Dinosaur Breakout (7 page)

They stood in front of the display sign that read “Roxanne,” with an explanation of where the
Edmon-tosaurus
had been found. She was nicknamed Roxanne, a favourite name of Ole Pederson. The full skeleton exhibit was a replica on loan from the Tyrell Museum for the next few years until Pederson’s discovery could be fully prepared and examined. Daniel knew this was the usual procedure in museums and that real skeletons were rarely on display.

“They sure did a fine reproduction job!” Pederson said,
looking proudly at the nest of sand with a variety of partly hatched eggs and one baby dinosaur crawling up the side.

Daniel noticed the glow of satisfaction on the old man’s crinkled face and felt cheered and happy that he’d been part of the experience. He was also incredibly pleased to be part of Pederson’s latest digs. Who knew what they would find next!

Pederson nodded at Daniel and silently they both
turned and headed to the front desk.

“You’re sure you have everything you need, then,
Marlene?” Pederson asked.

“All under control,” she said with respect.

“All right, then, we’ll be off.”

On their way out of town, they passed by the little house Pederson used in the wintertime. He also had an old shack in the hills, but it wasn’t very protective from the often arcticlike winter weather on the prairies. Even though he preferred working there, his arthritis kept him away; but at the first signs of spring he moved himself totally out to the cabin.

After they passed the tiny town of Frontier, Daniel stared out at the large sloughs, mostly dried up now, but with random islands of pink flowers growing abundantly in them. Maybe there was a similarity between these sloughs and the low-lying marshes of the Cretaceous Period? From what he’d seen, it certainly seemed so.

Once they swung north onto the number 614 grid road, they drove for several miles on gravel again. Grass-hoppers swirled up from the ditches of long grass, splatting onto the windshield in a steady barrage along with other flying insects, smudging the glass and making it difficult to see. When the truck wheels hit the pavement again, Daniel heaved a sigh. They were almost at Eastend.

He never ceased to marvel at how the landscape
changed from a relatively flat plain and then took a major dip into the valley, with Eastend nestled at the bottom in a long coulee. The town sprawled along the winding Frenchman River amongst a long sweep of lush trees. It had begun in about 1887 as the most eastern detachment from Fort Walsh, a North West Mounted Police (nwmp) post, and was at the east end of their patrol. The name Eastend had stuck, from the constant reference to the location of the post.

Daniel examined the town as they drove in past the Co-op Centre, the Super Thrifty Drug Store, and the grocery store. The extra-wide streets left plenty of room for angle parking on both sides, especially on Main
Street. At the end of the block, Pederson parked in
front of the Red Coat Booksellers store, one of Daniel’s favourite haunts.

“I’ll go to the credit union first and meet you back here at the bookstore,” Pederson said, heading across the street.

Daniel climbed the steps that led to the bookstore and opened the door. He stood in the doorway breathing in the slightly musty smell of old books, mingled with the crispness of ink and new paper, which he loved. The floor-to-ceiling shelves were loaded with used, new, and rare books on every subject Daniel could imagine. His prime target was the shelf in the back of the store that held all the paleontology books. Many were of a technical nature, some a little too technical for him to read, but that didn’t stop him from looking at them. He nodded at the young red-haired woman behind the counter as he passed.

He was so immersed in a book on the evolution of birds that Daniel didn’t hear Pederson come in until he spoke behind him.

“Something new, lad?”

Daniel jumped. “Yeah. Look at this!”

Daniel showed him the open page of drawings of successive birdlike species from the prehistoric periods to modern day. Pederson studied if for a moment.

“Hmmm! Some new theories at last.” Pederson gently took the book from Daniel and looked at the publication page, then the cover. “Bracken’s a good scientist,” he said. “Maybe we’ll just have to have this one for our library.”

Pederson handed the book back to Daniel. “What do you say?”

“Don’t buy it just on account of me,” Daniel
answered, feeling a little guilty at prompting Pederson to buy the book.

“It’s for both us!” Pederson answered. “Anything else of interest?”

Daniel shook his head, afraid to speak out again.

“All right, then, we’re off.”

Soon they were heading across the little bridge over the river and up the winding gravel road to the T.rex Discovery Centre halfway up the valley. The centre had been dug into the side of a hill, following the long natural curve. Actually, the top of the hill had been cut away and
then replaced with soil and native plants once the
building was complete, so that it looked like it had been entirely carved out of the hillside. All that stuck out was the curved front of the building, done in stone and glass, which looked benevolently over the town of Eastend.

Daniel had been there a couple of times with his school classes, and he and Mr. Pederson had gone once in the early stages of setting up the museum in Climax. Something new was always being added to the displays as the paleontology work was completed.

As they walked around the curved sidewalk to the entrance, Pederson said, “Tim Tokaryk has agreed to meet with me. And so has the Executive Director of the Centre and the Eastend Tourism Authority. Would you like to join us?”

Daniel only took a split second to reach a decision.

“Nah, you go ahead. I’ll hang out in the museum.”

“I thought so.” Pederson nodded knowingly and swung open the big double glass doors. They were greeted by the museum staff, who collected their entrance
fees and offered to answer any questions. Pederson
explained his mission and was ushered into Mr. Caswell’s office, tucked away behind the gift shop.

