JC: Ed Biggers
Part 3: Accretion
Chapter 13
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

The house was still under construction, but enough of it had been 
completed to see how it was laid out. Ed walked from where the 
living room would be to the kitchen and dining room. Trying to 
construct a mental image as he examined the layout, he decided 
that he liked it a lot. It would be a very nice house once it was 
finished. He turned to Mrs. Hayes who was still in the living room 
and said, "I like it."

With a little smile in his direction, Mrs. Hayes said, "Of all the 
plans the architect showed us, I liked this one the best."

Walking around the perimeter, Ed realized that there were four 
bedrooms. He commented, "Four bedrooms."

"John said that we needed a study each, a bedroom, and a 
playroom that could be used for guests," she replied as an answer 
to the unasked question. She didn't quite understand why he 
insisted that she have a study of her own, but had gone along with 
the suggestion.

"I bet you can't wait for it to be finished."

That was an understatement. She had been trying to come to grips 
with the openness of the Carter Clan. Even after three weeks, she 
couldn't go near the pool when the men were there. She said, "It's 
not that I don't appreciate everything you have done for us, but I'm 
just a little too conservative for your lifestyle."

The comment about being too conservative reminded Ed of Linda 
Redman. While her cousin, Sarah, was a full-fledged nudist, Linda 
was just the opposite. After a major gift giving ceremony to the 
Carter Clan by her tribe, John had proposed that she live with them 
to determine if she was willing to accept marriage. The young lady 
was still a virgin and was just as conservative as Mrs. Hayes. He 
asked, "What do you think of Linda?"

Mrs. Hayes, Linda, and Leroy had become very good friends. 
Linda shared her same unease around naked people. Always a 
gentleman, Leroy had always made it a point to be dressed around 
both women. She answered, "I like her. She's a very sweet girl."

A horn honked outside the house disrupting their conversation. Ed 
said, "They're here for you."

Walking to the door with brisk strides, Mrs. Hayes said, "Thank 
you, Ed. We'll be home after you are gone, I guess."

"Alright," replied Ed. He stayed behind to take one more look at 
the house. It was going to be a nice place when it was finished. As 
he heard the sound of the car pulling away with the characteristic 
whine of a fusion powered car, he went out the back door and 
headed to the house.

Entering the house, he stopped by the office. Cathy came to the 
door and said, "Kim called. She's going out to the mine to perform 
a preliminary survey. She wishes you could go with her."

Ed nodded that he understood the message. He answered, "Let her 
know that I plan to be back in four days, but it could be a little 
longer."

Taking down the note, Cathy said, "The Antarctic Group wants to 
know if you'll be able to go down there for ten days. They said 
they need their answer Monday."

Frowning at the idea of being in the cold for ten solid days, Ed 
knew that he couldn't pass up the opportunity to explore a totally 
virgin area for minerals. He answered, "I guess I'll go. It is an 
opportunity even if it is too cold."

Cathy smiled as she said, "I had told them that you were likely to 
go."

"Really?"

"If there is anything that you can't resist, it is the call of the wild 
rock," giggled Cathy. 

"Any other messages?" asked Ed, finding it hard to believe that 
thirty minutes out of the house had resulted in two messages for 
him. He wondered how many messages there would be when he 
returned from Colorado.

"None," answered Cathy. 

"Thanks, Cathy. I don't know what I would do without you," said 
Ed. 

Cathy smiled at him and winked as she said, "You might want to 
check on the good doctor before you go. It appears that all of his 
naked nurses are causing him some discomfort."

 Ed laughed and replied, "Let the tension build a little more."

As Cathy giggled at the suggestion, John arrived. He looked at Ed 
and said, "Can you talk to Kelly? She insists on wearing shorts and 
sandals."

Nodding, Ed immediately went to find Kelly. After knocking on 
the door to her bedroom, she let him into her living room. Without 
greetings, she returned to her bedroom to finish packing clothes for 
her trip. Ed followed her and watched what she was putting in the 
backpack John had lent her. Commenting on her selection of 
clothes, Ed said, "I'd wear jeans if I were you."

Angry, she replied, "I'm not you. I might listen to your advice if 
you were to go with me. Since you and John are being assholes by 
not coming, I'll wear what I want."

"This is a private journey that you are going on and you have to do 
it alone," Ed replied as he picked up a pair of tennis shoes and 
threw them in the backpack. 

She started to remove them, but saw the look on his face and left 
them there. She spat, "You don't know that!"

