Old Bones

by Gwen Molnar

  When they weren’t riding, they’d hitch rides with some of the museum staff — once south to the hoodoos to spend a couple of hours exploring among the odd mushroom-like sandstone formations sculptured over the centuries by wind and water erosion.

  Another time they went on part of a Centrosaurus bonebed hike in Dinosaur Provincial Park, one of the world’s largest dinosaur fields. Their guide on that trip said palaeontologists learned an enormous amount about the behaviour and lifestyle of dinosaurs from beds such as these.

  “The whole place looks so uninhabited.” Sitting in the shade of a sandstone overhang, Mandy shivered. “You’d think there wouldn’t be any wildlife around here, but look.” She pointed to a mule deer finding what coolness it could in a coulee.

  “And there’s a scorpion right by your boot.” Casey pointed.

  Mandy quickly moved her foot.

  “Better that than a rattlesnake, at least,” Mandy said. A comfortable silence surrounded them as the guide took the rest of the group further along the trail. “I’d like to go to Horseshoe Canyon again one of these days — it’s farther away than Horsethief where Dad’ll be driving us tonight. And I’d like to go to the LITTLE church they say ‘seats ten thousand people, six at a time.’ Want to come?”

  “Sure,” Casey said, “I’ve never seen either one.”

  “Horsethief Canyon’s not open to the public at night,” Mandy explained, “but Dad says we can wander around the top of it while he has his meeting.”

  “All right!” Casey gazed into space thinking maybe this time he’d find all the parts of a dinosaur tooth, or even a whole tooth, or …

  Mandy could read his mind. “A lot of people explore that site every day, so don’t get your hopes up on making a big find.”

  The view from the top of Horsethief Canyon was spectacular. They’d brought a couple of folding chairs and were comfortably taking in the sights. As with everywhere along the river valley, the walls of the canyon were earth tones of every variety: black, brown, ochre, tan.

  “Look at all those gullies and slashes,” Casey swept his hand from side to side. “I read that a horse thief could drag a horse into one of them and hide forever in that maze.”

  “Easy to believe,” Mandy said. “Let’s walk a little way down there.”

  “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

  “We’ll just take an easy hike,” Mandy said.

  “How much time do we have before your dad picks us up?” Casey asked.

  Mandy checked her watch. “About two hours,” she told him. “It’ll stay light at least that long.”

  “Up here, maybe,” Casey observed, “not in the valley.”

  Casey climbed down toward a shadowy area that looked like a cave’s mouth.

  “That cave looks pretty near,” he called back. “Let’s give it a look.”

  “It’s almost too near,” Mandy said as she caught up with Casey. “And it’s only about four feet deep. I checked it out last time I was here and so has every other visitor to Horsethief Canyon.”

  “Oh.” Casey looked around. He pointed toward a far hill. “Then let’s go across to that narrow valley between those hills.”

  “Where?” Mandy asked him. Casey pointed again. “Yeah, I see it. I never even noticed it when I was here before; let’s go.”

  After walking for half an hour they didn’t seem to be getting any closer to the far hill, but they were deep in the valley. The evening air began to have a hint of chill. As Mandy started to walk more quickly, her boot hit a rock and she fell forward. Casey knelt beside her. Realizing what such a jar could do to her fragile throat, he said with concern, “You okay, Mandy?”

  “I don’t feel great.” Her voice sounded raspy. “My throat is starting to sting. The doctors said if that happened, I was to stay still and take my pain pills.”

  “You have them with you?” asked Casey.

  “Yeah,” said Mandy, taking a small packet from the back pocket of her shorts.

  “So lie down,” Casey said, his brain racing. “Here, put my jacket under you and huddle into yours. I’ll climb up and wait for your dad. He can call for help on his cellphone.”

  “But it’ll be totally dark down here by then.” Mandy’s faint whisper could hardly be heard. She spread Casey’s jacket onto the cold clay and eased herself down. “How’ll they find me? These pills are very strong and make me so sleepy I’ll probably be out of it. I won’t hear people calling, and I’m not supposed to shout.”

