Jason Low
as Project HEARD
presents
"All That Glitters.."

06 MAY 2001
ATLANTA, GA

 Britanny Diggers tilted the magazine away from her face as she heard a car
pull into the driveway. She was enjoying the afternoon sun that was saturating
the front lawn, as she reclined in a lawn chair with a small table at her side.
 "Hey sis," she said, lifting the magazine back to her face, giving a little
tail-wave as she did so.
 "Hi," Gina responded, crossing the lawn and slipping her shades up to perch on
her forehead. "How's it goin'?"
 "S'goin'," Brit murmured with a smile. "Nice and peaceful today. Juice?"
 "Thanks, no," Gina said as Brit gestured to the pitcher of lemonade on the
table. "Where's Stripe at?"
 "Downstairs doing some exercises," she told Gina. "Why?"
 "Oh, just curious. Strange to see you two apart."
 Brit looked over her shades at Gina's lopsided grin. "What's that supposed to
mean?" she said with a half-smile.
 "I would've thought you'd've dragged your 'muffin' out here to enjoy the sun
with you, is all," Gina returned with a smile as she walked over to the car.
 "We've got plenty of time together," Brit said, once again raising the
magazine to her face. "If he wants time to practice his skills alone, so be
it."
 "Fair nuff," Gina declared while getting her belongings from the passenger
seat. As she turned around, the name of Brit's magazine finally clicked with
her. She gasped facetiously and said, "You're reading that -rag-?"
 Cheetah hmmed?, then folded the magazine over to look at the "Adventure Now!"
on the cover. "Why not? It looked good at the checkout," she said. "'Sides,
you're in it."
 "I'm what?"
 "Yeah, in the current outings section. Hang on." Brit finished reading the
page she was on as Gina walked over, then obligingly flipped back a few pages
to the current and newsworthy events section of the book.
 "See? Right there," Brit pointed out, folding the book over and letting Gina
read over her shoulder. The elder sister noted that the column was a rundown of
who in the industry was doing what, and when. There was a blurb about Penny,
who was doing research at home, so the magazine said. M. Smith was off in the
Middle East checking out some ruins unearthed in the desert. And .. Gina was
seen in Wawa, on a scouting mission?
 "Huh?" Gina wondered.
 "Don't remember it?" Brit asked.
 "Sis, I don't even know where Wawa -is-," Gina countered.
 Brit hmm'ed. "Somebody got their wires crossed."
 "Yeah, or something," Gina said. She snatched up the magazine. "Can I see this
a sec?"
 "Hey!"
 "I just need..." Gina flipped to the table of contents and scanned it quickly.
"Ah, there. Thanks." She handed the magazine back to Britanny and turned to go
inside.
 "Loon," Brit murmured, then went back to reading.

 As it turned out, the skies clouded over not long after that, and Britanny
dragged all her things inside, grumbling as she went. Entering the kitchen to
rinse out her glass and pitcher, she found Gina there talking on the phone.
 "...I don't care if your 'roving foreign correspondent' saw me, I wasn't--now
list--hey!--I don't WANT you to send--no--but--just a retrac--don't laugh in my
ear!--Hello? ... Hello??!"
 Brit smiled a little as she put the glassware in the dishwasher. "Why're you
so worked up over it, Gina?"
 "I just don't want my name being used for stuff," she pouted. "I get enough
bad press as it is. Some hack makes a typo and now I'm being placed somewhere
I'm not for who knows what kind of wild goose chase."
 Britanny rolled her eyes, smiled a little, and said, "I thought this was a
rag? Why'd'ya care about it, there's been stuff in the National Inquisitor
that's said LOTS worse about you."
 "What--ggk.. That's not important right now! This is read by people in the
archaeological community, Brit! If I sit here and say I wasn't where the book
says I was, then people are going to accuse me of hiding something from them,
and everyone'll be on my case.."
 Brit giggled and patted her big sister on the head as she walked past. "Don't
pop an artery over it. Let it blow over, okay?"
 "Feh," was Gina's answer.

