THE LAST ONE!!!

I’m so excited!  Excited about next Tuesday too…

Sorry it’s so short.  I finished Part 9 of The Sacrifice today, and some of those chapters are pretty long–like un-optional-continue–reading-buttons kind of long! 🙂  And the story itself is going to be long too.  I don’t ‘do’ short.  But… you guys don’t seem to mind long stories, so I guess we’re okay! 🙂  Anyway–

The rest of our trip flew by. The fossil was excavated successfully, and before I knew it, it was time to head home. The plane-flight was still grueling, but I considered the trip worth it!

We arrived at the airport late in the afternoon, and went to grandma and grandpa’s house first thing, to pick up the little girls.

“How was it?” grandma asked me.

“It was good,” I answered, and before I could say anything else, Hannah intervened, “It’s not fair that you went to Siberia without me! I didn’t know it was so exciting until I heard Mrs. Williams talking to grandma at church about how amazing it was you were going so young!”

“You would have been bored, sweetie!” I said kissing her hair. “There’s nothing over there but ice and snow and frozen mud and frozen mammoths.”

“What’s a mammoth?” asked Hannah.
“It an elephant,” said Millie wisely.

“No,” I corrected, “Actually, it’s not.”

“Then what is it?” asked Millie.

“It’s a long story,” I said. “I’ll tell you later.”

The End

So, this is the really long one!  It’s also really scientific… I hope my version of the facts makes sense! 🙂

Also, it looks like I’ll be doing Book Reviews through April.  Five more, and then we’ll see what things look like.

Okay: here goes.  Have fun, and (if it makes any sense) learn something new! 🙂  I added in the first few lines of the conversation that were in Part #4, just to make sure it made sense!  Oh! and I came up with a name for this one: “Cassie’s Question.” 🙂

It took me a full five minutes to work up my courage to ask a question. “Uncle Jonathan?”

“Yes, Cassidy?”

“In that picture you showed me last night… of the mammoth… how do we know what they look like?”

“Because of fossils like this.”

“You said fossils like this are rare—what sort of fossils do you usually find? Have we found dinosaur fossils like this?”

“Nope. Just mammoths,” Uncle Jonathan was quite decided on that point.

“But I’ve seen pictures of dinosaurs. Did people just make those up?”

“Most of them. All we have of most dinosaurs is the bones.”

“That’s disconcerting.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

“Why?” I asked suspiciously.

“Because it shows we have something in common. It bothers me too.”

“Oh! of course,” I faltered, for lack of anything else to say.

“So, why do we just have the bones? What happened?”

Continue reading Module 7 Story #5 →

Part 4!  Only two more!  🙁  Part 5 is really long, but the last one is really short.  I started writing my second science story yesterday to go along with Module 8!  I’m not sure how long that one is going to be… probably long because, well, because it’s written by me! 🙂

I found just Mom and Aunt Dakota in the “kitchen” the next morning when I got up.

“Feeling adventurous?” Mom asked.

“Like Indiana Jones,” I said sarcastically, sliding into a chair.

They had already eaten, but they sat down with me and drank some tea.

“We usually just have breakfast-bars or instant oatmeal for the sake of time,” my aunt explained. “But last time we were in town right before you guys came out and thought we’d get some bacon and pancakes for special, since we were having company.”

“Thank you!” I said, trying to think of the last time I’d had Bisquick pancakes—and failing.

“The guys are already out in the tent,” Mom said, after a few minutes. “Why don’t you go join them when you’re done?”

I cringed mentally. “Okay. Are you coming too?”

“We’re going to do the dishes and then come out.”

“I can stay and help you guys, if you want.” I offered.

“You are so not getting away with that!” Mom said laughing. “You’re going to go excavate a fossil!”

“I’m not allowed to touch it!” I pointed out.

“Then watch.”

Which is how I found myself outside in the frigid air, walking towards a tent full of men and preserved remains of once-living organisms. I paused to look at the scenery. Dreary as it was, it was beautiful—or would be in a picture. Picture? I should get my camera! I wasn’t allowed to take photos of the fossil, but I could capture this landscape to show my little sisters. They would be impressed.

For a long time ‘Siberia’ had been only a reference to our Siberian husky, Todd. Then it became pictures of snow and fossils that Uncle Jonathan sent us or put on Facebook. And it would be pictures only to Millie and Hannah still. But for me, it was a place now. A place I couldn’t decided if I liked.

I slipped into the tent after putting my camera away and found the two doctors working on the fossil with Dad watching. “Good morning, honey!” Dad said, as I came in. “Morning, Daddy!” I responded, making a wide circle around the fossil to stand next to him.

It took me a full five minutes to work up my courage to ask a question. “Uncle Jonathan?”

“Yes, Cassidy?”

I’m posting again because it Tuesday, but go ahead and comment on my last post if you haven’t yet!  And thanks to all of you who did already!  What would I do without you? 🙂

Sorry this part’s a little short.  The one after the next one is really long, so that’ll make up.  I can’t make things uniform: the chapters in my books are different lengths, the books in my series are different lengths, etc.  I don’t fit in categories.  At all.

We ate canned soup for dinner (it was very different from home-made chicken noodle!) and then went to bed, as the three of us were worn out from traveling. The door on the other side of the living area went into a third room, that was divided up into four rooms with temporary walls (the kind that feel as if they are carpeted, like the floor). There was a pathway down the middle, with two rooms on each side. Mom and Dad had the first room on the right; while I had my own room, the other on the right; Aunt and Uncle slept on the far left; while Dr. Peterson took the remaining room. We slept in sleeping-bags, laid on cots. Mom came in to say good-night to me before I turned off my electric-lantern.

“Mom,” I asked, “is this a once-in-a-lifetime trip?”

“Do you want it to be?”

“Mom! I never said that!”

“It was implied.”

“Mom, I don’t know anything about fossils–and I don’t even care!”

“Cassie, those guys are just having fun—you know that, right?”

I rolled my eyes. “Glad somebody is!”

“You are too.” Mom said confidently. “Or you would be if you’d let yourself! It’s an adventure, honey. Few people get to go to Siberia before they’re even in high-school. Just enjoy it!” She kissed my forehead. “I want you cheerful and adventurous in the morning! Now get some sleep.” She clicked off the light and went out. I sat up straight in the dark, exasperated.

——————————————————————————-

I’m hoping to finish this before/by next Tuesday so I can move on.  I must have lost all my self-control between this story and Into the Dragon’s Lair! 🙂