  “Right,” Casey said. “You don’t have any matches, do you?” he asked hopefully.

  “No.”

  “Okay, so we can’t make a fire even if there was any wood,” Casey said. “Here’s what we’ll do. Your dad’s bound to have some sort of light in the Jeep. I’ll take it, find you again — I’m sure I can, then I’ll signal with the light when he comes with help. You get as comfortable as you can. I’ll be back.”

  It was twilight in the valley now, and the air was definitely cool. Casey looked toward the summit of Horsethief Canyon. The sky beyond the summit still looked light and almost without colour.

  Casey figured he could get up there before the valley got totally dark, and started the climb. The rough, red-clay canyon walls were almost black now and the deep slashes in their surface made climbing difficult. He turned to check on Mandy’s location and could barely see the humped outline of his friend.

  How will I find her once it’s really dark ? Casey wondered. I’ll need some sort of marker. Casey looked round. A jet-black area far to his right told him he was level with the mouth of the cave all the visitors went to. He felt around for a rock, then took off his T-shirt, spread it fully out, and put the rock on it.

  That’ll hold it down, he thought.

  Now he was really chilly and scrambled up as fast as the uneven canyon sides would allow.

  From the summit, he could see the sun setting in the west, but the valley was in deep shadow. Casey could see the white blur of his T-shirt. He took off one of his shoes and set its toe pointing toward the shirt. Of Mandy, there wasn’t a sign.

  Well, he thought. I’ll use the flashlight to get to the shirt and head straight down. Mandy’ll be in a line from there. I hope.

  Rubbing his hand along his arms, Casey thought of the day he’d got the sunburn and wished he could feel even a little of that heat now.

  Where was Dr. Norman? It had to be two hours since he’d dropped them off. Casey sat on one of the folding chairs and put up his feet on the other. He wished Mandy were sitting beside him. Not a sound. No voices. No birds. Nothing.

  The sky at his back was darkening now, and the valley, black. Casey could see no sign of his white shirt.

  Why, he wondered, hadn’t he and Mandy been content to just sit and talk? Now he was sure to be in trouble again, like he had been last year when he’d gone out on his own to the Old Willson With Two L’s Place and almost died. His dad would about give up on him after this, and the Normans would blame him for Mandy’s setback. And he hadn’t been any use spotting the crooks.

  He remembered a saying of his grandmother’s. “I feel like crawling into a hole and pulling the hole in after me.” That’s exactly how I feel, Casey thought.

  A car’s motor toiled in the distance. Casey sighed, brought his feet down from the second chair and stood up.

  The light Dr. Norman had in the Jeep was powerful, but his cellphone wasn’t working. He wasn’t keen that Casey should go alone down into the valley, but he agreed to it when he realized Mandy couldn’t answer his calls, and only Casey knew where she was. He gave Casey a big grey sweatshirt to put on and tucked a blanket under it to cover Mandy. Casey rolled back the sleeves, grateful for the warmth of the long shirt that went almost to his knees.

  Casey put on the shoe he’d left pointing toward Mandy. He was on his way down as Dr. Norman, driving off to get help, turned his jeep and purred down the road from the summit roundabout. Quiet settled in again. Casey was grateful for the bright circle of l
ight helping him see ahead.

  I should spot the T-shirt soon, he thought as he eased carefully down the irregular slope. Am I going too far to the right? he wondered, for there wasn’t any sign of his white shirt and the surface of the cliffs seemed different. It occurred to him that the way down had been much easier this time.

  He swung the light around. To his surprise it showed something he recognized. “The cave,” said Casey. “The darn tourist cave. I’m miles off course.”

  “Mandy! Mandy! Wake up and answer me, Mandy!” he shouted.

  He knew there’d be no answer but he kept calling anyway. Casey sat down at the cave entrance and tried to remember how far the cave was from the route they’d taken down.

  “Now,” he said, “how would Dad handle the situation?” He knew perfectly well that his father wouldn’t have got into this situation in the first place. Never mind that; how would he get out of it? “Think,” he told himself.

