Dinosaur Stakeout

by Judith Silverthorne

  Pederson raised his eyebrows. “Indeed, how would you have acquired some of those cuts and bruises during your episode otherwise? The Nelwins sure aren’t responsible for all of them. I know it’s not your imagination and you surely couldn’t do that to yourself.”

  He patted Daniel on the shoulder. “I never would have thought it possible. But I’m glad that’s behind us and it won’t happen again.”

  “Me too,” replied Daniel, feeling happy and relieved now that his friend and mentor accepted the truth about his travels. Then he looked at Mr. Pederson and asked, “Would you have liked to go, if you’d had the chance?”

  “Who wouldn’t want to explore knowledge like that ­first-­hand?” Mr. Pederson hoisted his pack onto his back. “But this is a great time to experience too, lad.”

  Then, drawing his arm across the skyline encompassing the farmyard, the campsite, and the direction of the quarry, he said, “This quarry operation is enough of an accomplishment for me.”

  Pederson adjusted his backpack and they stood in companionable silence, each lost in his own ­thoughts.

  Moments later, the Lindstrom family pulled into the driveway. They parked their bright red Chevrolet Silverado crew-cab truck in the shade behind the combination outdoor kitchen and snack bar. Jed’s family poured out of the truck, all chattering at once. Dactyl barked excitedly, running from one to another, wagging his ­tail.

  Mom came from the house with a huge coffee urn, headed for the outdoor kitchen. Greta Lindstrom, Jed’s mom, followed from the truck with large plastic containers of baking. The two youngest daughters, Leanne and Lindsay, came behind with bags of groceries containing fresh fruit, vegetables, homemade bread, and assorted condiments. Lucy carried a portfolio under her arm, and she and Jed joined Daniel and Mr. ­Pederson.

  They could see Jed’s dad, Doug Lindstrom, coming slowly down the road in a ­beat-­up old jeep with a string of trotting quarter horses tied behind. These gentle animals would be used for the tourists, while the guides rode Gypsy or Pepper. When Doug Lindstrom arrived in the yard, Dad jumped into the jeep with him and they drove at a snail’s pace down the winding trail towards the campsite halfway down the valley. Meanwhile, Ole Pederson gathered Daniel, Jed, and Lucy around ­him.

  “All right, team, are you ready to go?” Ole Pederson asked, eyeing each of them. “Lucy, tourist maps and info sheets?”

  Lucy opened up the satchel and held up a sheaf of papers. “Ready!”

  “Check!” said Pederson. “Jed?”

  “Ready to go, sir!” He dug a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it to reveal a map with special markings on it. The plan was to give their guests the best view and include botanical sights along the way, while at the same time preserving the natural ­habitat.

  Pederson nodded at Jed. “Good!”

  Then he turned to Daniel with a twinkle in his eyes. “I already know you’re revved up!”

  “Who’s taking the first group?” Lucy asked, turning ­businesslike.

  “That will depend on what the guests ­want – ­if they’re hiking on foot, or want the horseback ­trail – ­and what all of you decide.” Pederson replied. He obviously didn’t want to choose between ­them.

  “I’ll go over the information and rules with them,” Lucy volunteered. “Then if either Jed or Daniel wants to take them, that’s okay with me.”

  “Why don’t you take them, Jed?” Daniel offered. “I have to get the Nelwins started at cleaning my hideout.”

  “You’re sure?” Jed said eagerly, tucking in his shirt and patting down his fair curly ­hair.

  Daniel nodded. He could see the Nelwins out of the corner of his eye. Todd jumped off the parked tractor as he approached, and Craig closed the barn door firmly. “You’ll do fine! I’ll be just a whistle away.”

  The three guides had devised a sequence of whistling with their fingers to alert each other when they needed help. Pederson also had a code, if he needed ­them.

  “All right, I’m heading off to the dig,” Pederson said. “I’ll see you there soon, Jed. And the rest of you later.”

  Pederson strode off to his truck to pick up the remainder of his gear. Jed and Lucy headed for the outdoor kitchen to help where they could. Mom crossed the yard to the henhouse, egg basket in hand. Daniel headed towards the ­Nelwins.

  “All done the barn chores?” Daniel inquired pleasantly when he joined ­them.