 Gina happened across Brianna shortly thereafter, while the latter was coming
up from the firing range. "Hi sis," Brianna said, wiping her face gently with a
towel. "How you doing?"
 "Okay I guess," Gina said.
 "You guess, huh?" Bri' said, detecting the lack of enthusiasm in Gina's voice.
"S'up?"
 "Oh, nothin' much," Gina sighed. "I'm in a bad mood, that's all."
 "About the article?"
 Gina grumbled and slapped her hands on the table. "Has EVERYONE seen the
stupid thing?"
 "Geez, Gina, you're acting like someone said you're starving puppies or
something. All they said was that you were someplace you're not."
 "It's the principle," Gina protested, getting up and pacing across the room
and then back again.
 "Like anyone cares what's said in A-Now anyway," Brianna said with a
half-grin. "It's a total rag."
 "S'what I said," Gina murmured, still pacing.
 "Good to see we're still syncin'," Brianna said, tossing the towel around
Gina's shoulders before heading for the door. "I'm goin' out for a while. Seeya
later."
 "Umph! Phew. Seeya," Gina said, then held the towel at arm's length for a
moment before tossing it in a corner.

 Half an hour later, Gina was still messing around in the kitchen when Britanny
strolled in, carrying a trio of grocery bags and some mail. She dumped the mail
on the table unceremoniously, then the groceries.
 "Is that all you got??" Gina asked incredulously.
 "Of course not!" Cheetah countered. "There's more in the car, out front."
 "I'll go get it," Gina offered, heading out. Brit simply started in on putting
the groceries away. After she'd finished the three bags she'd brought in, she
crumpled them up, threw them in the recycling, and started sorting through the
mail.
 Gina returned shortly thereafter and dropped three more bags of groceries on
the table. Mail flew everywhere as Gina collapsed against the table, panting.
"Geez! Whatcha buy, rocks??"
 Brit looked at her curiously. "I left you the light ones," she said, then
turned to gather up all the letters all over the kitchen, grumbling as she
worked.
 Gina started to unpack the bags anyway. "Urf. What's with the frozen fish??"
 "They were out of fresh," Brit said. "Someone cleaned them out."
 "What?? Before YOU got there?? Yeah, RIGHT," Gina scoffed. "And you said you'd
never get frozen!"
 "Hey. I need my fix!" Cheetah countered.
 "Yeah, whatever," Gina said, shrugging. "Any mail for me?"
 "Hmm.. Bill from Visa, bill from MasterCard, bill from Discover.. bill from...
oooooo, didn't know you bought stuff THERE.... nope, that's it."
 Gina blushed as she snatched the mail away. "Gimme that." She turned away.
"I'm going to my lab."
 "I didn't know that kind of stuff was used in a LAB," Brit laughed.
 "Ah shut up!" Gina said, storming from the room.

 Gina sat heavily in her chair and spun around once or twice, then halted her
twirling with her legs against the feet of the chair. She dropped the mail on
the desk before her and picked up the top one, slicing it open and dumping out
the contents.
 After she went through all the bills, paying them online, she then used the
computer to browse meanderingly. First came her email. Next was the local news
reports. It was on one of the news sites that she paused, looking at one of the
small ad-windows popped up on the corner of the screen.
 "Need a map?" it asked her. "Type and click!"
 Out of sheer curiosity she clicked on the box, typed in "Wawa", and hit Enter.
There was a pause for a moment while the servers thought, and then she was
presented with a choice.
 "Hmm. Pennsylvania or Ontario." She tried to remember back to the article she
briefly scanned in Britanny's magazine. She could visualize it in her mind's
eye... the paragraph began "Outside the lower 48", she realized.
 "Okay, so Ontario it is," she murmured, clicking there. Soon enough, a map of
the region sprang into view, and she studied it closely, getting her bearings
and trying to discern what was interesting about it.
 She studied the map for a while. Besides being at the junction of two major
highways, and near the coastline of Lake Superior, there wasn't much she could
tell about the town. And a town it was; 4500 people don't make a city, for
sure.
 "So what do 'I' want there, hm?" she murmured to herself, clicking through
various web pages on the place. She continued speaking quietly to herself as
time and pages passed. "Volcanic rock.. economic mineralization.. gold and iron
mining.. huh.. the salmon derby.."
 Eventually, Gina closed the browser windows and leaned back, feeling slightly
more educated on Wawa, but no further to solving the puzzle of why someone
insisted that she was seen in the northern Canadian town.
 She closed her eyes and sighed, then rubbed them, pushing her glasses up onto
her forehead at the same time. She spun around halfway in the chair and then
stood up, heading off to find a distraction.

