INDIANA JONES AND THE LOST CONTINENT
Over 5 years ago, I was part of a "round robin" posted on The story sadly was abandoned. Surprisingly, the second part of the story remains on the site today. I've decided to take the plot and rewrite it.
Alexandra Jones is my own character, while Zach Jones belonged to Teneniel Djo.
Chapter 1 October 1958, Fairfield, New York
Zach Jones stood outside his father's classroom of Barnett College in Fairfield, New York. He was the spitting image of his father at age 17. He was a senior in High School, was a member of the football team, and a straight A student. But he had an obsession. Archeology, much to his father's dismay. No matter how much he pleaded with his father to allow him to take that as a major in college, he could not make the doctor agree. It frustrated the young man to say the least.
He leaned against the wall and listened to his father close out his class, "Be prepared for a quiz on the criticisms of Thomas Bruce, for removing the "Elgin Marbles from their rightful place on the Parthenon of Athens."
Zach waited as a full class filed out. It amused him to see that half were still girls. Not that girl's could not be archeologists. His mother was one. His older sister would like to be one, but that was out of the question.
Dr. Indiana Jones was beginning to grade papers when his son entered the classroom. It was not unusual for either of his children to meet him at the lecture hall, "Hello, Zach. Come to help the old man with his books?"
Zach laughed, "Not quite Dad, I have something to show you." He handed his father a piece of paper. It was a permission slip for school. One of the history teachers was going on an amateur excavation of an old Cherokee Indian reservation near the Smokey Mountains over the spring break. Indiana quietly read it, folded it, and placed it on his desk. He did not remark on it.
Zach was losing patience, "Well?"
"Well what?" His father asked.
Zach was anxious to get his father to agree. All of his friends were going, and he wanted to go to, "Come on Dad, you know what. Can I go?"
The response was a quiet but definite, "No."
"Why? Why are you doing this?" Zach did not even attempt to keep his voice down, "I'm asking to go to Tennessee for Christ's sake, not someplace where Neo-Nazis still hail Hitler, or…"
"That's enough, Zachariah." The teen knew that he had crossed a very thin line. His father would not put up with blasphemy or disrespect.
Zach lowered his voice, "Dad, you can't protect us forever."
Not looking up from the paper he was grading, Indiana replied, "I can try."
Understanding he was not going to get anywhere with his father, Zack left the classroom. Zack quickly walked to his car. A 1956 Chevy Bel Aire that he got for his seventeenth birthday. It was bright red with white and Zack loved it. While his father was a strict man who demanded respect, it was clear that he liked to give his family their hearts desire.
The teen was so engrossed with the conversation that he had just had with his father, that he did not notice the car at the far end of the parking lot. He also did not realize that they had been keeping track of his comings and goings.