SquidgeWorld Archive

It had been a tough couple days. Since leaving his parents house yesterday at noon, Gabe hadn't slept and hardly eaten. Things just didn't go smooth. Originally he had planned to meet Judson and Mac at the harbor and go with them to the little Island just northeast of the coast of Canada. They were trying to uncover some burial sites that could prove that American natives had mixed with Nordic Explorers when they first arrived. Something that could prove quite significant to North American History.

After leaving his family home, he had driven for several hours until he was stopped by a flat tire. Usually this wouldn't have been a big deal until he discovered somebody had removed all tools from his SUV. Things got worse, when he realized, his cell phone was in his cabin on the Vast Explorer. Out on a small country road, it took him several hours to flag somebody down. By the time the tire was changed and he reached the next town, it was 4:30 pm, ½ hour before he was to be at the harbor. So he used the phone and called Judson. It was decided, they would take off without him and a friend of Mac's would fly him to the Island in the morning.

It was 11 pm by the time Gabe made it into the little town, if it was that what you wanted to call it. About 10 houses and a gas station, that was already closed. Mac had told him the airfield was 2 miles north of town and that her friend would land there around 7 am. So with nothing else to do, Gabe tried to get comfortable in his SUV. He also realized that he was famished. All he could find was a candy bar and a bottle with water. That would have to do till tomorrow morning.

Also he felt tired, he just couldn't rest. The argument that he had with his father just wouldn't get out of his head. He should have known, when his father ask him to see him what it was all about. Again he had tried to bribe him to go back to college. But Gabe had stood like a rock. In the end his father had called him an idiot and he had left the house without looking back. He was sure, he was doing the right thing, and still it sometimes hurt that his family just couldn't understand. So the night dragged along and Gabe was happy, when dawn finally showed up on the horizon. At that time he decided to drive to the airfield and continue his wait out there.

Several hours later, he finally arrived at the island. The first thing he wanted to do was get something to eat but again, things just didn't go his way. He had hardly left the airplane, when an explosion rocked the area. Gabe immediately let himself fall to the ground, dragging the pilot with him. As it turned out, somebody had ignored the `no smoking' sign on the explosives storage shed. Thankfully it contained only a small case of explosives at the time. But it was enough to blow up the shed and leave debris all over the area. Some of the workers in the area got hit and sustained injuries.

As soon as Gabe recovered from the blast, he ran over to see if he could help. Judson was already there and Mac came running from the other side. Seeing him, they acknowledged him. After checking everyone out, they realized that most injuries were only scratches. Two men had received head injuries that were bleeding heavily and probably needed stitching. After bandaging them up and putting ice packs on them, Mac's friend took them to the mainland with his plane. And due to the proximity of the debris to the burial grounds, Judson decided, they better get at it and clean up.

With the help of all the uninjured workers, clean up took about 3 hours. When they finally were done, Gabe set down and took a coke and a sandwich out of the cooler. He felt way beyond starved. But just when he took his first bite, he heard a scream from Mac. He dropped the sandwich and ran into the direction from were the scream had come. When he saw what had happened, he couldn't help but grin. Mac had slipped into one of the graves they already had unearthed. She was lying belly down on top of some skeletal remains, her face in line with the skull. "Your new boyfriend?" he asked her.

Mac gave him one of her famous looks, then replied, "quit joking and help me up, I think I hurt my ankle.

Gabe decided it would be easier to just jump down and help her up. So he did.

Mac groaned when she tried to put weight on her right foot. "Darn, this hurts!" she complained.

"Here, I lift you up and you just sit at the edge!" Gabe told her, then he climbed up himself and took a look at her ankle.
It was starting to swell and the outside took on a bluish discoloration.

By this time Judson had also arrived. Unconventionally he scooped Mac up in his arms and carried her over to the tents.

"Hey, I can walk".

"Later" he commented, then sat her down on a chair.

Gabe walked over to the tent and brought the first aid kit. He watched while Judson cleaned the dirt of the ankle and took Mac's shoe off.

"Looks like you got lucky, nothing broken, probably just a sprain, I just wrap it and then put some ice on it. Gabe, hand me an ace wrap!"

Gabe reached for the wrap to hand it Judson. Suddenly he noticed that his hands started to shake. No matter how hard he tried to control it, he couldn't. At the same time he started to get a strange burning feeling in his abdomen. He felt sweat running down the sides of his face also he felt more cold than hot. His vision started to get blurry and he felt Judson and Mac look at him.

"Are you okay?"

There faces were in and out of focus. "I don't know, I feel strange li...." His speech trailed off and before anyone could react, his eyes rolled and he crumbled to the ground.

Judson kneeled immediately beside him and Mac hobbled over and let she sink down. "What's wrong with him?" Judson asked.

"No idea, he seemed fine just a minute ago!"

They looked at each other, than at Gabe. Suddenly Mac came up with an idea. "Get me some orange juice out of the cooler!"

Judson gave her a questioning look but just reached for the cooler and took some OJ out. "Here, now what?"

"Now we try to make him drink some!"

Judson supported Gabe's upper body while Mac slowly poured sips of the juice into his mouth. Initially he wouldn't swallow and most just ran out. She started to massage his larynx and finally got him to swallow. After several sips they noted that he began to swallow by himself. After giving him about 4 oz. Mac said "this should be enough for now, give him some time!"

It took only about a minute until Gabe started to move and open his eyes. First still overclouded, they finally cleared. Confused he looked around. "What just happened?"

"You just passed out! When and what have you last eaten?"

Still a little dazed, it took him a moment to answer, finally he said "A candy bar and some water last night!"

"And before that?"

"I had some toast and a cup of coffee for breakfast at my parent's house."

Mac gave him a knowing look. "That explains it. You had a hypoglycemic attack, probably also a little dehydrated. Without food, your body was running on empty!"

Judson looked at her, "how do you know all this stuff?"

"No big deal", Mac waived him off, "growing up, my best friend was a brittle diabetic, she had these attacks quite frequently."

Gabe eyes widened and Mac he looked like a scared puppy "Wait a minute, are telling me, I am diabetic?"

"No, no", she assured him, "I'm telling you, you've been a foolish little boy by not eating or drinking for so long. Now let's get you over to the table and get you something to eat."

Judson took over this task, than he assisted Mac back to her chair and finally wrapped her ankle.

After he was finished, he looked from Mac to Gabe and back, then he scratched his chin "I feel like a mother hen watching over her chicks. Can't leave you kids without supervision for one second without you getting into trouble!"

Mac and Gabe looked at each other than started to flap there arms and make chicken noises.

"Okay, I see you are feeling better" Judson laughed, than joined them in there efforts.