 Gina strolled around the complex. She stopped by the infirmary, tinkering with
the equipment there, coming up with a new way to treat burn injuries in the
process. Having used up 30 minutes of her evening, she then took a swim in the
pool. Britanny wasn't anywhere to be seen, so Gina had the entire gym to
herself, and used it after she finished her laps.
 Physically exhausted, she took a shower and lay down on her bed to read a
book, though that is not to say that her mind still wasn't working overtime. In
her head she was, of course, still trying to figure out what was so interesting
about Wawa, and if she should go confront her doppleganger there or not.
 She couldn't keep her mind on her book, so she eventually got up and went to
her bookshelf, pulling out the world atlas. She looked at a map of the general
area of Wawa, then flipped to an overview of North America and eyeballed the
distance between them.
 She nodded to herself. She then picked up the phone and used the intercom.
 "What?" Britanny answered with a mouth full of something. The TV was almost
deafening in the background.
 "Get some rest," Gina suggested. "We're goin' out tomorrow."

THE NEXT MORNING

 Gina stepped up to the closet and slid it open quietly, starting at the
contents within. After a long moment, she reached out and pulled a pair of
socks out of the chest of drawers inside. That, a pair of khaki shorts, a white
V-necked T-shirt, a brown leather jacket, a belt, a pair of brown leather
boots, and, from the top shelf, a plain brown fedora.
 Three minutes later she was looking in the mirror and nodding. It felt like
she had stepped into her skin again. It felt like she'd just come back to a
place she belonged.
 "Yeah," she murmured, a smile tracing across her lips.

 "Gina, where're we going?" Britanny asked as they left the city limits on
I-75.
 "Here," Gina said, punching a button on the console, bringing up a moving map
display showing their route to Wawa.
 "What th--? You're nuts, girl! All this over a stupid magazine article?!"
 "It's identity theft," Gina said.
 "It is NOT!" Cheetah countered. "Besides it's like 1200 miles away!"
 "1188.2 actually," Gina said, not taking her eyes off the road. "About 15
hours or so. I'll drive the first 5 hours."
 Brit sighed. "Better be some good stores in this place."
 "Eheh.. actually I'd be surprised if there's even a 7-11," Gina murmured.
"Pretty small town."
 Britanny sputtered and coughed. "You're kiddin'!"
 "Sorry," Gina smiled.

