And here I thought I'd be outrunning boulders

"So what do you think? We got an oldie?"

I look up at the big golden mess of hair that constitutes loud mouth. I know his name. I'm sure I know his name but it escapes me. I wish I was better at names. I hold back a laugh but I know I'm grinning inanely. I mean yeah it's old. It's a goddamn skeleton of a fallow deer from the whatsitlithic period. He's smiling back but then he picks up a leg bone and points at the broken joint.

"See it's all worn down here. Maybe from like a lot of moving?"

He's being serious. I am not a biologist. Or a boneologist. Oh god jokes about boners.

"Well it's a theory, at least." It's all I can manage without giggling.

"Huh?" I take a deep breath. I haven't really spoken much today, sometimes my mouth forgets how to move. Plus you know I'm short. Sound doesn't carry very well from where I stand.

"It's a theory." It came out all sarcastic and I sort of feel like I should say more but the fat woman in a bad waistcoat is back to talk about pelvic bones and plates in skulls. Every grad student in this department seems to be a crazy hippie or a fatty. We move onto a dead reindeer. The words please stop sitting on the antlers amuse me.

"Do you think that's a cut? Kinda looks worn." He hands me a lump of something.

"Yeah, I'd say so." And so we ponder what cut up the reindeer.

For a moment my vanity flares until I remember I'm in scruffy mode. Like hella scruffy mode. He's just proving the judgement I shared with the german girl. This guy loves to talk. I prove this theory by sticking out my boobs a little. Skinny guy on the other side glances down. Loud mouth talks.

Just another day in archaeology. Talking shit and touching bones.