Chapters 14 and 15 of Lauren's Quest

Posted by Tessa from cp2.cat.com on November 17, 1999 at 12:02:47:

Chapter 14
Indy was looking through the window, thumbing a book of England's history in his hands. He was not concentrating and kept thinking, What could they be doing to Lauren? If they even harm herÖ
Then Indy remembered how Lauren was during their trips to Crete and Mexico. The kid has guts. But she's risking her life, he thought. When he brought it up to Kate years ago, when Lauren took a dare of climbing the highwire the neighborhood kids had made, she just laughed at him and said, "Don't you see, Indy? The child is like you. Looks like you and acts like you. You can't deny she's a Jones!"
He still missed his wife, even though he rarely mentioned it to his children. Kate was very unique person in many ways. She taught him to love again, to see things in a new light when their children were born, and gave him a sense of security in life, not through money, but by intelligence.
Indy was shocked at first when Lauren pursued the idea of archeology. He tried to talk her out of it, saying it was dangerous for a woman to be one. She stared at him with those purple-blue eyes; Kate's eyes; and said, "If I was Eric or Michael, you would have loved the idea."
"It's too dangerous, Lauren. Haven't you learned that from Crete?"
"Dad, this is what I want to do and you can't stop me!" as she stared out of the room, "Mom wouldn't have stopped me."
Her last statement is what convinced Indy to change his decision. Lauren's right. Kate would have wanted our children to choose their own paths and not change their minds, he realized.
Indy shook the thought out of his head and leafed through the book in his lap. As he thumbed the pages, he noticed reading about Excalibur and The Knights of the Round Table and remembered telling the children stories about the fabled sword and of the Holy Grail.
Suddenly the thought occurred to Indy that the Mafia was after the sword of Arthur --- Excalibur.
"Dad!" Eric said coming into the room, "I just had a thoughtÖ"
Indy stopped him, "So did I, son. We need to find the resting place of Excalibur before it falls into the wrong hands."

Chapter 15
Lauren looked through her notes on Excalibur, from the several of the reading material Joey and his men had brought her. She rubbed her eyes and thought, How did I ever get involved in this? as she looked over to Anthony. She sighed and commanded her self, "Think, Jones. What did Dad tell you in those stories years ago?"
Lauren closed her eyes and remembered the first time hearing about Excalibur. She was about five years old ---

New York 1958
"Mommy!" Lauren cried in her sleep, "Help me. Monsters are coming!"
The little girl tossed and turned in her sheets, screaming out for her mother. Her father came into the room instead, and shook her gently,
"Lauren, wake up. It's just a dream."
He turned on her lamp as she stared at him and demanded, "Where's Mommy?"
"She's out of town, sweetheart, remember? She left for France this morning."
"Oh," the girl's smile faded.
Her father looked at her and said, "Can you tell me what happened?"
"There was this monster. He was coming out from under my bed, ready to eat me!", fear in her eyes.
He stared intently at his youngest child and listened about the monster. He smiled a bit, sat down on her bed, and picked her up. He hugged her tight and said,
"You don't have to worry about monsters. I'll be here and Excalibur."
"What's Ex-cal-la-burr?" she asked him.
Her father then told her the story of King Arthur pulling out the famous sword out of a stone. The sword was called Excalibur because whoever possessed the sword was considered the bravest and honest man in the country. Lauren's eyes widened and said,
"Daddy, where is it now?"
"No one is sure but its' believed it is buried with King Arthur or given to the Lady of the Lake, who protected the sword for Arthur from thieves," as he put down Lauren, "Wait here."
Her father left the room and came back with a book. He turned to a page and said, "Here. This is what the sword looks like," showing to her.
Lauren looked at the picture of King Arthur throwing a sword into lake, with a hand extending to catch it. She was fascinated with the pictures as her father took the book away and told her to go to bed.
"But what about the monster?" she asked.
Her father placed the book on her bedside table and said, "Excalibur will protect you. Its power is strong, just think of Excalibur."
He tucked her into her bed, gave her a kiss on the forehead, "Good night," as he left the room.
-----
Lauren smiled to herself as a thought occurred to her and frantically searched for the material of Arthur's last battle with Excalibur

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