One of the guides said to Daniel, “The documentary on finding Scotty will start in five minutes, if you’re interested.”

“Cool,” he answered. Even though he’d already seen it with his school class, he wanted to see it again. “I’ll be right there.”

First, he needed to check something out. Without hesitation he walked into the first section of the museum and peered about. Then he saw it. Hurrying over to a huge footprint display, he squatted down to examine it. Yup! This was what he’d seen, all right!

He compared the length of his arm to the toe impressions, then measured the whole thing by stepping along its length with his feet one in front of the other, his heels butted against the toes of his sneakers. At home he’d measure his feet and calculate how long the impressions were in metric measurements.

When Daniel was sure no one was looking his way, he lay down on the floor and matched himself against it. He remembered how he’d awoken in the past with his head crunched into the depression of the main foot.

There was little doubt he’d been lying in a
Tyran-nosaurus rex
footprint!

Chapter Five

“
A
re you all right?” asked a dark-haired girl
bending
over Daniel.
He still lay on the floor beside the
T. rex
footprint, deep in thought. He jumped to his feet.

“Yes, sorry, I was just getting an idea of size.” He felt his face go hot.

The girl with the red museum staff t-shirt smiled. “The show is about to start.”

Twenty minutes later, Daniel emerged from the theatre contemplating what he’d just seen. Somehow his perspective had changed now that he’d experienced the Cretaceous time personally. He was even more curious to know more about paleontology and what life was really like in the past. Maybe he could set a few records straight!

He never tired of seeing and hearing about the
T. rex
discovery and how they managed to excavate and move the large skeleton to the facility in Eastend. Now it took on new meaning. He could envision what the enormous creature looked like in the flesh and compare it to the massive skeleton left behind.

The museum staff had had to extract Scotty in sections, first deciding where to make each of the four divisions. Then they’d wrapped each piece many times in burlap and plaster to keep it intact. This made the blocks even heavier and more difficult to manipulate. With careful precision, they used a team of Percheron workhorses to turn over the prepared section. Then they wrapped the underside for total preservation. The huge chunks, weighing up to four tonnes, were then loaded onto a flatbed truck, using a large front-end loader. Roxanne had been excavated in much the same way as Scotty, except they hadn’t needed to use the horses.

Daniel strolled past the display of a menacing, three-toed
T. rex
foot. He could almost crawl between the toes! No wonder the earth ripped open when one of those creatures walked about.

He headed over to the glass partition that separated the museum from the research station lab. He stared at the huge white blocks of plastered fossils lying on the floor and on shelves that reached the ceiling on one side of the room. He was reading the display cards on the exposed fossils just inside the window, when Pederson and two other men joined him.

“Daniel, you already know Tim Tokaryk. And this is Mark Caswell.”

“Nice to see you again, Mr. Tokaryk,” said Daniel. He’d just seen him in the documentary and felt awed to be in his presence again. He’d also seen him a few times at the
Edmontosaurus
dig when he’d come out to help retrieve it, but Daniel hadn’t had an opportunity to spend much time with him there.

“Please call me Tim. I’m no different than I was last summer,” the well-known paleontologist offered, smiling. He seemed to have noticed Daniel’s reverence.

“And pleased to meet you, sir,” Daniel said to Mr. Caswell, shaking both men’s hands in turn.

“And I’m Mark,” Mr. Caswell said in an equally friendly manner.

“Thanks,” said Daniel.

They both looked curiously at the bandages on Daniel’s head.

“I fell against some rocks,” he said, feeling compelled to explain.

“During research?” Mark asked.

“Something like that,” Daniel answered, unwilling to describe the real reason.

“Paleontology does have its dangers,” Tim said.

Daniel pointed to the lab. “This is awesome!”

“Would you like to have a closer look?” asked Tim.

“As sure as
T. rex
es are carnivores!” Daniel replied, excited at the prospect of seeing the activities up close. Mr. Caswell excused himself, saying he had work to do back in his office. He shook their hands again.

“Please come any time, and if there’s anything we can
do for you, we’d be happy to accommodate you. It’s always
an honour to work with respected paleontologists,” said Mark, seeming to include Daniel in his compliment. Then he turned to answer a summons from one of the staff.

Daniel and Mr. Pederson followed Mr. Tokaryk back through the foyer, into an education room and through some doors that said “Staff Only.” Daniel wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but the paleontologist was no less friendly than he’d been out at their dig. Even in his formal setting, he was just a regular nice guy. Dark, compassionate eyes, glasses, a regular t-shirt and jeans; someone who took the time to talk to a kid! His face, framed by a receding hairline, Fu Manchu moustache, and a light beard, gave a welcoming, knowledgeable, and approachable presence. What a thrill to be in the working lab of the man who had spearheaded the
T. rex
dig!

As they entered the lab, Daniel noticed three work tables, each equipped with large, movable, lighted magnifiers, electrical drills, and a myriad of picks, tools, and brushes. They also were covered with fossils being worked on, and drawings and research information easily accessible at the fingertips of the scientists. A huge exhaust system wound through the room and out of the building.