Read Dinosaur Breakout Online

Authors: Judith Silverthorne

Tags: #Dinosaurs; Time Travel; T-Rex; Brontosaurus; Edmontosaurus; Tryceratops; Discovery Park; Bullies; Old Friends; Paleontologists; Glossary

Dinosaur Breakout (6 page)

BOOK: Dinosaur Breakout
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Daniel hurried outside to the fenced pasture behind the barn and past the corrals where the cows and horses patiently waited. Gypsy snorted and shook her head at him as if to let him know he’d dallied too long. He cranked on the water hose and filled the trough. Next he opened the gate, and herded the two milk cows towards the open barn door, leading them with the pail of chop.

They plodded inside, chewing their cud and flicking their tails at the small cloud of flies and mosquitoes hovering around them. He poured the chop into the troughs in their individual stalls to keep them quiet while he milked them.

~

T
he next morning, Daniel waited for Pederson
at the end of the lane. He’d slept soundly, even though he’d expected to have horrible dreams, and had trouble going to sleep at first. He must have been more tired than he’d thought. When he woke up, he hugged his pillow to his chest, so happy to find himself at home in his own bed. Then he groaned. He still had a slight headache, and his legs and arms ached from climbing the tree. His bruises had turned into large black-and-blue spots on his head and body. He looked like he’d been a punching bag at boxing practice.

As he shifted against a tree at the end of the lane, he felt his arm gingerly, and winced. Moments later, Peder-son rounded the trees in his rusted 1959 Studebaker Scotsman pickup and slid smoothly to a stop with a slight squeak of rusty springs. For a brief moment, Daniel patted Dactyl, who sat with pleading eyes and whined. Daniel shook his head.

“Not this time, boy!”

Dactyl thumped his tail on the ground, but soon gave up and wandered off with a wounded look on his face.
Daniel hopped into the dusty truck and promptly sneezed.
Although Pederson kept the engine running well, he did little to preserve the outside or clean the interior of his aging vehicle.

Besides, with the usually dry land and gravel roads that he travelled, cleaning would be almost pointless for Pederson, who was out and about regularly, especially now that he travelled back and forth to the museum in Climax and the digs on his farmland. As a result, the dash, instrument panel, seats, and floor had a thin layer of dust over them, and the odd mosquito in evidence. Daniel flicked at a small spider dangling from the bottom of the glove compartment and settled in for the jaunt to town.

“I thought we’d go the long way. Through Climax. I haven’t picked up my mail in a while,” Pederson said, shifting into gear. “I forgot yesterday,” he admitted sheep
ishly. “Besides, I wouldn’t mind stopping in at the museum
for a minute. We’ll do a loop to Eastend and come back through Shaunavon.”

Daniel nodded in agreement. He didn’t often get away from the farm or get to ride in Pederson’s old cream-coloured truck. And he loved going to the museum. He knew Pederson couldn’t stay away either. He was probably checking to make sure the volunteer staff was on time and ready to answer questions from the visitors.

As they rattled along the dust-swirled gravel road towards Highway 32, the sun shone hot in an almost cloudless blue sky. The weather forecast on the radio predicted another scorching day. Daniel could already feel the sweat forming on his forehead and his t-shirt sticking to his back against the truck seat.

The relatively flat landscape, after the heat wave of the last several weeks, looked dowdy and brown. Even the yellow flowers of the wild sweet clover growing along the ditches seemed muted and almost blended into the dry grasses. Gophers, with their stubby tails pointing upwards like short antennas, scurried daringly across the road, darting for safety into holes hidden in the dry weeds on the other side. Calls of a yellow-throated warbler and a meadowlark punctuated the morning quiet.

All at once, an unknown vehicle came up behind them in a shower of gravel and dust. Obviously, the driver was in a hurry. Daniel quickly rolled up his window to keep from choking on the swirl of thick gravel dust that enshrouded them when the truck passed them. Pederson did the same. They watched the dusty haze linger for the next mile ahead, billowing out across the fields as it dissipated. When the dust settled, they wound their windows down again. Pederson never said a word.

