"I'll see you tomorrow," Rosemary remarked once the she, the Abernathys and Mr. Simms were finished with supper on Tuesday.

"Have a good evening, Rosemary. Say hello to Neil for me," Greg said.

"I will," Rosemary promised. "That reminds me." She paused on her way out the door. "Neil asked me to ask you to call him? We managed to take care of a lot of wedding things while you were away. He thinks he may have time to explore your cave soon ... if you think you still might be interested."

"I am," Greg assured her. "I'll be sure to call him."

Rosemary smiled. "Thanks," she said, and she left through the front door.

"Do you need help in the kitchen, Susan?" Greg asked as surveyed the after supper cleanup to be done while most of the family was still around the dinner table.

"Yes please. I think a number of us would like to go to bed relatively early this evening," Susan said.

"Who Mom?" Matt asked from where he hovered nearby.

"Zack and me. He told me this afternoon, he'd like to get to practice earlier tomorrow morning than I dropped him off today," Susan said.

"Any particular reason?" Greg asked.

"Yeah Mom, why does Zack want to get there so early?" Matt asked as he began to pitch in to help. Matt turned to his brother with his eyebrow raised.

"Coach wants us there earlier tomorrow because it got too hot today while we were trying to run. He says we have to build up to it before we try to do that. So, Mom's gotta drop me off an hour before she normally starts working in order for me to have time to talk to anyone and still be ready for practice on time," Zack told him.

"Yeah, okay," Matt said. "I guess you've gotta kind get used to running before you try doing it when it gets warm."

"Exactly," Zack said.

"So are you gonna help? So Mom can get to bed on time too? You know she still needs to give Melody a bath," Matt pointed out.

"Yeah, okay," Zack said and he also began to help with clearing the table.

c

With Zack, Matt, and Greg all assisting in the kitchen, the cleanup that night was finished very quickly. Susan took Melody to give her a bath immediately afterwards, while Zack went to take his shower, and the rest of the family settled themselves in the family room. Greg retrieved Max's notebook for Mr. Simms, and they joined the children around the TV while he looked at it.

"I'm surprised Zack is so eager to get to practice," Matt remarked once his brother and Susan left the room. "It's unlike him to be so willing to get up extra early, just to run."

"He has a new friend on the team," Jessie told him. "He was telling Mama about her in the cottage today when you brought me home. They were having lunch."

"Really? Mom and Zack had lunch alone in the cottage?" Matt asked.

Greg cocked his head. "Is there some significance to this new friend?" he wondered.

Jessie shrugged. "He really likes her. That's all I know," she said.

Matt exchanged a look with Greg. "Maybe I should go by the school on the way to work and check it out."

"Are you simply curious, Matthew? Or have you some other reason to be concerned?" Mr. Simms asked.

"There's got to be something different about this girl for Zack to go to the trouble of getting up extra early for her," Matt said with a shrug.

Greg arched a brow, but he didn't say anything. The commercial was at an end and the children were interested in watching the show.

Mr. Simms also decided to turn in relatively early that evening. He left for his rooms not long after Susan and Zackary said goodnight, taking Maxwell's notebook with him to study before going to sleep.

c

"So what are we doing the rest of this week?" Mr. Simms asked Greg over a bowl of cereal the next morning.

He and Greg were breakfasting alone mid-morning, several hours after the rest of the family ate. Susan had dropped Zack off at practice hours before, and she was currently working in the cottage. Jessie was at her swimming lessons, Rosemary had Melody down by the pool, and Matt left for In-N-Out just as Greg and Mr. Simms sat down, leaving the two men to eat on their own.

"I have no specific plans, other than to call the antique dealer this morning about the box," Greg said.

"And the reason you are doing that is?" Mr. Simms asked.

Greg arched his brow. "Are you asking the reason I am trying to find out more about it?" Greg questioned.

"Yes. After our discussion last evening, I do have the impression you are in fact trying to prove the existence of your previous selves."

"How do you mean?" Greg asked.

