Bones in the Sand, Julie Steimle [best books to read for students .TXT] 📗

blood, especially their own," Jeff said, showing him a good punch.

"But wouldn't a guy like Deacon just wail into me if I did that?" Joseph asked, visibly cringing at the thought. "I mean, I could have sworn he broke his nose in one of those football matches last season."

"And crying like a baby," Jeff smugly assured him. "Very few guys here will be as dangerous as the ones you ran from in the city. I can promise you that."

Joseph stood back and asked, "Like the guys that gave you that scar?" He pointed to the one on Jeff's face.

Jeff flushed. So did Zormna on the other side of the room. She winced, wondering if that stupid argument was going to come up again. It was their one fighting point that just would not die no matter how hard they both attempted to smother it.

"Uh, Zormna did that," Jeff said hastily.

Joseph laughed. "She busted your nose last year in the tug-o-war pit? I don't think so. I saw you with that scar before she came to this school."

Jeff stood up, still flushing and not wanting to explain his scars any further. He looked toward the door. He could see Zormna's embarrassed and irritable glower from across the room.

"Um, I think, I think we'd better get going. They're probably going to close the gym." Jeff walked over the bleachers and collected his jacket and water bottle. Turning to Joseph, he said, "Same time tomorrow? I don't have wrestling but I do have counseling for, you know, 'anger management'."

Joseph nodded. He looked across the room and saw Zormna and the sulky look on her face. She also had counseling that hour, but it wasn't for anger management. It was for private lessons with the school counselor on various topics such as dealing with grief and sexual promiscuity - which many people assumed she had a problem with because she had Jeff had ditched school together twice last semester for a handful of days. Joseph tried to smile at her, but he could see that she had overheard some of their conversation. She didn't look at all pleased. He glanced at Jeff to see what he would do, but Jeff merely nodded to her as he walked through the doorway where she stood.

"Wait for me, would you?" Jeff said before stepping into the boys' locker room.

"It's not like I can go in there," Zormna snapped after him.

Jeff laughed then went inside to change.

Joseph stepped out of the gym and stood next to Zormna at the door. "Your boyfriend is some kind of guy, huh?"

Zormna scowled at him. "He's not my boyfriend."

"Uh, huh." Joseph skeptically picked up the backpack he had left at the door. Then he marched out into the snow where a beat up station wagon waited for him on the curb.

Zormna peered over at the car where she saw a woman with dark big hair and a caked layer of make-up, holding a cigarette between her lips sitting at the steering wheel. Zormna sighed and shook her head.

Chapter Six: Seeing Things

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

" 'Be a man!' said I.

'You are scared out of your wits! What good is religion if it collapses under calamity?

Think of what earthquakes and floods, wars and volcanoes, have done before to men!

Did you think God had exempted Weybridge? He is not an insurance agent.'" p. 54

 

 

"If you take a look at the bones, this man also has fractured ribs and a broken arm. But the most amazing features are his teeth," Professor Pratte said, showing the FBI agents the skull of the helmeted man.

"His teeth?" Agent Sicamore asked.

They had been looking at the skeletons for some time now.  The removal of the cement layer on the ship was taking much longer than they had anticipated so they decided it was best to investigate the skeletons. The skeletons were the only things forthcoming. There were still four skeletons being unearthed, and the students that had come to the site with Professor Pratte were taking great care to make sure they were not damaged.

"Yes, his teeth." Professor Pratte tipped the skull so they could see the top row. Within the skull, they looked remarkably modern, including dental work. "Look. Evidence of a root canal. Caps. Also...a regular Native American skull has teeth that are concave, like shovels. This is different from, say, a Caucasian set of teeth, where they do not scoop inward. This skull is full of Caucasian type teeth - no shovel shaped scoops at all. All the other skulls..." he took one of the bones from off the table and tilted the jaw to show the agents, "...have shovel shaped teeth."

"So you're saying..." Agent Palmer broke in, his expression twisted in disbelief.

"Yes," Professor Pratte concluded, smiling, "This man is not a local."

"What are you implying? It was an alien abduction foiled?" Professor Dumas had been incredibly testy since they had found the space ship. He had grown particularly sarcastic since then because all his archaeological theories were going to pot. He was a purist and not a diffusionist like Professor Pratte.

Professor Pratte gave him a superior, yet annoyed look. "No, of course not. Given the evidence, this man was buried alongside the others. One would have to conclude he was not an unwanted visitor, but one of the boys, so to speak."

Agent Powell smirked this time, leaning back from the collection of bones on the table. "Isn't that going a bit far?"

The professor shook his head. "I should say not. This man was buried as an equal, alongside these other people: two women and three men. All of them seemed to have been in the same accident, and the survivors obviously buried them all with the same regard."

