CHAPTER 14

  BRINGING BACK LIFE

  “The rock and gravel continued to flow past us like waves of debris that eventually became slower and slower. As the flow slowed down, rays of light began to show through the immense dust in the air. I coughed as I ingested debris and dust into my lungs. As I coughed, so did Simon. I was glad to hear him take a breath. Coughing meant he was alive. The roar of the gravel flow had been deafening. Even in the silence, I was still hearing the roar of the gravel in my head.

  As the dust began to settle, my eyes adjusted to the scene. The opening above me was now a wide-open tunnel going nearly twenty feet in the air. Below us, where the floor once was, was a cavernous, dark hole. I sat on the edge and looked down, and twenty feet below me in the darkness was now a hill of rock, gravel, and sand. There were no openings to see beyond that point. There was no rope between us. There was no sign of anyone else. Above us, I could see a rope hanging in mid-air, unreachable. A ray of light was shining down from above. I thought it was the end.

  My throat was dry with dust. No moisture at all in my mouth. I couldn't say a word. I put my hand on Simon’s chest to feel the air pass in I let Uri and Cadmus know that we would be packing it all up but only after the bodies were found. Uri stayed on as well. The two bodies of Pelle and Nicoli were eventually found. Uri escorted them back to their homes with a modest sum of our money to pay for their burial. Mimi and I stayed and broke down the camp ourselves. Everyone else was gone. Uri picked up all the supplies, and we parted ways. He was a good man. He told me to understand that death comes unexpectedly and that it has little to do with us. It is about the fates of man and the greatest of life, and its balance.

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  Mimi and I decided to find a place in Athens to take a month or just to relax. We wanted to see more of Greece and even go into Turkey and Italy before returning home. I relieved Cadmus of any duty to stay. I thanked him for his help. We both agreed to keep in touch. As we parted ways, it was clear to me that he wasn’t truly ready to let go.

  He turned and said, “Jack, don’t let this stop you. I was envious of your passion when we met that day in Athens. It was that passion that brought me here, and I am glad I was a part of this.’

  I didn’t know what to say. I felt the entire project was a complete failure. I figured he would feel the same. It didn’t matter. I just felt like I didn’t care anymore.

  Then we saw it. Bayne on the cover of the local newspaper with his “Giant Bone”. The headline read, “Giant Bone Unearthed.” Bayne was making news all over the world. First in Greece and then in Europe, and we could only assume the U.S.

  While we were in Athens for that month, we even heard that the National Geographic Society was going to do a story on Bayne and the “Giant Bone.” I was crushed. I had not heard from him and had no way to get in touch with him. We weren’t exactly sure where he was. Somewhere back in the states, we assumed.

  Mimi tried to get my mind off of it all. She suggested we get out of Athens and go on to Italy. Mimi’s family was from Italy, and she had never been there before. She knew the chances of coming back to Europe seemed slim. So we would use what little money we still had to travel to Italy. Then we would be going home. Mimi hoped I would do some personal research while we were in Italy. She was determined to get my mind on other things.

  As we prepared to leave for Italy, we read that scientists in Athens and Europe quickly reported that the bone Bayne claimed to be from a giant was likely that of a mastodon. The entire story of a giant bone was reported to be nothing more than a hoax. The National Geographic story ran anyway, saying that initial tests were inconclusive and that further testing would be needed to authenticate the claim that this bone was that of a giant human. Their story made it clear that this proof of any giants was inconclusive.”