Dinosaur Blackout (2 page)

Dactyl lifted a paw for a handshake and waited for a treat. Daniel pulled a small biscuit out of his pocket. Dactyl rose on his hind legs with a little whining noise in his throat and Daniel popped a tasty morsel into the dog’s mouth. With a few quick chomps, it was gone.

Daniel continued to pat his dog, gazing out at the rolling hills of southwest Saskatchewan and the Frenchman River Valley. Several miles to the south of the Bringham farm lay the town of Climax. To the east was the town of Eastend with its T. rex Discovery Centre and the Royal Saskatchewan Museum field station. Although the entire area looked scrubby and uninteresting to some eyes, Daniel knew the terrain concealed many treasures in the form of prehistoric fossils. The coulees and buttes also camouflaged the homes of antelope, mule deer and black-tailed prairie dogs. To Daniel, it was the best place he could imagine.

Daniel scanned the valley below, where his secret hideout lay in a gully, its opening hidden by brush to keep away prying eyes. He had no sense of concern when he thought about his collections of fossils, rocks and paleontological gear stashed inside. Although several people, including his parents, his neighbour Ole Pederson and Dr. Mildred Roost – a visiting paleontologist – knew of its location, they had no reason to intrude.

Nor did the Nelwin brothers, at least not since they’d trashed the place earlier in the summer and had to clean it up. Besides, they were too busy concentrating on the finds at the quarry and assisting the guests who came to explore. And they still had to keep up with the farm work.

But the feeling of disquiet arose again. Something wasn’t right. Daniel tried to shake it off as he saw Dad walk into the yard.

“Wait up!” he called. He and Dactyl raced over and they all walked to the house together.

“Things okay down there?” Daniel indicated the campsite.

“Sure,” Dad answered. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief. As they chatted, Daniel scanned the cloudless sky. No indication of bad weather brewing.

By the time he and Dad washed and returned to the kitchen, the Nelwins had arrived and seated themselves at their customary spots at the breakfast table. His sister Cheryl sat in her high chair, squishing bits of pancake in chokecherry syrup, then stuffing them into her mouth with contented little murmurs. Bits of purple streaked the fluffy blonde curls around her face.

Moments later, the sound of crunching gravel in their driveway meant Ole Pederson had arrived. A tap on the door, followed by its swift opening, revealed him and Dr. Mildred Roost. Mom greeted them warmly. Mildred Roost removed her Tilley hat, letting it dangle down her back on its wind cord, revealing her long, braided grey hair. She stamped her metal cane along the floor, even though she didn’t really need it, taking a chair closest to the door. Mr. Pederson chose the seat beside her, curling his long legs beneath his chair.

“Good morning!” Dad slid into his place at the head of the table, beaming at everyone.

“Hard to believe summer is about over,” Dr. Roost sighed, shifting her cane to a more comfortable position on the back of her chair.

“Yes, and our first tourist season has almost come to an end too,” said Mom, serving their pancakes with a flourish.

Ole Pederson’s grey-blue eyes twinkled as he patted the wisps of grey hair in place over his forehead to hide his receding hairline. “I’d say in many ways it’s been quite a success!”

Everyone chorused an agreement. All their long hours to prepare the dig and construct a campsite had created a new attraction in the area. The many tours they’d given had worked well.

“After this Labour Day long weekend, we’ll have to tally up the final financial results,” Dad said, reaching for the syrup.

Ole Pederson nodded. “Yes, that’s what’ll help us decide if we want to do it again next year.”

“And if the bank will give us the go-ahead,” added Mom.

Daniel sat up with a jolt. He’d never even considered that they wouldn’t continue. All he could think about was how important their discoveries were to the paleontology world, how exciting it was to learn about prehistoric times.

“But we’ve had plenty of people coming for the tours,” Daniel spluttered.

“Yes,” Dad agreed, “but that doesn’t mean we’ve made enough money at it to support us all.”

