Two days later, we said our goodbyes to Karl and headed for the airport in our rental car. Up till now, we’d been staying in decent hotels located within a few miles of the mines that we visited. Our next two stops were going to involve camping. I wasn’t a big fan of camping, but I’d done it before and found that it wasn’t all bad. I liked the campfires and the open air and I loved watching the stars. Sleeping on the ground and peeing in bushes, not so much.
It was a bit surreal getting off a private plane with a load of camping gear. The contrast was almost physically painful and I had Mark take a picture of me so I could send it to Eva. My discomfort would give her joy. Initially, I’d hoped that she’d be able to come with us, but her family and James’ were going on another vacation. This time they were only going for three weeks and they were due to come back a few days after I was scheduled to get back from this trip. James had managed to have his internship with the financial company start after his return. He was very excited about it and he hoped that he’d be learning from them and not simply be relegated to making coffee for everyone.
With our gear loaded into a rented SUV, Mark drove us out to the middle of nowhere Arizona to look at a potential site for a new copper mine. When Jake had mentioned a potential site, I’d pictured vast tracks of barren land. The reality was a bit different. While there were indeed vast tracks of barren land, there were also a handful of people working on that land, along with their own tents and supplies. They were surveying the land and trying to establish the extent and location of any ore body. We met with the lead surveyor, Sylvie, and she took us on a tour of the property. In order not to bias my report, Mark asked Sylvie not to discuss any of her findings with me. This is something I had requested of Mark on the plane ride over when he tried to show me the initial survey map of the site.
Once the quick tour was over, Mark and I separated, with him heading off to see the work being done on the site and me borrowing one of Sylvie’s rented ATVs out to do my own surveying. I only had the rest of today and tomorrow to explore not only the site, but the surrounding properties as well. Because we were spending a lot less time here than on our previous mine visits, I needed to move much faster and I decided to use a much larger rectangle field for my explorations. Starting at the far corner of the property, I shaped a rectangular field that was fifteen meters long and fifteen meters wide, by two inches in height and sent the field down to several hundred meters. As I expected, I didn’t find any useful deposits and I moved over fifteen meters. This time, I tried to double the size of the field, leaving it still two inches in height. Holding a field that big was a bit more of strain than holding the fifteen-meter field, but it was only for a few seconds. At the next area I doubled the field in size again. Now I felt the strain, but it was still manageable and I decided to leave the field at 60 meters by 60 meters. I’d need to be able to do hundreds of these to cover the property.
The afternoon wore on and my map took shape. I made notes of anything I found on my phone along with the GPS coordinates and I would input in the information on my computer at the end of the day. I got more that a few strange looks from the surveying and exploration crew as I crossed over the area that they were concentrating on. From their point of view, they were watching someone ride an ATV in a grid pattern, stopping every sixty meters and then continuing on another sixty meters. I wasn’t using any equipment that they could see, besides my phone.
The crew had already left by the time I finished and called it a day. It was dinnertime and I was exhausted. Mark had set up our camp and had a nice fire going. It was warm out and we didn’t need the heat, but we did need to eat and Mark had a stew just about ready by the time I pulled up a log and sat next to him.
“You look beat. I had no idea that the swami business was that tiring.”, Mark said as he filled up a bowl of stew and handed it to me.
“It normally isn’t, but we didn’t have much time here, so I have to work faster.” I paused to take a bite of stew. I groaned with pleasure and Mark smiled at the compliment. “Mark, this is really good. How can you make something that tastes this good out in the middle of a clearing?”
“Gramma Nancy taught me how cook on trips just like this. Grampa Jake would be out all day surveying and she insisted that I spend at least a few hours with her learning to cook. The secret is preparation. If you plan properly and bring the right ingredients and utensils with you, it’s really quite easy.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
While he was talking, I finished by bowl and handed it back to him for a refill. “Well, you’re hired. I’ve always wanted my own personal chef. I’ll have to get you one of those white puffy chef hats and an apron.”
“Oh. Sorry, I can’t take the job. I don’t do well with hats. My head’s the wrong shape.”, Mark replied in mock disappointment. I started in on my second bowl.