  “Yeah,” Todd said. His stance suggested he had better things to do, but would tolerate ­Daniel.

  Craig joined them, his head hung low. He wouldn’t look Daniel in the ­eyes.

  “What do you have planned for us next?” Todd asked somewhat ­sourly.

  “Hey, I didn’t cause the problems in the first place, you know?” Daniel said, somewhat taken aback by Todd’s ­attitude.

  “Yeah, right, I know,” said Todd in a low voice. “That doesn’t mean we have to be cheerful.”

  “Fine.” Daniel said. “We’re headed for the hideout. Did you bring the cleaning stuff?”

  “We left it in the hills on our way over,” Craig mumbled.

  “Okay, let’s go.” Daniel took the ­lead.

  As they covered the rough terrain across the hills, Daniel guided Craig and Todd along the most direct route to his hideout. Dactyl joined them, scampering ahead. The landscape around them was typical southwestern ­Saskatchewan – ­scrubby brush, grassy knolls, stones, and rolling hills. The Bringham farmyard was on the crest of a hill overlooking the Frenchman River Valley. Daniel’s hideout was in a natural cave in a coulee between two ­hills.

  Perky gophers darted through the patchy meadow grass to their holes, in the bright morning sunshine. Crows cawed as they winged their way across the valley floor. All around them grasshoppers whirred and tiny flying insects bobbed about their heads. As they scuffed past tallish pale green stalks with long, slender leaves, whiffs of pungent sage wafted up to ­them.

  Craig and Todd said little, and halfway there, they came across the broom, shovel, and several garbage bags the Nelwins had stashed earlier. When they stopped to retrieve them, Daniel unzipped his backpack and reached into the middle section. He handed each of the boys a bottle of water. Gratefully, they accepted and took big swigs. The sun was much higher and hotter ­now.

  “Daniel, can I ask you something?” Craig asked tentatively, peering at him out of the corner of his ­eye.

  Daniel ­waited.

  “Do you, uh, do you believe we really went back to dinosaur time?”

  Todd shuffled closer to hear the ­answer.

  “What do you think?” Daniel ­asked.

  “Sure felt real,” answered ­Craig.

  Beside him, Todd nodded ­slowly.

  “It was scarier than any nightmare I’ve ever had.” Craig offered. “I guess it must have happened.”

  “I can’t think of anything else that makes any sense,” admitted ­Todd.

  “There doesn’t seem to be any other explanation, does there?” Daniel asked, giving them an opportunity to suggest other reasons, even though he knew it had truly ­happened.

  The boys shuffled uneasily. Almost at the same time, they looked over at the cuts and scrapes on Daniel’s arms and legs, easily visible since he wore shorts and a ­T-­shirt. The cuts and scrapes to his body hadn’t been there before their trip to prehistoric ­time.

  “The whole episode was as ­real-­life as right now,” Daniel said. Then he confessed, “But if I hadn’t done it a couple of times before, I wouldn’t think it actually happened either.”

  The boys were silent then, thinking. Craig shivered. Todd’s face had a haunted look, as he scuffled off with the tools in his arms. Craig grabbed the rest of the cleaning stuff and followed his brother. Daniel walked along behind ­them.

  By the time they arrived at the hideout, the Nelwins seemed more relaxed in Daniel’s company. Dactyl disappeared over a rise as Daniel led the way inside, crawling on his hands and knees. Todd followed. Then Craig brought in the
­tools.

  Most of the larger chunks of debris the Nelwins had strewn about were gathered together into piles, but there were still plenty of bits all over the floor. Broken pieces of rock, bones, parts of a rattlesnake skin, twigs, wrappers from snacks, fossils, and clumps of dirt littered the place from front to back. Sunlight streamed through the hole Daniel had made as a window at the top of the hideout. Off to one side, Daniel’s old paleontology research book lay in a heap, tattered, with many of the pages torn out of ­it.

  Daniel set down his backpack and went to retrieve the sections of his almost ruined book. He sat down, ­heavy-­hearted, on his tree stump in the middle of the cave under the skylight opening, sighing as he tried to piece it back together. It was going to take more than glue!

  As he worked to reassemble the pages, the Nelwins picked up the bigger chunks of wreckage, tossing them into a garbage bag. Then they stood looking at the piles of stones, arrowheads, animal bones, special rocks, archeological tools, and other items as if they didn’t know where to ­begin.