"From the way you talk about it, I suspect this box of yours has something to do with one of your past lives?" Mr. Simms asked.

"It does," Greg told him. "This box previously belonged to Max. He lost it here during the landslide that occurred in February 1884. It was his attempts to retrieve it that resulted in the tunnel we have on our property down near the pond. It is also the reason he fell ill as a result of exposure and the inhalation of poisonous gas once he began to break through the wall."

"And you remember that?" Mr. Simms questioned.

"Not all of it. I remember collapsing and my desperate effort to crawl from the tunnel and away from the gas, only to collapse again in the pouring rain. I don't remember how I left this place," Greg told him. "Only that I did. Years later, I began to wonder if I imagined the box, but the fact it is here validates my memories of those events from my life as Max ... even though it cannot actually be proven that I was him."

"Ah. Then you don't consider validating those memories to be the same thing as proving you lived before," Mr. Simms said.

"No, I don't. We can prove to some extent that the people we remember existed. Sometimes the events we remember have been recorded in history and can be verified to be true. In my experience, that happens only rarely. But what I have found is, we occasionally come across physical artifacts which existed as part of a memory. This box is precisely that. I had it as Max. I inherited from Mrs. Peabody. It was brought to me by her daughter, Eleanor, the daughter Susan mentioned while we were talking last night," Greg said.

"Is there something special about Eleanor?" Mr. Simms asked as he studied Greg's expression.

"She was Jessie ... in her last life," Greg explained.

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning, she also remembers the box. So does Susan. But what Susan remembers about the box from her life as Penelope is that she inherited it from her mother ... who in turn inherited it from her father, suggesting it is quite a bit older than the hundred years or so it would be if Max was in fact it's original owner," Greg shared.

"And so by taking your box to this antique dealer, if he can tell us the age and origins of the box, that information will either prove or disprove your memories which suggest it could have been owned by Mrs. Peabody or her grandfather," Mr. Simms realized.

"Yes. Researching past lives is a bit like trying to solve a mystery. We take clues where we can get them, research what we find to expand what we know. Sometimes that triggers additional memories, which tells us where to look next," Greg said.

"Does it always do that?" Mr. Simms asked curiously.

"Not always. Sometimes our research simply leads us to other people, who we find are searching too," Greg said.

"People like me," Mr. Simms realized. "That is how you found me: by searching."

"Yes. We did not start out by trying to find Jessie's relatives. We started by finding out all we could about Max. Susan has some familiarity with census records, so we started with that. Matthew also did some research based on the information he found in Maxwell's notebook. Max noted some specific events, which Matt was able to identify in the historical records; things like weather patterns, train routes and schedules, those sorts of things. That enabled us to verify where he was and when," Greg explained.

"Which would have been the necessary information to have in order to locate him in the census records," Mr. Simms said.

"Have you some experience with this?" Greg asked.

"Yes and no. I have done my share of academic research in my time, but never for a purpose such as this," Mr. Simms said.

"But you do have some familiarity with records of this sort and know how to go about searching them," Greg guessed.

"Yes, I do," Mr. Simms said.

"Do you have any interest in joining me in this effort?" Greg wondered.

Mr. Simms grinned. "Grandfather, I thought you'd never ask."

Greg smiled too. "How do you suggest we go about this?"

"Make a list of all the events we think we can remember from the 1800s. Put dates to them as closely as we can make out, associate the names; then begin the actual research. I'd like to begin by reading your notebook in more detail, Grandfather. I have looked it over, however to do research such as this, it will be necessary to extract from it facts. Since you lost it before my current life began, those facts and the information associated with them, would belong to this unprovable realm, would it not?" Mr. Simms asked.

"It would," Greg agreed.

"Would you mind terribly if I used the little desk in your library to work on this?" Mr. Simms asked.

"Not at all," Greg told him. "In fact, I may use my desk in the cottage to call the antique dealer. I haven't used it in over a year. I think now may be the time to make use of it again."

"Do you work from the cottage too sometimes?" Mr. Simms wondered.

"I usually do, when I'm not actually filming or recording something," Greg said.

