Jake French - Rough draft phase I
For the majority of his years, the cycle of digging, cataloguing, storing, and showing seemed to be all that Jake and his family knew how to do. Even the vacations they took to visit his Grandfather “Paps” French seemed to involve something with their work, whether an item was brought with them for more study or something as simple as planning their next dig. Jake however looked forward to the vacations for reasons that for the longest time only he and Paps knew about.
Like his grandson, Matthew French stood well over six feet in height, and even though he was well into his eighties, Paps still worked his ranch with a strength and stamina that his assistants admired. Jake had always thought his grandfather resembled a silver bear, as his grandfather had always been an extremely hairy man, and for as long as Jake, or his father for that matter, could recall his hair had always been a steel gray color. The last part was whispered to be caused by the sights the eldest French had seen while fighting in the “good fight” in both World Wars.
It was not his grandfather’s stories, souvenirs, and relaxed manner that made Jake look forward to spending time with his grandfather, but the fact that like Jake, there was more to Paps than met the eye.
Jake had discovered Paps “gift” by accident when the two were out hunting in woods behind the ranch. Nervous and coming down with “deer fever”, Jake had set his crosshairs on what he knew had to be the biggest buck ever to be shot in North Dakota. Jake pulled the trigger and instead of hearing the satisfying thrashing of a deer, he heard a stream of obscenities coming from a source he knew all too well.
Rushing down to check on his grandfather, Jake saw the hole in Paps’ shirt where the slug had ripped through his shoulder, and saw the dark crimson stain consume more of the flannel shirt his grandfather wore. However, where there should have been overwhelming agony, Jake was surprised that his grandfather seemed simply more pissed off than anything else, as he made Jake swear that what he was about to see never went any further than the two of them.
Ripping his shirt, Paps began washing the bloody shoulder with water from his canteen, and to Jake’s disbelief the holes in Paps body simply closed up, leaving only the faintest of scars underneath the sea of body hair Paps possessed. Stunned silent for a moment, Jake did what all thirteen year olds do when they discover that the kind old man they love is bulletproof, he began the onslaught of questions into everything of Paps past. Laughing, Paps shared with his grandson the secrets that he had kept hidden almost all of his life and the more Paps talked, the more Jake vowed to find a way to be like his grandfather.
As Jake grew older, there was no doubt in both his and Paps’ mind that there was something different about him. By sixteen, Jake was as taller, and stronger, than most of the hired movers who came to the dig site to help pack the camps up, and like his grandfather, he seemed to almost never get winded or sick. However, while Jake saw these facts as something to be shown off whenever possible, his grandfather began seeing Jake as a target for the government he was beginning to trust less and less.
Swallowing the knot of fear and doubt in his throat, Matthew French called up the people he knew that had to be told everything, but at the same time he was afraid of how they treat not only Jake, but also himself. He called up Jake’s parents and slowly at first, but with confidence growing as the called went on, told them everything that had been happening right under their noses for the past three years, and more.
At first, both Paul and Irene were stunned, but as time allowed their minds to weigh the facts of both Jake and his grandfather’s words, they began to see it as a major breakthrough in the understanding in many culture’s “heroes”. In legend there have always been men and women whom seemed to be “more” than what they were, and while it was a risky and radical change from the accepted means of thinking on humanity’s past, both felt it was the correct way to look at it and began secretly trying to uncover the “real secret” behind every dig.
Two years, and many dead-ends later, it is time for the French’s to present what they have discovered so far to the Museum of Archeology in New York. While they know they have not collected enough evidence to support the real reason for their fieldwork, they are hoping that what they have collected over they years will be enough to keep them going, but only time and a successful showing will tell…
edit: Went with what I thought was quick and easy outfit for him...I sorta rushed through, so let me know if it looks too lame...