 And so, late that night, they found themselves approaching the town of Wawa.
 "Gina, can we please stop?" Brit pleaded. "I gotta... 'go'."
 Gina looked at her sister. "You 'went' two hours ago!" she exclaimed.
 "If you were drinkin' as much coffee as I was, you'd need to too," she
answered.
 "But we're almost there.."
 "Do you wanna make that kind of entrance? With your baby sister ready to--"
 Gina sighed. "Fine," she said. "Next place I see."
 As it turned out, the next stop was a combination gas station/motel on Wawa's
outskirts. As Britanny bolted for the washroom, Gina filled up the car,
surveying the immediate area. Even after determining that the place was smack
dab in the middle of the wilderness, with only the two highways meeting at its
southern periphery, she still couldn't fathom why "she" was interested in this
place.
 Britanny returned just as Gina was hanging up the nozzle. "Phew!" Brit said
with obvious relief. "Thanks."
 "Yeah," Gina nodded. "Do me a favor and watch the car while I pay for the gas,
then we can go see if they have any rooms here."
 "All right," Brit said.
 Gina headed inside and the attendant looked up, then blinked. "Hello again,"
he beamed.
 "... Again?" she said.
 He nodded. "Remember? This morning?" He blushed. "Of course I can understand
if you wouldn't remember someone as ordinary as me."
 "Look," Gina said after a moment of stunned silence. "I don't know how to
break it to you, but--"
 "Sis, you done yet?" came Britanny's voice as the bell over the door rang. "We
got a place?"
 The attendant looked curiously, first at Britanny, then Gina. "You're coming
back, are you?"
 "Buh.. well.." Gina stammered.
 "Yes," Britanny smiled, nudging her sister out of the way gently. "Just
overnight. Then we're on our way."
 "I see," he said. "I'm glad you actually returned, because.. um.." Stammering,
he continued after a slight pause. "There's the matter of your past bill."
 "Our WHAT?" Gina started to blurt out, but Britanny cut her off again. "Of
course.. it just slipped my sister's mind. We'll take care of that too."
 "Brit!" Gina said incredulously, then smiled nervously at the attendant and
added, "Excuse us JUUUST a second." She led Brit away from the counter and
hissed, "I am NOT going to pay someone else's bills!"
 "Sis," Brit whispered evenly, "It's that, or your reputation.. do you think
someone's gonna believe your evil twin has been charging things to your
accounts?"
 "Grph," Gina grunted disapprovingly, then, after a moment, turned back to the
attendant. "We'd, uh, be happy.. like Britanny said.. I must've forgotten.. or
somethin'."
 "All right," he smiled. He typed a couple of things on his register, and
declared they were all set. "Here you go. Same room okay?"
 "Quite," Gina nodded, hoping that she could find some clues in there. "Thanks
SO much."
 "Oh! One more thing," the attendant said, turning around and picking something
up from the back counter. "I forgot to give you back your pen."
 "My..?" Gina asked, as she and Cheetah turned around to face the man again.
 He was holding a black Sharpie marker. "Your pen," he smiled. "I accidentally
kept it. Sorry."
 Gina's and Britanny's eyes wandered to the back counter where a large photo of
the attendant standing with someone who looked startlingly like Gina sat. On
the photo was a black scrawl: "To Ellington, thanks for taking care of me. Gina
Diggers."
 Gina started turning red--it was so OBVIOUSLY not her signature!--and she was
about to blow up on the poor man when Britanny held her hand up. Smiling
silently, she took the pen and held her other hand out for the photo.
 The man smiled eagerly and turned to snatch it up, handing it over to Brit,
who bent over and scribbled on it a caricature of a cat's head and her own
signature.
 "Thanks!" he said. "Thanks so much!"
 Brit grinned and slapped the pen into Gina's hand, then turned, urging Gina
out the door. "C'mon, we have to get some rest."
 "I can't believe you DID THAT!" Gina hissed furiously as they departed the gas
station.
 Brit smirked. "Gina. Relax. Get over it. He's happy, he's harmless too. Let it
go."
 Gina growled and followed her sister to the motel room.

 After supper, Britanny turned on the television, surfing around to find
something suitable, while Gina all but turned the place upside down.
 "What the blazes are you doing??" Britanny finally said when Gina pushed the
TV aside to look underneath it.
 "Looking for clues," Gina said plainly.
 "Clues? Oh come on," Brit protested, standing up off the bed.
 "I need to figure out what she was doing here and where she was going," Gina
protested.
 Britanny rolled her eyes. "Look, I can understand why you wanna know what she
was up to, but does the quest have to continue right through The Weakest Link?
Sit and rest."
 "Brit, she's out there somewhere doing stuff, and the last place she was was
right here," Gina stressed. "I need to know."
 "Sis, that magazine was a week old when I bought it. And the info in it had to
be a week old when it was published, the way they do it up. You really need to
sit back and think about this."
 "Just as soon as I finish checking this stuff out, Cheets," Gina said.
 Britanny sighed and headed for the door. "Whatever," she told Gina. "I'm goin'
out for a walk."

 Brit entered the gas station again and the attendant looked up from his
magazine, then brightened some more. "Hello again," he said.
 "Hi," Brit nodded. "Can I ask you a couple questions?"
 "Sure, by all means," he said. He sat up straight and put the magazine aside.
"What can I do you for?"
 "Well, I'm curious if you know anything about what's going on," Brit said,
adopting a low conspirational tone. "Gina came home and got me and said we had
to come back here, and that's all I know."
 "Oh?" he said. "Yeah, we had a quick little talk the other day before she
left."
 "Did 'we'," Brit smiled. "Please, go on."

