Pickman’s Student: part 1
Extracts from the Personal Diary of Dr
Belinda Durham
My
knee had indeed healed well and did not get in my way. The dig was as mundane
as most digs. Passers-by asked 'have you found any treasure?' as we unearthed
pot-sherds and animal bones. The weather was wet, and
we had to live under canvas as the only practical alternative to a very long
walk each morning and evening. On Fridays we went to the nearest pub, where we
had arranged use of the bath and laundry facilities, and the rest of the week
we just toughed it out. It certainly increased my sympathy with the Roman
soldiers who built their own heated bath-houses on the Wall.
I
used to have no trouble with being out in the field like this, indeed almost
relished it as a way to really get into the mind of the Britons. However, this
time I was finding it increasingly unpleasant. I kept thinking that someone was
watching me, jumped at shadows (of which there were a lot on the moorland at night) and began to find the mud really, really
unpleasant. When I unearthed an earthworm I became so jumpy that I had to stop,
look away, and even wanted to run away. It was completely irrational and I
could not think myself out of it. I started to get really worried about whether
it would end my career as a field archaeologist. People started to notice and
the dig's leader, Fred Fielder, asked me to get more focused on the work. He
didn't say '…or leave', but I could see what he meant. The fact that I'd been
off on sick-leave for months a year ago had got round, and he knew that my illness
had not been physical. I could sympathise that he didn't want any sort of
incident out here.
It
came to a head on 27th August. I'd slept badly, according to Anne,
the woman I shared a tent with, although I didn't remember anything. I was trowelling through a particularly wet, slimy patch, found a
worm, and that was it. I was totally convinced that some tentacled
thing was coming out of the water and that there was great danger ahead. It
sounded completely irrational, but I was sure and by now had seen enough to
realise this insight might be true. I dropped my trowel that had seen me though
years of digs, walked away ignoring the calls from the others, and phoned Adam.
When I'd been at the Wilmarth, talking with him had
been a great help and I needed him now.
To
my horror, he said that my idea was true. I listened while he talked about a
young artist found almost drowned on the couch in his Reading flat that had led
to all the others trying with increasing urgency to track down a major threat
to the world. I simply had to go and join them, so I packed up my things, got
Anne to take me to
When
I arrived at Kings Cross 3 hours later, Barbara met me. After several hours in
the man-made environment of the train I was feeling better than for days. It
was late afternoon so we went for something to eat before going to