Aliens, eh !
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Together, they stood on the top of the hill. It was dark and quiet, except for night sounds, and the wind rustling through the trees. When they looked up, they could see a field of stars— “The same stars Rome is seeing,” said Marcus. “If we can see the stars Rome sees, then we can get home. Don’t worry, Alexander. I will get us home. I promise.” Alexander nodded. Then, the boys walked to the edge of a jutting rock and looked down. They both gasped, barely breathing, for there, beneath them, beyond the woods, below the hill, were more stars. Not the flickering, dim lights of a distant village fire, not the gentle glitter of fireflies an inch or two before your face, but stars, bright, twinkling, sharp—crowded together into one space, as though they were meeting together, not spreading like songbirds through a forest, but flocking like game-birds in a covey. They sat back together. Marcus tried to gather himself together. “Alexander,” he said, “you have sat through all my lessons and learned them well.” (“Better than you have,” thought Alexander.) “Do you remember learning of a place on earth, or even in the heavens, where a man could stand with stars above him, and below him?” “I have heard of no such place,” said Alexander. “Do you think we are in the underworld?” Marcus asked, tentatively. “No. I mean, maybe, but I thought, in the underworld , we would be shades---shadows.” “Yes, that’s right,” said Marcus, very relieved. “This must just be a new sort of place. We’ll tell them all about it when we get back. Father will be very interested.” They looked, over the rock, at the stars below, for what seemed like hours. As they walked slowly back to the cave, Alexander whispered to Marcus, “What if we can’t get home, Master Marcus?” Marcus whirled around, and with a threatening voice, whispered back, “Never, ever say that, Alexander. I know you are afraid, but I am not. I am a Roman noble; I am not weak. We will get home.” “Yes, Master,” said Alexander, thinking,“ You may be Roman, but you are also afraid.”
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About the Book
This is a novel for children ages 9-12. It tells the story of a Roman boy and his Greek slave, who are mysteriously transported to a cave in Northern Ontario. They are found by William and his friend Joseph (who knows some Latin). The Canadian boys must decide whether to reveal the “aliens” to our world, and how much of our world to reveal to them, just as the Roman and his slave must discover how to leave “Canada” and return to Rome – across many lands and over many seas — when they do not even know that they have also crossed 2,000 years !
About the Author
JENNIFER HAYMAN YOUNG has a B.A. in Classics and English, and a Master’s degree in History. She has been teaching Latin, Greek, English Literature, History, and Study Skills to children and adults for thirty years. She lives in Ottawa, Canada with her husband, three of her four sons (one grown son is out on his own), her mother, several tanks of fish and three cats. Her hobbies include cooking, rug hooking, quilting, making crochet lace, reading, and learning new languages. She wrote this book to show her students and the world how much fun Latin is, and how interesting ancient cultures can be just as they were; how they don’t need to act like 21st century people to be real to us — we can reach across the centuries and get to know them on their own terms.