 When Britanny returned to the room a half-hour later, Gina was finally sitting
still; in fact, lying on the bed, resting, as promised.
 "Find any bugs or wiretaps?" Brit teased in a deadpan tone.
 "Ha ha," Gina countered. "Couldn't find a thing except a notepad. I rubbed a
pencil over the top page and only found 'Flight 4 Gate 12 9:45' on it. But I
don't know where that flight's going or when."
 "Really," Brit smiled. "Well, I daresay it might be to Vancouver."
 "Vancouver?" Gina said, looking over. "How do you figure that?"
 "I had another chat with Cooter in the garage there," Cheetah said, jerking a
thumb in the direction of the gas station. "He told me how 'you' left two days
ago for Vancouver, or at least told him that. He also said you were up here to
help safely extract an old cemetery. Nothing more, nothing less."
 "Vancouver, eh. Did he say why?"
 "Actually, he said that you said that it was another similar thing-- helping
identify something in a construction project."
 "Really," Gina said.
 "Really," Brit nodded. "That's all, sis. So can we pack up and go now?"
 "In the morning," Gina said, "we'll go find this old cemetery, see if there's
anything to see there."
 "Then we can go?"
 "Then we can go," Gina affirmed.
 "Good."

 In the morning, they drove around Wawa and found the old cemetery easily.
However there was nothing else to find, as the entire field had been excavated
to make way for an expansion of the church. So, empty- handed, the girls got
back into the car and headed south again.
 "What the--?" Britanny said, looking over her shoulder as they took an exit
off the highway some hours later.
 "What?" Gina asked.
 "Did that sign say airport?"
 "Yeah," Gina nodded. "This car can't fly to Vancouver, yaknow. And it'd be a
multi-day drive."
 "I'm not flyin' no commercial flight!" Brit declared. "Forget it!"
 "There's no option," Gina shrugged. "I need you with me and this is the only
way to get there."
 Brit hmph'ed. "Ever heard of a little thing called LEG ROOM?"
 "Then switch to your human form already!" Gina countered. "Besides you should
be like that anyway, being in a place like this where they don't know you."
 Britanny grunted, then shifted to human form, folding her arms across her
chest. "Better be a bulkhead seat. In first class."
 "Oh shush," Gina said.

 Upon touchdown at Vancouver, they rented a car and drove around the entire
city and surrounding area, checking out construction sites everywhere they
went. They attracted some confused glances, two young ladies checking out all
the construction workers throughout the greater Vancouver district. Again,
however, they came up empty.

 They spent the entire day and several tanksful of gas driving up and down the
coast, and came up with nothing, and finally, at the last fill-up, Britanny
dove for the driver's seat first, and steered the car back towards the airport.
 "Where're you going?!" Gina exclaimed. "We haven't checked Whistler yet!"
 "You're out of your head, sis!" Brit declared. "She's probably gone somewhere
else by now. Look. We're going home. Sorry. Better luck next time."
 "Brit--!"
 "No. It's done, Gina. Next time she pops up in a magazine, sure. But I'm tired
and hungry, and I miss my bed with my muffin in it. End of discussion."
 Gina sighed, defeated, and sat sulking in the passenger seat almost all the
way back to the airport.
 As they navigated the spaghetti-bowl of offramps near the airport, Gina
noticed a parking garage being built across the street. She gasped and pressed
her face against the window. "Brit!!"
 "No!" Brit said, feeling wholly silly for arguing the whole issue in the first
place.
 "Aww.." Gina moaned.

TEN MINUTES LATER

 Gina was depressed as they re-entered the airport for the flight home.
 "Don't be so down," Brit suggested. "So you didn't find her. It's not like
she's been spreading BAD things about you. Ultimately people'll realize she's
pulling a fast one on them, and instead of being on the front page of A-Now,
she'll be on the 'Weird News' page of the Journal- Constitution. Okay?"
 "I guess," Gina sighed. "Thanks for puttin' up with me, sis."
 "No sweat," Britanny nodded, laying a hand on her sister's shoulder. "I'm
gonna go check out the gift shop. You check us in, okay?"
 "Yeah, okay," Gina said, pulling away. She walked towards the ticket counter.
 Brit watched her go, then sighed, then turned and energtically headed for the
gift shop.

