It was shortly after breakfast, and all of us moved in slow motion. Two cups of Ishi’s bitter coffee weren’t enough to override the oppressive heat and lack of sleep. The sun’s rays baked the sand around us, and there would be no relief until late afternoon, when the outcropping would provide partial shade. “Are you sure you don’t want to survey the area first?” asked Ishi, sheltering his eyes from the sun’s glare with his hands. “It may not be the right capstone, or a capstone at all. For one thing, it looks like granite, and not limestone like the other capstone. Why do you jump to a conclusion this is the right place so quickly?” “Because it came from Daddy in a dream,” said Marie, sarcastically. I cut her a look, and she smiled impishly. Just her turn to get me back, I guess, for giving her hell about being late to breakfast again. “But where else would you want to start the excavation, Ishi?” “No damned place is gonna please the Tawankan!”
