“Whoa! What is that thing?” Felix asked as he emerged from the other side of the vegetation.
“It’s the mesa de pedra,” Miri responded confidently, as if she’d somehow gotten confirmation in the last thirty seconds. “I found it.”
Now wasn’t the time to point out that her “find” was a complete accident. But it washerclumsiness that led them here. Too bad for all the previous explorers and their coordination. Who knew all you had to do was trip, swing on a vine, blast through a sheet of foliage, and voilà!
The rest of the group pushed through the vines, filling the small space and inspecting the stone table and its surroundings.
“What’s the mesa de pedra?” Logan followed up.
Miri filled in the team, repeating the facts she’d recited to Rafa but elaborating further on the details. Explaining how the people of the Moon City brought their goods and wares to this spot. How it was likely selected for its distance, the stone table possibly containing similar mineral properties as the stone found in the city itself.
“How can you be sure?” Jerry, the skeptic, asked.
“Well, I…uh…” Miri struggled, looking around for a sign. Something—anything—that could confirm this was the place.
“I mean,” she continued, “what else could it be?”
“Um, maybe just a rock?” Jerry said.
Truthfully, there was nothing spectacular about this place. It was, after all, a giant boulder in the middle of the Amazon. Probably one of hundreds like it. Nothing remarkable that would differentiate it from any other slab of stone.
Didn’t mean Rafa didn’t want to punch Jerry for pointing out the obvious.
“Fuck!” Miri called out, seemingly unexpectedly. The team stopped scouring the area to watch her, all waiting for her next move. “Dammit!” she then followed up, kicking a stone at her foot. “It’s just another rock.”
Rafa glanced over at Jerry, who was bolstering himself up a bit as if proud that Miri agreed with him. Smartass prick.
Anissa walked up beside Miri, placing her hand on her shoulder. “Hey, we don’t know anything yet. We only just got here.”
“And so what if this isn’t the spot?” Rafa chimed in, hoping to make her feel better. “It’s still pretty cool, and you’re the one who found it. None of the rest of us can say that.”
Miri shot a glance toward Rafa and smiled. He could almost feel her hand squeezing his arm, needing his encouragement.
“No, you’re right,” she said, turning back to Anissa. “We can’t rule anything out yet.” Miri spun around to the rest of the group. “Maybe thisisjust a rock. Or maybe it’s something more. We’ll come back tomorrow and do some excavating. See if there are any clues. Andthen,” she exaggerated, glancing at Jerry, “we’ll determine whether this is just some old rock.”
The crew sat around thefirepit that night, passing around a bottle of who knew what, laughing and joking around for the first time in over a week. There was still a bit of tension in the air, everyone uncertain about what would happen when theyreturned to the site the next day. For all they knew, their excavation would confirm it was nothing but another wild goose chase. Yet another detour in a series of mishaps.
But as the liquor flowed, everyone loosened up. Talking. Drinking. Horsing around. Rafa sat back and observed, for the most part. He always found the dynamics and camaraderie of crew members on jobs to be fascinating. People who might not have any connection or even like each other in the outside world became the best of friends. He’d made a lot of pals on these types of gigs.
Rarely did they last beyond that.
Rafa snapped a few pics of the group, always having liked including candid shots of crew being regular people with his stories. The fire provided nice lighting for the photos. Highlights of oranges and reds on the otherwise shadowy figures. Miri looked especially beautiful across the fire from him chatting with Anissa, her delicate features emphasized by the soft glow.
The fire crackled with asizzle-pop, and Miri turned her attention to the blaze—and beyond it, at Rafa. She smiled, then said something to Anissa before standing and walking toward him.
“Mind if I sit?” she said, towering over him, his back against a downed log.
“By all means,” he said, brushing the dirt beside him with his hand, as if it could possibly clean the space.
She lowered to his level, sitting close enough that their shoulders touched even though there was plenty of room on the other side of her. They sat in silence, watching Felix and Rahim, another team member, get into a faux wrestling match after a friendly debate over the proper way to sayNeanderthal. Their tussle commanded everyone’s attention as they rolled around on the ground, laughing and ruffling each other’s hair.
“Thanks,” Miri said as Rafa snapped a picture of Logan giving Felix a noogie.
“For what?” Rafa asked, setting his camera down at his side.
“For making me feel better earlier.” She twisted her hands in her lap.
“Hey,” he said, nudging her in the side, “no matter what, it was a pretty cool find.”
