Dinosaur Breakout (9 page)

“There’s something you know that you’re not telling.” Pederson pulled into a parking spot on the main street, down a few yards from Jack’s Café. Pederson turned to him. “What was that all about when you mentioned the shape of the body and the colour of the
T. rex
?”

“I’m not sure I know what you mean.” Daniel stalled for time. His palms were sweaty and he quickly wiped them on the legs of his jeans.

Pederson turned and glared at him.

“Out with it, lad!”

Chapter Six

D
aniel stammered, “I-I-I’m not sure
if I should say anything.”
“Why ever not?” Pederson asked, turning off the engine.

“Well, it’s a little unbelievable, even to me!” Daniel tapped his feet nervously, and stared straight ahead.

“Daniel!” Pederson was obviously exasperated.

“Fine!” He plunged into his story, staring out the windshield. “What if I told you I actually went back into prehistoric time?”

Silence.

“That I actually experienced what it was like?”

More silence. Daniel peeked at Pederson out of the corner of his eyes. Pederson stroked his beard, and seemed lost in thought.

“It happened when the Nelwins knocked me to the ground and I hit my head.”

Pederson grunted. His fingers stopped moving.

Daniel faced him. “Well, say something,” he said.

RAP! RAP!
An elderly woman with a wizened face stepped up to Pederson’s side of the truck and rapped again on his door with her metal cane.

“Ole Pederson! I don’t believe it’s you, in the flesh!”

“Why, Mildred Roost!” Pederson stared at the tall woman in surprise.

She had an Australian outback hat squashed onto her long, grey, braided hair. A faded plaid cotton shirt topped a pair of baggy sweatpants, both of which hung loosely over her rather plump body. She grinned at him, asking, “What brings you to these parts?”

“I could ask you the same.”

“I’m here with the University of Alberta Paleontology Department. We hope to work on a joint project with the Royal Saskatchewan Museum,” she divulged.

“I am in a way too,” Pederson answered. The rsm had assisted with the retrieval and now the preparation of the
Edmontosaurus
.

“Geez, that’s right, Ole. How could I forget? You found that hadrosaur with the nest and eggs. It was around here somewhere, wasn’t it!” She peered at Daniel. “Who’s that, a grandson?” she asked. “No, sorry, I re-member now. You and your wife never had children. Who is he, then?” she demanded, not stopping to let either of them answer the questions.

Pederson raised his eyebrows in slight annoyance and then he introduced Daniel. “He’s my young protegé and esteemed colleague. Daniel Bringham, meet Dr. Mildred Roost.”

Daniel nodded in acknowledgement, and puffed his chest up with pride. Pederson considered him a colleague!

“How do you do, ma’am,” Daniel said sincerely.

“A boy with manners! I like you already, young man!” She tapped her cane on the door again. “Well, get on out of there, you two. Let’s go have some lunch. It’s on me.”

She stomped over to the sidewalk, using her cane to propel herself along. Daniel and Pederson looked at each other and got out of the truck.

“We’ll eat there,” she said, pointing to Jack’s Café. “Best food in town. Their garlic toast is a secret recipe. So is their house salad dressing. Talk about ‘valley of hidden secrets.’ Everything about this community is one of the best-kept secrets from the rest of the world. But the locals are great about sharing!”

She pointed to the dinosaur footprints painted on the sidewalk. “They lead you right where you want to go!”

Seemed there was no getting away from this woman. Daniel smiled as he watched Pederson meekly follow her instructions. The woman was a bit of a bully, but the old man didn’t seem to take offence. They headed into Jack’s Café.

~

“
S
ome things are just better to go along with
than cause trouble,” he said later when they were back on the road.

The woman had talked non-stop, filling Pederson in on all the latest developments in the Alberta paleontology world, including news about the various people they both knew. Daniel sighed in relief as he listened to the barrage. Mildred Roost had given him a reprieve from telling Pederson his weird story, but the tide turned again when they were back on the highway.

“Okay, young man, let’s hear the rest of your story!” Pederson said, concentrating on his driving,

“First, tell me what you think so far,” Daniel said, fidgeting in his seat. He ran his right hand up and down the seat belt that ran across his shoulder. “Sounds like you think it’s just some
story
I’m making up.”

“I know you better than that, lad,” said Pederson.
“I’m not sure what to make of it just yet. Anything i
s
possible – something could have altered your state of mind when you hit your head...”

“See, I knew it,” Daniel interrupted. “You think it’s all because I hit my head.”

“Or it could have been a dream state, some sort of delusion from the bump on the head...” Pederson continued patiently as if Daniel hadn’t interrupted.

“But, but...” Daniel protested, straining the seat belt as he turned to Pederson.

“No, let me finish, “ Pederson continued kindly. “Or there is a possibility you really did go back in time through some sort of shift in reality. Now, if that’s the case, we need to have proof. Remember, we are scientists.”

Daniel settled back, somewhat deflated, yet not altogether discouraged.

“First, we need to examine each of the possibilities from various perspectives to eliminate those that didn’t happen,” Pederson explained. “Then we need to test the one we think is the right answer. Fair enough?” He turned to look at Daniel.

Daniel nodded and thought about the possibilities. “So you might just believe me?”

“Let’s do our research and then I’ll give you my opinion,” Pederson suggested.

“Okay,” Daniel said reluctantly. Man, this could take a long time. How was he ever going to prove it to Pederson? At least the old man hadn’t laughed him out of the truck, or told him he was a flake and that he never wanted to work with him again.

