California Jones and the Prophet's Medallion
"Are we going to be seeing Sallah anytime soon?" California Jones asked her dad.
"Of course, Cal." Indy replied. "We can't come to Egypt and not see him. Any particular reason why?"
"Well, I found this medallion and wish to know what it's for."
Indiana Jones was a world famous archaeologist, Cal, of course, was his daughter. She too, dreamt of being an archaeologist, just like her father and grandfather, continuing the archaeological lineage. Her brother, Louisiana (or Lou) was, however, an exception. He's in college, studying to be a photographer for National Geographic. He was constantly saying he would end up being the photographer assigned to travel with her on digs and stuff. She didn't see what was so wrong with that, as according to her, he was continuing the lineage if that happened. Just in a different way.
Sallah was a close friend to both if them, as was his son (one of them), Horus. She and Indy have matching fedoras, which she loves and wears as much as possible. Her hair was usually in two braids, always when she wears her hat, which was sandy blonde and a little longer than shoulder length. She was the definition of rebel, because she hated dresses and was close to her dad (she never knew her mom). It was the early fifties, when poodle skirts and sock hops were popular. She had never been to a school dance, nor did she plan to. She had friends who liked her for whom she was, knowing she would never be caught dead in anything that even resembled a dress. Although, they did give her a bit of a hard time about it.
Indy could see his reflection in her glasses, allowing him to see how rugged he looked, as he hadn't shaved in a while and almost covered in dirt from a dig, where Cal found the medallion. She handed Indy the medallion and told him where at the dig she found it. There was total silence between them for sometime as Indy looked at the medallion.
"I'm afraid I can't help you, sweetie. Horus or Sallah may be able to, though. Hungry?"
"Yeah. Two apples please."
When the apples were paid for, Cal returned a smile to one of the merchants. Then she bit into her apple, which was a red, juicy one. Cal took out the medallion again and looked at it, as though drawn to its power, if it had any.
"Thing really has your interest, doesn't it?"
Cal nodded sheepishly.
"I don't think I have ever seen you do that before."
"You haven't. That's probably the only time that will happen. I wonder what Lou would say if he knew of this."
As they made their way to Sallah's house, Cal ran her fingers along the edge of the medallion and the markings on it. What did they mean? Whom did it belong to? A number of questions that she, herself could not answer, not without help. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock. They had arrived at Sallah's doorstep in what felt like no time.
"Yes? Indy, Cal, so good to see you!" Came Sallah's bass, booming voice. "Come in, come in."
As Sallah ushered them in, Horus stepped into the room (he's a couple of years older than Cal).
"What's all the ruckus about?" He asked smiling as Sallah released Cal from a rather bone crushing hug.
"Hello, Horus. How are you?"
"Better now. And you?"
"Pretty good. How 'bout a hug?"
"Sure."
They embraced for about ten seconds. Horus inhaled deeply, savoring her sent. He wanted to kiss her more than ever. Once apart, the rest of Sallah's kids came and tackled Cal. It was a loud time, lasting five minutes or so. By the time she was free, her body was rather sore from the weight and laughing.
"I'm okay." Cal said after Indy asked her if she was. She reached down for her hat. "By the way Sallah, have you ever seen anything like this before?"
"Hmm. Well, I haven't seen the markings before." He said after taking Medallion and examining it. He handed it back to Cal. He walked over to a lamp and turned the flame higher. Cal moved a bit closer to the lamp with the Medallion held close to her face. Horus looked over her shoulder as she turned it in her hands.
"Have you ever seen them before?" She asked Horus, handing it to him.
"No," He said after a minute. "Well, maybe a couple of times but . . . "
"Still not familiar."
"Staying long?"
"Most definitely. Probably a couple of nights or something."
"Good, good. Always happy to have you both."
Cal chuckled.
"Why don't you two have bags of clothes? You weren't robbed were you?"
"It wouldn't have worked if we were. As I have Dad's whip, we'd be well protected. I know to use it. Anyway, the thought . . . must've slipped my mind. Yeah, I've got some in this bag but they're all rather dirty, particularly this one." She said, indicating the one she's wearing. "But other than that, it's good"
"Bag looks a little heavy." He replied, taking it. "Not as heavy as I thought. Come on. Let's get you situated. How long have you had this bag anyway?"
"About ten years or so. I think I now have a dent in my left shoulder because of it. Wait a minute." She took the whip from her bag. "Dad's gonna want this back."
