Saturday morning. Shorty opened his brown eyes slowly, his vision blurred with sleep. At least there would be no classes today. No work either. He smiled, momentarily forgetting about his worries. There was plenty of time to sort out his argument with Indy. For now all he wanted to do was go back to sleep.
"Shorty," Indy's voice called from the hall. "I'm going climbing, you want to come along?" Shorty groaned and pulled himself out from under the warm covers. "Coming." He said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Gimme a minute."
In response, Dr. Jones' footsteps made their way down the carpeted stairway. Shorty changed quickly from his school clothes, tossing them onto the chair at his desk. He'd put them away later. Wearing an old pair of blue jeans and a 'University of Chicago' T-shirt, he exited his room.
"I've got all the stuff." Indy said, nodding towards the arrangement of various equipment sprawled across the kitchen table. There was also a stack of well done pancakes. Shorty retrieved a plate from the cupboard and placed one of the pancakes on it. He buttered it quietly, wondering why Indy wanted to go climbing. They'd just been fighting, it seemed strange to want to do something so... normal, relaxing, right after an argument.
"Where are we climbing?" He said at length. Indy turned from the cup of coffee he'd been pouring himself. "I thought we'd try that little works by the river."
"But it's sheer rock... I swam across to it once, remember. There aren't any handholds..." Shorty eyed their 'equipment' doubtfully. It consisted of Indy's bullwhip and some small 'rock-picks' as Shorty called them. They were basically just metal spikes with a leather strap to attach to the hand, so that it could be thrust into a rock wall, making a temporary hold. "I don't think we can climb that."
"Well, I'm willing to give it a shot." Indy stubbornly replied, downing his black coffee in two quick gulps. He lifted his bullwhip and nodded to Shorty, who took the rock-picks and followed. The two seated themselves in the car and took off. Shorty didn't often sit in the back anymore, but he thought that today he'd rather. It might discourage conversation. No such luck.
"Shorty, I know you were angry when Willie and I broke up before." The teenager slouched in his seat, watching the trees whip past his window. "But we got over that, and I think it's time you did too." Indy looked in the front mirror, his eyes watching Shorty's face, waiting for a response.
"I know." Was all he could manage. There was no way he was going to risk making Indy angry again. Not when he was driving. It'd been almost eight years since the last time Indy'd used the age old parent's trick, "Dont-make-me-stop-this-car-and-make-you-behave". But he wouldn't put it past his foster father.
"Trust me. We both know very well what we're getting into. We're not just 'trying it out', we're going to stick together." It almost sounded as if Dr. Jones was trying to convince himself as much as Shorty.
Shorty sighed in relief. Thank God it wasn't far to the river or he'd of had to continue their discussion. Maybe he could change the subject now. "Are we going to climb single file, or side by side?"
Indy looked annoyed for a moment, probably sensing Shorty's dodging away from the issue. But he recovered quickly, tucking his bullwhip into it's clip on his belt. "I'd like to see just how steep it is before I decide anything."
The two walked to the river's bank. They had to break their way through a decent sized patch of bracken to reach it. Rocks of various sizes lined the edge of the water, and farther in, giant boulders loomed up out of the dark ripples. On the far side of the river, a tall cliff rose up to meet the morning's clear blue sky. It did look steep. They'd better climb side by side. That way, if one of them fell, the other might not. If they climbed one ahead of the other, if the top man fell, he might knock the other one into the water with him. It was fortunate that there was deep water at the foot of the cliff, it would make the prospect of falling a little easier to bear.
"Side by side." Indy declared, wading into the water, Shorty behind him. It was easier to swim across then to try and skirt around through the undergrowth. The difficult part would be getting out of the water and onto the cliff's face. That's what the rock-picks were for. They didn't go for the harnesses, pitons and other ridiculously cautious things most mountain-climbers used. Both preferred to climb the challenging way. In other words, the stupid way.
As they got farther into the water, Shorty grinned and started swimming, taking long strokes. At first, he shot far ahead of the older Jones, but Indy caught up quickly. They were both good swimmers. But Shorty was younger and was still in Phys. Ed. The Chinese youth reached the cliff first, but not by much. The water was pretty cold for how late it was in the school year. The sooner they got out, the better. To his surprise, he could see plenty of handholds as he looked up at the cliff. "These weren't here last summer..."
"What's that?" Indy asked, treading water beside him.
"I could have sworn it was different last year."
