthful that she has no regrets about having to give up nursing.
Felix nods, not completely convinced. “I suppose really Aunt Hetty had the best of both worlds, she was independent but she did raise Sara. And she helped Rachel raise Davy and Dora, too.”
“Yes, she was very lucky to be able to do both. And your Aunt Olivia is, too.”
“Yeah, definitely.”
Felix’s face becomes a black cloud, suddenly angry in his memories. He mumbles sullenly, “You know I often secretly hated Aunt Hetty throughout my childhood. Nothing I ever did could please her.”
“Oh, I’m… sure… that’s not true,” Izzy stammers, startled by Felix’s abrupt revelation.
“No, it was.” Felix says bitterly, “She made me feel stupid and she was certainly fonder of Felicity and then Andrew, when he came to town. I don’t think she thought I was worth anything until I went to war.”
Izzy isn’t sure what to say so she smiles, “I’m sure she was very proud of you then.”
Felix finally smiles, “Yes, it was the first time I remember her ever saying she was proud of me when I came home injured. That did mean a lot to me after all those years of never measuring up.”
Izzy gazes up at Felix, “Well, I was sure proud of you. You were very brave.” She gives him a kiss.
They are both silent for a minute. Then Felix asks gravely, “I suppose you heard about Percy?”
“Yes, Muriel told me. Felicity and I were voicing our concerns recently but we hoped it wouldn’t end up this way.”
“It’s very troublesome.”
“Muriel thinks she can convince Father to change the Board’s decision. But she hasn’t mentioned it to him yet to my knowledge. I hope he can do something. Imagine what they’ll do with the baby coming any day now. Cecily won’t be able to work for some time still.”
Felix nods; looking worried, but says, “They’ll work out something.” He doesn’t really know this for sure but he feels powerless to help.
Izzy asks suddenly, “Have you had a chance to see Andrew much since he’s been in town?”
Felix’s mouth twists into a sarcastic smile. “Uh, no. And I can’t say I’m sorry I haven’t time. He’s still as arrogant and self-centered as he was as a boy.”
Izzy is a bit startled by this reaction. “Why do you say that?”
“Well, he was always showing off how smart he was and sucking up to Aunt Hetty; always trying to make me look like a fool.”
“But, he doesn’t seem to be that way now.”
Felix snorts, “Oh, yes he is. It may be more subtle now but he’s the same. He breezes into town putting ridiculous notions of finding dinosaur bones into everyone’s heads! Dinosaur bones!”
“Well, anything is possible, I suppose-“
Felix narrows his eyes at his wife and practically spits out the words, “Please dear, don’t defend him just because he’s family. I can’t believe Jasper is taking this whole idea seriously. And he’s leading poor Lucky on a wild goose chase!”
Izzy is getting quietly exasperated with Felix’s overreaction. She giggles nervously, “He wouldn’t do that.”
Felix sneers, “Oh, you don’t know him like I do.”
Izzy is quiet, almost afraid of Felix’s anger. Then she says solemnly, “No, I don’t.” She knew that Felix and Andrew had had a sort of rivalry as boys, but she wasn’t around then to witness it. She had no idea Felix harbored such resentment toward him. Like the rest of the family, she had hoped their reunion would be a pleasant one.
“Anything to bring glory on himself, he’ll do it. He doesn’t care who he tramples on to get it. I hope Lucky doesn’t turn out like him.” Felix and Izzy jump suddenly as they see Lily hovering in the doorway sucking her thumb. She smiles diabolically and runs to jump into her father’s lap.
“Lily, what are you doing up?!” Izzy demands with bewilderment.
“I not go to sleep,” she says firmly crossing her arms over her chest.
“Yes, we see that.” Izzy says, trying not to smile. “Why not?”
“I want talk you and Daddy,” Lily explains.
“Oh no, not at this hour!” Izzy exclaims. “We can talk all you like in the morning. But for now, you must go back to bed.”
“Go on now! Go back to bed,” Felix says putting his daughter down and shooing her to follow her mother.
“Well,” Izzy says as she picks Lily up to march her back to bed, “maybe Jasper will be a good influence on Lucky and Andrew.” Lily pouts but doesn’t argue. As her eyelids droop, she leans her head on her mother’s shoulder.
Felix bows his head in surrender, shrugs and says, “Hopefully. I just fear this whole escapade will end badly for Lucky.”
Izzy sighs and tries not to raise her voice and reawaken Lily. “Well, let’s try to remain optimistic that even if they don’t find anything, Lucky will gain valuable field work experience.”
Felix sighs and says, “I guess.”
The Caves: Percy and Monty have agreed to meet Jasper, Lucky and Andrew at the caves. They have spoken to elders at the Mi’kmaq community and are ready to report back to the expedition.
“Well, are we all here, then?” Jasper inquires, looking around.
“Yes, we are,” Lucky says, eyeing Percy and Monty nervously. They both try to smile supportively.
“So… did you get to speak to the Mi’kmaq elders?” Andrew asks.
Percy nods, “We did.”
“And?”
“Well, to put it simply, they aren’t happy.”
“Not happy about what?” Lucky asks uncertainly.
“About any of it.” Monty replies. “That we’ve been into their sacred area of the cave without their permission, that you’ve been digging without their permission…”
“But did you tell them that we very possibly have found a dinosaur bone?”
“Yes.” Jasper demands, “Weren’t any of them interested about that?”
“Frankly, no.” Percy says flatly. “Well interested, I suppose, you could say that. We described what you have uncovered so far and they want to come to the site and see it for themselves.”
