Chapter 2

The secondary office block of the Anthropology Department wasn’t set up as a museum, but it certainly gave that vibe, with a central room full of neatly shelved artifacts in various stages of examination. Henry nodded to one of the grad students pouring over a pile of paperwork and thumbed one of the office doors. “Is he in?”

At the grad student’s grunt of confirmation, Henry knocked on the office door marked ‘Professor Jacob Lieberman’.

A wearied voice called out. “Yes? What is it now?”

Henry opened the door. Liberman’s office was a classic study of chaos. Books and artifacts were stacked side-by-side with bundles of loose papers wedged between. Henry weaved his way around the stacks in the middle of the room to reach the main desk, where the white-haired man sitting behind it hadn’t looked up at Henry’s entrance.

“Hey Professor,” said Henry. “I’m sorry to bother you—.”

Professor Lieberman’s head snapped up, his frown of annoyance replaced in an instant to a genuine smile of welcome. “Henry! Do come in and sit...somewhere.”

Henry sat gingerly on the armrest of a wingback chair piled high with books. He swallowed. “So it looks like I won’t be joining you this year after all.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry to hear that.” The Professor frowned. “Do you need me to write another letter?”

Henry shook his head. “No, and thank you again for writing one in the first place. The admissions office was quite willing to let me sign up.” Henry clenched his jaw. “It’s my father. He’s cut me off.”

The Professor nodded, his white hair bobbing up and down like a seagull in the ocean. “That’s terrible.” He sighed. “I’ve known your father a long time. He’s been a great patron and supporter for my work. Maybe I could—.”

“That’s okay Professor,” said Henry, shaking his head. “My father is perfectly fine with me coming to Duke, so long as it’s the law school. Anything else is a hard no.”

The Professor picked up a thermos flask from the floor and took a sip. “You know, there’s one thing I don’t understand. You’ve graduated a year early from high school and have the grades and capability to make it in the college environment. Why didn’t they give you a scholarship?”

Henry shifted on the edge of the chair, and the tower of books swayed. “Because I got labeled as a troublemaker.” He stood up. “A good friend of mine was getting bullied. They made a complaint, but the school never did anything. Then, just after Christmas break, the bully took it too far. I had to step in. There was a fight…” Henry shrugged, then laughed. “It was the start of a lot of my problems, I guess.”

“How so?”

“The school was going to kick me out for fighting. I got hold of a video another kid made of the fight on their phone, which also included the bullying that provoked it. That, and my friends’ registered complaint that the school hadn’t taken seriously, opened the school up to a huge lawsuit.”

“I heard about that from your father,” said the Professor. “He was quite proud of you, you know, for how you handled the entire thing.”

Henry snorted. “I know. He kept telling me I had to go to law school, because I had such a talent.”

“So why don’t you?”

“The law is my dad’s life. Not mine.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

“So,” said the Professor. “What now?”

“I want to come here and study with you, but I’m blocked. I worked my butt off to graduate a year early for nothing, because I have to take a year off without taking any classes anywhere or I’ll never be able to pay for it.”

“That is a waste.” The Professor pressed his fingertips together. “Though, the classroom isn’t the only place to get an education.”

“Are you suggesting I get a job?”

“Of sorts. You see, summer is an interesting time in the field of anthropology. There are excavation and research sites all over the country, internationally too though I don’t think you’ll get there this year, given your age.”

“Getting some time on an actual dig site would be cool. Do they pay?”

“No. The type of laborer work you’d be doing is usually left to local volunteers. But they do provide room and board, even if it’s just a tent and whatever is being served to everyone else by the camp cook.” The Professor leaned forward. “However, what can be done is once one site is done, you can move on to another one. With a good word from the faculty-in-charge and a bit of advance planning, I know some of our students spend nearly their entire summer on the road.”

Henry nodded. “That would be a lot of fun, and at least give me something to do for the next few months. That might be time enough for my dad to change his mind.”

The Professor laughed. “Knowing your father, I doubt it.”

“Yeah,” said Henry. “You’re right. So who should I contact first?”

“Well, I happen to have a research dig scheduled in three weeks in Arizona. I have a promising lead on an Anasazi site and I finally got permission and funding. So you can meet me there.”

“That’s great! Thank you!” Henry blinked. “Wait, meet you there?”

“Oh yes. I’ve got several conferences to attend and I’ll be flying all over the place. I leave in two days. You’re welcome to stay with me until then if you want to save on a hotel but….”

​Henry nodded. “That’d be great, thank you Professor. I won’t let you down.”