Saying Goodbye

Copyright © 2022 E. Thornton Goode, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-6632-4805-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-4806-0 (e)

iUniverse rev. date: 11/18/2022

Contents

In Appreciation

Bio Information

Prologue

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Chapter XI

Chapter XII

Chapter XIII

Chapter XIV

Chapter XV

In Appreciation

First, I want to thank my good friend, Galen Berry, for not only his assistance with the proofreading and editing of this work but in making suggestions that would improve and enhance the storyline. Galen has been helpful doing this with several previous novels. In this novel, the original ending was at the point of the friendship toast. Galen suggested a most incredible and wonderful alternative ending for the story to consider. I loved it so much, I reworked the last part to incorporate Galen’s suggestion. Thank you, Buddy. Looking forward to your help on more of my writings should you have the time and inclination.

I want to thank my longtime friend and companion, Danny Glass. I am using his picture to show the image of the character, Jeremy Todd, in this story. Dan and I were together as partners for sixteen years. He was a very funny and caring guy. He left this life on May 20, 2014, from a heart attack in his sleep. He is greatly missed. I know he will be waiting for me on the other side when it’s my time to go.

My friends, Carl Owen and John Burch, and I go back several years. I want to thank them for letting me use one of their pictures here as representatives of the two archeologists in the story, Carl Davis and John Beach. I had to chuckle as the picture Carl sent me to use does look like two guys dressed as archeologists. I also had to chuckle that both their first names are the same as the characters. What are the chances? Thanks, Guys.

My friend, Steffan Zevarr, is the perfect image of the character, Dr. Paul Carr, in the story. Carr is a psychiatrist that Jeremy goes to, seeking help with some major night anxieties. Thank you, Steffan, for letting me use your picture.

My friend, David Goland, just happens to resemble the image of Dr. David Stanley, another psychiatrist in the story. I have to chuckle again that the first name of the character is the same as David’s. Seriously, it was totally unintentional. David, I do appreciate you letting me use your picture.

I want to thank my friend and partner, Julian Green, who is the image of several main characters in the book. You will understand why when you read the story. The only real difference is the eye color. Julian’s were blue whereas the characters’ eyes are green. Julian has been the image of numerous characters in several of my novels.

Thank you, Julian. I am in your debt and I miss you very much. I hope one day we will meet again in the great beyond. The world lost an incredible artist when you left this life on December 25, 2017.

Galen

Dan

Carl and John

Steffan

David

Julian

Bio Information

Time is marching onward. This is novel number nine to go to print. Being retired has given me the time to write and do many other things.

Yes, I am still living in Mexico and have no intentions of moving. My next move will be to a bronze urn. Yeah. And then, into the ocean right off the coast here.

As you may already know, I am not publishing my books in the order in which they were written. I just pick one of the completed manuscripts and start proofreading and editing. I have four more completed after this one goes to print. I’m also contemplating publishing my short stories as a collection. I have jokingly indicated that my goal is to get all my writings in print before I drop dead. Hey! At my age and with the COVID pandemic happening, you never know.

I am still single and most likely will remain so. Having lost three partners to death, who were all younger than me, it might not be a bad idea to remain single.

Prologue

Reincarnation. Have you ever been in a conversation, regarding the subject? Do you believe in it? Do you realize that virtually three-quarters of the world’s population do?

If you do believe, have you ever wondered who you were in past lives? No. Not Napoleon or Cleopatra. You want me to smack you one? We’re trying to be serious here. Have you ever been put under hypnosis and regressed to a past life? Have you ever been to a reader who tells you about one or more of your past life experiences?

I, the writer, once had the chance to go to a very good reader, Betty Foster, from England. Needless to say, it was not only interesting but it opened another door in my thinking. She told me things that truly wiped away any of my skepticism.

At first, during the reading, I was skeptical and was listening with one ear and in my mind going, yeah… yeah… yeah. Then, she told me a woman wanted to talk to me. Betty said it was not my mother but my mother’s mother. After a pause, she asked if her name was Mary or Margaret. I told her it wasn’t. That’s when she said, I can see her very clearly and she is mouthing the letter ‘M’. I don’t understand.

I was absolutely shocked. What I just heard her say caused me to almost fall on the floor. I had NEVER met Betty before in my life and there is no way she could have done any research on me. She didn’t know I was coming for a reading until I showed up. I knew I had to listen to every word this woman had to say. Why? My grandmother’s name was Emma… and everyone called her Em.

