Dad speaks

When I got back to base camp that evening after freshening up at the market place, I had a surprise waiting for me.

It was dad.

He was sitting by the fire roasting marshmallows.
Thing is, as much grief as I'd heard from mom about the adoption, I hadn't heard a thing from him. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad.




"You look cute with glasses, dad," I'd said after putting on mine.
He gave me this look I knew well. He was going to break his silence. I wasn't sure what he was going to say.
"Vanna, I couldn't take another day waiting for you to come home."
I laughed. "I know you don't miss me that much."
"Ask your mother. I can't sleep at night. I pace around wondering where you are. I wonder if you're safe."
"Dad, I'm fine, really. I'm wondering about you, though. Have you been taking your medicine? You're all pale!"
"No, I'm fine, just getting old, that's all." He flashed me the same smile that melted ten thousand rooms. "When I go over to the other side --"
I blinked back a few tears. "Don't talk like that, please! I don't want you to go anywhere!"
"Oh, I'll still be around, just not in the flesh. You'll still be able to communicate with me." He took a marshmallow off its kabob and put it in his mouth. The blazing fire had burned itself to a waning flicker. "I hear you want to adopt two children from here."
"You ought to meet them, dad. They're terrific kids, they deserve a second chance."
"Do you realize if you're successful at adopting these children, your life will completely change?"
"It already has, dad," I told him, "the moment I first looked into their eyes. I was done for."
"What I mean is, the moment you and those kids step off that plane, if that happens, your life is over. It is all about the children. You have to devote your entire life to making theirs better. Do you understand?"
I blinked back more tears. "Completely."
"I have to tell you a story. I wasn't always this 'devoted family guy' that you know well."
"I think you told me, in the book excerpts you wrote."
"When I was a young man, your age actually, I did a lot of things that I now regret. I hurt quite a few people in the process. By the time I met your mother I had already had four children. Then she told me she was pregnant."
"Then what happened?"
"When your mother told me she was pregnant I wasn't quite sure how to react. I mean, I was happy but I was also scared. When you were born I took one look at you and started bawling my eyes out. I knew I had to change my life. I had five kids for five different women. I couldn't live like that anymore. I knew I had to do some things differently or my kids and I were going to end up in dire straits. I see Sebastian headed for that same kind of hurt. I want you to take care of him even if I'm not able to."

The Third Relic: Jackpot! Part 3

With the relic in hand, I needed to get out of the pyramid.

When I emerged from the Tomb of Death after four days, the sun beamed down on my body. You tend to appreciate those moments when you think you won't see them again.

Took me about an hour on my scooter to get to the marketplace, where I wanted to find Layla and the children.

When I got there it seemed deserted, but I had one question on the brain -- where were the children?

"Guess what --"

"You got the relic. Amazing!"

"Yeah, I got the relic --"

"What's the matter, you seem subdued."

"I am. Because the relic is not what I came to Egypt for. I came for the children. Where are they?"

"With their father in the marketplace."

"You released them to him?"

"He threaten me with my life."

I nodded my head. "I left them in your hands, not his."

"Last I saw them they were in the bookstore with him."

I knew that was the next place I had to go.

I went over to the bookseller's section of the market and sure enough, there he was. Samir Amin was not a particularly large man, but he seemed like the kind of man capable of running a covert multinational operation.

Samir looked at me. In his best Simlish he said, "So you are Dr. Savannah Plumb. The children have told me a lot about you."

"Have they?" I asked.

"But my spies are telling me even more. One thing they tell me is that you filled out paperwork to adopt them."

"I did, yes."

"Why you fill out papers when they have parents?"

"When I found the children, they were disheveled and left alone all the time. In my country that constitutes child abuse and is grounds for removal from the home."

"Well, we are not in your country anymore, are we?"

"International standards still apply. Besides, children shouldn't be left unattended, regardless of the situation."

"My children are fine!" Samir raised his voice towards me in a way that pierced the still desert air.

