Dinosaur Lake 3: Infestation (2 page)

Ranger Kiley shook his head. Unlike Henry, he still
wore his Smokey-the-Bear style of hat all summer, while the other rangers,
including Henry, preferred the ball cap style when it was hot. He took it off
and, placing it in his lap, sat down across from his boss. “Seriously,
shouldn’t we shut down the whole park as well? I mean, until we’re sure the
creatures aren’t roaming the land and woods, being all destructive and stuff?”

“Let me think about that and I’ll let you know
tomorrow.” Henry trusted Kiley and valued his opinion so he’d have to seriously
consider what he proposed. The ranger was smart, calm in a crisis, and had been
a widower for a decade. His only daughter, Gabrielle or Gabby for short, at
twenty years of age, had spread her wings five years before and moved to
Chicago to follow a modeling career. But Gabby had vanished four years ago and
no one, including her father, had heard from her since. Her disappearance was
Kiley’s greatest sorrow. It was a good thing that finally after years of
looking for her, grieving, he and Ranger Ellie Stanton were now a couple. It
had stabilized him. Ranger Kiley, at last, had found some peace, some happiness.
Henry was happy for him.

The men spoke a little longer about the lake
closing, preparations, and what they could do about locating and containing the
creatures in the lake. Henry, as the times before, still couldn’t believe it
was happening again. Then Kiley rose from his chair and headed out to start the
process.

Henry mulled over calling his paleontologist
son-in-law, Dr. Justin Maltin, and letting him know the bad news, but decided
to make the call that night from home. It was only five hours away. In the
meantime he needed to think about what they were going to do.

Unlike the first time an unwanted
American Nessie
had appeared in their lake and they’d gone after it in a submersible, that
option was no longer available. They didn’t have a friend who had a friend who
could loan them a Deep Rover. And renting one was too expensive and too
invasive to the lake’s ecosystem. Since they’d done that the park’s regulations
had changed drastically. No submarines or divers were allowed in the lake.
Ever.

He didn’t feel like looking for the things on an exposed
boat, as he’d done the times before, yet knew there was really no other
alternative. Someone–and of course it’d have to be him–had to find the creatures.
Assess the danger. He’d ask one of his rangers and Justin to accompany him in
the morning. At dawn. They’d bring binoculars and a lot of high-powered
weapons. The standard operating procedure.

Damn those dinosaurs. Because, of course, that’s
what the lake creatures were. That’s what they always were.

*****

The sun was still bright above when he called it a
day and drove his jeep into the driveway in front of his and Ann’s cabin. He
was tired and worried over the day’s disclosures so he was happy to see Ann’s
car in the driveway. She was home early, too. Since she’d finished her first
round of chemo a month ago, facing death the way she’d had to do with the
cancer, she had made a decision to spend more time at home and with him. She’d
spend more time taking better care of herself. Her doctor had informed them the
lung cancer appeared to be gone. Remission. For now. But Ann hadn’t believed it
and was gradually changing her life accordingly.

“I’m not going to wait any longer to do what I want
to do. To spend time with you. To smell the roses and lilacs. Play with my
sweet Sasha.” Sasha was their new kitten. “Enjoy every minute of my time here.
To be happy. Work isn’t the end and be all for me anymore. The news was here
before me and it’ll be here after I’m gone. Like the world. But I only have one
life, one piece of eternity to call my own and experience. I’m not going to
work all my hours away anymore. I’m going to delegate my responsibilities.”

And she’d been true to her word. Since the cancer
diagnosis and treatment, she’d shortened her hours at the Klamath Falls Journal,
the newspaper in town she owned, and spent more time just…living. Henry liked
the change. Suddenly the thought of retiring, for him, didn’t sound so bad. Which
was strange because for years he’d dreaded the mandatory retirement the National
Park Service levied on their rangers. Now he actually looked forward to it.

