ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES

CHAPTER 77 - MESA VERDE


They piled into the car, with Dawn driving, and Willow riding shotgun. William, Elizabeth, and Xander took the back.

They decided to head up to the Far View Visitor’s Center and get some maps and plot out their day. There were a number of ruins accessible from either the Chapin or Wetherill Mesas, with the latter being the easier of the two. They agreed that the visitor’s center was a good place to start.

It took them almost 40 minutes of driving to get up to the center, even though it was only about 12 miles, because of the steep winding roads, reduced speed limits, and stopping at overlooks to take pictures.

Once they got to the visitor’s center, they loaded up on maps and spoke to a ranger about which ruins were where and how strenuous the hiking would be.

They decided to head over to Wetherill Mesa parking lot and take the easier, self-guided walking tour to the Step House ruins. There was a tram that took you to the more spectacular Long House, which was a ticket-only, ranger led tour, but it was considered very strenuous. After some debate, they decided that none of them were probably in the shape to take that on for now. Buffy was especially worried about William and Xander. She thought that her, Willow, and Dawn might do alright, she still had some slayer stamina, Dawn was young and worked out regularly back at home, and Willow, well, she could always use magic, if she absolutely had to. There was also the issue of the altitude, which they’d been warned of, and which none of them had time to become acclimated to, except for just having driven through the mountains. Not the same.

The trail started out flat, but soon became steep over uneven stones and ground.

“I’m changing my mind about the uselessness of hiking boots,” Xander said, after almost slipping.

“See?” Willow asked.

Xander groaned, “Yeah, but I still slipped.”

“But you didn’t fall,” Willow countered.

“Yet,” Xander said.


Dawn was in the lead, followed by Willow and Xander. Buffy and William were in the bac
“H
“How you doing?” Buffy asked William.

“I’m good. Just enjoying the scenery,” he replied, and gave her a hand, as she was about to take a deep step down. She turned around, returning the favor and helped him down, too. As she looked up at him, she couldn’t help but see his face was a bit red and sweat was beginning to form on his brow. It wasn’t that it was different from anyone else’s, or that she hadn’t seen it in Michigan, too. It was just that seeing these things on William, was something that always took her aback, remembering Spike.

Forty-five minutes later, they had arrived at Step House. They took out their Mesa Verde National Park brochure and read,

“The site known as Step House is unique because there is clear evidence of two separate occupations in the same site. A Modified Basketmaker site, dating to approximately A.D. 626, is situated between the old stone steps on the south and the large boulders on the north. The rest of the alcove is occupied by a masonry pueblo dating to Classic Pueblo times (A.D. 1226).”

The park ranger on duty pointed them in a good direction to start their tour and so they did, visiting each part of the ruins and seeing how the areas where it certain artifacts had been discovered, giving an idea of the different uses of sitesite.

They took lots of pictures of the site and of each other. They talked to the park ranger about if any other sites were near enough to walk to. He told them it would be better to go back to the trailhead and take the tram if they were planning on visiting Long House or to walk the other trails to some of the smaller ruins, as that would put them closer.

By the time they got back to the trailhead, it was late morning, and they were all getting hungry. They decided to eat a power bar on their way driving to Chapin Mesa, where they had decided that the one, bit more strenuous hike of the day, would be to Cliff Palace, which they all wanted to visit. They would lunch there and then proceed to the ruins, but first they had to go back to the Far View Visitor’s Center to purchase tickets for the ranger-guided tour.


After purchasing their tickets, they drove twenty-five minutes to get to the Cliff Palace Loop Drive, finally parking near the headquarters and museum. Their tickets were for the 2:00pm tour and it was only around 12 noon. They decided to visit the museum and see some of the exhibits, then have lunch.

They looked around at the exhibits for a while. If William had any qualms about being in a ‘museum’ he didn’t say so, or show any qualms, which Buffy was grateful. Perhaps the fact that it was so different a museum than the one in Chicago had something to do with that.