Once they turned onto the highway, Daniel didn’t bounce around quite so much, even though Pederson did some fancy driving to miss the patches and potholes in the road. Daniel marvelled at the craggy blue-grey hills as they dipped into the Frenchman River Valley, imagining the myriad of fossils contained just below the surface. This reminded him of his wild adventure of the day before and he wondered for about the zillionth time if he should mention it to Mr. Pederson. Something always stopped him, and it did again. He’d wait until after their visit to the T.rex Centre.

As they rounded a sharp corner, they came across Herb Milner driving the local lumberyard delivery truck. Peder-son slowed as Herb geared down to make the next long incline. Daniel stared with interest at a cut in the hillside that revealed interesting protrusions that he could only imagine held rare fossils, just waiting to be discovered.

Suddenly, a dark blue Dodge truck screamed up be-hind them. Todd Nelwin was at the wheel. Craig hung his head out of the passenger-side window and yelled at them to get out of the way. Their radio blared some distorted, thumping country tune in the background.

Pederson’s face went stony and he seemed to ignore
them. Todd began honking and attempting to pass.
Purposefully, Pederson kept to the speed limit and held to the proper side of the road. Even if he’d wanted to, he had no room to move over, as the narrow highway had no real shoulder. Todd’s impatience escalated. He breezed by, only to brake abruptly when an oncoming car appeared over the top of the hill.

Slamming on his brakes, Pederson allowed Todd to squeeze in between him and the back of the lumber truck. The moment the car passed on the opposite side, Todd squealed out again and tore in front of Herb Milner, then disappeared down the hill, until his truck became only a speck on the horizon.

Daniel’s heart fluttered against his chest. He released his grip from the dash and relaxed his feet from pushing into the floorboards. He hadn’t realized he’d braced himself so hard.

“Damn fools!” Pederson swore at them, shaking his head. “They’re just the type that cause innocent people to be hurt!”

“Typical Nelwin style,” Daniel said, sitting back in his seat, trying to relax again. Being anywhere around Todd made him nervous. He always seemed to be angry and tended to lash out first, before thinking. Especially in school, where his big mouth and talking back to the teachers regularly netted him detention. Craig usually ended up there too, often because his brother egged him on.

A few dips and curves later, Daniel and Pederson headed across the flat stretch of land that led into Climax. They could see the old elevators, which were no longer used, poking above the horizon several miles away. Short green crops grew in the fields on either side, extending as far as the eye could see.

The first thing they saw on the main street of town was the Nelwins’ truck parked illegally at an odd angle across two spaces in front of the post office. The pair came out with their hands empty of mail, laughing and jostling one another, and jumped into the truck. Then without looking, Todd backed around until they faced the other side of the street. He drove a few yards and screeched to a halt in front of the local café.

With a slam of the truck doors they sauntered inside, purposely knocking into a young blonde-haired girl coming out the door. Her plastic shopping bag flew out of her hand and hit the ground with a clank, scattering the contents onto the sidewalk.

“Watch it, you jerks!” she said, turning to look back at them as she retrieved her drinks and bags of chips.

“Did we upset the little girl?” Craig said with exaggerated fake anxiety, and laughing. The pair guffawed and slammed the door behind her, tinkling the announcing bells loudly.

Daniel jumped out of the truck and hurried over to help her.

“Lucy! Are you okay?” Daniel asked, surprised to see that it was Jed’s sister.

“Yes,” she said, straightening her long braid and grabbing another bag of chips. “Those Nelwins are such dweebs!”

“You can say that again!” Daniel responded, handing her the last drink container.

“They’ll pay!” Her flushed face showed determination.

“Somehow,” Daniel sighed. “I just haven’t figured out how.”

Then Lucy noticed his bandaged head. “How...?”

Daniel motioned his head towards the Nelwins sauntering around inside the café.

“You too?” Lucy glared at them through the window.

Just then Pederson brushed past them and headed into the café. Daniel and Lucy watched him walk over to the counter where the Nelwins sat spinning on stools, sipping on bottles of pop. He spoke to them quietly.