"I tell you one thing. If you as much as lift a finger towards Imsety or Satis, I will personally kill you. I am not leaving here without them, and that's that!"

The Third Relic: Jackpot! Part 2

After I rose and took a picture of the second mummy, I decided that since the floor switch 'took care of' the first mummy, I would see if it would do the same for this one.

When the second mummy burned in a fiery blaze, I now needed to turn my attention to getting the relic.

I figured out that the statue was blocking my entrance to the area where the relic was, so I had to move it. The whole time my heart was about ready to jump out of my chest.

Finally there was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The glistening, gleaming relic was now in my hands.

The Third Relic: Jackpot!

I put the key in the hole... and my eyes flew open and my heart began to pound.

And the reason why was simple: I spotted a glistening chest flanked by not one but three sarcophagi! I knew, without knowing, that I had found the relic.

Getting to it, though, was not going to be easy. In the blinding light I spotted a pile of ancient coins, and a mummy emerging from one of the sarcophagi!

I took a deep breath over the loud beats of my heart. Savannah, calm down, I told myself. I grabbed my camera and decided I'd record this for posterity.

But then there was the bigger problem... how was I going to retrieve the relic?

Thankfully, I was blocked from the view of the mummy by a makeshift wall consisting of several statues and a thick-ish wooden partition. This shield allowed me to try to figure out what to do.

Then, I found perhaps the most important floor switch ever. Stepping on it made the first mummy burn up in a fiery blaze!
But no sooner had the first mummy burned up... than the second mummy appeared!

I took care of one mummy, but to have a second one appear was just adding insult to injury....

To be continued...

The Third Relic: Relic of Eternity Part 9

I was in the tent when the phone rang. It was mom. I didn't even know my cellphone even worked in there. I'm at least three stories down in this tomb.

"Hey, mom. How's everything at home?" I asked.

"I'm not at home."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm here in Egypt with your father."

My mouth fell to the floor. "Wha -- what are you doing here?"

"We came to find out what this adoption business is all about."

"Adoption?"

"We heard you're trying to adopt two Egyptian children, and I have to say, of all the crazy schemes, Savannah, this has to be the craziest one of all. You can't deal with kids!"

"Mom, I don't care what you say. I love them, I want to be with them, and that's that."

"You know, Savannah, you can't just snap your fingers and say they're yours."

I replied with a sarcastic, "Why not?"

"Because that's not how the world works. And your lifestyle, you must admit, is not conducive to raising children. If you'd settle down, get married, and get established in a regular job, then you can think about starting a family. "

I decided I didn't want to hear anymore from her and hung up the phone. In fact, I turned my cellphone off in case she tried to call again. Besides, I had a relic to find.

After picking up my tent and eating a morsel, I unlocked the next door and walked into the next room. I knew I was getting closer, and the closer I got, the more my heart started to pound.

Once again I spotted a wall that looked different from the other part, so I felt around it to see if it was hollow. I knew that if it was hollow, it contained a hidden door which led to a hidden room.

Going behind the door revealed yet another rubble pile I had to chop through...

and underneath it was a keystone to a room.

To be continued

The Third Relic: Relic of Eternity Part 8

After leaving the indoor cemetery I walked back into the other room to fetch the keystone that had appeared.

I looked in here and saw two piles of ancient coins, a money bag, two ornately-decorated chairs, and a sarcophagus. Something told me there was a mummy in there, so I didn't bother to open it. My curiosity was telling me, "Savannah, go open the sarcophagus." But my better mind prevailed. I did grab the stuff though.

Just behind the sarcophagus, though, was what appeared to be a hollow wall, so I decided to check it out.

I headed back out, which activated the electric traps behind me, with the Key to the Death Chamber (I think that's what it's called, I don't remember the exact name).

I put the key in the hole...

...and I really couldn't believe my eyes. Not only were there two gorgeous ivory and gold sphinxes, but the whole floor was done in a neat skull pattern. I decided when I have my own house built I'll have a room just like it.