To their surprise there were some lectures and ‘live’ exhibits going on that day. They stopped to watch two potters work with clay, while behind them, a video talked of the traditional art and how they clay is gathered, fired, and painted, using natural materials for paints. They all admired the finished items that were for sale and decided to purchase some on their way out, or later in the day.

Next, they came and sat in on a lecture that had already started about kiva mural art from the past and how the designs continue to influence contemporary Southwestern artists who work in a variety of mediums such as painting, basketry, pottery, kachinas, and sculpture.

Finally, they went outside in the back of the museum, where a group of Hopi dancers were performing traditional social dances. It was there that they found a picnic table, and decided to have lunch while watching the dancers.

They decided to go back into the museum and make their purchases and leave them in the car, as the museum would likely be closed by the time they returned from their Cliff Palace tour.

Willow purchased a jar that reminded her vaguely of the Urn of Osiris, that she had used so long ago, to bring Buffy back from the dead.

Xander found a pretty painted vase for Angela, a clay flute for Alex, and a tiny jar with lid for Ann, that had a painted bird on the top, which she would more than likely appreciate when she was much older. He also bought a vase for his mother-in-law, Betty.

Dawn decided on a painted coffee mug for Dr. John, and a pair of painted clay cactus earrings and a painted Kachina doll for her.

William, once again, felt funny having no pocket money of his own, and Buffy gave him some, though this didn’t do much for his self-esteem. They both liked these tall pots, with intricate painted scenes of the Southwest best, and decided that they would buy a pair of them, for back home. They were slightly different, only in that one had an eagle and the other a hawk, along with other scenes.

They had them wrapped to travel, then quickly went to put them into the car, hurrying back, with 10 minutes to spare before the tour started.

A group had gathered at the trailhead and soon there were about 35 people waiting to go on the tour. Buffy looked around with somewhat disappointment at the large group.

“Sheesh,” this is getting to be quite a group,” Dawn whispered to Willow.

“Sure is. Hey, maybe I can do a spell and…”

“Hey now!” Buffy said, walking up to them, “only if they get in my way, then I give you permission to turn them into toads or something,” she said, laughing.

“You’re on!” Willow said, smiling.

William walked up right then, and their banter stopped. He put his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. She smiled, at his open display of affection, even more, that she was comfortable with it. Once in a whithouthough, she felt guilty on Spike’s behalf, knowing that when ‘he’ was here, she never would have allowed that, nor would he have taken it upon himself to do so, knowing how she felt about her friends knowing about them. Even after Julian, for the short time they shared her bedroom, he was still circumspect about displaying public displays of their feelings. Of course, back then things were…

Just then the rangers arrived, interrupting her train of thought. He gave a short talk about the Cliff Palace, and warnings about the moderately strenuous trail that they were about to embark on.

Buffy’s group decided to bring up the rear, along with ranger number 2. Ranger number 1, started their hike, while giving them lessons in the natural history of the place. Ranger number 2 also repeated it, so that the back of the group could hear. Those in the middle would have had the most trouble hearing. About mid-way down the steep 100-foot descent into the canyon, a woman near the middle started having trouble breathing. She was larger than most of the other participants, and a bit older. The group waited for about 10 minutes for her to catch her breath, then they started again. This time, it only took about 5 more minutes for it to become apparent that she wouldn’t be able to complete the tour. Ranger number 2 decided he would stay with her and help her back to the trailhead if possible, otherwise, he would call for assistance. Test est of the group managed to make it to Cliff Palace without further incidents about 25 minutes later.

Upon seeing the Cliff Palace ruins, Buffy reached out for William’s hand, just to share the moment with him.

The ranger told them how on December 18th, 1888, two cowboys, Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law Charlie Mason, were riding across the mesa top looking for stray cattle. As they looked over the edge of the pinyon and juniper forest surrounding them, they saw Cliff Palace. After further exploration, they entered the dwelling and made a small collection of artifacts before leaving for the day. In the next 18 years these same men, as well as various exploring parties and tourist groups, made expeditions into Mesa Verde. Back then, it wasn’t illegal to take artifacts. Protection for the dwellings came with the establishment of Mesa Verde in 1906, yet it was not until 1909 that Jesse Walter Fewkes of the Smithsonian Institution excavated and first stabilized Cliff Palace.

