Golden Haze ...Finale

in #writing4 years ago (edited)



A relationship that is truly genuine does not keep changing its colours. Real gold never rusts. If a relationship is really solid and golden, it will be unbreakable. Not even Time can destroy its shine.
― S. Kassem



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Astrid



Astrid was right—we actually unearthed the Biblical site where the Garden of Eden was located.

But the technical problems involved with the dig overwhelmed me, not to mention the challenge of securing the site against incursions from marauders and tomb raiders.

I convinced her to enlist the help of a friend—Jerrod Mason—curator of Antiquities for the Smithsonian.



"This is huge, Astrid," I argued. "We're in way over our heads.”

She was disappointed ,of course, but ultimately succumbed to my reasoning.

"So, what should we do—fill in the hole again and wait till we can mount a full-scale expedition?”

“It seems the best solution at the moment,” I replied.



She nodded and lay back looking up at the first few stars twinkling above us.

“Star light, star bright,” she whispered.

“Better make that wish a good one,” I said drily.

Lying beside her at night under her starry constellation was always an adventure. I never knew if I’d be staring up at Virgo or Libra, but at least we were in agreement on this.



We left the Middle East and first thing I did when we got back to the States was contact Jerrod Mason at The Smithsonian.

He was beside himself with excitement.

“I can arrange funding and we’ll need to mount a full-scale operation, complete with security. This is going to be a massive undertaking, Paul.”

I nodded. The prospect of going back to Eden was exciting—however, the fact that Astrid and I would no longer be alone together in the desert was the only sad aspect of the trip.

We agreed to go at the end of March when the weather was still mild and favourable. I contacted Dean Hammond and made arrangements to extend my sabbatical.



A week later, I had just returned from visiting Jerrod when the phone rang and I heard Astrid’s frantic voice on the other end.

“Turn on the TV, Paul—to CNN.”

I grabbed the remote and punched in the channel numbers. The first images I saw were of ambulances and relief workers.

The announcer ‘s voice droned on: The area is in an earthquake zone and this was a massive quake measuring 9.9 on the Richter scale and devastating several thousand square kilometres of land.



Astrid’s voice cut in. “I was talking to a colleague who’s stationed near Tabriz—she tells me the entire topography of the land has changed.”

“Yes, but you have GPS co-ordinates, don’t you?”

The long pause on the line told me otherwise.

“Don’t worry,” I reassured her, “We’ll work on the basis of our mileage driven and the general directions we took.”

“Yeah, I guess,” she said in a flat tone. “You know it’ll be months before they let a foreign expedition in—we might never be able to uncover the exact site again.”

“I’ll go with you—together we’ll try to find it. Cheer up—I’m sure it won’t be that bad, once we get boots on the ground.”



I could tell from her voice, she was defeated. I hung up feeling lost and bereft. It was one thing to lose the greatest archeological find in history—it was another to lose an opportunity to be with her.

Still, we had been there, the two of us, in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

We had watched the stars rise and set in antique silence. We had glimpsed gold and for a few precious shimmering moments, while the mirage lasted, we shared our lives.

I wanted to go back, back to the Garden—I wanted to go back to that moment.

What I really hoped to uncover , however, was my own precious treasure—a glimpse of the golden haze that I left hidden in the land of Nod.



© 2020, John J Geddes. All rights reserved



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