"I'm in their service already. Accept that John and I know a few 
things about becoming Druids," replied Ed. They had this 
conversation many times over the past few days, but she refused to 
accept the inevitable. Disturbed by her behavior, he left her room 
and went to his. He grabbed his saddlebags in which he had packed 
his clothes for the trip and, as he stepped out the door, picked up 
his bedroll. 

Ed put his stuff in the back of John's jeep and stood around waiting 
for John and Kelly to arrive. As an after thought, he picked up his 
bag with his rock hunting equipment. Once that was in the back of 
the Jeep, he leaned against it considering the events of the past two 
months. It seemed impossible that so many things could happen in 
such a short period of time. Beth died, Bob had been injured in an 
attack on John, Leroy came to live with them, Linda came to live 
with them, and he had broken a horrible crime ring.

The next month promised to be just as busy with two consulting 
jobs, a trip to Denver, and a conference presentation in 
Albuquerque. While this trip wasn't exactly a vacation, he didn't 
have anything to do except drop off Kelly and then wait for her to 
return. His private musings were interrupted by the arrival of John 
and Kelly. 

John pulled into the parking lot of the Sporting Goods Store. After 
a glance at Kelly and receiving a glare for his troubles, he went 
inside. Ed said, "Kelly, I know you don't want some advice, but I'm 
going to give it to you anyway."

Sighing, Kelly said, "I want your advice, I really do. More than 
that, I want you two to go with me."

Sorry that he couldn't give her the answer she wanted, Ed looked 
down at his lap. With regret obvious in his voice, he said, "Kelly, 
you will understand in time, but we can't go with you. When you 
challenged the Goddess, you set this in motion."

"Well, she wasn't doing her job. She let Beth die and those bastards 
attacked us in our own home. Where was she then?" retorted Kelly.

Remembering when he had challenged the Gods and Goddesses, 
Ed cringed. Challenging the Gods and Goddesses was not a good 
idea. If he hadn't worked so hard to retrieve the medallion, the 
Two-Sided One would have let him die. 

John returned to the car and handed three MREs and three large 
bottles of water to Kelly. The MREs were full military style 
packages including toilet paper. He said, "Here are three MREs. I 
noticed that you didn't pack anything to eat. Follow the 
instructions, they are pretty simple and taste pretty good."

Kelly shrugged as she examined the foil wrapped packages. She 
hadn't thought to bring food or water. She stashed the items in her 
backpack and sat there holding the pack on her lap. As John pulled 
out of the parking lot he asked, "Do you remember how to use the 
GPS?"

They had drilled her on using the GPS for the past week and she 
knew that she could use it in her sleep. She answered, "Yes, I 
remember."

As John pulled over to the side of the road, he said, "We're here."

Suddenly afraid, she asked, "What can I expect?"

John said, "Imagine making love to the force that creates a tornado 
or an earthquake. Even the gentlest breeze requires so much force 
to create it on the scale that it exists. The Gods and Goddesses 
seldom deal with an individual. When they do, their raw strength is 
overwhelming. When they make love to us, it feels like rape only 
because it is so forceful."

His words scared her even more, but she chose not to say anything. 
With a moment of hesitation, she stepped out of the car. After 
looking back at them, she walked into the woods. Ed watched her 
go with tears in his eyes and said, "There she goes."

John smiled and said, "Don't worry about her."

"I can't help it."

"Neither can I."

The two men laughed as John turned the jeep around and headed 
back into town. As they drove by the sheriff's office, Ed noticed a 
number of people standing around outside.  With a mischievous 
look on John's face, he pulled up in front of the office. The men 
got out of the car. As Ed held the door open for John, John stepped 
inside and shouted, "I confess. You don't have to beat any more, 
Sheriff. I'll tell you anything you want!"

Ed looked at the faces of the people that had been standing in front 
of the office expecting to see shocked looks. A grin spread over his 
face when he saw that the Sheriff was one of the people in the 
crowd. The Sheriff had hidden behind one of the other people 
when he spotted John heading towards his office. The crowd 
laughed as one of the men said, "Looks like you have a visitor, 
Sheriff."

The Sheriff laughed as he answered, "It's just John Carter. Any of 
you want to help me lock him up?"

Everyone in the crowd shook their heads. John stuck his head out 
of the office and said, "He's not here."

The Sheriff extracted himself from the people in the crowd and 
said, "Nice to see you, John. I enjoyed hearing your confession."