  “Well, point one: I am much too far to the right. Point two: The cave is roughly parallel to my T-shirt so I must edge to the left till I spot it. Point three: Get to the T-shirt and head down to Mandy.”

  Not that easy. Trying to move left on the level was much harder than going up or down, or being on the path to the cave. Every time he came to a fissure he had to work his way up to where it started and come down the other side. He was glad for the light, but holding it didn’t make climbing any easier. He felt panic rise up.

  “They’ll be here soon with a stretcher and I won’t be with Mandy.”

  Then, almost as if his dad were right beside him, Casey heard, “Steady on, son, you’re doing fine.” Swinging his light way to the left, Casey caught sight of a glimpse of white and side-stepped toward it. Mandy should be in line below the white shirt. She was.

  With Dr. Norman’s light fixed shining uphill, Casey took the blanket from under the grey sweatshirt and tucked it around the sleeping Mandy. A damp clay smell filled his nostrils and he pulled the sweatshirt close around him. He sat down beside Mandy and found her cold hands and rubbed them till they felt a little warmer. He shivered and looked up to summit of Horsethief Canyon.

  “Thank goodness,” he whispered.

  Headlights ringed the summit edge and powerful lights moved down the cliffs. He could hear voices now, coming down toward him.

  They’ll take care of Mandy. She’ll be okay now. My part’s over, he thought. All I have to do now is climb back up, get a ride to town, and get to bed so I can be up in time for work. It’s sure not fun anymore; it’s work!

  Chapter Thirteen

  For two weeks after their misadventure at Horsethief Canyon, Mandy had to stay close to home. For the most part Casey kept her company.

  They talked about everything those long summer evenings.

  “How’re you getting along with that Trevor guy?” Mandy wondered.

  “We just ignore each other most of the time, but the other day when I went to buy that new book on Chinese dinosaurs I’ve been telling you about, we actually had a conversation. He is totally into palaeontology.” Casey thought for a minute and then said, “He’s not so bad.”

  They didn’t speak for a while as they sat watching the evening light fade and the faint stars began to show.

  Then Mandy asked, “You got a girlfriend?”

  ”Well,” Casey hesitated and then said, “I really like Marcia Finegood, but we’re just good friends, like you and I are, and anyway, she’s hooked up with Terry Bracco now.” He didn’t say anything for a while. Then, “There is a girl I really like an awful lot — Mary Kelly. She’s the daughter of my parents’ best friends, Maureen and Mike. We used to vacation with them every summer at their big lakeside cabin in southern B.C. She and I grew up together in a way, and we’re always on the same wavelength. I was hoping to see her this year as well, but with all the construction at home and me being down here and Maureen and Mike taking a cruise, it looks like it’s not going to happen. But you never know, it just might.”

  Casey turned to Mandy, “I sure won’t miss Mary’s brother, Jason. Mary and I can’t stand him since he turned eighteen — like, I mean, he is a real jerk — but I will miss Mary. We text message a lot, so we know what’s going on in each other’s lives, but it would be so great if we could spend some quality time together. Like I say, there’s just a hair of a chance we could go out there for a couple of days.

  “But, enough about me. How about you, Mandy? Got someone special?”

  Casey saw Mandy blink a couple of times, but it was ages till she said, “There used to be — a terrific guy named Sam — but since we moved down here, I’ve heard from him only twice, and my Edmonton friends tell me he’s going steady with Lacy Lord.”

  “Lacy Lord! I can’t believe it,” Casey shook his head. “I know her; blonde, and …?”

  “Well-endowed,” Mandy smiled.

  “Yeah, very well-endowed. Great swimmer too, of course, but not everyone’s fave as I recall.”

  “Anyway, since Sam, nary a one. Except you, of course, but as we agree, we’re connected by friendship, not romance.”

  Mandy yawned. “Time to call it a night, Casey. See you tomorrow.”

  Casey rode his bike to work every morning, carefully locking it to the rack in front of the museum, and he’d taken a few rides around town on his own. But it wasn’t as much fun as when Mandy was riding alongside. They played a lot of video games, listened to a lot of music, watched a lot of movies, and played chess. Casey’s grandmother had taught him well, and Mandy knew the rudiments.