Agent Sicamore scratched his chin in thought. "Do you think you could do a facial composite of him? I'd like to see his face."

Professor Pratte nodded. "We're going to make a plaster cast of the skull tonight, if you'd like to watch."

Professor Dumas grunted.

"Good. Make two casts if you can. We want a copy of everything you have," Sicamore said. He waved over to Agent Palmer. His partner handed him his cell phone. "Give all copies to Agent Powell here. And remember, none of this must get out, so you'd better keep your students occupied here in camp and not let them wander. Don't let them upload anything on social media."

With a shrug, the professor agreed. "All right. But what about that tabloid photo that your own men had followed? That had already gotten out, if you really wanted to keep this all under your hat."

Sicamore nodded with a cringe. "Well, let's just hope nobody takes it seriously and just lines birdcages with it. In the meantime, my agents will be on patrol."

Zormna clenched her teeth as they listened to the Orson Welles' Halloween broadcast of War of the Worlds. Mr. Humphries thought it was a great preliminary to their reading of the book. They had seen the musical Oliver! when they finished reading Oliver Twist, but that had been enjoyable. Just the sound of Welles's voice made Zormna's stomach churn in disgust.

The class bell rang none too soon. Zormna huffily stood up, gathering her books and stuffing them into her bag. It didn't help that Jeff was trying to keep himself from laughing. He always found science fiction alien movies and things amusing. Brian kept poking Jeff in the head, and even Mr. Humphries seemed disturbed by Jeff's reaction to the radio show.

Jeff wiped his tearing eyes. "That was the funniest...."

"Can it," Zormna snapped.

He blinked at her and shut up immediately, trying to remove the smirk on his face. He thought the whole aliens-taking-over-the-Earth scenario was hilarious. Of course Zormna always took offense at alien war movies, as she was a former soldier raised in the Surface Patrol of Mars.  

He watched her storm off to class with Adam right behind. Adam shot Jeff a 'what's with her?' look, to which Jeff lifted up his hands in a more dramatic shrug. Then he walked down the hall, shaking his head. Brian went with him as his sister Joy hurried away with a flirtatious wink at Jeff.

They passed Bradley Hershott in the hall with hardly a look to him. And Bradley avoided Jeff's gaze. The quarterback still has a bruised nose and black eye. Michelle Clay also trotted by on her sharp, spangley heels, going to her History class while delivering pert winks and flirty eyelash flutters at the two boys. He even passed Kevin Jacobsen, Jennifer's boyfriend, who was standing with his fellow preppies, chatting with a miniscule peek at Jeff. Kevin had been fed a more earth-bound version of what Jeff and Zormna were and what they were doing in the U.S., but for Jennifer's sake he said nothing - as he also knew that Jennifer was a fellow countryman. Kevin just thought the whole thing was a mess of weird politics involving a tiny European country. Jeff supposed that Kevin was still scared of him. The fact that he had threatened to flatten Kevin if he said anything to anyone about Zormna's and his secret, always lingered in Kevin's looks at Jeff and Zormna. But then, who would believe him if he said anything? It wasn't like they told Kevin that they were Martians. The guy would have thought them all nuts if they had even implied it.

Who would believe him...?

Jeff felt that dark distant feeling in his chest again. It rose abruptly, making his head feel dizzy and oddly heavy. An image pressed in his mind. Bones. Bones in the ground.

Jeff shook his head, attempting to recover his focus. Almost immediately the school hall came back into view.

Yes. Students, lockers, classes.

His head was no longer spinning. What was that? Bones? Why did he see bones imbedded in rock? What was going on?

"Are you ok?" Brian's voice came as if from underwater, slowly back into focus. His face peered a little closely into Jeff's face.

Jeff blinked and shook his head.

"You looked like you were going to pass out just now," Brian murmured, examining Jeff's dilated eyes, especially against his indigo irises. It was like staring into the depths of space, which made Brian shiver.

Drawing in a breath, Jeff straightened up and shrugged. "Maybe I got up too fast back there."

"Delayed reaction?" came Brian's incredulous respond. He leaned back, knowing that was the weakest lie Jeff had ever made.

Jeff chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, exactly."

Zormna stared grimly at her Biology teacher. It was the day of blasphemy, she had decided. After having to listen to the stupidest recording of the most absurd radio broadcast, she then had to listen to Miss Bianchi ramble on about Groundhog Day and the groundhog seeing its shadow - which meant they would have winter six more weeks. Then after having to take in that load of nonsense, she just had to come to Biology where Mr. Zeigler was preaching evolution once more. Only this time he was explaining to them in fervent testimony that Homo Habilus was the first man to ever use tools.

It was a made up theory. It was a made up theory. It was a made up theory, and we made it up to keep idiots like this away from our home