"You and Susan work there together," Mr. Simms realized as some of the eagerness to work on this faded slightly.

"Yes," Greg said, taking in the old man's expression. "But perhaps since this is a project you and I are working on together, I should bring my notes on the subject here?"

"I'd appreciate that," Mr. Simms told him.

Greg nodded. "Then, that's what I'll do," he said as they finished in the kitchen.

Together he and Mr. Simms headed for the library, but instead of stopping there, Mr. Simms looked like he was headed towards the bookcase.

"Are you going somewhere?" Greg asked.

"I'm going to get my own notebook. I'd like to do this thing properly if I'm going to do it at all," he explained.

"Of course," Greg said. "Shall I meet you back here?"

"Yes please," Mr. Simms said.

Each man went his own way, intent on gathering the materials he needed to begin their research that day.

c

Susan took a break from work around noon and found her husband and Mr. Simms, deep in discussion at the little desk in the library. Each man had a notebook spread out beneath his hands, and Maxwell's notebook was open between them. They were discussing the entries made on each page as they came to them, with Mr. Simms making notes about the information they learned.

"What are you doing?" she asked them.

"Research," Greg told her. "We are looking for clues that will help us find historical records to either verify or augment what we know about our past lives during a particular point in time."

"Do you really think you can find out more from Max's notebook aside from what we've found before?" Susan asked.

"By looking at it with Bobby I am gaining a fresh perspective on what information I was able to get by looking at before. He remembers things I don't, providing context for some of these notes we've never had before," Greg explained.

"Oh? How long have you been at this?" Susan asked.

"Just this morning," Mr. Simms told her. "Although at this rate, it will take the rest of my visit to cover this information thoroughly."

"That is probably true if our intent is to verify each bit of information it contains," Greg said.

"We may not be able to verify all of it Greg, just the key points," Mr. Simms said.

"For example?" Susan asked.

"For example, this drawing of the house at the very front. Greg believes it is a drawing of Maxwell's mother's house in New York. I have amongst my things at the home letters belonging to my mother, written to her by her grandmother, just after she and Papa married," Mr. Simms said. "The envelope has her address written on it."

Susan arched a brow. "Did your mother ... I mean Maxwell's mother, live in that same house her entire married life?"

"She did," Greg said. "So what we have determined is if Bobby has the address and I have this image, we can search various photo archives made of New York City around the turn of the century to find an image of the house at that address, then match it to the drawing we have here."

"That sounds like a lot of work," Susan told them.

"It is," Mr. Simms assured her. "However, if we want to know how much of this information actually is verifiable and correct, that is the sort of thing we will have to do. The list I am making is exactly that: a list of the source documents we will have to search in order to verify specific facts."

"Bobby believes that many of these records may be available through the National Archives," Greg said.

"Some of that is on line, you know," Susan reminded him.

"Yes, I know. That will be out next step, once we finish our list. I expect this part to take us through the end of the week, at least," Greg said.

"Considering it is already noon on Wednesday, it probably will," Susan agreed. "The week is half over already. Are you planning to take a break for lunch?"

"Do you need help preparing it?" Greg asked, his finger resting on a particular line in the little notebook.

"No," Susan told him.

"Then please, call us when it's ready," Greg said.

"I will. I was wondering though ... have you called Neil?" Susan asked.

"No. I've been forgetting to," Greg admitted. "I wonder if I should call him now?"

"You could. He's probably at work, but you could leave a message. He may want to explore the cave this coming weekend," Susan reminded him.

"Yes, of course. I know he's been looking forward to it, now that he has the time," Greg said. "I'll call him now, just so I don't forget again," he promised.

Susan smiled. "I'll call you for lunch when it's ready."

"Thank you," Greg said.

And with that, Susan disappeared down the stairs.