Upon taking it back, Indy said, "May need to get one of these for you."
When she returned to the room she'd be in (Horus', he's one of few men that had her full trust), she asked if he knew a shop to get a good whip.
"I'm sure a vender will make you a good one. Nice and feminine."
"You must be joking."
"One that looks like a snake?"
Cal shuddered. She hates snakes and was nearly killed by a full-grown constrictor as a child.
"Don't worry. It'll be a good one. In the meantime, let's examine this Medallion closer, shall we? Though, you've probably looked at it enough times."
"Not enough to satisfy my curiosity. Don't even say 'curiosity killed the cat' 'cos I'm no feline."
"Yes you are. A panther or something."
For the next few hours or so, they looked at it many, many times, before fully retiring. The Medallion was all Cal could think about while she was all Horus could think about (as usual). The next morning, they (Cal and Horus) went into town. Cal's eyes were pealed for anything that might catch her eye. They found a merchant that made whips, finding a perfect whip for Cal was already made.
"Happy belated birthday, Cal" Horus said, handing it to her.
"Thank you Horus" she replied, blushing. She was a brilliant shade of color between pink and red. She gave him a small, embarrassed hug and slid the whip into her bag, still blushing. As they walked along, they talked a bit. About life in the Americas, what she was doing lately, if she had a boyfriend.
"Hell, no. I trust an Egyptian more than I do most Americans."
Before long, Cal gasped in surprise.
"Hang on. That symbol, it looks familiar." She pulled out the Medallion and looked at it, searching for that symbol, finding it quickly.
Then they spotted the following symbol, on down the line. The trail of symbols led out of the village to a place Horus had never seen before. The final symbol, in the middle, just above the crystal (green), was like a welcoming arrow, pointing to two different sized gaps. Cal took off her hat, leaned over and stuck her head in one of the holes.
"What do you see?"
"A large room with 2, 3, 4, 5 different staffs," she emerged, a little dusty. "And I think I saw a picture or carving or something on the wall."
"What about the staffs? What d̀you suppose they're for?"
"Probably to say something or show the location of some object. Remember when our dads dug for the Ark of the Covenant? Something like that."
"How far?"
"Got to be a thirty, forty-foot drop. So . . . we'll need ropes or something to get down."
"We, huh?"
"Oh, yeah. Can't do this alone."
"We'll need to get them from my Dad."
"Okay. Are we going to remember where in the . . . desert we are?"
"We should. With your memory and my extensive knowledge of Cairo."
So they left to fetch some things they'd need, water being a priority.
"Okay, rope; water; torch; matches; brand-new whip; brushes. I think that's it."
"Do we have enough water?"
"I hope so. Oh, crickey! I forgot to pack a note pad."
"What for?"
"I'll need to take down a few things in the cave." As Cal tucked that into her bag, Horus handed her a pencil. She slid that into her bag and thanked Horus. Sallah stopped them and tossed over two apples, as they were leaving.
They tossed the apple cores aside when they arrived at the cave. Horus attached one end of the rope around his waist and gathered most of it in front of him. Cal tossed her bag down and the rest of the rope. Then descended into the cave, leaving most of the water for Horus.
The smaller gap didn't give her a lot of light, so she lit a torch. On her note pad, she sketched the side wall of the cave. Then she took measurements of the staffs, using her body as a key. From tallest to shortest, there was about half a foot between each. She then studied the markings on the podium connected to the staffs. After examining the Medallion, she saw a drop on the other side.
"The water." She whispered.
Around three yards away were three stalactites. All three were dripping consistently. Upon the wall beside them was a drawing. From what Cal could deduce, the three drops meant one inch, the circle with two lines in it was a clock. It looked like a perfect pie slice.
"Three drops for five minutes." She watched her watch and counted the drops. Drip-drop-drip. Drip-drop-drip. It went on for five minutes. She kept her concentration with slight difficulty. Figuring, afterwards, 450 divided by twelve. Agh, she thought, I hate math. Okay, 37.5. Twelve inches to a foot, so that's three and one and one half inches.
"Hm. Closest is three feet." She walked over to it and tucked the Medallion into the notch. Light shone through, casting a green jet of light. It pointed to a figure on the wall, a man, a prophet from what Cal could see. It had belonged to him. Then the beam widened, showing a carving of the Earth. It allowed him to see all he needed.