  “Set the rock samples along that wall,” Daniel pointed to the back of the hideout. “You can roll up the sleeping bag and set it beside them. The string and twine need to be rewrapped and put into these containers,” he nodded towards rusty coffee cans on the floor next to his ­feet.

  “Just leave the piles of stones and fossils where they are. I’ll need to bring some new containers.”

  They’d stomped on the plastic ice cream pails and crushed the coffee tins during their rampage. Daniel also knew they would never be able to sort out the stones and fossil pieces properly. He’d have to do it another ­time.

  A while later, those tasks completed, the brothers began sweeping the floor and gathering the leftovers into the shovel, then dumping it into the garbage bags. Daniel ducked outside to get away from the dust. By now, he’d done the best he could with his book. He’d have to take it home to do any other repairs. He grabbed a side flap to stick it inside his ­backpack.

  Rrrippp. With the flap opened, Daniel’s hand stopped in midair. A small pine cone was stuck to the Velcro tab! He dropped the backpack and stepped away. Rooted to the spot, he stared down at the small cone. It must have fallen into his backpack during his last trip into prehistoric time. Maybe it had happened when he and the Nelwins had leapt from the trees after the Tyrannosaurus rex had left them for a better ­meal?

  What was he going to do? He was sure the pine cone would work the same way as the piece of redwood bark that had catapulted him and the Nelwins into the past. He couldn’t leave it on his backpack. And if he came in contact with it, he knew he’d be hurled back into the past again as quick as a bee sting. Sure, he could probably drop the cone to return to his current life, but would he be lucky enough to escape being seriously injured or eaten before he could come ­back?

  He shuddered just thinking about the final thing he’d experienced the time before. He’d nearly lost his ­life – ­narrowly escaping a small, fast, ­meat-­eating theropod dinosaur with its deadly ­sickle-­like claw on each foot, which had attacked just before he’d suddenly returned to the ­present.

  What if he removed the cone with a stick or something? But even if he unstuck it from his backpack, where would he keep it? He needed somewhere safe so that no one else would be exposed to it. He recalled again how the Nelwins had intruded into his special place and discovered it. He didn’t want anything like that to happen again. But thinking about the Nelwins brought him back to the present. They must almost be finished cleaning. He had to do something with the cone before they came ­out.

  Taking a deep breath, Daniel seized a branch from near the entranceway of his ­hideout – ­one he figured would do the job properly. Quickly, he stripped the branch of dead leaves and twigs. Then he took another gulp of air. Reaching out with the stick, he stood for a few moments unsure if he was about to disappear. He held his breath as he gathered his courage. Then, quickly, he jabbed at the cone with the tip of his stick. Nothing happened. He drew ­back.

  Okay, he had to be directly touching it before anything could happen. He nudged at it again. The Velcro on the backpack held the cone fast against his soft proddings. He stabbed a third time, using more ­force.

  All at once it let go and flipped into the air. Daniel watched the cone rise as if in slow motion. It did a slow twirl and landed nearly touching his left foot. He jumped back with a little ­yelp.

  Just then, Craig thrust his head outside the hideout. He stopped short, causing Todd to holler at him from behind. Craig stared at Daniel, taking in the situation. He cowered back. Todd squeezed out past him and came to an abrupt ­halt.

  Daniel stood still, not daring to move. “Don’t touch it!” he ­yelled.

  “Is that from dinosaur time?” Todd asked in a low, scared ­voice.

  Daniel ­nodded.

  Craig shuddered. “Keep it away from me!”

  “You bet I will,” said Daniel. “I don’t want anyone to touch it. I just don’t know what to do about it yet!”

  “Where did it come from?” Craig’s voice ­quavered.

  Daniel explained his suspicions. Todd and Craig sidled away from the cone and moved behind ­Daniel.

  “How about burying it?” Todd ­asked.

  “But what if someone or some animal accidentally uncovered it?” Daniel ­asked.

  “Bury it really deep,” suggested ­Craig.

  “I wouldn’t trust that! We could get a big rain and then wind could erode the dirt away!” Daniel said. “That’s how many fossils came to be discovered.”

  “How about hiding it in there?” Craig pointed to Daniel’s hideout. “At least the weather wouldn’t get directly at it.”

