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stereotypical professor. Shirt half un-tucked. Tie askew. Glasses sliding down. Chalk dusted over his ample belly. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
    "Mrs. Schuler tells me that you want to know about Indian mounds and myths."
    "That's right. I'm looking into the disappearance of a former partner of mine. Before he went missing he was researching something involving Indian mounds, Norse mythology and banned books about astrology."
    Nelson whistled between his teeth. "That's a jumble there. I'll see what I can do for you."
    “Any help you can give would be..”
    Nelson cut him off saying “Of course Norse mythology isn’t my specialty. Neither is astrology. No, I’m just good with Indians ya see.”
    As he was talking he leaned back in his seat and propped his feet up on his desk knocking off a stack of papers as he did. He didn’t seem to notice. He crossed his hands over his stomach and looked up at the ceiling.
    “As I said, any help would be…”
    “There were a lot of different peoples who lived around these parts over the years ya see” Nelson said. Tommy smiled ruefully at the interruptions.
    “I’m mostly interested in the people who built the mounds.”
    “Course you’re probably just interested in whoever built them there mounds.”
    Tommy sighed out loud. Nelson didn’t notice. He kept right on talking.
    “Course those are the peoples we know the least about. Mound builders is what we call them ya see. But they didn’t exactly write much down. Still, I know a thing or three about them. Didja know that those mounds are older than the pyramids?”
    “I didn’t know that.”
    “Older than Methuselah. Well, almost. Nobody is quite sure what they were used for ya see. Did they live there? Did they use it for hunting parties? Me, I subscribe to the belief that they were religious sites.”
    “Do we know anything about… ”
    “Course we don’t know much about their religion. Poverty Point is on an East to West axis which leads me to believe they worshiped the sun but the mounds out in New Damascus have the whole bird, nature vibe going.”
    “Do you have any idea…”
    “Me personally, I think that it started out as simple sun worship but some other beliefs came along and influenced it. We start seeing a lot more bird motifs especially Ravens. And coyotes. Coyotes are interlopers and tricksters ya see.”
    Tommy sat tapping his foot waiting for Nelson to stop for air. When he finally did he stood up quickly thrusting out his hand.
    “Well, thank you for meeting with me. You’ve been most helpful.”
    Nelson sat up frowning confusedly. He reached out his own hand to shake Tommy’s. In the process another stack of papers went sliding off of his desk.
    “I hope ya got something that could be useful.”
    “Oh, I learned a great deal. I just need to get home to process it all ya see.”
     
    Day 9: Thursday: Plane ride
    He woke Thursday morning to a bright, hot, morning that was already hazy with humidity. He lay there a moment staring at his ceiling. For some reason his heart was racing and he could feel the quiver a dose of adrenaline brought on. He felt like something was about to happen and he was terrified by it for some reason. It was the same electric feeling you got right before a storm hit. After a minute or so he forced his fears aside and climbed out of bed.
    He shuffled down the hall to the kitchen, one hand on the wall to help maintain balance. This was a habit so long practiced and ingrained that he was no longer aware that he did it. He put on a pot of coffee out of long habit. When he was sitting at the table with a mug in hand he found that he was much calmer and could think more clearly. He spent time simply rolling the fear around, looking at it from all angles, and trying to find the catalyst for it. At last he gave up, finished his coffee, and began getting ready for the day.
    After breakfast and a quick shower he found himself feeling restless. He tried to read for a while, but