Laughing, John replied, "At least it wasn't wasted."

"So what are you doing here?" asked the Sheriff wondering if the 
whole Plutonian Circus was going to show up this time.

"Just came by to say hello and let you know that Ed and I will be 
here for a couple of days," replied John. 

Winking at the Sheriff, Ed added, "He just came by to harass you 
is more like it."

"I'd believe that. So are you staying over at the Sporting Goods 
Store?"

Shaking his head, John said, "I'm spending a couple of days at Doc 
Wilkins' place."

Ed said, "I'm going up the mountain a bit to look at the rocks 
there."

The Sheriff looked over at Ed for a minute and then said, "Why 
don't you let me take you up to one of the diamond mines? I'm sure 
they would be happy to show you around."

John looked over at Ed and said, "I'll take the car and come up to 
pick you up in two days."

The Sheriff answered, "Don't worry about it. I'll bring him back."

Surprised at the offer, Ed said, "Sounds good to me."

Retrieving his saddlebag, rock gear, and bedroll from the Jeep, Ed 
went over to the Sheriff and said, "Any time you are ready to go."

John waved and then headed off to the hospital to meet with the 
childhood friend of his late brother. Ed watched him go, not 
surprised that he would leave so quickly. He viewed this trip as a 
mini-vacation with the opportunity to visit old friends. 

The Sheriff said, "Let's head out. I think you'll like this operation. 
It's one of the few diamond mines in the US."

As Ed got into the Sheriff's car, he asked, "How far is it from 
here?"

The Sheriff replied, "It's about a three hour drive. It's along the 
Wyoming border."

"That's a long trip to make just to drop me off," said Ed.

The Sheriff grinned and said, "I'm not dropping you off. I'm taking 
a vacation."

Surprised, Ed asked, "You were planning on going up there 
anyway?"

"No, it's just with John in town, I know that nothing interesting is 
going to happen around here that my deputies can't handle," replied 
the Sheriff. Reaching over to the dash, he picked up the radio 
handset and said, "Deputy Ramsey, I'm taking three days off."

From the radio, the deputy responded, "Okay, boss."

"By the way, John Carter is in town," said the Sheriff into the 
microphone.

The deputy answered, "No wonder you're taking a couple of days 
off."

The Sheriff asked, "Could you get in touch with Sammy Grayson 
and have him call his cousin up at the diamond mine? Let him 
know that I'm heading up that way."

The Deputy laughed and said, "Sure thing."

The Sheriff smiled and ended the discussion. Turning to Ed he 
said, "I carry a couple of changes of clothes in the back just in case 
I get trapped somewhere for a day or two."

Turning on the radio to a country western station, the Sheriff sang 
along as he drove out of town. Watching the man, Ed realized that 
the Sheriff had been around Druids for a long time. The effect on 
people was often subtle, but recognizable as an ability to focus on 
the now and enjoy what ever was happening. Neither one said 
much through the entire drive. 

When they reached the mine, they were met by a security guard at 
the gate. The Sheriff talked to the guard for a minute and then they 
were waved through. Parking in front of the office which was little 
more than a trailer, the two men got out and stretched. A man came 
out of the office and approached them. Hand extended, he said, 
"I'm Matt Carlen, owner of this operation. What brings you here?"

The Sheriff took the man's hand and said, "I'm Sheriff Dan 
Grayson and this is Ed Biggers."

The manager immediately turned to face Ed and asked, "You are 
the Ed Biggers?"

Surprised at being recognized, Ed answered, "I'm an Ed Biggers."

"The Ed Biggers from Arizona?"

"That's me," replied Ed wondering how this guy knew of him. The 
Sheriff shook his head, amazed at how these guys would show up 
and people would bend over backwards to help them. 

Matt said, "Well, come on into the office. We'll talk a bit and then 
I'll show you our operation here."

The two men followed Matt into the trailer where two desks were 
set up. There was a woman behind the other desk and she just 
glanced up at the pair before returning to her work. Matt pulled up 
a couple of chairs and asked, "So what do you know about our 
mine here?"

Ed answered, "Well, this is a Kimberlite mine. Kimberlite is a 
most interesting igneous rock. It is only occasionally diamond 
bearing. Some of the characteristic minerals found in Kimberlite 
are olivine, pyrope garnet, enstatite, diopside, ilmenite, phlogopite, 
perovskite, magnetite, and spinel. Kimberlite intrusives originate at 
depths of 150 to 200 kilometers or more and are often injected into 
the crust in an explosive manner, carrying diamonds from depth."