Daniel took a deep breath and told Pederson the rest of the story. When he finished, Pederson nodded. “Thank you, Daniel. I can see we’ve got a lot to think about.” Daniel relaxed, glad he’d told someone.

“Look!” Pederson pointed to the valley on their right.

Several antelope were crossing a ravine down below them, headed towards a small stream. Pederson slowed and they watched them for several minutes until they drank and disappeared into a bluff of trees. For the next few miles Daniel and Pederson were silent, each caught up in their own thoughts as they watched the passing landscape.

As they neared Shaunavon, pumpjacks over oil wells began popping up everywhere across the country-
side, even several close together on some people’s land. Daniel considered again how lucky he had been that his family hadn’t been forced to go that route. Although the fields looked fine now, with crops surrounding the pumpjacks, he knew there had been seismic testing, and roads cut through the land, while the drilling crews brought in the necessary equipment.

At the time he hadn’t understood all the rigmarole, but he knew there had been a bit of a tussle with the Crown for some people in the area, as they didn’t hold all the mineral rights on their land. Only some of those who had original homesteaded land managed to own the mineral rights, which included oil and gas. Everyone else had only what was called “surface rights.” Even though they’d bought and paid for their land, they only owned the surface, not the mines and minerals below! Daniel still couldn’t believe it.

“Tell me again how that could have worked about us being forced to give our land over for mineral rights,” he said.

“Your family didn’t have to, Daniel, because your great-grandfather homesteaded it and owned those rights. They were printed right on his land title papers. Even so, your parents could have signed them over if they’d wanted to, but because we’d proved there were heritage prospects in the form of fossils on the land, they chose not to.”

“Okay, but what happened to Jed’s family? How come they had to fight against the testing?”

Patiently, Pederson explained. “They didn’t own the rights in the first place, but they can refuse to allow the oil companies on their property, which they did, because they wanted to preserve the land, as you know.” Pederson looked over at him and smiled in a conspiratorial way. “They have some crazy idea that they might have dinosaur fossils on their property too.”

Daniel grinned.

Pederson looked back at the road and continued his main explanation. “Then the decision goes to arbitration, which means a group of people act like a jury and discuss the situation. They make the decision as to whether or not the companies get to drill.”

“It seemed to me they had to talk to a lot of important people.” Daniel noted.

“Yes, the Conservation Data Centre, the Heritage Resource Impact people, and the Saskatchewan Environ-ment and Resource Management team is contacted and are all brought into the discussion.”

Daniel said, “Okay, I think I understand now. Basically, the area is scanned for endangered plants and animals, and for archaeological and environmental aspects, before anything can happen?”

“You’ve got it! If any of those areas are at risk because of the seismic testing and future drilling, then it’s not likely going to happen,” Pederson explained. “If there’s a good reason, such as some sort of heritage element – an important burial ground or foundations of special old buildings, paleontology possibilities, or something along that line, then they can be excused.”

“So, because Jed’s family didn’t have anything like that, they had to let the testing be done?” Daniel asked.

“Exactly. The pumpjacks will go in later this month. They’ll be paid for the use of the land as well as an annual rental for the right to drill and produce wells on their land. It won’t make them rich, but it will help out.”

“So maybe Jed’s dad won’t have to go to the city to work this winter?”

“Maybe not,” Pederson acknowledged, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Cool. Jed hates it when his father’s gone. He’s in a houseful of bossy girls!”

Daniel and Pederson laughed.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily because they’re girls!” Pederson said. “I know a few bossy boys too!” Pederson gave him a significant look, remembering how Daniel had saved him in the snowstorm two winters before.

A few minutes later, Daniel asked, “What would have happened, say, if my parents had said yes?”

“If oil had been found, they would have received a royalty payment based on the production of the well or wells. Maybe something like $2,000 each a year for the rental on the surface leases. They’d get an additional amount, which would fluctuate according to oil prices. So depending on how many wells they had and how long they ran for, they could have made a tidy sum over the years.”

Yikes, Daniel hadn’t realized that! They might have been almost rich! He wondered how his parents felt about that. A sudden sinking feeling hit the pit of his stomach like a chunk of apple he hadn’t chewed properly. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so insistent about them not signing the papers. But what good would the money have done, if the fossil history had been destroyed? He twisted and turned these new thoughts over in his mind. No wonder his parents had been so reluctant to consider his suggestions. They’d made a real sacrifice to go along with his plans!

When Pederson turned left into Shaunavon and pulled up to the grocery store, Daniel barely noticed they’d stopped. He wondered if what he’d convinced his parents to do had been the right thing. Surely they wouldn’t have gone along with it, if they hadn’t agreed?

“I just need a few items. Anything you’d like, Daniel?” Pederson asked stepping down from the truck.

“Uh, yeah, let me think. There was something Mom wanted.” Daniel couldn’t remember.

“Well maybe if you come in and look around you’ll think of it,” Pederson offered.

Daniel followed him inside. His family grew most of their own vegetables and raised their own meat, so he avoided those aisles, and the junk food. He knew she shouldn’t want any of that! Then he saw it. Twelve loaves of bread on sale! His mom rarely baked bread in the summertime for the family, as the weather was just too hot, and she especially preferred to buy bread for all the sandwiches she would make for the tourists’ day trip lunches and the toast for their breakfasts. They had a huge freezer at home, so Daniel gathered up six loaves of bread in each hand, half white and half whole wheat, and headed for the checkout counter.