The cab ride to the airport was not one to brag about, especially since it was a small cab and Sophia had to stay seated close to Jack. She felt very uncomfortable with him right up next to her. If it wasn't the smell of the cab that was making her sick, then it was Jack's closeness.
Finally, relief came as she sat on the plane with Jack next to her, but he wasn't as close. She leaned back and closed her eyes as the 747 took off for the United States.
Jack was too excited to sleep. His mind was restless about the things that had happened on the expedition. The book was theirs and no one could take it away from them. He hated the fact that he majored mostly in religion and Asian cultures, because he couldn't read both Greek and Roman languages. He had a brief Greek language course in his last year of college.
Sophia woke up in mid-flight to spot Jack going over his notes and trying to translate the book. He looked frustrated, very frustrated. "Is everything, okay?" She asked in a groggy tone.
"This doesn't make any sense," he replied in an annoyed tone. "See?" He slid the notepad over into her direction.
"Wait a minute, let me see the book, Jack," Sophia said, offering her help.
Jack picked up the open book by both ends and set it down on her tray. "Good luck."
"Jack, I'm a linguist, remember?" She asked hoping he would remember her resume. "I think I can handle this."
Jack was silent for a moment as he tried to remember, or act like he had forgotten. He didn't like feeling inferior, but he needed her help. So, he had no choice but to give in.
"Yeah, I see the problem," she spoke up. "You have your Roman alphabet backwards, or inside out, I'm not sure which yet." She glanced up at his blank stare. "Look." She moved the book and notepad into his view. "This is all wrong." She scratched it out with the pen, but paused. "You know what?" She flipped to the next page. "Let's start over."
Jack continued to sit in silence as she began to translate the text for him.
"Your ego will just have to overlook all this, okay?" She asked. "You hired me to help you, right? That's what I'm doing." She wrote down a few more sentences. "Take a look."
Jack scanned the paper and read the current translation. "The eyes of the Roman and Greek pantheon are upon us all. This book is for one, is for all. Beware of the place in which it leads. No man shall enter, if he is powered by greed."
"Go on," Sophia urged.
"Written by the hands of great, great men. The men with powerful minds the gods did send. To the ends of the earth and back again. In search of the great beginning, Eden." Jack paused abruptly. "The Greeks and Romans never believed in the garden of Eden."
"Keep reading, Jack, it gets better," Sophia said with almost a promise.
"Across the sands of Egypt, but not too far
To the land where forbidden fruit are
The dagger of wisdom leads to the disk
Enter only if you dare to risk."
"Exactly," she said hoping Jack would catch on. She knew he would, but she rarely gave him credit since it would make his head inflate and explode.
"Does this mean what I think it means?" Jack asked in almost shock.
"For those who have no idea, they'd never see it as plain as we do, right?"
"Not at all," Jack stated. "The Ganesha dagger of wisdom. . . the one we procured in Indian for Yashodhan Tej. He has the disk."
"That's right, which means we need him," Sophia admitted.
"Oh, he's not going to like this at all," Jack said. "He hates me."
"Do you think he could've known? Do you think he wanted to find this book? Or possibly read it?"
"Soph, that tomb hadn't been touch in decades," Jack reminded her. "I doubt Yash had been there then."
"He is old, Jack," Sophia mentioned. "Besides, we found the dagger of Ganesha for him, which lead him to the sundisk, which is what this text says."
"So, what should we do?" Jack asked.
"Well, let's get home and recuperate, okay? Then decide."
"We need to get to India, NOW!" Jack ordered.
"I'm not going another day without a decent hot bubble bath, so stuff it, Jack!" Sophia argued with him.
Jack was so excited. Not only did this put the Roman and Greek gods together, but the Hindu and Babylonians as well. He stared out the window as Sophia continued on with the book of origin. He glanced back every once in a while at her. "Do you think we could find Eden?"
"It's possible, but we must first find the sundisk and Yash, right?" Sophia asked.
"Yeah," he answered. "I mean, think about the connections."
"Do we have to go through this again?" Sophia questioned with a sigh.
"What? Do you have a problem with this discussion?"
"We've been over this once before, Jack," Sophia admitted.
"The trinity in both the Hindu and Christian texts?" Jack asked.
"Yeah," Sophia replied. "Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu are the Hindu trinity. You think that's enough grounding to link them to the Christian trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."
"Oh," Jack said slightly disappointed he didn't get to tell her. "What about all the festivals of light?"
"No, you failed to mention that to me," she said, lying. She just wanted him to feel important.
His eyes lit up and he sat up in the seat, sitting tall beside her. "Well, Hannakuh, Christmas, and Diwali are all three different religious events known as the 'Festival of Lights,' around December. I say around because Diwali is in November, but its close enough."
"And this links Judaism, Hinduism, and Christianity?"
"Well, yeah," Jack said. "It further supports my theory that regardless of the names of these religions, everyone believes in a single high deity, some kind of trinity, and a festival of lights which is close to the end of the year. This book is slowly proving that, Sophia. We find that sundisk, we find Eden, we're set!"
"We can go after the sundisk next week," Sophia told him. "How does that sound?"
"It could be gone by then," Jack protested.
"It could be gone now," Sophia stated.
"We need to act fast if we're going to get this settled," Jack urged. "The sundisk isn't going to wait forever."
"Eden has been around since God created it, Jack, it's not going anywhere," Sophia said quietly as she closed her eyes.
"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity," Jack reminded her.
"Yeah, you've told me that a bunch of times already on this trip. I'm going home, taking a bath, and resting for a few days."
"Listen, I can book our tickets today. We could fly out tomorrow to India. It's no big deal." Jack turned to her. "You can rest on the plane, like you're doing now."
"No, Jack! This is not decent rest. Decent rest involves an immobile bed. At my house. Got it?" Her voice continued to rise in an angered tone as she spoke to him in order to prove her point.
"But--"
"NO buts, Jack Canyon, get some rest or this plane is going to be missing a passenger by the time it lands."
"Sheesh, such a hard woman," Jack said as he tried getting situated in the chair. He sighed and faced he window thinking about the trip ahead. India was going to be a dangerous place to go. For Jack, anyway, since he was last seen trying to steal an idol from one of their precious temples. Though, Yash, might welcome him with open arms, when he finds out what news he brings.
"Go to sleep, Jack," Sophia said adjusting her pillow. "Honestly, you're going to be worse than me with PMS if you don't get some rest."
"Did I hire you to assist me or give me orders?" He glared at her, but she couldn't see it, since she had her eyes closed.
"What did I say?" Sophia asked. "My dad told me all about you. Taught me how to handle you, too. So, GO TO SLEEP!"
"Yes, mother," Jack replied and hit his head against the headrest to get the pillow to fluff right. He sighed and closed his eyes. Maybe Sophia was right. He drifted off to sleep shortly after closing his eyes. He was more tired than he thought.
Sophia looked over at him for a moment, making sure he was asleep. She turned her back to him and pulled her knees to her chest. She slowly drifted off into a dream about her parents.
To Be Continued. . .
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