  Daniel thought about it for a few moments, eyeing the Nelwins ­suspiciously.

  Todd spoke up. “We wouldn’t go looking for it. Promise!”

  Craig shook his head. “No way. We don’t want to be anywhere near it again!”

  “You’ll be the only one who knows where it is,” said ­Todd.

  “We won’t ever come back to your hideout again, either,” Craig ­promised.

  “That’s right!” Todd ­agreed.

  “Okay,” Daniel decided reluctantly. “Are you finished in there?”

  “Yes,” said ­Todd.

  “Get your stuff, and you can go back to the farm, while I figure out how to do this,” Daniel directed them. “Find my dad, and he’ll tell you what needs doing next.”

  The brothers scrambled back into the hideout and within moments had shoved out the tools and bags of garbage. Outside, they gathered everything into their arms and left. With barely a backward glance, they lit across the hills and soon disappeared from sight. They didn’t even wait to see what Daniel would do ­next.

  Daniel’s mind was on his precarious task. Would he be able to hide the cone safely without being flung back in ­time?

  Chapter Three

  Daniel stood rooted to the spot for a few more minutes. How was he going to move the cone? Obviously, using a stick wasn’t reliable. Then he remembered an old garden trowel he had in his hideout. At least, he hoped it was still there. Carefully, he stepped around the pine cone and crawled into the dark recesses of his ­cave.

  Once he located the trowel, he scanned the walls. He found the perfect ­spot – ­a small crevice about halfway down the east wall that he could dig a little deeper. He worked away at it, forming a hole. Once this was accomplished, he crawled back ­outside.

  Cautiously, he edged the trowel under the dangerous cone until it rested in the middle. Daniel wiped away the sweat that was forming on his ­brow – ­knowing it wasn’t from the heat of the sun’s sharp rays. Grasping the trowel handle with two hands, he softly trod over to the hideout doorway. Gently, he pushed the trowel inside and set it down beside the door, making sure the cone was stable. He crawled inside, and slowly picked it up ­again.

  As he made his way to the freshly dug crevice, he held his breath. With great care, he tipped the trowel and
let the pine cone slide into the opening, pushing it firmly into place. Then he found a stone and plugged the hole, making sure his fingers didn’t touch the cone. Next, he patted moist dirt from the floor over the hole, using the trowel to smooth the wall until no seams ­showed.

  Relieved, Daniel plopped himself down on his tree stump, and let the trowel slide from his hand. He gave a huge sigh and wiped the sweat from his forehead. The pine cone was safely hidden for the time being. Once the dirt dried, no one would see anything ­unusual.

  Except he’d know where it was. Could he leave it there? Or would he be tempted to make use of ­it?

  Imagine discovering new information and being able to verify some of the things the scientists debated? One thing he could do right now was tell them about the colours of the various creatures. But he couldn’t prove ­it.

  Suddenly, a thought struck Daniel. What if he were to go back in time on purpose? He could make sure he was prepared with the proper equipment. Why not make use of the cone? A tremor of fear ran up his spine. No, he couldn’t do it! What if a carnivore dinosaur actually succeeded in attacking him? No one would know where he was and no one would be able to help him! His parents would never know what had happened to ­him.

  He shook his head and got up. It was time to get back to the farm and see how things were going. He hadn’t heard any whistling, but then he wasn’t outside where he could listen for it either. He gave one last look at the hiding spot and left. Dactyl joined him moments ­later.

  Hustling home, Daniel found ideas popping through his mind like kernels in a ­hot-­air popcorn maker. If he did go back to prehistoric time, a camera would be great and maybe he could bring back samples of plants. Then he jerked his thoughts back to the present. The journey would simply be too dangerous!

  When he reached the yard, Dactyl wandered off and Daniel made his way to the tourist campsite. Craig and Todd ignored him when he arrived. Craig concentrated on applying a layer of stain over the exterior outhouse walls that he’d covered with ­spray-­painted swear words a couple of nights before. Todd kept himself busy sanding the tops of the picnic tables. He’d etched his initials into them with his pocket knife. Daniel saw that one of them had also pounded out the dints in the ­forty-­five-­gallon water barrel that they had dumped Daniel into and then rolled down the ­hill.