WWAT Flash Fiction – Summer & Antiquity
Welcome to the next installment of WWAT Flash Fiction, followed by book recommendations! Our subject matter for each short piece has to do with an archaeological word and romance word.
My pick from the hat: antiquity and summer.
Oh boy…here goes.
“Once Upon A Curse”
There were a few things that bugged me about Dad. First of all, he snored like a lawnmower. Seriously. I knew this because I’d been spending a lot of time sharing a tent with him.
Side note…if you can help it, don’t share a tent with your snoring dad.
Second thing, and this was turning into a real problem, but I’m pretty sure he was falling madly in love.
So. Not. Cool.
Look, I’m pretty mature for a twelve year old girl. I understand that adults need to fall in love a time or two. Maybe I know a little about it. I mean, I may or may not have kissed Jason Greenbriar behind the monkey bars because my best friend Jojo dared me to do it. I also may or may not have a boy band poster hanging on my bedroom wall. (Oh my gosh, the one with the spiked hair is so cute.)
That is, the bedroom I never see because Dad has dragged me on this Godforsaken ancient Easter egg hunt.
Okay, it’s technically called a dig and some academics hear the word, puff out their chests, and get really worked up about it like normal people get worked up about football. But I don’t care. I’m with the normal people.
Despite all the grunting and hoorah, I at least like watching a football game better than what I’m doing now. Digging endlessly in the dirt? Who can call this a career?
The real problem with Dad is that we were halfway around the world, sleeping in tents and eating things I couldn’t pronounce, and we were not even close to modern conveniences like toilets. And he had completely lost his mind.
Completely.
I wasn’t convinced of this at first. At first, I just thought maybe he was really excited to be doing “field work.” It was like the Department of Antiquities at the university was giving him a pat on the back and saying, “Go, little minion. Get on out there. Find something big, and then we’ll take credit for it.”
But Dad was buying it hook, line, and sinker.
That is, until I realized he wasn’t .That he wasn’t there to make his name or the university’s or anyone’s.
How did I know?
It happened on the first day. The very first day. No time for me to enjoy being a kid on summer break playing Indiana Jones and all that stuff. Nope. Dad proved himself a looney on the very first day.
That’s when I found out he’d already discovered a tunnel. That he’d been here before. I also realized he knew exactly where he was going in that tunnel.
It was weird enough when we reached the stone coffin. Weirder still that an image of a woman was carved in the stone. But the weirdest thing by far was what happened next.
Dad leaned down next to the image’s head and whispered, “I’m back. I love you. And we’ll fix this.”
And I got the heck out of there.
This summer was not going to go down like I thought it would.
So, there’s my flash fiction! Now, are you a sucker for archaeological adventures? I know I am. In fact, now I’m almost certain I’ll have to finish the story above. But if you like fun Indiana Jones type stuff, I just have to recommend some books I loved growing up. Frank Peretti is well known for his adult Christian fiction work, but this series was so well-written and had me biting my nails as a kid. It also has a good message, so if you haven’t tried them before, and you find Biblical archaeology fascinating, give them a go!
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