  An unexpected visit from Casey’s favourite brother, Hank, and his current girlfriend, Sarah, made the kind of break Casey needed — it was perfect.

  Casey realized he hadn’t told them about buying the mountain bike. I mean, he thought, it’s my money. But he knew how his dad loved to be consulted about things, and he wished he’d asked his advice or at least told him. He needn’t have worried. The chief superintendent, who loved every wheeled vehicle ever built, approved of Casey’s purchase. He thought the bike was wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, he asked if he could try it out. He was so tall his knees came way high as he pedalled, but he checked out all the gears and came back full of praise for Casey’s choice.

  There were other good parts to the visit, too, like the evening meals and get-togethers at the Normans’. Both sets of parents got along very well.

  But as Casey’d expected, his dad was pretty upset at what had happened to Mandy in the canyon, and was waiting for Casey at the museum door the last afternoon of their stay to walk back to the Normans’ with him.

  “Honest, Dad, going to Horsethief Canyon was Mandy’s idea.” He stopped walking, scuffed his right shoe, and looked up at his dad. “I admit that heading for the other side of the canyon was mine; but Mandy wanted to go — she really did.”

  “Mandy’s older and should have been more sensible,” said Chief Superintendent Templeton, “and it certainly isn’t your fault that she fell, but you’ve got to learn not to take unnecessary risks when it’s someone else’s well-being that’s at stake.”

  “I’ll try,” Casey said, hoping that was the end of the lecture. It wasn’t. His father started talking again.

  “I have to say that you really used your head in Mandy’s rescue; Bill Norman is most impressed with that and, as I’ve told you before, with your detailing your encounter with the thieves.”

  Hurray for Dr. Norman! Casey shouted to himself.

  “And,” Casey said out loud, “we’re not doing anything the least bit strenuous now.”

  “Good,” said his dad. “Now let’s get back for supper.”

  Everyone had a great time at supper that night and the food was terrific. Mandy, of course, had to have liquids only because of her recuperating throat. During dessert, Casey’s mother turned to him, “Terry and Kevin say ‘Hi,’ and Mike said to remind you about the contest. What contest?”

  Casey grinned, “Oh, I’ll tell you about it sometime.”

  Bu
t then and there he realized he’d not been doing any real exercises — just walking and biking, and certainly not any arm-strengthening ones. Better get back to it, he thought. It’d be real embarrassing if Mike beat me.

  “And there’s more news,” Casey’s mother continued. “The Ogilvies and the Maitlands are taking Bryan and Greta on a Baltic cruise next week.”

  “I’m so pleased for them,” Casey said, straight faced. “Wish I could go along. Not.”

  As he and Mandy were walking slowly up and down the Normans’ street the day after his parents’ visit, she said, “You seem kind of different when your dad’s around, Casey. I wonder why.”

  Casey was quiet for a few steps, then said, “Well, when I was growing up I hardly saw Dad at all. He was always on some mission — first with an RCMP mission in Bosnia, to train Bosnian police, and then with the same sort of mission in Afghanistan. That’s where he was pretty badly wounded and decided to leave the force. He’d been with it long enough to retire anyway.” He thought for a minute and added, “We’re getting to know each other better now. I guess you could say we’re ‘bonding.’”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Casey was so bored with sitting for hours every day at the museum he could hardly wait to get out of there at night. He’d been keeping an eye on Trevor and caught him more than once looking over the artifacts on Casey’s desk. Casey developed a placement system, so one day, when he came in and saw that things were not as they should be, he knew right away that a couple of bone fragments were missing.

  What to do? Though they were from a selection he hadn’t categorized yet, he knew how many had been on his desk, but not which ones weren’t there now. Looking up, Casey spotted the camera above the museum entrance. He was sure its range reached as far as his desk. When he finished work, he’d ask security if he could have a look at its footage of the afternoon. He’d do it without implicating Trevor, just say he wanted to see how much the camera saw.