But belying the beauty, there was the danger. I had to sneak across electric traps just to retrieve yet another tombstone. After having enough electricity course through my body to power Sunset Valley for a year, I'm a little bit skittish of it.

After going through this place, I was getting very sleepy. I'd tossed and turned the night before and didn't really sleep all that well. I decided to eat a morsel and set up my tent, right on top of the skull.

And so concluded Day Three in the Tomb of Death. I'm still not dead yet.

Dreaming of golden relics and hugs from Satis and Imsety, Savannah

The Third Relic: Relic of Eternity Part 7

The next morning I woke up and went right back to work. I sprayed myself with a Shower-in-a-Can, I ate a morsel of dried food, and I picked up my tent.

In this room was an entire cemetery, with grave markers of all sizes and dead overgrown grasses. Most of you reading this blog know that I've pretty much spent my life in these places. I wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to do here, if I was supposed to look for something here, or if I was simply to stand and admire the tombstones.

So, I decided I would try to summon the spirits. It didn't take much, actually, to set off the waterworks; all I needed to do was think about Aunt Margaret and how I felt after she'd died. The tears started flowing from there.

I've known since I was a little girl that I've been able to speak to the spirits of the departed. Dad's reaction when I told him was, well, he didn't have one. Which was probably a good thing. I never actually told mom, but I think she knows, too, even though she's never actually confronted me about it. She has to know something, why else would I be spending my time in cemeteries?
At any rate, mourning the dead worked; there was a switch that opened because of it, which led to yet another door...

To be continued

Childhood Dreamin' Part 4

I came home from school one day. Since I was the last person on the route, I rode toward Summer Hill Court. The bus driver, Ms. Audrey, and I struck up a conversation. "You're Savannah, right?" she asked me. She wanted to know who my parents were, and I told her.
"My mother drove your father to and from school. He used to live right by the stadium."
I thought that was kind of weird, her mom driving my dad, and she following suit as a bus driver.

"How come you're always by yourself," she then asked. "I see the other kids, they're always in crowds. You're always alone."

I didn't have an answer to that question, and I still don't think I do. I do think I've developed over the simyears a preference for solitude. It's part of the reason why I have the job I do. I spend days alone in tombs hunting for relics and treasure, sometimes working for hire.

I came home and did my homework in Aunt Margaret's room. I liked to go in her room and do it because she had a study desk. Her study desk was wooden and she said she'd had it since she was a young adult.
After I did my homework Aunt Margaret was going to take me to the park for a chess tournament. It just so happened that mom and dad were coming home at the same time. Mom was particularly teed off that Aunt Margaret and I were leaving the house.

"Um, where do you think you're going?" she asked.
"Savannah and I are going to the chess tournament at Maywood Glen."
"Chess tournament?" mom wondered. "At this hour? Those are usually over by now!"

As usual, dad was caught in the middle. Aunt Margaret had told me once that when dad first started dating mom, she didn't like her at all, but had slightly warmed up to her by the time my parents got married.

"Shan --" I heard dad say as I walked out of the house. Aunt Margaret was already almost to her car.
"Savannah, have you done your homework?"
"Of course, mom," I replied. Then I ran to catch up with Aunt Margaret.

By the time I got into the car with Aunt Margaret, it was getting dark. It was kind of cool to be out of the house, just the two of us. "You know," Aunt Margaret said, "your mother doesn't quite understand. She just doesn't get it."
I had gotten used to my mother, though. At that age I had already figured out that she wasn't happy with me for some reason. I didn't know if it was the fact that I'm blond and pale, or that I hated toys, dolls and dresses, or that I would rather read a book than go play outside with other kids, or that I wasn't exactly the sweet girly girl she wanted.

What I couldn't tell Aunt Margaret -- at least then -- was that I LIKED going to the chess tournament and I LIKED hanging out with her. I didn't know how much I'd miss it when she died. It was Aunt Margaret who turned me on to chess all those simyears ago.