Two families, Daniel’s and his friend Jed’s, along with Ole Pederson, operated the paleontology dig and campground for tourists interested in learning more about dinosaurs and the world they lived in. They’d planned the venture as a way of providing extra income to keep their farms alive. And Ole Pederson was the centre of it all. He’d discovered the skeleton of an
Edmontosaurus
almost two years earlier and he’d also helped establish a dinosaur museum in Climax. Daniel had been involved with Mr. Pederson in the preparation of the bones.

“The sooner we discuss the future, the better,” agreed Mr. Pederson. “Especially now that we’ve found the
Stygimoloch
and there are indications of other possible finds.”

“As soon as we release the information about the
Stygimoloch
, we’ll have even more visitors,” Daniel suggested. Until Daniel and Pederson found their almost whole skeleton, there had only been five partial skulls found in North America and those had been discovered in Montana and Wyoming in 1983.

“Yes, but we’re still not quite ready to do that,” Dad said.

“Indeed,” Ole Pederson added, “we need to finish retrieving the entire fossil and verify it as much as possible. I want to make sure we do this right.”

Dr. Roost snorted, “Yeah, and that nosy news reporter from Eastend, Adrian McDermott, is already suspicious that we have something special here.”

“He’s just looking for any kind of news to fill up the paper,” Mom said. “He’s young, he’s fresh out of journalism school and he’s excited...”

“And he’s a pain,” said Ole Pederson.

“Yeah, but it’s got to be tough for him when nothing exciting goes on in this area otherwise,” Dad said.

“Just seems like he’s everywhere. But I suppose he does cover every bake sale and school event, which is important to people around here,” Mr. Pederson admitted.

“And the story he did on our tourist operation last month brought more people our way,” said Daniel. “Maybe if we had more publicity, we’d have even more people coming and we’d be sure of being able to continue.”

“You might be right, Daniel,” said Dad, “but still we’ll have to wait and see how things go and do them in the right order. We don’t want to jeopardize Mr. Pederson’s work and reveal anything before we’re ready.”

“At least when the time is right to get it into the news, you know he’ll be a good one to go to,” Dr. Roost said, chuckling.

Daniel sighed to himself. He sure hoped they’d be able to continue the tourism operation the following year and, of course, keep the farm. He had the best of all worlds right now, living the rural life and being able to dig for dinosaur bones. But the greatest part of the last couple of years had been his astonishing excursions into prehistoric time. He had been flung into the world of late Cretaceous Period dinosaurs – the very paleontological age they were unearthing in their quarry.

Although the first couple of trips happened by accident, his last terrifying adventure was one he’d planned. He’d meant to go alone, but Dr. Roost had turned up at the last minute and insisted on coming along. The adventure had almost cost them their lives.

Now, even though Daniel knew a way to go back to the past again, it wasn’t something he wanted to attempt for a good long time. He had safely hidden some prehistoric foliage that could transport him back. Pederson and Dr. Roost knew nothing about it, but he was pretty sure Craig knew that there was still a way to go back.

As the conversation bubbled around him, Daniel concentrated on the delicious whole wheat saskatoon berry pancakes smothered in plain yogurt and drizzled with tangy-sweet chokecherry syrup, followed with bites of spicy homemade sausage. He noticed the Nelwins digging in with relish too. At last, he had his fill, and washed the meal down with a final refreshing jolt of freshly squeezed orange juice.

“Terrific, as usual, Libby,” Ole Pederson told Daniel’s mom, patting his stomach. As Pederson shoved back his chair and reached for his hat, Dr. Roost nodded in agreement, swallowing the last of her coffee.

“Ready to head out?” she asked.

Pederson nodded. “I want to get an early start.” He looked at Daniel and Craig. “You boys ready?”

“Sure,” they chorused.

Pederson turned to Todd. “You staying here or coming with us?”

Todd looked at Daniel’s dad. “We have the west field to finish harvesting, right?”

Dad gave Todd an understanding smile. “Yes, though if you wanted to go with them this morning, you could. The crop is so poor, it won’t take long to finish it.”