Amazed, Matt sat back and said, "You really know your rocks."

Shrugging, Ed replied, "I only remember that from my 
undergraduate studies. I never imagined that I would actually make 
it up here to see it for myself."

Matt pulled out a map of the area and pointed to it as he said, "This 
is a very small site and privately owned. The bigger mines are a 
couple of miles from here and are owned by the major mining 
companies."

Ed nodded as he looked at the map. This particular mine was 
somewhat distant from the other mines. He was actually surprised 
that they actually owned this mine. He asked, "So how did you end 
up owning this place?"

Matt leaned forward and answered, "We owned this place before 
the diamonds were discovered. For years we had cursed that area 
because it was usually the first to flood in a rain storm."

"That makes sense. Usually Kimberlite erodes pretty easily and 
forms a depression that fills up with dirt. Makes it pretty easy to 
miss," commented Ed.

The Sheriff listened to the discussion fascinated. He had hoped that 
they might get a chance to walk around the place because he knew 
a distant cousin of the owner. Instead, they were getting the royal 
treatment. 

Matt said, "That's right. When I heard that diamonds were found 
not far from here and had seen where they had been found, I 
decided to check out our back forty. Sure enough, it had 
Kimberlite underneath all that dirt."

Ed looked at the geological data that had been added to the map. 
The depths of a couple of the other mines were penciled in next the 
sites. Ed looked over the map for a few minutes. Finally, he asked, 
"I notice that you don't have a depth marked on this map for your 
mine."

Matt shook his head and said, "Most of the mines around here are 
pretty low yield and have closed because it is not cost effective to 
go after the diamonds. We can't afford to do full surveys and all 
that. Instead, we just keep digging and pulling out what we can. 
My brother and I do the digging. His wife handles the books and 
my son is the security guard at the gate."

This was pretty much what Ed had suspected. Ed asked, "So you 
were called away to meet us?"

Laughing, Matt answered, "No. I got a call from my cousin 
Sammy that the Sheriff was on his way up here. The fact is that it 
rained yesterday and the area is wet. Can't take our Bobcat in there 
to do any digging until it dries out a bit."

Ed asked, "Do you mind if we walk around the place and check it 
out?"

"Mind?" asked a surprised Matt. He said, "I'd be overjoyed if you 
look around. Any suggestions about how to do things smarter 
would be much appreciated. I've heard how much you charge for a 
full survey. I'm afraid that I can't afford that."

Smiling at the man's honesty, he knew that the man was hoping Ed 
would point out features that he had missed. Deciding that the 
exchange might be worthwhile, Ed said, "I can give you a surface 
level survey if you can give me a copy of a detailed map of your 
land here. I didn't bring the kind of equipment to do a detailed 
survey, but I'll check things out. Do you mind if I look for a few 
specimens while I'm here?"

"No, I don't mind," answered Matt pleased that Ed was going to 
perform a simple survey. He added, "You can keep what you find 
as payment for the survey."

Looking across the pit the two brothers had dug into the ground, 
Ed wasn't surprised that they couldn't work after it rained. He 
started walking away from the pit in a northerly direction 
examining the soil underfoot and the elevation. When he reached a 
point where he suspected the northern edge of the deposit was 
located, he took a GPS reading and marked it on the map. He then 
drew error lines representing the best estimate of the likely error in 
his survey. This was a rough survey of the surface, a more accurate 
survey would require he take core samples.

As the three men walked around, Ed noticed a minor outcropping 
of the Kimberlite and pointed it out to the Sheriff. With a wink, he 
said, "Dan, why don't you try digging over there for a few minutes 
and tell me what you find?"

The Sheriff, not sure if Ed was playing a joke on him, went to 
where Ed had pointed. Looking back at Ed, he pointed to the 
ground. At a nod from Ed, he dug for a few minutes. Suddenly, he 
exposed a pocket in the ground and, very excited, shouted, "I 
found something!"

Ed and Matt went over and looked over his shoulder. There was a 
small cavity with a number of yellow crystals in them. Most of the 
crystals were very small, almost like powder. However, there were 
three good-sized crystals in there as well. Matt said, "Well done. 
That's about what we get in a full days work around here."