The ranger explained that the foundation of the cliffhouse is sandstone, geologically deposited during the Cretaceous Period some 78 million years ago, but since sandstone is very porous material, moisture seeps right down through it. Beneath the layer of sandstone, however, is a layer of shale through which the moisture cannot penetrate. In the winter months, when the moisture freezes and expands, chunks of sandstone are cracked and loosened. Later these pieces collapse, forming alcoves such as the one here where Cliff Palace is standing.

It is these alcoves that make up the 151 rooms and 23 kivas of Cliff Palace. Many were so small, as to just be able to accommodate only a few small rooms, while very few are large enough to house a dwelling the size of Cliff Palace.
He said, out of the 600 or so dwellings concentrated within the park, 75% contained only 1-5 rooms each, and many are single room storage units. Cliff Palace is an exceptionally large dwelling, which may have had special significance, even for the original occupants.

He told the group that, “The people who lived in Mesa Verde are sometimes referred to as the "Anasazi", a Navajo Indian word meaning "ancient ones" or "ancient foreigners". In recognition that the people who once lived here are not only the ancestors of some of the Navajo, but also ancestral to most tribes living in the southwest, we referefer to the ancient people of Mesa Verde as the Ancestral Puebloan people. There are 24 tribes that affirm an ancestral affiliation with Mesa Verde National Park. Tribes affiliated with the park include all of the pueblos of New Mexico, the Hopi tribe in Arizona, as well as the Ute and Navajo peoples.”

Ancestral Puebloans had occupied the cliff alcoves since 500 AD, but it wasn’t until 1200 AD that they had built the cliff dwellings, then only lived in them for the ne5 - 5 - 100 years, before migrating south.

After the lecture, they went over to explore the tower-like structure first. It had been explained that it was probably something like an apartment building in the 1200’s. The noticed the small doorways that they had to bend down in order to go through. It was thought that these were made intentionally small, to keep out the drafts and cold in the winter. They explored the ruins for the better part of an hour, climbing up four 6’ to 10’ ladders, before they were finally at the exit.

They had all taken a ton of pictures of Cliff Palace.

“That was spectacular!” Dawn said.

They all agreed.

“I wish we could stay another day or two and see all the sites,” she said.

“Me, too,” Xander agreed, “but I’ve got to get back to Kansas, then we’re all going to head over to the Shenandoah Mountains in Virginia for a couple of days and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, before I have to head back to work. Good thing I know the boss, but still, I’ll have been gone a good two weeks, if not more.”

“I know, I need to get home and get ready for the new semester. Crap, I need to get signed up!” Dawn said.

“I need to get back to England, my job, Kennedy,” she smiled sheepishly.

Buffy nodded, feeling a moment of guilt for having had them all disrupt their lives on her behalf. For her and for Spike, at least that’s the way she felt about Willow and Dawn. For Xander, she wasn’t sure if Spike had come back as Spike and not as William, if he would have agreed to come.

Willow and Dawn didn’t ask Buffy, they knew that her main concern was seeing after William and getting him all settled into their life back in California. However, Xander did.

“What about you, Buffy? What are you planning on doing once you’re back in California?”

“I’m going to get us settled at home, I don’t really have any plans other than that at the moment,” she answered.

“But don’t you teach?”“Wel“Well, I’m…I guess I’m going back to school, I mean to teaching. There’s a meeting next week,” she said, then felt guilty for having mentioned it that way.

William looked at her questioningly, but before she could explain or he could ask, Xander continued, “And William, what are you going to do when Buffy is at work?”

Dawn and Willow glared at him.

“I’m…I don’t know,” he shrugged, feeling once again, lost in a world he knew so little about. He’d tried not to think much of what the future months would be like. To do so, was to throw himself into some sort of blackness that he all too well remembered, from when he first realized that he didn’t really ‘belong’ anywhere. When he came to realize that his ‘false’ memories provided him with nothing to help him in the world he found himself in. He barely knew what to say to people, other than these friends of Elizabeth’s, and Dawn.