"Hey, rock changes. The water probably wore it down a little in the past year." Indy shrugged. He knew a lot about this sort of thing, but he was tired, and he'd have to do an official 'test' if he wanted to be very accurate about his guess.
"I suppose." Shorty didn't bother to strap on his rock-picks just yet. He left them inside his pockets, using his bare hands to climb. It was easy at first, but after a while he had to stop.
"No more holds." Indy agreed with the expression on Shorty's face. There was a ledge about five feet above Indy's head. "Let's try and get to that ledge before using the picks." The younger man suggested. Dr. Jones nodded, inching up about a centimeter and eyeing the cliff's face for ridges or indentations that could serve as a hold.
Shorty felt the late spring's afternoon sun beating down on his back, drying his clothes quickly. Suddenly he was distracted from his attempt to reach a handhold by a scraping sound on the rock to his right. Indy had found a faulty hold, which had apparently broken. He was hanging on by one hand, his left foot braced precariously on the wall.
"Keep going." Indy said, eyeing his bullwhip and then the branch of a gnarly little tree growing on the ledge's small surface.
Shorty stretched out his long arm once again for the hold, grasping it with the tips of his straining fingers. He pulled cautiously, pushing with his legs. After about three minutes, he made it onto the ledge. It felt like it'd been at least five hours, but only forty minutes had passed in reality. The Chinese boy jumped as he heard a loud cracking sound and looked up to see the end of Indy's whip curled around the trunk of the nearby tree. Shorty grinned and leaned over the edge, watching as his partner let go of the rock wall and hoisted himself up.
"Rest here?" He asked hopefully, coiling his bullwhip up once again.
"Not getting tired, are we?" Shorty jibed playfully. Indy was only forty-five years old, but it was still a little old for all the adventure his still twenty-five year old mental frame demanded.
"Nope, just don't see any sense in going too fast and ending up falling." Shorty grinned, obviously in an unbelieving manner. Indy made as if to shove him off the ledge and the boy's face changed to one of mock horror. "Crazy kid." Indy said fondly, wiping sweat from his brow.
"Dr. Jones..." Shorty swirled a finger in the fine dust on the ledge's rock surface. "I know that I can't stop you from making choices." Indy looked out at the water below them, not daring to speak. "And I know it doesn't really matter if you get married anyway. Not to me, that is. Because now that I'm of age, it's not like she'd be my mother or anything."
"Exactly." The archaeologist wasn't sure what he wanted to say. He was still extremely annoyed with Shorty's behavior from the night before, but he didn't want to start another argument. Not now, not here.
"I just can't help being doubtful. And I guess I'm mad because..." Shorty paused, searching for just the right words. He had never, ever told Indy this, and it felt strange to finally let it out. "It broke me apart. When you and Willie separated before." Indy grimaced, guilt showing on his rugged features. "I was so hopeful when I was little.. I guess it was silly of me really, to think you'd even consider what was best for me." Shorty stood, strapping on his rock-picks.
"Shorty." The older Jones rose too, slowly. "I have always cared about what's best for you."
"Obviously not, or maybe I wouldn't have had to grow up in a one parent home." Shorty jammed his right rock-pick into the rock's wall. It didn't go in far enough to get a good hold. He struck it again and again, making the hole a little deeper each time.
"Maybe it wasn't top priority then," Indy said, watching Shorty's progress, "but I promise, I've been trying harder since... since I realized how upset you were about it."
Shorty paused and turned to face his foster father. "I just don't want to break anymore. I don't think I could repair the damage." His voice was much quieter and full of emotion than he'd meant to allow. Indy was very worried now. He hadn't realized how serious this was. Shorty almost sounded... fearful. Was he really that afraid to lose the only figure in his life anything like a mother. Maybe forever, this time.
Indy placed a hand tentatively on Shorty's shoulder. The boy shied momentarily, but did not pull away. "I promise, this time it's going to work out." For a moment there was no response. But then Shorty grabbed Indy in one of the tightest hugs he'd ever received. "I know." He whispered. He quickly released Indy however, seeming to be somewhat embarrassed by his act. It had be a long time since Shorty had embraced his foster father. He had stopped doing it all together, soon after the India incident.
Dr. Jones sensed easily his son's discomfort, and began once again to climb the rock's steep face. "I'd like to have Willie over some time soon. But let me know what time is good for you, all right?"
Shorty grinned, reciting a well-used quote from his childhood years. "Okie dokie, Docta Jones."