On Etruscan Time by Tracy Barrett Read Free Book Online

was saying. He poked a finger thoughtfully into the soil and rubbed the dust between his fingers. “There’s something that interests me here. The grass above here was growing differently, and it made me think there might be something large under the ground. We have not dug very deeply yet, but I think that we may find a building.”
    â€œWhat kind of building?” Hector asked.
    Ettore shrugged. “That much, I do not know,” he said. “But we are in the center of the city, so it could be something important. Shall we find out?”
    â€œSure!” Hector said. Talking to his mom about the nightmares could wait. She hadn’t yet reappeared at the dig, anyway, and he didn’t feel like trekking all the way back up that steep hill to find her. Maybe that evening. If lunch was that good, he couldn’t wait to see what they’d serve for dinner.
    â€œWhere are your tools?” Ettore asked.
    â€œEh già,” Hector said as he hoisted himself out of the trench again, earning a grin from Ettore.
    When he returned, clutching his collection of picks and brushes, Ettore was already at work. He moved over to make room for Hector, and for an hour or so they worked in companionable silence. Hector’s mother poked her head in and said something about him being a sleepyhead, but Hector just answered her briefly and kept on working. Scrape, poke, brush, shake. It could have gotten monotonous, but since there was always the chance that something might turn up, the time passed quickly.
    When they put down their tools and hoisted themselves out of the trench, a breeze had sprung up and the air was cooler. Ettore glanced at the sky.
    â€œPerhaps it will rain,” he said. Hector nodded cautiously, his neck too stiff from bending close to the trench wall to allow him to look up. He wiped his tools with the cloth that Ettore passed him and slid them back in their pouch.
    As Ettore stopped to talk with the freckled-faced archaeologist, Hector joined the stream of people heading up the slope to the opening in the city wall.
    â€œWhat do you think they’ll have for dinner?” he asked his mother as she fell into step next to him.
    â€œOh, some kind of pasta first,” she answered. “And then, who knows? Why, are you hungry?”
    â€œStarving,” he said, and she laughed.
    â€œAs usual. Watch out, or we’ll have to pay for two seats for you when we go back in August.”
    â€œSpeaking about going back—” he started, but she just went on as though he hadn’t said anything.
    â€œAnd anyway, first a shower, then dinner,” she said. “You’re filthy, and dinner isn’t for another half hour.” She yawned. “What a long afternoon.”
    â€œIt went fast for me,” he said.
    â€œWell, time’s relative,” she observed. “It’s not fair that it should go slower when you’re bored, but that’s the way it is. Why was it such a good afternoon, anyway? Did you find something else?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œYes, we did.” Ettore had caught up with them. “We found discolorations in the soil that I think will show that the earth has been moved. Perhaps this is because something large was built there.”
    â€œLike a temple,” Hector said, passing through the arch. He kept his eyes on the ground, not knowing why the thought of seeing that boy again made him so uneasy.
    â€œI hope,” Ettore said. “A temple would be magnificent.”
    â€œI didn’t see any discolorations,” Hector said.
    â€œYou need some experience, and you need to know how to see it,” Ettore said. “I will show you tomorrow.”
    Dinner started with pasta, as his mother had predicted. Long strands of something like spaghetti, but flat, were served in a creamy cheese sauce, followed by pork chops and salad. There was more of that tasteless bread, and apples for dessert. They were