 Gina stood in line at the ticket counter, constantly comparing her watch and
the length of the line before her. (Jinkies, come ONNNNN,) she silently willed
the people ahead. (I wanna get home and forget this whole stupid thing..)
 "Guh!" Gina blurted out as she was run into by someone. Both of them went
tumbling to the marble floor of the terminal.
 "Sorry!" a young female voice worriedly said. "My fault entir--"
 The sentence was cut short by a gasp, and Gina looked up to see someone trying
to help her up. Or rather, would be trying to help her up, if she hadn't frozen
in fright. The young lady, with long blonde hair, had blue eyes, which were
open as wide as possible, staring at Gina from behind oversized, round
eyeglasses. She was wearing a rather ordinary outfit, a pair of black cotton
slacks and a blue blouse, covering it all up with a grey leather jacket, but
the expression and reaction was all Gina needed.
 "You.." Gina breathed.
 The girl let Gina go and scrambled to her feet, off in a flash down the
corridor. Gina quickly got up, but the crowd was already closing in behind the
woman, trying to see what the deal was.
 Gina looked down the corridor and couldn't believe her luck. She drew a deep
breath and hollered, "CHEEEETAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!"
 Britanny looked up towards the yell, instantly alert. "Hm?" she said, then saw
someone who looked startlingly like Gina racing towards her. Brit dropped her
bags to the floor and moved to intercept, easily corralling the woman.
 "Aack!" squeaked the impostor, as Gina caught up with them.
 "Grab my stuff," Brit said to Gina, and, still bearhugging the girl, struggled
with her towards the ladies' room. Gina hurried after the two, watching her
sister shift to hybrid form as she passed into the relative security of the
washroom.
 Britanny deposited the impostor on the counter beside the sinks and let go,
then caught the girl again as she tried to wriggle free. "Ah ah ah! You and me
and Gina gotta have a little talk, aw'ight?"
 Gina caught up again and stood behind Britanny. "Way to go, sis!" she said.
"Now just hang onto her for just a minute--"
 "No, Gina! Just talk to her. Okay?" Brit said. "I'm sure she has a perfectly
logical reason."
 "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" the girl was repeating. "Please! I didn't mean
to--please just let me go!"
 "Not till you explain!" Gina snapped back in response, stepping closer.
 Britanny looked at the girl for a second, then reached out and plucked the
glasses off her face. "Hmm," she said. "Flat glass. Cosmetic only."
 Gina glared at the young woman sitting on the counter. "Okay, talk!"
 "I'm s-s-sorry!" she insisted. "It was a mistake! I.. I didn't mean to! They
just assumed I was... I was.. please I won't do it ever again!"
 "Hey kid, it's okay," Britanny said.
 "Like hell it is--" Gina began, but Brit stared her down.
 "I said it's okay," Brit repeated more forcefully. "Tell me something, kid. If
you didn't mean to, when why have we just chased you partway across the world?
Why've you been using her name?"
 The young lady on the counter stammered out, "B-because ... it was an error of
convenience.. I can't get any work myself... b-but people pay attention to me
if-if I d-don't correct them.."
 "You don't even look halfway close to me," Gina declared. "You dress
differently, your hair is shorter.."
 "Not by much," Brit said. "Besides, Gina, who in the places we've been would
really notice that? Especially if she doesn't tell them they're wrong."
 "I supPOSE," Gina finally conceded. "Still, you can't go around doing that
kinda stuff."
 "I'm s-sorry," she repeated yet again. "N-nobody would take me seriously as I
a-am.."
 "So who 'am' you?" Britanny said.
 "M.. my name is Melissa," she stumbled. "Melissa James."
 "Well, Melissa," Britanny said, folding up the glasses. "Where do you hail
from?"
 "B-buffalo New York," she said.
 "Sis?" Gina said. "What're you doing?"
 "Are you okay with her reasoning?" Brit asked.
 "Well, I can see where she's COMING from," Gina said, "But it still doesn't
excuse her for using my name and charging things to me and stuff."
 "I f-forgot to pay the room," Melissa said. "I'll pay it back. I'm good for
it. Honest."
 "You bet you will," Gina muttered.
 "Gina? No major harm done?" Brit clarified.
 Gina kicked at the floor with the toe of her boot. "Guess not," she murmured.
 Brit looked back to Melissa. "Well, Mel, if you want to get jobs and learn the
ropes of the business, I'm SURE my good ol' sister here would be more than
happy to help you out. But you have to ask, y'know?"
 "I.." Melissa said.
 "I mean," Brit went on, "Sure, there's the old saying 'it's easier to ask
forgiveness' and all that crap, but sometimes asking permission is the better
way to go about it. Or asking for help. Getting help doesn't make you a weaker
person, okay?"
 "Okay," Melissa said quietly.
 "Gina? Think you can help this kid out if she needs it? Find her some work and
such?"
 "I suppose," Gina said. She lifted her head and smiled faintly. "Nothing wrong
with helping a fellow archaeologist out."
 Melissa hesitantly accepted Gina's extended hand and shook it. "Th-thank you,"
she said, letting the smile grow on her face as well.
 Gina did a double-take, then peered closely at the girl's head. "Y'know, no
offense, but I think you probably would look better with your hair its original
color," Gina said.
 "O-okay," Melissa smiled and blushed.
 "Were you on your way home too?" Brit questioned, slipping the folded glasses
into Melissa's jacket pocket.
 "Y-yeah," she said. "Through JFK."
 "How interesting, us too," Brit grinned. "Maybe you and Gina can go get our
tickets while I clean up in here and finish up my shopping?"
 "Okay," Melissa nodded, allowing Brit to help her off the counter.
 "I can agree with that," Gina nodded, smiling.