Ed knelt down and fished around in the hole pulling out the 
diamonds. Each stone went into a small sample box that he had 
removed from his shirt pocket. There were several more such 
boxes in his saddlebag. Ed put the box back in a pocket and took a 
GPS reading, adding it to the map. The Sheriff, in his excitement, 
was ready to dig to China, but Ed told him to stop. 

The men walked around the property as Ed marked an estimated 
boundary for the mine. Matt watched in amazement as Ed found 
place after place that yielded diamonds of various sizes. The 
Sheriff was like a child running from site to site and digging for 
diamonds. Each time he found one, he would give a shout. 

At the end of the second day, Ed was walking along the 
northwestern edge of the mine when he stopped and squatted down 
to examine a small depression in the ground. The ground was 
covered with dirt and no sign of Kimberlite was visible. Looking 
up at Matt, he said, "Get the Bobcat over here."

Matt returned after ten minutes with the Bobcat. When Matt got 
out, Ed sat down on the drivers' seat. With great care, Ed started 
moving dirt from all around the depression before removing the 
dirt from depression. He took his time, making sure to remove only 
a thin layer of dirt at a time. After each layer, he got out and 
examined the ground. Matt came over to watch as Ed worked. 
When the Kimberlite first peaked through the ground, Ed finished 
removing that layer of dirt, piling it in a different location from the 
rest of the dirt he had moved. 

When Ed got out of the Bobcat this time, he said to Matt, "You and 
your brother will probably want to search through that pile of dirt 
there for diamonds. With the wearing down of the Kimberlite, the 
diamonds tend to settle on the border between dirt and Kimberlite."

Matt looked over at the pile of dirt and nodded his head. He had 
known that, but was pleased that Ed had put the dirt in a separate 
file from the rest. He answered, "We always do that."

There was now a ring of Kimberlite with a small soil center. Ed 
went over to the shovel and returned with it to dig out the soil. It 
wasn't long before he broke through a significant size hole in the 
center of the depression. Reaching into it all the way to his elbow, 
he fished around for a second. Smiling, he pulled his hand out and 
said, "Look at what we found here."

As the other two men crowded around, Ed opened his hand 
showing the diamonds. Matt whistled and then said, "That must be 
ten carats and those other four must be five carats each."

Ed nodded and said, "You bet."

The Sheriff stood there transfixed looking at the stones. Ed 
removed the sample box and threw them in it to join the others. He 
went back to the hole and reached in again. Once more he pulled 
out a couple of good-sized stones. Showing them to the others, he 
said, "There's a lot of dust in there that you'll want to clear out 
when you get a chance."

Matt looked at the diamonds in Ed's hand with envy. He couldn't 
believe that in just two days, Ed had found almost as many large 
stones as they normally found in a month. Regretting his statement 
that Ed could keep anything he found, Matt said, "Sure thing."

Ed smiled and added the stones to the sample box. Relaxing, he 
said, "Let's get over to your office and have some coffee. It's been 
a hard day of work."

Matt sat behind the desk amazed that Ed had pulled so many stones 
out of the ground in a day and a half. He almost regretted his 
words that Ed could keep all that he found as payment for the 
survey, but knew that it was worth it to get Ed's expert advice. That 
Ed was an expert was clear to Matt, the guy had found what was 
easily sixty thousand dollars worth of rough stone. 

Ed pulled out four sample boxes and dumped them on the table. 
Looking at the stones, Matt revised his estimate upwards another 
twenty thousand. Spreading the stones over the surface of the desk, 
Ed said, "Matt, why don't you divide them up into four piles of 
equal value?"

Puzzled, Matt did as he was asked. He couldn't help touching the 
large stone with almost a caress, but added it to a small pile. After 
moving a few stones from one pile to another, he was satisfied that 
each pile was worth about the same amount of money. Finished, he 
said, "There you go."

As he handed a sample box to the Sheriff, Ed said, "Dan, pick a 
pile and put it in the sample box."

As Dan's hand moved to the pile with the large stone, he noticed 
the look in Ed's eye and changed his mind. He chose one of the 
other piles with a good assortment of different size stones. Most of 
them were small, but there was one large stone in the mix. He was 
pleased to see approval in Ed's look at him. When he finished 
putting the stones in the box, he said, "Okay."

Watching the reaction of the Sheriff, Ed said, "Those are yours. 
That's about twenty thousand dollars worth of uncut yellow 
diamonds. They'll be worth about twice that when you get them 
cut."

Looking into the box, Dan said, "Wow."

