Distorted Connection
By blablover5
Janet's grip slipped for the third time that day and she almost plummeted into the mud. The Loire river was not very forgiving to archeologists trying to dig up its past. Her hand managed to snag onto a verdant outcropping just before her face met with the mud. A pair of cyclists rode past on the cement. Their bells sang out to the archeologists hard at work.
"Janet, you have to come see this," a voice called out a few yards down the excavation site.
Janet's feet cautiously stepped into the tracks that the excavation's boss, Richard, laid a few weeks earlier. Mud bubbled up through her feet, turning her tan toes grimy. The river gushed to her left; but much of it was attacking new ground, leaving behind a muddy basin that had already claimed three shoes and a trowel.
Already the team had unearthed what they believed was at one point homes from the now exposed cliffs that hemmed in the river. The homes' openings were small, no larger than four and a half feet tall and were completely circular. Not much was found within the two discovered holes, only more mud than any toddler could hope to play with. Everyone on the team hoped they would find some old relics preserved courtesy of the mud, but it would take more time and more money.
Janet passed the cliffs with a pair of dangling lights illuminating the work of two other members of the team. All that could be seen of them were two pairs of feet sticking out of holes in the wall. The sun radiated upon the mud, daring it to remain squishy. Janet rolled up her sleeves as she approached a large man with his knees sunk in the mud despite the fact he was wearing jeans.
"Ce qui est lui?"
The man turned away from his work, almost tipping the bucket of water sitting next to him. He squinted up at Janet, his generous face distorted. "Come again?"
"Oh sorry, just been spending too much time in France I guess. What have you got?" Janet placed her hand on Richard's back and peered at the mud pile in front of him.
"Well, yesterday I found what I thought could have been a bone and I did a little digging."
"A skeleton, of what a child?" Janet stared closely at the mud her trained eyes making out the tainted points sticking out. There was only a handful of bones there: a part of a skull, almost an entire shoulder area, a few ribs, a pelvis, two legs, and one foot. The bones had taken on a yellow look from age, but next to the dark mud they still seemed white. The skeleton could only have been about three feet tall, three and a half at best.
"I thought that at first too, but look harder. The clavicle's fused. This man had to be at least over 25 years old before he died," Richard said as he barely fingered the shoulder area of the skeleton.
"According to the layer cake this dig should be placed some time around the dark ages, so we have a medieval midget?"
"Oh, you haven't seen the weirdest part yet. Here take a look at the skeleton's feet."
Janet stood up on her toes trying to get a better look, and her breath caught in her throat. The skeleton had only managed to keep a hold of its left foot but it was enough.
"That foot has to be almost fifteen inches long! So we have a midget that would have needed to wear a basketball player's shoes from the dark ages?"
"You know what that means?" Richard looked Janet in the eye, his lips thinning.
Janet stared him down and said, "Oh no, you are not going to tell me that . . ."
"That's right, we may have just found a Hobbit."
