Dinosaur Blackout (5 page)

“Todd had to go home,” Mom said.

“Why?” asked Daniel. Todd had never left early before. Did he know something?

Mom shrugged her shoulders. “He remembered something he had to take care of.”

Daniel mounted his horse. “I’ll go see if I can give him a hand.”

“No, Daniel,” Mom called out. “I don’t want you going over there.”

“I’ll be fine.” He nudged Gypsy forward.

“No! I don’t want you anywhere near their dad or their dogs.”

“Okay,” Daniel reined Gypsy in reluctantly. “When will Mr. Pederson and the others be back?”

“Hard to say. They talked about stopping at other places along the way.”

He guided Gypsy to the corral gate, slid off her back and opened the gate. Then he removed her bridle and released her.

As he headed to the house, Daniel wished he were with Mr. Pederson, Dr. Roost and Craig. There was nothing else for him to do except think of the problems they had. The oil spill would be cleaned up by the end of the day, but the loss of the
Stygimoloch
meant he and Pederson couldn’t do any further research on the species, and there wasn’t much information available about them.

The laboratory examinations of the fossils would have been so rewarding – especially as he’d seen a
Stygimoloch
in real life on his last trip to prehistoric time with Dr. Roost. They’d brought photographs back to help with their investigations, but that wouldn’t mean much now. And they couldn’t show the photographs to anyone, because no one would believe they weren’t faked.

Daniel stopped in his tracks. There
was
one way of studying the
Stygimoloch
, but it was simply too dangerous. Besides, he’d promised himself he would give up travelling to the Cretaceous Period. He did have a way to go, though, because he had managed to bring back a pressed leaf and a small piece of branch – both keys to the doorway into the past. Daniel had hidden the specimens where he hoped no one would find them. He didn’t want to chance anyone accidentally being transported into the time of the dinosaurs, as he had been before.

Wait a minute! Why was he even thinking about going back to the past? Did he
really
want to go? Daniel shuddered. No way! He continued walking to the house.

In the dining room, Daniel dug around in the bottom drawer of his dad’s desk for the Rural Municipality map. Spreading it out on the table, he traced the various roads and trails, trying to guess where the load of fossils might have been hauled. But no one route stood out in his mind, even though he was more familiar with the local landscape than most people were, because he had travelled throughout the surrounding area many times while searching for dinosaur fossils. Was there something he hadn’t considered? He closed his eyes and tried to imagine being a thief, but moments later Cheryl’s nap waking-up chatter disturbed him. He hurried upstairs to retrieve her.

From her room, he waved out the window at Mom to let her know that he was taking care of his little sister. Putting her socks and shoes on, he led her downstairs and into the yard where Leanne and Lindsay snagged her and ran to the sandbox to play. Dactyl joined them with happy barks.

“Has Todd returned yet?” Daniel asked, sitting down at the picnic table beside Mom.

“No, but that’s okay. None of us feel much like working today anyway.”

Darn! Daniel would have to be patient until he could talk to Todd.

“Someone’s in a hurry,” commented Greta, motioning to the vehicle speeding down the gravel road in their general direction.

“Wonder where they’re headed?” Daniel watched as waves of gravel dust swirled over the fields in the car’s wake.

All of a sudden, the driver applied the brakes and skidded towards their approach.

“Who is that maniac?” Greta asked.

Within seconds, the 1989 Chevrolet Celebrity turned down their drive and screeched to a halt a few yards from where they sat.

“Adrian McDermott! From the newspaper office,” Mom answered.

They all stared as the young man emerged and ran over to the passenger side, where he pulled out camera equipment, a tape recorder and a microphone. Flinging the straps on his shoulders, equipment dangling across his chest, Adrian McDermott looked like a pack mule. He hurried towards them in a clatter of banging gear.

“Good morning, ma’am. I’m here to interview you about your new developments.” Daniel noticed the young man wasn’t much taller than his mom. He was dressed in casual pants, a shirt and a blazer with patches on the elbows. His green eyes glowed with keen interest and he had a friendly smile on his face.

“I’m afraid you’ve had a wasted trip. There’s nothing we can tell you since the last story you did,” Mom said, with a pleasant smile.

“I heard something unusual was going on here with your dinosaur operation.” He set his gear on the ground. “I just want to be the first to break the news.” He reached for his tape recorder and swung the microphone towards Mom.

“Mr. McDermott,” Mom said firmly. “I’m sorry you came all the way out here on a wild goose chase, but...”

“Can you at least confirm that the rcmp came to your farm early this morning?”

Daniel felt his pulse racing. He was torn between wanting to give Adrian the story to get help in locating the missing fossils, yet hoping his mom would keep it secret. Mom’s face was flushed and he could see her wrestling with how to be nice yet get him to leave without telling him what was going on. Daniel moved closer to her.

Mom shook her head. “We don’t have anything that we can tell you at the moment.”

“Something must have happened.” He stared from one to the other. “I know they were here.”

Greta shrugged, giving him a quick smile. “Well then, you already know the answer to your question.”

The reporter picked up his camera bag. “I won’t push it for now, but how about you promise me that when you’re ready to talk that it’ll be
my
exclusive story.”

“If and when there is something of interest for the public to know, we’ll be sure to let you know,” said Mom, with an encouraging smile. “In the meantime, you might want to follow the story about the oil spill.”

McDermott’s face became animated. “When? Where?”

Daniel gave him quick directions, but before he’d even finished explaining, McDermott scrambled to his car and shoved all his equipment in beside him. Within moments, he gunned the car and whirled off.

