Hortons Bend

looked at him with piercing blue eyes. The farmer stepped closer to him and put his hand on his shoulder. “Mr. Brody you know that The Bend didn’t look like it does now in the 16 th century. It took a lot of hard work to remove all them trees. Its good land but the Spanish probably saw a lot of tangled mess and kept going on down river to spend time in a place where they could rest.” Mrs. Horton smiled in agreement and offered up a statement that was quelled by her husband. “The ancient ones probably chose…”. But she stopped when her husband glanced at her. Sam Horton smiled again reassuringly and said “What my wife is trying to say that the state boys consider this land barren. There’s just not much left. Besides we just don’t have the time being so busy. You remember the drought last year? We gotta a lot of catching up. You know how farming is don’t ya son?” Mr. Horton then suggested that he try down river at Cecil Brown’s farm to see if maybe he could find something that would help him with his studies. Brody knew then he had been gently reminded that he wasn’t welcome to look for anything here in Horton’s Bend. He thanked them for their time and invited them to visit the museum where he would give them a personal tour. As he left he couldn’t help but think of how Mrs. Horton and said “the ancient ones”. It sounded so solemn and deferential as if she was connected to them. And the fact that she came to such an abrupt halt when her husband glanced at her as if she had said too much. He drove back onto the pavement feeling as if the roadblocks to Horton’s Bend would never be bypassed. Brody drove towards the state highway but before he got to it he noticed a county vehicle sitting off on the edge of the road. Two men glared at him as he drove by their sedan. Considering what had just happened, Brody couldn’t help but think that today was the one day he should have stayed at the museum and worked on the inventory.
    Darwin and Brody began mapping in GIS points on the lab computer the rest of the afternoon. He was amazed at how efficient she was at maneuvering the data into the system. Their goal was to log in all the known archaeological sites in the county and cross reference the information for any visiting scholars. It wasn’t really that complicated since the state archaeological files had the way points but Brody had compiled a lot of recent data regarding how the sites had been impacted in the last twenty years. He would, of course, share this information with the site files office once it was completed to update their files. They took a break around 2pm and walked over the museum grounds to get outside of the lab for a while. “We’ve just about got to an end point on the GIS except for your piece de resistance” Darwin chided him as they walked. Brody took her verbal stab but said nothing about his recent failures to make some headway on Horton’s Bend. Brody stopped and faced her. “And with your data entry skills I think we can finish it up pretty quick too and knock out the last of the collections inventory. I have a little more data to pull from the paper files and the GIS will be complete” he said. She knew he was genuine and was embarrassed by how curt she had been in the past few weeks. “You seemed a little distant this afternoon. What’s the matter with you?” Brody sighed and explained “I’m sorry. I guess I see you going off to exciting new things and maybe I’m a little jealous. I’m glad to be in a permanent position but what I think I’m jealous about is the fact that I miss being around people who are able to do archaeology and keep the politics and bullshit separate.” She knew what Brody was going through. This museum had a lot of elements that she could appreciate but everyone saw the grass a shade greener when it was just out of reach. It was how Mrs. Peabody and the board members didn’t seem to love what they were involved in. She knew that graduate school was nothing more than an expensive rat race involving students jumping through any hurdles that the professors could throw at them. But it was so stimulating. That was what she missed: a nerve center pulsing with new concepts and with a positive worldview. She looked at Brody and said “Paul don’t forget that I appreciate your signing me on here. I needed a little break to finish the last of my dissertation and put a little more on my resume before I hit the real world. I