"Right over middle. Left over middle. Right over middle. Left over middle. There you go!"

There was nothing Amaree loved more than helping her darling daughter, Fibra, braid her dolls hair. Which made it fitting that she should be doing it today, as it was her birthday. Not that Amaree wanted to think about that. She was getting very old. At 25 years, she was already older than all of the other mothers in Fibra's class at school. She knew they all whispered behind her back, wondering if she was able to keep up with the 4 year old. She had to admit, it was hard at times, but every moment was absolutely worth it!

Her only regret was that she would more than likely not live to see Fibra get married herself. But, there was no turning back the clock. Fibra was her rainbow child, and nothing and no one could keep that from her.

At precisely 4pm she heard a sound at the door. "Hi, darling! Happy Birthday!" Shram was home! She ran straight into his arms. Ever since he had taken up that job at the historical records building, he could not always get home at a decent hour. 4 was late, but it would have to do.

He lifted Fibra into the air. "Amaree, you will not believe what I learned today at work!"

"Oh? What was it today? More information on those silly cars you like to study? Or maybe another antique spoon?"

"Hey! That spoon had DNA of an ancient human still on it. Fascinating, I tell you. Absolutely fascinating! But, no, today's is something really special! I couldn't bring it home, of course, but look at this picture.

Amaree shook her head. "It's a chunk of rock, Shram."

"Look closely! See those markings? They are writings from ancient humans. Here, I'll write them out here."

He slowly and carefully scribbled out something that, to Amaree, was just a bunch of scribbles "Elizabeth II 1926-2022."

"What does it mean?"

"Our language experts believe it was part of some kind of ancient tomb. There seems to be remnants of other names on it, but most of them have been destroyed. It was found at that old site in Fitserway. "

"Fisterway? who would have thought that much would show up in that swampy field?"

"I know right?! The crazy part? This person...her name translates to something like Elizabeth II...those things next to her name are the years she was alive. You won't believe this, but she lived for 96 years!"

Amaree shook her head. "Now, that is absolutely impossible! No one has ever lived for that long. Surely you must be mistaken. How can they be certain with something that old anyway? After all, we are talking ancient history!"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I just record. But they did a lot of research, and seem fairly certain. There are some theories, of course. Some people think that when they say 'years' back then, that it didn't mean the same thing as our 365 1/4 day year. Maybe half that long? Another theory is that this Elizabeth was actually 2 people, and that is how long they lived."

She nodded. "That makes more sense. What do you think?"

"I guess I don't see why someone couldn't have lived that long of a life back then. After all, it has been a few thousand years sense then. I am sure the atmosphere was different. Why not? It might just be romantic, but I like the idea of people living for so long!"

She shook her head. "Whatever makes you happy! Now, how about we get ready to celebrate for real! I may not be 96, but it is my birthday after all!"

Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.

Reminders:

>* No AI-generated reponses 🤖 >* Stories 100 words+. Poems 30+ but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* [RF] and [SP] for stricter titles >* Be civil in any feedback and follow the rules

🆕 New Here? ✏ Writing Help? 📢 News 💬 Discord

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.