Ed picked up a pile that contained three medium size stones and a 
number of smaller stones. Slipping them into a sample box, he 
said, "Matt, the rest of the stones are yours."

"I said that you could keep all that you found," replied Matt feeling 
like it was a point of honor to keep his word. 

Ed countered, ""I saw three of us out there digging. If you add the 
owner of this place, you get four people involved. One for me, one 
for Dan, one for you, and one for the mine."

Matt picked up the large diamond and looked at it with care. He 
picked up the stones and put them into a small box from his desk. 
Shaking his head at the generosity of Ed, he said, "That's awful 
decent of you. I don't know many men that could walk away from 
forty thousand dollars worth of diamonds."

Pulling out the map that he had been marking, Ed spread it on the 
table. Once he had Matt's attention, he explained, "These points 
represent the outermost limits of the surface of the mine. I've put 
error bars of about twenty-five feet on the boundary. Without 
doing core samples, I can't be much more accurate than that. I also 
marked where we found stones with the approximate dollar value 
at each site. From the density of what we found, I would say that 
you'll be able to pull out about half a million a year out of this 
place as you are currently working."

Matt nodded as that was about what he had estimated. "Yes, that 
sounds about right."

Ed pointed to the center of the map and said, "This is your current 
dig. I'm going to suggest that you change your operation a little. I 
suggest that you start digging down in a spiral towards the center 
of your existing site You should start the spiral about fifty yards 
away from where you are currently digging. After each circuit, 
move the start twenty five feet back."

Matt asked, "Why?"

Ed said, "Right now you've built yourself a good sized swimming 
pool. You need to flatten out the area where the water collects and 
leave some above the water level so that you can work even after a 
rain. The larger surface area will allow the water to dry quicker."

Nodding his head at the logic of what Ed had said, he countered, 
"We were digging where we thought the greatest concentration of 
diamonds would be."

Shaking his head, Ed said, "The distribution of stones should be 
fairly constant over the whole mine. If you do as I suggest, you'll 
probably be able to work five days a week rather then the three that 
you currently put in if we take into account the days that you don't 
work after a rain storm."

Matt asked, "Are you saying that we should be able to increase our 
production by about fifty percent?"

"Yes," answered Ed with a smile. A happy smile formed on Matt's 
face, as he understood what the advice meant. Matt was going to 
be very busy for the next few years. 

As Ed and the Sheriff drove back to town, Dan said, "That was 
pretty amazing what you did back there for those people."

Surprised, Ed asked, "What did I do?"

Dan answered, "Well, if someone were to offer me a fifty percent 
raise in earnings and hand forty thousand dollars over to me, I 
would consider that pretty amazing."

Ed laughed and said, "Well, I had a good time. I never thought I'd 
be out collecting diamonds."

The Sheriff laughed and shook his head. He had so much fun this 
trip that he was tempted to give half his stones to Ed. He hadn't 
thought about camping out under the stars, but Ed was a great 
camp mate and a good cook. He said, "I figured I would get to see 
some diamonds. I had no idea that I would be coming home with 
any."

When they reached town, Ed asked, "Could you drop me off at 
George and Martha's restaurant? It's close to noon and John should 
be there."

"Sure thing," replied the Sheriff. He had no idea how these guys 
operated, but he accepted Ed at his word.

After dropping Ed outside the restaurant, the Sheriff headed back 
into town. Ed went into the restaurant knowing that today would be 
the first day that Kelly could possibly return from the woods. 
Yesterday was midsummer's day and if she stayed in one day, then 
she would be out today. As he entered, John called out, "Hey Ed, 
over here."

Joining John at the counter, Ed said, "You should have come with 
me."

Looking over at Ed, John commented, "You are dirty as hell. What 
were you doing? Mud wrestling?"

Ed laughed and answered, "Diamond hunting."

As the men chatted, Martha came out and set a plate of chicken 
fried steak in front of John. She looked at Ed and said, "Hello Ed. 
Are you up to a teenager special?"

Ed smiled at the memory of the last time he had been here. He 
said, "Not this time. Give me what he's having."

Martha nodded her head and shouted, "George, another chicken 
fried!"

Leaning on the counter, she asked, "And what will you have to 
drink?"

"Chocolate milkshake," replied Ed remembering how good the 
milkshake had been the last time he was here.

"Good choice," replied Martha as she turned to make the shake.

Although the two men expected it, they were disappointed that 
Kelly hadn't come out of the woods that day. Perhaps tomorrow 
they would have better luck.