When they retired, he and Ann talked about getting
a mid-sized camper and traveling around the country; seeing the sights. She’d
always wanted to see Maine and he wanted to visit Yellow Stone. She could keep
the newspaper, but leave it in the hands of a capable manager. They’d live a
simple, inexpensive life. Together.

In about five years he could take early retirement
and would. No longer was he afraid of it. In fact, since Ann’s illness, he
craved it. The sooner the better. He just prayed God would give them the time to
enjoy it together. Even though Ann’s cancer was in remission, that could change
and he was aware of that. It was the one thing that scared him more than
dinosaurs.

Getting out of the jeep and walking up to the
partially rebuilt porch, it reminded him of the flying dinosaur, one of the
gargoyles
as he’d called them, that had attacked his home a few months before; the one
that had almost killed Ann. She’d escaped, but the porch hadn’t. The monster
had destroyed it, ripping it from the front of the house and smashing it into
the middle of the yard. Henry had been spending his days off the last three
months rebuilding it. The basic foundation was done and he was planning to nail
together the porch overhang that weekend.

He was making the new porch better than the old
one. Bigger. Longer. Fancier. He and Ann loved sitting on the porch swing in
the evenings and watching the night. He had to get it done soon. They missed
their porch therapy, as Ann called it. And now, he had the sneaking suspicion,
they were going to need it even more.

Once inside the cabin, he smelled the cooking ham
and beans right off. Cornbread. It was one of his favorite meals and Ann hadn’t
made it in a long time. Chemotherapy had stolen her appetite and her desire to
cook, but in the last few weeks it had returned with a vengeance. Lucky for
him. He was oh so tired of frozen dinners.

Stirring the pot on the low flames, Ann was smiling
when he moseyed into the kitchen. As he watched her before she knew he was
there, he felt the love he had for her, the years of love he’d had for her. The
image of her, pale and frightened, as she sat in that chair in the clinic with
all those tubes and bags of poisonous liquid flowing into her veins haunted him
suddenly…then was replaced with the smiling woman he beheld before him. The
doctors thought she’d beaten the cancer. It was gone. Henry was so thankful to
God for making her well. Of course she’d have to have check-ups every six
months from now on and indefinitely but the prognosis was hopeful. She looked
so healthy, so happy now. He smiled. The earlier reports of mysterious sightings
of lake creatures forgotten.

Ann looked over her shoulder and her face broke
into a welcoming grin. “Henry, you’re home early. Good. Supper is about ready.”
She paused. “Why
are
you home so early?”

He tried not keep anything from her, so he told her
what Captain Sander had claimed he’d seen in the lake.

“Oh, no, not again,” she grumbled, turning off the
flame beneath the pot, putting the spoon down on the counter and wiping her
hands off on a kitchen towel. “Are we safe here?” Her gray eyes held unease, as
she shoved a strand of blond hair away from her sweaty forehead. Her memory of
the monster attacking the cabin and her was apparently still vivid.

“I think so. Sander has been the only one to say
he’s seen anything and it was in the lake. And it wasn’t aggressive, according
to him. I can’t panic until I know more.

“Tomorrow I’m going out on the water and see for
myself,”

Ann was placing bowls and silverware on the table.
She looked up.

“If Sander is telling the truth couldn’t that be
dangerous?”

“Could be, but I’ll be careful. I promise.”

She gave him a sharp look. “You better be. I
remember the last lake creature you went chasing after in the dark with Justin.
Night after night. I was worried sick about both of you. And you know how that
ended.”

“I remember, too.” Inwardly he shivered, recalling
the foggy nights patrolling the lake years ago. The cold. The endless
searching. The terror when what they were looking for found
them
.

Then he said, “It looks like we’re about to eat?”

“We are.”

“I’ll go clean up and be right back. Smelling that
ham and beans is making me hungry.”

“Go ahead, but make it quick. No dawdling. I’ll
finish putting everything out.”

Henry laughed softly. “No, mother, I won’t dawdle.”

When they were sitting at the table, enjoying their
meal, they ran down what their days had been like. They did that every evening.
Shared their experiences as much as they could. Henry often laid a hand over
his wife’s and gently stroked it. Like tonight.