MEANWHILE 
ATLANTA, DIGGERS' HOUSE

 Brianna leaned back from the table and aaaah'ed. "That was fabulous."
 Joe smiled. "Glad you liked it," he told his friend. "You sit there and
digest. I'll clean up the kitchen."
 "Sounds fair to me!" Brianna declared, giggling. She continued to relax and
watched Joe get up and start putting things in the dishwasher. She reflected on
having met him weeks before in the arcade, and how they continued to have fun
together throughout the summer. Coming back to reality, she noticed he'd filled
the dishwasher and was now working on wiping off the counter. She giggled
again, and said, "You know, if you wanna come around all the time and do this,
I won't mind at all."
 "We'll see," he began to say with a smile, then stopped short. "Uhm? What's
this?"
 "Hm?" she said, rocking the chair back onto all four legs and looking towards
him, as he crouched down to retrieve something from between the cupboards and
refrigerator.
 "Piece of mail," he said, turning it over and looking at the name
showing through the cellophane window. "Addressed to you, actually."
 "Oh?" Brianna replied. "Must've fallen in there sometime. Open it."
 "Me?"
 "Sure," she shrugged and grinned. "But read it to me, don't keep it to
yourself, okay?"
 "All right," he said, and used a knife to slit the envelope open. He
then unfolded the letter and said, "Hmm. From the university."
 "The what?" Brianna asked. "What do they want? Is it a funding drive?"
 "I don't think so," Joe said, then started reading aloud. "'Dear Miss
Diggers, it has come to our attention..' 'registered with the Department
of Education, state of Georgia..' they list a bunch of degrees.. wow, you
got all this education?"
 Brianna was puzzled. "Keep reading," she prodded.
 He nodded and skipped ahead. "'.. no record of your enrolment in any of
the programs required to obtain said degrees...' 'so in summary we have
enrolled you in the appropriate courses for the fall semester which
begins September 4th at 8:05am at our Fulton campus..' Hey Brianna, this
is cool.. Brianna?" Joe turned and looked at her. "Brianna??"
 At that instant she was staring at him wide-eyed, then simply fainted
away and slumped out of her chair.

TO BE CONTINUED in 'BRI-U' ...