Effigies Read Free Page A

is.”
    Bodie spoke for them all when he lunged for the window, looked out at the mound, and said, “To hell with this site. Let’s go dig over there .”
    Oka Hofobi was shaking his head. “Mr. Calhoun wouldn’t—”
    “It wouldn’t hurt to ask,” Toneisha pointed out, reaching for the cooking ball in Faye’s hand.
    Someone was out walking in the soybean field. Dr. Mailer’s face lit up when he saw the man who owned the coveted mound. “No, it can’t hurt to ask. And there’s no time like the present.” He grabbed his hat and was out the front door.
    Oka Hofobi trailed him, explaining why this expedition was a poor idea. “He’s watching birds. That’s what he likes to do every afternoon, and we shouldn’t disturb him. He doesn’t take well to strangers, either, and…”
    Faye could see that the poor guy might as well be talking to Mr. Calhoun’s birds. The professor was on a mission.
    Faye, like Oka Hofobi, knew how to behave in a rural setting. Dr. Mailer needed to strike up a casual acquaintance with Mr. Calhoun, and he needed to do it when the farmer wasn’t enjoying time alone with his feathered friends. He needed to ask him to recommend a good catfish house, then he needed to go there with him and put away a nice little stack of fried filets, with creamy cole slaw on the side. Before he asked a favor this big, Mr. Calhoun’s dog should wag his tail when he saw the archaeologist coming. Dr. Mailer should know the name of the man’s dog. His wife’s name, too. As things stood, he didn’t even know Mr. Calhoun’s first name, but he was planning to introduce himself and then, in the same breath, ask for a major incursion into the man’s property rights.
    Dr. Mailer was an intelligent and educated man, but he was born and raised in Houston. When it came to the traditional ways of rural Southerners, he didn’t have a clue. Toneisha, who was urging him on in his headlong quest to alienate the whole countryside, was a city girl from Memphis, so she was just as naïve. Chuck had already proved himself lacking in the most basic people skills, but the rest of them knew an impending train wreck when they saw one. They trailed after their supervisor, unable to stop him and unable to look away.
    They crossed the road amid the flutter of multi-colored wings. Mr. Calhoun rose from a lawn chair carefully placed at the boundary between field and forest. Sliding his binoculars into the case hanging by its strap from the chair’s arm, he started walking toward them. A good-sized man in height and breadth, he still carried a lot of muscle mass for a man who looked to be seventy or more. He wasn’t smiling.
    “Oka Hofobi,” he said, “you’re a smart boy. I didn’t think I needed to run you off my land but once.”
    “No, sir, I learned that lesson a long time ago. I just thought you might want to get acquainted with my colleagues. They’ll be working with me across the road. On my family’s land.”
    “It’s your daddy’s business what happens on his land. Though I don’t imagine the Choctaws will be any too happy to have these people mucking around in their ancestors’ bones.”
    “I’ve never found a burial in all my years on that land. If I ever do, I know the law and I know my people’s ways. I went to school a long time so I’d know how to do things right.” He didn’t ask for permission to dig on Calhoun’s land, which Faye knew was the right decision. She hoped Dr. Mailer would recognize the wisdom of earning trust slowly.
    Her hopes were dashed. The professor stepped forward and grasped the old farmer’s hand enthusiastically. “Sid Mailer here. You’ve got a beautiful place here, and that mound behind you is absolutely stupendous. Is there a chance in the world that we could talk about my crew excavating over there?”
    “No.” The monosyllable hung in the damp summer air. The thundercloud overhead rumbled without dropping any rain.
    Dr. Mailer rubbed his palms together and