At first the two boys laughed and shook their heads, gesturing at him to leave with flicks of their hands. Pederson barked something at them. A moment later, they both stood up and marched outside in front of the old man, to the amazement of the waitress and several other customers sitting at the tables, solemnly watching them go.

“Let’s hear it!” Pederson said quietly.

With slightly embarrassed smirks, Craig and Todd looked at the ground, and mumbled, “Sorry.”

“We didn’t hear you.” Pederson stared at them with cold eyes.

“Sorry we bumped into you,” Craig said a little louder. His smirk disappeared and he looked somewhat contrite.

“Yeah, sorry,” Todd echoed, not looking up, clenching his hands at his sides as if he’d like to take a swing at Pederson.

Then he turned to Pederson. “Okay?” he demanded arrogantly. Craig touched Todd on the shoulder as if to calm him down or hold him back.

Pederson looked enquiringly at Lucy. She nodded.

“You boys have yourself a fine day.” Pederson said, staring at them coldly.

The two boys shuffled back into the café with their hands in their pockets. As they walked back through the customers, Craig’s face seemed flushed and slightly embarrassed, but Todd glared back at anyone daring to look his way.

Lucy grinned at Pederson. “Thanks,” she said.

“Anything for a lady,” Pederson bowed his head to-wards her. “May we escort you to your destination?” He held out his bent right arm to her, and with the other took her bag.

Lucy hesitated, and then slid her arm through his. Pederson nodded at Daniel. He took her other arm. Lucy raised her head with dignity, like visiting royalty, and they all sauntered across the street towards the swimming pool. Through the surrounding chain-link fence, they could see her two sisters, Leanne and Lindsay, stop their splashing and watch their approach in amazement.

When Daniel and Pederson released her to go inside the pool grounds, Lucy curtsied to them and retrieved her grocery bag. Her mom rose from her lawn chair and came to speak to them through the fence. She’d brought the girls in for their swimming lesson.

“Thank you,” she said, looking up at Pederson gratefully and tousling Daniel’s hair. “I saw what you did for Lucy.”

Pederson shrugged. “Those boys need to be taken down a notch or two.” He nodded. “Have yourselves a nice day, everyone.”

Pederson turned and walked towards the post office. The two younger Lindstrom girls crawled out of the pool, waving at them. Then they gathered around Lucy, who dispersed their snacks. Daniel looked around for Jed.

Mrs. Lindstrom noticed and said, “Jed’s lesson is this afternoon. He’s gone to Shaunavon with his dad this morning to the Co-op.”

“Okay,” said Daniel. He wasn’t fond of water, and the swimming classes through the school year at Shaunavon were enough for him, but Jed loved the water and would take lessons all summer if he could.

Daniel ran to catch up with Pederson, feeling
strangely touched by the old man’s kindness and his lack of fear.

When they were back in the truck again, Daniel ventured to ask, “How did you convince them to apologize?”

“I didn’t give them a choice, “ Pederson answered in a tone Daniel knew meant the subject was closed.

Daniel thought about the events of the day so far. It was barely ten o’clock. What else was going to happen?

They headed down the main street to the old rink, which had become the temporary museum. The Quonset-shaped building had a huge banner across it announcing the “Climax Dinosaur & Historical Museum.” The original town museum had moved into the new location, along with the new dinosaur material, in the spring. Everything had been reorganized to incorporate the
Edmontosaurus
information Pederson had discovered.

As they entered the museum, Marlene, a cheerful fifty-year-old volunteer, greeted them.

“Well, if it isn’t Ole Pederson and his young protegé, Daniel Bringham.”

“Everything going okay?” Pederson asked her.

“Just fine, Ole,” she said, straightening up some
brochures on the information desk. “We had sixty-five visitors to the museum yesterday.”

“Great,” he said. “Let’s hope there are even more today!”

They took a quick walk through the paleontological part of the museum, heading straight to the replicated
Edmontosaurus
nest and eggs, which had been there since the opening. Pederson had made a name for himself with the discovery. It had been the first nearly totally intact
Edmontosaurus
skeleton, and the only nest of their eggs so far. He’d written a paper on it that had been published in one of the more prestigious paleontology magazines.

BOOK: Dinosaur Breakout
4.87Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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