“That’s too bad. I guess you’ll just have to settle for all powerful mining magnate. It’s not personal chef, but it works as a consolation prize.” I said between bites. I was already thinking about my third helping.
We ate in silence for awhile and as I handed my bowl to Mark for another refill, I saw his raised eyebrows, but he didn’t comment. Instead, he handed me back a full bowl and said, “You were the talk of the team today. Sylvie said that every member of her team asked what you were doing out there. I was going to tell her that you were a swami mystic and that you were ‘sensing’ the land, but I don’t think that they would have believed me. They only believe in proven science. Instead, I told them that you were born with a genetic quirk that let you sense the electromagnetic fields all around us and that you could tell where the ore in the ground was by feeling the fluctuations in the field.”
I nearly choked on my food. Damn. That wasn’t far from the truth. I turned by reaction into a laugh and asked him, “Did they buy it?”
“Of course. I was very convincing. The only problem I have now is that they’re all excited to know the results of your efforts. Did you find anything interesting today with your swami senses that will be worthy of the massive bullshit that I shoveled?”
“I did, but I can’t tell you about it. Yet.”, I answered.
“Why not? Isn’t that why you’re here?”, Mark asked, genuinely perplexed.
“Yes and no. Jake only hired me to give him my feelings as to which of two sites would be a better candidate for a mine. Any detailed information that I uncover is not part of our contract and I’m free to deal with Jake for that information. I had his lawyers make that change to the standard contract before I signed it.” I hadn’t discussed this with Mark before and I wondered how he’d take the news.
Mark stared at me for three solid, never-ending, seconds and then he started laughing and said, “Abby, I need to be there when you negotiate with him. It’s been years since someone outfoxed Grandpa Jake."
“Jake was trying to fox me?”, I asked quietly, looking at my almost empty bowl. I felt my chest tighten. I’d really liked Jake.
“No, Abby! He would never do that. That came out wrong. I should have said ‘out-thought’ or ‘out-maneuvered’. Grampa thought he had a handle on your ‘land sense’, but he didn’t understand the extent of it. If he did, he would never have given you the standard contract. He’s completely underestimated you and that’s not a mistake he often makes. As you can see by the team that’s here, mineral exploration is very expensive and time consuming. If you can provide detailed information, then the savings could be significant. He’d be happy to pay you for that. He wouldn’t cheat you, Abby.”
Mark sounded sincere and I felt my body relax. I managed to hold back the tears that had been threatening. “I can’t really blame Jake for his mistake. I didn’t pick up on the contract problem either. My dad did.” Just then, I felt of wave of gratitude for dad. I was so lucky to have him in my life.
It took me a few minutes to get myself under control again and when I did, I noticed that my bowl was empty. Should I have some more? Why not? I handed Mark my bowl again and this time the look on his face got me all defensive and I said, “Hey! It’s not a very big bowl. Camping bowls are made small.”
Mark just nodded and said, “Yes, Ma’am!”.
“Are you trying to fat-shame me, Mark?!”
“I wouldn’t do that. Besides which, you don’t have an ounce of fat on your body. You and Eva are the two fittest people I know. It’s just that…”, Mark stopped mid-sentence.
“Just that what?”, I challenged him indignantly.
“Nothing. I wasn’t going to say anything.” Mark gave a dramatic look at his watch and said, “My! Would you look at the time? It sure is getting late. I’ll go make sure that the tents are secured.” With that, Mark got up and rushed away.
I stayed beside the fire and finished my dinner. Afterwards, I cleaned up our dishes and got out my computer. Sleep was calling me, but I knew that it would be better to get all my data inputted tonight. I would sleep better knowing that it was done. Also, with the 3D map completed, I could see if there was any part of the land that I’d skipped over. I’d have a chance tomorrow morning to fix it.
The next morning, we got up early and got ready for the day. Mark made breakfast and, like the night before, I cleaned up the dishes when we were done. We made a good team. By the time Sylvie and the survey team returned, we had stuck our campsite and had all our possessions packed neatly in the car.