Although Greg did call Neil, as they expected his stepson wasn't home, and he ended up leaving a message. By that time, lunch was ready; Mr. Simms joined Greg and Susan at the table near the kitchen for their mid-day meal. Afterwards however, they went right back to their project, staying with it through the afternoon, all the way until dinnertime. Their enthusiasm for their project was so complete; Susan was completely unsurprised when it continued to occupy them thoroughly on Thursday and Friday too, right through the end of the week.

c

"Did Neil ever call you back?" Susan asked her husband during supper on Friday evening, after the family welcomed in the Sabbath.

"Yes. He would like to come by after services tomorrow with some of his climbing equipment and some spotlights to take a better look at the cave. I've picked up a half dozen long extension cords and as many spotlights myself, so we are hoping between the two of us, we'll be able to take a much better look than we could before," Greg said.

"Is Rosemary coming with him?" Matt asked curiously.

"I think so. He didn't say," Greg said.

"Can we come with you to explore the cave, Greg?" Zack asked.

"You can if you'd like, provided Neil feels it's safe," Greg told them.

"What more of it is there to explore?" Mr. Simms asked in surprise. "It seems to me you are using all of it."

"We are using most of the accessible areas, however if you recall last spring over Passover, several of us ventured further than we have before along the passageway beyond the cottage stairs. It drops off significantly approximately 200 feet in that direction. The equipment we had with us at the time didn't allow us to determine much about the void, except that the floor of it drops further than the light from our lanterns could reach," Greg explained. "Neil suggested at the time we could do a better job exploring that particular area with the proper equipment."

"I would say so," Mr. Simms remarked. "What do you expect to find?"

"The bottom of the shaft presumably, however from the investigation we have already done, we suspect it may be hundreds of feet deep," Greg said.

Mr. Simms looked at him in surprise. "Greg, what is the elevation of your house?"

"Between four and five hundred feet above sea level. Why do you ask?"

"Because, if that shaft drops down more than that, it would put you at or below sea level," Mr. Simms said.

"Do you think the bottom could be filled with water?" Matt asked.

"Unlikely Matthew, because we are also approximately a mile and a half inland," Greg said.

"But if the crack that formed our cave goes far enough, it could be," Zack said.

"It could. I wouldn't rule out the possibility entirely, but I doubt that's what we will find," Greg said.

Matt and Zack exchanged a look that wasn't missed by either Greg or Susan.

"You want to find out," Susan surmised.

"Well yeah, Mom. Of course," Matt told her.

"It does sound interesting," Mr. Simms said.

"Don't tell me you want to come too," Greg said doubtfully.

"Not at my age," Mr. Simms assured him. "But if I was twenty or thirty years younger ... definitely I would."

"Would you at least like to see where it is we plan to explore?" Susan wondered.

Mr. Simms considered her thoughtfully. "I am not up to scrambling over boulders."

"I didn't mean that exactly," Susan said. "The first few feet beyond the stairs are unimproved, but the way is mostly clear. It's mainly dark."

"Yeah, but Mom there is a small drop after only a few feet," Matt pointed out.

"How big of a drop?" Mr. Simms asked.

"The first four are approximately one to two feet each," Greg said.

"That sounds relatively minor," Mr. Simms remarked.

"It is," Matt said. "The first ones are sort of like a set of stairs. The ones after that are bigger, but if Neil is bringing spot lights, from there you should be able to see more or less what is going on."

Greg arched his brow at their elderly guest. "Would you like to join us?"

"To the limits of what I can do comfortably, I would," Mr. Simms said. "I don't want to hold you back, but it might be interesting to participate."

Matt and Zackary grinned.

"Mama, do I have to go in the dark part of the cave?" Jessie asked.

"Not if you don't want to," Susan told her.

"Maybe Rosemary would be willing to stay with the girls," Greg suggested.

"She probably would if she's here," Matt said.

"Except if she comes, she'll be here to spend the time with Neil, not to babysit the girls," Susan pointed out.

"We could ask her, Susan," Greg said.

"Maybe we could even take turns," Matt said. "You know, one of us go look then come back and let the other person have a chance."

"I believe it will work out," Mr. Simms predicted.

"I believe you are right," Greg said.

And they spend the rest of the meal speculating on what they might find in the deepest recesses of the cave.

c