Later in the reading, she began going into several past lives for me. The first one was in ancient Rome. I was a Roman soldier and had a partner. As she described him, it was immediately apparent she was also describing a person in my present life.... my partner, Phillip. Talk about weird. What can I say? The other lives were interesting but not as significant as the one in Rome.

Trust me. If you had been me, sitting there, hearing all the things she told me about the past, present and future, you wouldn’t be a ‘naysayer’ or so skeptical.

This story addresses this issue and how it affects several who happened to be drawn together. It all begins when an Egyptian tomb is opened in the ancient city of Akhetaten, known in Arabic as Amarna.

CHAPTER I

John walked up to the closed flap of the tent. He called out. Knock! Knock!

John! Come in! Carl was sitting at one of those six-foot-long folding tables, acting as a temporary desk. It was sitting out in the middle of the space of the tent and was holding paperwork, his laptop and his satellite phone. Several boxes were under it. There were two other similar tables in the corners. Papers, maps and several books were sitting on them with boxes beneath them as well. Carl’s sleeping cot was against the opposite side of the tent.

John was excited as he walked into the tent. You were right. The ground-penetrating equipment found an anomaly in the ground right beside the cliff wall. I told the men to start removing the sand, so we could see what it is.

Carl responded. Well, I have to say, I’m glad we came across something. It’s been two weeks, searching just this area alone for something. I just had a feeling something might be located somewhere other than those few small tombs already discovered up in the cliffs. I kept thinking about Tut’s tomb and how the entrance was covered by sand. He looked up at John. But don’t get your hopes up. I’m not expecting anything like Tut’s tomb. As you well know, Akhetaten didn’t last long enough for something like that to exist here. But it could be something exciting, nonetheless.

At that, one of the workers appeared at the tent and spoke in his native Arabic to John. He was very happy. John thanked him as he left and turned to Carl. I’m sure you caught that. John clapped his hands together.

Carl stood up with a grin on his face. Yes, I did and I think we should go see. He grabbed his hat before leaving the tent.

Arriving at the dig, Carl and John saw about four feet of sand had been removed from around the area, exposing several stone steps, going down into the sand. They were perpendicular to the cliff, heading in an easterly direction.

Interesting. Carl scratched his chin. Whatever is at the bottom is going to be under the cliff if there’s anything at all. We shall see. He turned to John. NO! It’s not another Tut’s tomb! Just because the entrance is similar DOES NOT mean the same results. He started to chuckle.

I know. I know. I’m just glad we’ve found something promising. Guess it’s time to notify the proper authorities to come oversee what’s happening. John kept staring at the steps, slowly being uncovered by the workers.

It took nearly two days to get the right authorities there and to remove all the sand from the steps and the passage beyond. From the look of it, the passage and steps were covered naturally by the shifting and blowing desert sand. The passageway was some six feet wide, almost eight feet high and went almost eighty feet east under the base of the cliff. The sand had come only some sixteen feet into the passage. The rest was clear. The walls and ceilings were rough and unadorned until they reached the last thirty feet of the passageway. There, to the end, the walls and ceilings were covered with a smooth coat of a stucco or plaster. On the south wall, some twenty feet from the end of the passage, was an opening, leading to a chamber about twenty feet square and eight feet high. The room was coated with a smooth white surface. The walls were blank except for a few hieroglyphs. In the center of the room was a rectangular sarcophagus carved from the natural rock when the room was made. There was no lid on it and it was empty. The lid was leaning up against the vault. The room was completely empty.

Well, I see there’s nothing to jump up and down about here. It’s obvious this chamber was never used. The entrance to the room was never closed. The walls are devoid of decoration and information and the sarcophagus was never sealed. Maybe we’ll be luckier at the end of the passage. Carl shrugged. "At least there is the name, Denamunton, on what appears to be a covered entrance there.

Seems like whoever was supposed to be here, didn’t make it. Wonder what happened? John shook his head. He walked around the sarcophagus and saw a few hieroglyphs carved on the side. Interesting. Those few hieroglyphs indicate this is supposed to be the chamber for the daughter of Denamunton. He’s the guy in the tomb at the end of the passageway. At least I hope he’s there. I’ve never heard his name before in Egyptian history or during the time of Akhenaten. I wonder why the daughter was never buried here?

Photographs were taken of the room and the hieroglyphs. These could be viewed later, using the computer when the pictures were downloaded from the camera.

Next, everyone gathered at the east end of the passage. It was obvious there had been an opening there at one time. Now, it was walled up and covered over, leaving a telltale six-inch indentation of a doorway. The smooth white coating was decorated with a single seal of the name of the man who should be within the chamber