The only thino, no, person, who had made him feel he had a purpose had been Elizabeth. Suddenly, he realized that she wouldn’t even be around him that much once they got back! He shivered; the warmth of the fun day they had, evaporating like so much smoke.

“We’re going to work on that,” she said, putting her arm around William, after seeing his reaction, the near panic in his eyes. She could kill Xander for his thoughtless remarks, even though she knew he wasn’t being cruel, but the effect had been the same.

“Hey, maybe you could take some classes, William,” Xander continued.

Dawn gave him a slight kick.

“Ow!” he said, looking at her, she gave him a subtle shake of her head, motioning over to William and Buffy.

William gave a slight nod, not really conscious of Xander's words at this point, only of the voice in his head, telling him that he had no place in this world, that he didn't belong. He was also aware of Elizabeth’s arm around him, trying to reach him, to keep him anchored in the now. He looked at her, his blue eyes wide with fear of the unknown.

“Well, we should go return this rental,” Dawn said, breaking the tension.

They walked back to the car and joined Willow in the backseat. The group still oohed and aahed over the scenery and at the outlooks coming back down from the ruins, but somehow, the mood wasn’t the same, and the pall that William had felt, seemed to cast a wide net. However, feeling that the mood was different because of him, William an an attempt at joking even with Xander, whom he somehow sensed had an undercurrent of disdain for him. In any case, soon the good feeling that they’d had as a group returned, and William kept his worries well hidden.

Except from Buffy, who still put her hand on his reassuringly for the rest of the trip back to the campsite.

Dawn, Willow, and Xander drove the car back to the rent-a-car place. They had found out that the rental car people would give them a ride back, so they left the RV at its site.

As soon as they'd left, Buffy turned to William, "I didn't want you to start worrying about what we were going to do when we got back home yet, that's why I didn't mention the meeting to you. I just found out yesterday, when I checked my email."

"Don't you mean that you didn't want me to worry about what I'm going to do?" he asked, pacing in front of the RV, "you have something waiting for you when you go back."

"No! I mean what we're going to do, William! Do you think that I flew across country three times in order to find you, just to bring you home and then abandon you? Just to let you just sit in the house all day by yourself? Is that what you think?" she asked, angrily.

William hung his head, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so...pathetic. I just don't want to be a burden to you, Elizabeth."

“You're not pathetic. You listen to me, William! First of all, you are not, nor have you ever ba bua burden to me! Secondly, do you think those things are important to me? Sure, I have a job, because for the past five years I didn’t have YOU! And I was no longer the sl…," she caught herself, and finished saying in her head, what had been in her heart; that being the slayer had been her calling, teaching, while gratifying, was still only her job. "So, I went back to college, got a job, and as much as I like it, well, most of the time anyway, it doesn’t mean anything to me. You mean something to me. You mean everything to me,” she said, putting her hands on his face, as she looked into his eyes.

“Elizabeth…”

"I mean it, we'll work something out, I won't abandon you."

“I know you won't," he said softly, "but I won’t have you quit on my account. You've sacrificed for me, I know you have, in so many ways, I don't want you to sacrifice anything else on my account."

"It's not a sacrifice, William," she said, "it's love."

He bent forward to kiss her, as he looked at with awe and gratitude, "Yes, it's love, Elizabeth. And I may not have had a lot of experience with love, until you came into my life," he said, taking both her hands in his, "but I think love is when people sacrifice the most for each other, and I think that you've been the one to sacrifice the most, for a long time. I just don't want you to sacrifice anything else on my behalf. It's not fair to you."

"You sacrificed, too," Buffy whispered, her heart heavy with the knowledge of just how much, "why don't you let me worry about fair, William?" she asked, with a small smile.

"Maybe Xander’s right, maybe I could…go to school and learn how to do something, or I could get some sort of job, perhaps?” William asked, looking at Elizabeth hopefully.