Outside the day merged with shadows. The
temperature fell. The frogs and crickets began to sing. A normal summer
evening.

“By the way, where’s the little fur ball?” Henry
asked as they were eating the chocolate cake Ann had brought from the bakery. He
sipped his coffee, slid back in the chair, full and happy. The meal, as everything
Ann cooked, had been delicious. “I haven’t seen her yet. Usually she’s all over
me.”

“Sasha? Last I saw, she was sitting in our bedroom
window staring at the birds outside and making those weird funny little throat
noises.”

“Bird talk.” Henry laughed.

“Yeah, translated she’s probably saying,
Come
inside, birdies, and let me tear out all your feathers and eat you.
” Ann
got up from the table and started clearing it off.

Henry rose and helped her. “Probably. Though she is
a little young, still a kitten really, to be doing that yet.”

“You would think.”

Sasha, the black-and-white kitten Ranger Ellie
Stanton had gotten from a friend for them was four months old and a bouncing
ball of energy, curiosity and affection. The animal had helped Ann get through
her chemo, never failing to lift her spirits. Though she was Ann’s cat, the feline
had imprinted on Henry and followed him everywhere when he was home. Ann didn’t
mind. So what if the kitten loved Henry more, she also loved Ann. And both
humans had grown very fond of the cat. It’d been a long time since they’d had a
pet and they were both going overboard doting on the little thing. She already
had more cat toys than was normal, was given special canned cat food, and had a
fluffy cat bed.

“Speaking of the devil.” Ann chuckled, looking
down. “Here’s the queen herself.”

A tiny bit of black-and-white fluff ran up to
Henry, meowing plaintively as if she were trying to talk. It climbed up his
pants leg and planted itself on his shoulder.

“Whoa!” Henry yelped good-naturedly. “Take it easy,
cat, those claws are sharp.” He grabbed the kitten in his hands and cuddled her
against his chest. Purring could be heard all over the kitchen. “This cat,”
Henry shook his head, sitting back down so the animal could snuggle in his lap,
“has the loudest purr I’ve ever heard. Sounds like a motor or something.”

“She does have an unusually loud purr, doesn’t
she?” Ann agreed. “And, you know what? I swear she tries to talk to us. Her
meows are so strange. It’s like she’s trying to mimic our speech.”

Henry smiled at the creature in his lap. Cute
little thing. He stood up and put it into Ann’s arms. “Here, you hold the baby.
Don’t let her follow me. I’m heading out to the porch to check some things. I
need to measure, calculate how much wood I’m going to need this weekend to
finish. I want to do it before it gets dark.”

“Okay, honey.” Ann took the cat and settling on the
couch with it next to her, she switched on a side table lamp, grabbed her
Kindle and clicked it on. “I’m just going to read while you’re out doing that.
Got a great ghost story I want to finish.”

“After I get done measuring why don’t you come out,
I’ll grab a couple of chairs, and we’ll porch sit for a bit…watch the night
come in like we used to?”

“Oh, you mean before that flying gargoyle snatched
the porch and the porch swing away?”

“It is a beautiful evening,” he coaxed. “It’s
cooled off.”

“You talked me into it. Just holler when you’re
done.”

“I will.”

Henry pawed through their junk drawer and found a
measuring tape, a scrap of paper and a pencil and headed towards the front of
the house and the unfinished porch.

The sun was low on the horizon, sitting on top of
the tree line; the sky was a rainbow of sunset colors, gold, pink, white and
touches of amethyst. A cool breeze rustled his hair. It was going to be a
beautiful night, he thought, as he shut the door behind him. He didn’t realize
he hadn’t closed it all the way. He walked out onto the porch and the smell of
fresh lumber hit him.

A little later, he’d finished measuring and just
happened to glance up to see Sasha sitting in the front window watching him. She
wasn’t allowed outside. There were too many perils in the park for a tiny
kitten. Too many larger predators. She’d be a nice quick appetizer.