“Well, that’s good then.” Jasper tries to be hopeful. “They shouldn’t be upset once they’ve seen it. They’ll be as excited as we are, I’m sure.” He says this as much to reassure himself as the others.
“I doubt that,” Monty argues. “And, Father, they may lay claim to it.”
“But, they haven’t been here for generations!” Jasper cries out. “I’ve not seen an Indian in all my life living in Avonlea! Nor did anyone of my parents’ generation to my knowledge.”
“But they were here first, Father,” Monty retorts.
Jasper throws up his hands, exasperated. “So, you have more loyalty to these people you’d never met until a few days ago than you do to your own father!”
Monty is startled by this exclamation. “No Father, but I don’t think it’s right to unearth things that don’t belong to us. If anything it should be left here in the place it’s been resting for millennia. It isn’t ours to take away.”
Lucky chimes in, “But Monty if we leave it here, the world wouldn’t be able to see a remarkable find. And paleontologists couldn’t study it and find out what it is. We don’t have the expertise to analyze it ourselves; none of us is a paleontologist.”
Andrew agrees, “That’s right. I have-and I know Jasper does, too-some rudimentary knowledge of the field but as Lucky says, not enough to identify a new species or even to classify it positively as one of a known species. We need to take it to a university.”
“Well, couldn’t a specialist come here to examine it? Wouldn’t that be safer than transporting it anyway?”
Jasper, Lucky and Andrew look at each other with resignation. Jasper says, “Yes, I suppose it would be. But it will still have to be uncovered more than it is; the earth will have to be dug out more from around it. We’ve been careful to only use brushes so it is only partially revealed in respect to the Mi’kmaq.”
Percy shakes his head. “I would not recommend doing anything more before the elders from the tribe have come to see it. They’re sending a delegation this week. Could you not wait until then?”
Andrew throws his pick on the ground in frustration built up not only from this excavation but also his past failed attempts in Alberta.
“We’ve waited already! I’ve been going mad with impatience!”
Lucky tries to broker a peace, “Look, let’s all take some time to cool off and there’s no harm in waiting just a few more days. No one else knows about it so it isn’t like someone will… steal it or something.” He laughs at the idea.
Andrew and Jasper look at each other wide-eyed, in horror at the idea of raiders pilfering their discovery. The notion had never crossed their minds. Andrew groans and says, “It does happen you know. It happened in the Badlands all the time. Rival paleontologists or just petty thieves out to make a buck selling it to a buyer who doesn’t know how they got it.”
“Well, it won’t happen here. None of us has said anything to anyone, right?”
The men glance at each other nervously. “No, but Alecia may very well have said something to someone. Remember that she was here when you found it. My sister isn’t known for keeping secrets,” Monty mutters.
“Dear God,” Andrew moans.
Lucky wants to defend Alecia but decides against it for fear that it will seem suspicious to the others.
Jasper has had a few minutes to calm down. He breathes a heavy sigh and tries to be a voice of reason. “Let’s not panic. Percy, you said that the Mi’kmaq elders will be here in a few days. We’ll just check in on the fossil every day. Now, I agree with Lucky that we should go cool off and not think about it anymore today. It’s been here for possibly thousands of years so it can wait a few more days.” He tries to catch Monty’s eye and smile but his son refuses to look at him.
“All right,” Lucky says. “We’ll take turns keeping an eye on things. I’ll come tomorrow morning. Andrew, will you come the day after?”
Andrew nods numbly. “Yes, of course.”
The men stagger out of the darkness of the cave onto the beach. Monty goes in the opposite direction of his father, toward Flora’s house.
Jasper sighs as he heads back to the Dale house with Lucky. Percy goes quickly home to Cecily.
Andrew chooses to take the path through the woods back to King Farm. He is in no hurry since he doesn’t want to elicit questions from his aunt and uncle if he comes in upset. He finds the walk does calm him down. It has been so long since he has felt the salt sea breeze mixed with the smell of sweet, country grass and hay. Even though he didn’t live on Prince Edward Island long, he does miss it from time to time. As he comes into a clearing he passes Pike Home on his right. He vaguely notices children and two women outside the house. As he gets closer he recognizes Izzy King playing with some of the children. She also sees him as he approaches.
“Hello, Andrew,” Izzy smiles and brings her two children over to see their uncle.
“Hello Izzy.” He tips his fedora hat politely. He shakes Sammy’s hand and waves at Lily who hides behind her mother’s leg, still shy around an uncle she doesn’t know. “Fine day, isn’t it?” Andrew can’t help but be a little stiff in his conversation.
Izzy is also formal, “Yes, it is.” She tries to be more relaxed by adding, “The children refused to stay inside since it was so nice out.”
“Well, that’s good. It’s a shame wasting fine weather inside.” He looks about anxiously, at a loss for what else to say.
Izzy decides it would be best to let Andrew be on his way. “I’m sure you want to get to King Farm for dinner. I know I need to bring the children in to have theirs.”
Andrew nods but can’t help gazing at Izzy as he says, “Yes, I should let you go.” After a few seconds pause he turns to Sammy and Lily and says, “Nice to see you again, children.”
“You’ll tell us if you find a dinosaur bone, won’t you Uncle Andrew,” Sammy can’t help asking. He had been waiting to see if Andrew would bring up the subject.
Izzy and Andrew laugh uneasily. “Of course, I will… Nice to see you again, too, Izzy. Please tell Felix hello for me.” Andrew looks significantly at Izzy.
Izzy swallows hard and looks away. “Ah yes, it is… And I will.”
Andrew turns away and proceeds down the path. Izzy watches him walk away and continues to stare at the trail after he is gone.