“No, that’s fine. I’ll stay here.” But Daniel thought he saw Todd’s disappointment.

Everyone rose and moved at once, taking their dishes to the sink, then heading for the door and their various tasks. The Lindstrom family would arrive soon and Jed would conduct the first tour and join the quarry group later to work on his special project. His sister Lucy would take the first trail-ride group. As usual, Jed’s dad, Doug Lindstrom, would help Dad at the camp and on the farm, while his mom, Greta, supervised the outdoor kitchen operation with Daniel’s mom. Jed’s other two sisters, Leanne and Lindsay, would help prepare meals and babysit Cheryl.

Daniel fed leftovers to Dactyl and added some crunchy dog food to his bowl. He refilled his pet’s water dish, and then swung his backpack over his shoulder and joined the others at the edge of the yard. As they headed across the pasture, Daniel walked with Mr. Pederson. Dr. Roost and Craig poked along behind them, chatting. Above them, a hawk swooped down the valley, with a harsh
keeer
cry. Gophers dashed into holes in front of them with warning squeaks, their stubby tails flipping out of sight.

Around them, the fading landscape signalled the end of summer. Velvety goldenrod and scarlet paintbrush dotted the thick, yellowing grass and drying scrub. Canada thistle and sage had gone to seed and brown ragweed sprang up here and there. The last sweet smell of clover growing along the ditches filled the crisp air, along with the scents of harvesting in the fields beyond. Geese were beginning to gather for their long journey south, snacking on bits of grain the combines had left behind.

As they walked across the gently sloping hills to the quarry, Pederson seemed to have a constant tickle in his throat. Each time he coughed, Daniel’s stomach gave a little lurch. Was
this
what was worrying him – that Mr. Pederson hadn’t been looking well lately?

“You’re not catching a cold, are you?” Daniel asked, keeping up with the old man’s long strides. He worried that it might turn into something worse.

Pederson shook his head. “No. It’s just the grain dust from the harvesting.”

Daniel looked up at the slight haze in the sky. He could hear the distant roar of tractors, combines and grain trucks from several directions. “You’ve never had allergies before, have you?”

“There’s a first time for everything,” Pederson continued. “Seems to be more dust than usual. Guess it’s because it’s been such a dry year and there’s more chaff than grain in the crops.”

“Are you sure that’s all it is?” Daniel asked, though he knew crops were so poor that some farmers hadn’t even bothered to harvest.

Pederson kept his eyes straight ahead. “When a fellow gets as old as I am, the body just acts up sometimes.”

Daniel protested, “No way! You’re not old.”

Pederson chuckled. “I’ve been old for a long time.”

Daniel stared at his friend, recalling when they’d first met, and had to admit that Mr. Pederson had been old even then. But Daniel never really thought about what that meant or that Pederson might be gone someday. He was still so agile and quick-witted. Then Daniel recalled that his Grandfather Bringham had been about the same age when he died several years earlier.

A chill ran up Daniel’s body as he recalled Pederson’s bout with pneumonia during a snowstorm two winters earlier. Daniel had been terrified, but Ole had recovered with the help of Daniel’s family. Since then, he’d had the occasional attack of bronchitis in the cold spells, but his coughing now was a little disconcerting.

“Nothing to worry about, lad,” Pederson patted his shoulder.

Daniel suddenly remembered the question he meant to ask. “Do you think we could go on a prospecting trip after the weekend?”

Pederson contemplated for a moment. “I don’t see why not.”

“Craig and Todd want to come too.”

Pederson smiled. “Yes, I did promise to take them, and Jed too. And Mildred will probably enjoy it. In fact, we should see who else would like to go. The more sharp eyes, the better.”

“School starts Thursday, though, so could we go before that?” Daniel asked.

“How about Monday morning, bright and early, seeing as how Sunday is our last official tour day?” Pederson’s eyes twinkled.

Daniel kicked at a clod of grass and whooped. The thought of what fossils might lie hidden only a few metres below their feet gave him goosebumps. Who knew what they might uncover?