Phases of the Moone 1.12

The next morning a got a notice in the mail informing me that Mr. Blainstreet had named me the new fire chief starting in January with a nice bonus included. Jasper and I used a chunk of it to remodel the living room, but even after we had painted the walls among many other things there was still plenty of it left.

             “I guess we’ll put the rest of it in savings,” I said to Jasper.

            “I have a better idea, “he said, smiling ear-to-ear. I asked him what he had planned and he answered, “Let’s take the family on a vacation to celebrate your new promotion.”

            For once I didn’t worry at all and just agreed. “It might help Basil to get out of town for a while too.”

*** 

            After about a week or two of planning me, Jasper and the boys were on our way to Al Simhara, Egypt. The only requirement I had was that Basil had to leave Mystery at home, he complained, which concerned me a little, but got over it as soon as me reached our base camp. The moment our plane landed his eyes lit up and he started exploring the base and even talking to some of the other explorers staying there.

             I let out a relieved sigh and grabbed a book to read. The original plan was that we’d spent most of the day hanging around base camp and settling in and then maybe we go eat at the marketplace later. Basil, Oberon and I were perfectly fine with that idea, but Ashe and Jasper couldn’t sit still and were running around and casting fairy pranks on each other and a handful of other  tourists like ourselves.

            I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “If the two are bored, why don’t you go somewhere instead of disrupting the peace here.”

            Ashe’s eyes widened with excitement. “Daddy, can we go explore a tomb like  Appaloosa Rones or something?!”

            “Sure thing Kiddo,” he said and the two of them were gone in a flash .

            The rest of us didn’t join them and they returned within a couple hours. According to them they tried to explore the Sphinx, but due to some obstacles that included fire among other dangerous things they didn’t get much farther than the entrance.

            I got one look at their photos and decided that no one in the family was going to raid anymore tombs this trip because hospital bills were expensive. I didn’t say it aloud, but those pictures made my heart race from anxiety. The Sphinx wouldn’t be the last tomb my kids explored, but by the time they tried “tomb raiding” again they would be much older.  

The rest of the first day went as planned; everyone stuck around base camp to the point where we didn’t even go out for dinner. However, that didn’t mean that we didn’t sample the culture a little bit, there were some interesting meal around base camp, including camel brain which we all tried. The dish, for lack of a better word, had a rubbery texture and tasted like a leather shoe. I took one bite and opted for some toast and jam instead. Everyone else seemed to feel about the same, except for Oberon who actually had seconds.

            After that the jet lag caught up to us ,we crawled into the tents and instantly fell asleep.

***

       The  next morning we took our time getting ready and planning how we would spend our first full day in Al Simhara.  By the time the boys had gotten bored enough to start playing in the sand we decided to just explore Al Simhara a little (avoiding the tombs of course).

Everywhere we looked was another beautiful landscape, but the real pieces of paradise were off the beaten path.  My favorite place we found was small, jungle oasis we came across. The little piece of green was so thick and overgrown that Jasper and I managed to steal a moment for ourselves to snuggle close and kiss which was just getting harder to do as the boys grew older.  Ashe ran over to us a few moments later to show us a bug he caught, a big smile on his face. 

          The sun set far too soon and we returned to base camp. 

***

            The next day was our last full day. At Breakfast some shady people who said they worked for a company called MorcuCorp came to our camp and started offering anyone who wanted it a job. No one took it and we quickly herded our family to the Marketplace to get away from them. We spent the day enjoying the pool and everything else the Marketplace had to offer and then night fell.  I’d forgotten what time of month it was due to the time difference and as usual as soon as the moon rose Basil’s and my wolf sides came out.  Jasper assures me that I behaved myself and actually spent most of the night playing chess with Oberon.

 Basil on the other hand was a little more of a terror. He did a lot of damage to the furniture and even tried to attack some of the locals, they were zombie locals, but it was still bad behavior. We booked the first flight home the next morning.

A/N: I figured I should post this entry early since my husband and I are going out of town tomorrow. In hindsight I wish I took more notes so this trip would have had more plot, but oh well. Next entry will be up Tuesday.