“That certainly is a dedicated young man!” Greta said.

“I wonder how he got his information about the theft so quickly, though,” Mom said.

Daniel chewed on his lip as he pondered the question. They’d been very careful to keep their knowledge about the
Stygimoloch
theft quiet. They’d only discovered it a few hours ago. Was someone close leaking information?

Chapter Four

W
hile they discussed Adrian McDermott’s sudden appearance
, Ole Pederson and the others returned from town. Daniel rushed over to them even before Mr. Pederson could park his old Studebaker truck.

“Did you talk to anyone in town about the theft?” Daniel asked.

“And hello to you too,” Ole Pederson said with a brief smile, as he exited the truck.

“Sorry,” Daniel said. “But we just had Adrian McDermott here asking us questions.”

“Did he actually ask about the theft?” Dr. Roost asked, coming around the front of the truck with Craig right behind her.

“No, but he sure knew something was going on out here.”

“Well, we certainly didn’t say anything,” said Old Pederson. “He’s probably just fishing to see what he can get out of us.”

“You didn’t tell him, did you?” asked Mildred Roost.

Daniel shook his head. “I’d like to know how he got wind of it.” He turned to look at Craig.

“Don’t look at me. I haven’t talked to anyone,” Craig said.

“If it will make you feel any better,” said Dr. Roost, “we only went to the T. rex Discovery Centre and spoke to the general manager there, and then we talked to Tim Tokaryk and Wes Long in the lab. In Climax, we talked to the staff at the museum and the same at the one in Shaunavon, but we asked them all to keep everything confidential and I know they will.”

“We did stop in to see how Corporal Fraser was doing, but we were only there briefly and no one else was about,” added Ole Pederson.

Dr. Roost said, “Most likely one of the neighbours saw the rcmp car in the yard.”

Pederson looked around. “I suppose Ed, Doug and Todd are still down working at the campsite? “

“Todd went home,” Daniel said.

“He left?” interrupted Ole Pederson.

“He told Mom he needed to take care of something,” Daniel said.

The focus turned to Craig. “Don’t look at me. I don’t have a clue why he left!”

“I’m sure he must have had a good reason.” Mr. Pederson tried to brush the absence off, but Daniel noted the concern that clouded his grey eyes.

“So did Corporal Fraser have any news?” Daniel asked, pushing aside his own anxiety about Todd.

Pederson‘s body seemed to droop. “Nothing...and I’m not holding out any great hope...” A tickle seemed to catch in his throat as he talked, causing him to cough and his eyes to water.

“There’s something else,” said Daniel. He told them about the oil spill.

“Landsakes!” Dr. Roost protested. “What more can happen?”

Mr. Pederson looked even gloomier. “I think I’ll just go home now,” he said, reaching for a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping his eyes. “I’ll talk to you all tomorrow. Keep me posted if there’s any news about the fossils.”

“We will,” Daniel and Dr. Roost said together, as they watched Pederson shuffle back to his truck, looking like a much older man than he’d looked first thing that morning.

“If we don’t get that
Stygimoloch
back, I worry what it will do to him,” muttered Mildred Roost.

“Me too,” Daniel whispered.

“He’s more upset than I’ve ever seen him. Discovering the
Stygimoloch
specimen meant everything to him.”

“We just
have
to get the fossils back!”

Dr. Roost seemed lost in her own world. “Wish I knew how we could do that. I’d give anything to see him inspired again.” She wandered off, leaning on her cane as if she too had suddenly aged.

Daniel stood in the middle of the yard for some time, thinking of the look on Pederson’s face. When he heard Mom and Cheryl returning from the henhouse, he headed off to begin evening chores. Craig was already in the barn, heaving bales.

By the time Daniel had finished milking, Todd had still not returned, so he and Craig completed the barn chores together. When they were almost done, Daniel asked him about his brother.

“I don’t understand why Todd left,” Craig admitted. “I’d better get home and see what’s going on.”

“Let us know if you need anything,” Daniel said, as Craig hung the pitchfork on its usual nail on the wall stud and left.

Daniel leaned against a post and sighed. He was glad the day was almost over.

Lying in bed that night, he found himself haunted by the day’s happenings and Mr. Pederson’s look of despair. If only he could do something to bring back the old man’s spirit.

Would taking Pederson on a journey into prehistoric time help him recover from this loss?

If he and Ole Pederson went, then Dr. Roost probably would insist on going too. She was brave, he had to give her that, but she wasn’t spry enough to climb trees, nor was Mr. Pederson. What could they do instead to keep safe?

He thought of a series of pulleys and ropes, maybe with some kind of harness system to hold them on their way upwards. But that sounded too cumbersome if they needed to escape quickly. Or could they take some kind of stun gun or tranquilizer darts like the ones used on elephants and other large wild animals? But even if they could get their hands on such things, he was sure the dinosaurs had thicker hides, and even if the darts could penetrate them, there might not be much effect.

He’d do some research on the Internet when he had a chance. Maybe there was something that originally had a different purpose that they could use. He remembered reading a science fiction novel called
The Dechronization of Sam Magruder
in which a man had gone to the Cretaceous Period and existed there for years, having discovered that large dinosaurs like the
Tyrannosaurus
Rex
had poor eyesight, and that if he stood close to them, they couldn’t see him. But the book was a story and he seemed to recall that recent research indicated the
T. rex
actually had great eyesight. Daniel would wait and see what happened tomorrow. No point in rushing things.