She nodded, "Sure, we can look into it, when we get back, okay?"

They sat for a few minutes, not talking.

“When does…school start for you?” William asked, finally breaking the silence.

“In about 6 weeks, I think. Sometime near the end of August. That’ll give us some time to get adjusted, to figure things out, you’ll see!”

“Okay,” he agreed, putting a smile on for her sake, but wondering if he‘d know any more in 42 days than he did now, about why he didn’t remember anything. And if that were still the case, what could he do, so as not to be a burden to her?

"Maybe I should see about starting din dinner," Buffy said, starting to get up.

"I'll see to it, Elizabeth. You look tired," he said, coming up and putting an errant strand of hair behind her ear, "why don't you take a little nap?"

"Trying to get rid of me?" she joked.

"Never!" he said, pulling her into an embrace and kissing her deeply.

"Why don't you come and lay down, too?" she smiled at him in a way that made him lick his lips.


"You go get comfortable, while I start the grill, then I'll join you. How's that?"

"Okay," Elizabeth said, and walked into the RV. She went into the bedroom and pulled off her hiking boots and socks, soon wishing she'd done that outside, since sand and tiny rocks were soon all over the carpet. She then changed out of her dirty jeans and top before lying down on the bed and waited for William to join her.

William started a fire on the grill. He watched it for a few minutes, making sure it wasn't going out, then went to look in the refrigerator and take stock of what their choices were for dinner.

Satisfied with what he found, he closed the door and headed back to the bedroom.

He walked into the bedroom and looked at her, asleep on the covers. He smiled, noting that she was now wearing a tank top and his sweat pants.

William debated about lying down next to her. It took every bit of self control he had in him to pass up the opportunity to lay down with her and put his arms around her, but it would have to wait until later. Other parts of him were not pleased with his decision, especially the straining bulge in his pants. Sighing, he walked over to the bed and pulled the covers around her, tucking her in, then gently kissed her on the forehead. He was pleased when she smiled at him in her sleep.

"Stay," she murmured in her sleep.

"No, you rest, I have to start dinner," he said, regretfully. He figured she’d earned a nap, if by for no other reason, than putting up with the likes of him.


He found some hamburger patties and steaks and, counting the amount of each he might need, took them back outside to start cooking.

Willow, Dawn, and Xander drove up with a young man behind the wheel. They thanked him for the ride, and then as it started driving off, they yelled to him.

“Stop!”

He put on the breaks.

Dawn ran up, explaining that they had left their purchases in the trunk. He got out and opened up the trunk, and they took them out.

“Good thing I drove you back in the same car,” he said.

“Yeah, sure is,” Willow agreed.

They walked up to the RV with all the wrapped packages, “Can’t believe we almost forgot these!” Dawn said, smiling to William, who nodded. He was glad, too. Elizabeth would have been disappointed had they lost their pots.

“What’s for dinner?” Xander asked William.

“Steaks and hamburger,” he answered, tending the meat, while Xanderked ked over his shoulder.

“Do I have time for a shower?” he asked.

“If you’re having hamburger, no, if you’re having steak, yes.”

“Steak and a shower it is, then!” he said, going off to get his toiletries.

“Where’s Buffy?” Dawn asked.

“Napping,” he answered.

“Who’s napping?” Buffy said, at the door.

“Thought you were,” he answered, admiring how beautiful she looked, with her hair all messy.

“Not anymore. I’m good,” she said.

Willow brought out all the rest of what they would need for dinner, plus had cooked baked potatoes in the microwave.

They talked about the ruins over dinner and how much fun they’d had on the tours, and of the things they’d learned. Xander suggested that they all make plans to come back here and meet up in a few years, especially, when his kids would be older and they all agreed, not really believing, yet hoping somehow it could really happen.

They turned in earlier than the previous night, and fell quickly asleep from the fresh air, the altitude, and all the exercise.

Tomorrow would once again have them on the road at the crack of dawn, and take them only one state away from their destination.

California.

END CHAPTER 77