“There’s some ... in the desk.”
The afternoon passed with Joshua bringing Anna’s father one tool at a time and the man explaining how to use it. Everything had to be precise. Great care had to be taken not to damage the fossils when using chisels and hammers to free them from the rocky layers. The little brushes in various sizes were used to painstakingly work the debris away from the bones.
“One of the hardest ... things will be ... gaining your balance.”
Joshua wrote as fast as he could. As Mr. Lakeman explained the way they used scaffolding to climb up the walls and gain access to the fossils, Joshua wondered how hard it would be to lean his weight against the rock and yet still have leverage for the hammer and chisel.
The more he learned, the more excited he became. No wonder Anna and her father loved this work so much. Regular animal fossils were exciting enough, but to think that he would get to learn of dinosaurs. It was beyond his imagination to think of creatures like that roaming the earth. He couldn’t wait to see the skeleton in the wall and study Anna’s drawings.
“Promise me ... you’ll come visit me in the evenings ... before you go home?” The man’s voice was hoarse by now. His head laid back on the pillow.
Joshua held up the water glass for him with the towel underneath like he’d seen Anna and Louise do.
“Thank you.”
“I will come after work each day. I promise. I’m sure I’ll have lots to share and many questions.”
“Anna can answer ... most. She’s pretty ... much a paleontologist herself.”
Footsteps sounded down the hall. “Dad?”
Anna’s voice. Vibrant and full of life. She was obviously excited about something.
“You won’t believe—” She clamped her mouth shut as soon as she entered and caught sight of him there with her father.
Joshua stood feeling a bit like an intruder. “Your dad has been teaching me about his work.”
“I’ve hired Joshua ... to help out at the dig.”
Her eyes widened as she stared from her father then to him and then back again. “Oh?”
“We’re a ... man short.” Mr. Lakeman was matter of fact.
She nodded.
A horrid thought came to Joshua’s mind. “Does this make you uncomfortable? To have me working with you?”
She blinked several times. “No. Not at all.” The smile shegave them wasn’t convincing. “It will be good to have another set of hands.”
Even though the words were honest, they nicked at his already bruised heart. She didn’t want him around because she cared for him. No. He was just another worker.
Well, if that was all he was good for right now, he’d take it. Love meant serving one another. Over time, he would prove to Anna Lakeman that he loved her.
eleven
“And so they searched and labored
To find a way from night
And sin and pain and sorrow
To Truth’s and Freedom’s height.”
~Earl Douglass,
from his poemNature’s Noblemen
WEDNESDAY, JUNE26