There were rooms in the cave, separate ones with a picture on the top. One room had a picture of grains, and another had a bovine. Livestock and harvest. Cal thought, I wonder what that one is. She entered another room with nothing at the top. Inside was that of the top . . . nothing, or so she thought. Something caught her eye, a slab of stone in one corner and more in another. His living quarters. She turned back to the biggest room, and went to the others.
"If only I were this artistic." She walked back over to the rope and took a final look around. Her bag was packed up again, with everything but the torch. She tucked the Medallion into her back pocket and tugged on the rope.
"Finally ready?" Horus yelled down to her.
"Wise guy, I haven't been that long." She climbed the rope with her bag strap crossed over her chest so she wouldn't have to worry about it falling. "How you doing up there so far?"
"Doing fine. Almost there?"
"Just about. Why am I going faster?"
"Some help."
"Oh. Okay." She fell over into Horus' arms once she emerged. Horus removed the rope from his waist.
"Got all you needed?"
"Yep." Both were panting slightly. "Who's that?"
"Don't know."
He was a Nazi. Thirty from the look of it, with bleach blonde hair. He walked up to them and asked if they had a certain Medallion, for he had followed them.
"Depends on what is so 'certain' about it." Cal replied, looking into his deep blue eyes.
"That means what?"
"What does it do?"
"Don't know."
"Look like?"
"Round, green diamond or emerald-"
"Those are really rare," Horus said.
"Something green in the center."
"That all?"
"I believe so."
"What's your name?" Cal asked, hand in pocket.
"Why?"
"Just answer, please." She gripped the Medallion.
"Richard Meisenbach, You?"
"Cal Jones."
"Horus."
"No last name?"
Horus said nothing. With reluctance, Cal took the Medallion out of her pocket.
"This it?"
"My goodness. It does exist."
"Wait a minute."
"What?"
"What'll you give me for it?"
Richard thought for a minute.
"Your life?"
"My life, eh? Bring it on." Cal was strong and she knew it. She watched him take out two different weapons, kind of. Both guns, just different calibers. Cal took up her new whip.
"Is that all you have?"
"All I need."
The hills were silhouetted in the sunset. She removed her famed hat and tossed it to Horus. She cracked the whip several times to loosen it a bit. Five feet away, two cracks, Richard was unarmed. He then went after her, both hands in fists. Cal's gaurd was up, as it always was, and was able to turn it around and punched him square in the face. Richard tried again and Cal sent a well-placed kick to his torso. As he tried to get up to attack her again, she kneed him in the groin.
"Whoa," He groaned.
"Learned from Dad." She cracked the whip again after he was able to stand, startling Richard. He fell backward into the cave opening. Cal's speed saved him. He was then hauled up with Horus' help.
"You're a strong lady, I'll give you that."
"You've missed something else about her." Horus said. "She's also fast."
"Well, just keep the damn thing then. It's not worth it."
"Indy will be relieved that the damn Nazis didn't get it."
"Indy? As in Indiana-"
"Jones, the archaeologist. Yes. He's my Father."
On hearing that, Richard was silent. So the three went their separate ways, Cal smiling with the Medallion in one hand and her whip in the other. Then, she gave it a full, mighty crack. She coiled and slid her whip and the Medallion back into her bag. On the way back to Cairo, Cal and Horus talked about what she found in the cave.
"It was so bizarre down there. Apparently the prophet actually lived inside the cave."
"What kind of things did he see?"
"Anything and everything. How good, or bad, crops or cattle would be in the coming year or years, among other things." She added. "It has the ability to answer questions you may have without you saying them."
As they entered Cairo, Horus decided that now was the time to show Cal how he felt about her. He took her hand, their fingers intertwined. She looked at him questioningly. It didn't take Cal long to notice that they were getting closer and closer. Before she knew it, they were kissing. Her mind began to race, hoping things wouldn't get weird between them after this. Before Cal could stop herself, her hands had floated up, around Horus' neck. Horus put his arms around Cal's waist and held her close. Way to go Horus, old boy, he thought. Maybe now we'll be together.
Cal's favorite teacher once said "There's a difference between a wise man and a wise guy. It is up to you to decide which." She had never been too sure of which of the two Horus was, and probably never will. She has always figured that Horus had been both, as with every guy she got along with, which weren't very many because of a trust issue she has with them. It is because of this issue that she never gets along with her ex- boyfriends. Who is her favorite teacher? Use your imagination.