forever

"It's like I waited my whole life for this one night."

Marlene was exhausted. The sun had been blazing all day. She thought some relief would come when the desert night rolled in, that a breeze would arrive to bring some comfort. But there would be no alleviation tonight. The stale, dry hot air remained.

Her crew was tired too. After all, they had been toiling out in that same heat as Marlene. She knew they all needed a rest, but the expedition only had funding for one more week. Each day, each minute were crucial.

And she knew this would be the last time she would have this opportunity. This was her third trip to Egypt. Marlene knew the pharoah's treasure was buried, she was nearly certain it was buried here. But she couldn't imagine that after three failed attempts she would be able to convince someone to sponsor another search.

An hour later, and with no find today of large or small significance, Marlene was ready to send everyone home. She was even considering a later start to the day tomorrow just to give the crew more time to recover. Then the whistle sounded. Each digger had a whistle they blew when they found something. Once for something small, twice for something moderate, and thrice for a big find.

Marlene put down her shovel and turned to the direction she thought the sound had come from. The whistle blew again. She began to walk towards the origin of the sound, hoping that whatever this trinket was could salvage morale.

The whistle blew again. Marlene quickened her pace. Her mind became alert again, but she restrained her optimism. After a few minutes of brisk walking, she came up on a jubilant digger. She didn't know this guy's name but surmised he could be no more than 20 years old. She was prepared to dismiss his excitement as naivete until she saw Joann, her assistant. Joann had tears in her eyes.

Marlene looked down and gasped in disbelief. Unearthed were three stairs, each with the distinctive emblem of the pharoah engraved on them. This was it. These were the stairs to the tomb, to the treasure.

And she sat there on the top stair. She cried, she smiled, she dreamed, she shouted. Her crew sat there with her in awe. Marlene could imagine the days and weeks to come. The uncovering, the fanfare. But she couldn't imagine that anything could be better than this night. This moment when it was just her and the realization of a dream.