Dinosaur Blackout (6 page)

But the next day was no different. Although the police were making inquiries and searching abandoned buildings, nothing had turned up. Every time a phone rang or someone drove into the yard, Daniel’s stomach did a little flip-flop, but it was always quarry tour business.

There seemed to be an extra flurry of visitors trying to see the excavation before the season closed. The only thing that distracted Daniel from his worries was taking the odd group to the paleontological site. But this depressed him even more each time he arrived and saw the path that led to the devastation. Although he avoided taking any of the visitors to the
Stygimoloch
area, his thoughts were there and he could feel his enthusiasm drain away.

“This is really tough going,” said Jed, as they took a break in the yard before the next groups arrived.

“Good thing today is the last day,” Daniel agreed.

“Yes,” said Lucy, joining them. “This should be a really happy day to celebrate the end of the summer and our success. Instead, everyone is moping around.”

“I haven’t even seen Dr. Roost yet today,” said Lucy. “Your mom said she drove off without breakfast this morning.”

Daniel nodded. “And Craig and Todd haven’t put in an appearance all day either. And they didn’t let us know they weren’t coming.”

“That is unusual. What do you think is up with them?” asked Jed.

Daniel shook his head. “Everything seems so strange now. Even Mr. Pederson didn’t show up.”

“But this is the last day,” said Jed.

“I know,” Daniel said. “But Dad stopped by to see him and he said he wasn’t feeling well today, so he wasn’t coming over.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” said Jed.

“Me either,” Lucy agreed.

“Good thing we could manage taking his place as the guide at the quarry,” said Jed.

“Maybe we should pay him a visit,” Lucy suggested. By the time they had shown the last of the visitors off the property, though, it was late and Jed’s parents wanted to head for home right away.

“We’ll come by in the morning and take stock of everything,” Doug Lindstrom said.

“Why not make it in a couple of days instead,” Mom put forward. “Give yourselves a break.”

Dad added, “Libby’s right. We’ll get to it over the next few days.”

Daniel silently agreed. Even if Dr. Roost or Mr. Pederson came for breakfast, it would still be a nice change not to have an extra family around all the time as they’d done every day of the summer. Besides, now that the theft had happened, the planned prospecting tour for the next morning was called off.

Doug leaned out of his truck window. “Thanks, Ed. We could use a bit of time to get back on track at home before school starts.”

Doug and Ed shook hands, and the Lindstroms pulled out of the driveway, with everyone waving from the crew-cab truck and Dactyl barking at the shouts from the youngest children.

“I’m going to head over to see how Mr. Pederson’s doing,” said Daniel.

“Don’t be long,” said Dad. “We still have evening chores to do and it looks like it’s you and me tonight, son.”

“Ask if there’s anything we can do for Mr. Pederson,” Mom suggested.

“I will. See you soon.” Daniel whistled for Dactyl, who trotted up in moments. His dog was the only one that had any bounce left in him.

“Come on, boy!” Daniel gave his pet a scratch behind the ears and they set off.

All was silent as Daniel approached Mr. Pederson’s shack. Should he disturb him? But then he remembered how two winters earlier Mr. Pederson had been quite ill. He probably wasn’t anywhere near that sick right now, but still it would be good to see how he was doing.

Crunched into the side of the hill with a lean-to attached and desperately needing some paint, Pederson’s place wasn’t much to look at, Daniel thought, but its rough look also kept intruders out. As they neared the door, Dactyl noticed some movement in the brush close to the shack and wandered off to investigate.

Daniel knocked on the solid, rough-hewn door, quietly at first, and listened for a response. Then he banged louder and thought he heard a weak, “Come in.”

The door creaked as he entered and stared into the gloom. Mr. Pederson lay on his cot in one corner of the room, but made no move to rise. Daniel walked over to his side. His friend seemed frailer than ever, his face sunken in.

“You okay, Mr. Pederson?” he asked.

“Just extremely tired,” admitted the older man.

“Have you eaten today? Would you like me to make you something?” Daniel asked.

“Some tea and some cheese and biscuits would be nice.” Mr. Pederson pointed to a cooler on the floor. “You’ll find the food in there. Tea’s in the thermos on the table. I brought it from town. I haven’t bothered turning on a generator for power.”

As Daniel bustled about preparing the snack, Pederson shuffled over to the table, but neither spoke of matters on their minds. Pederson’s hands trembled as he accepted the cup of tea and nibbled on the crackers and cheese. His coughing seemed to have subsided, though, and Daniel thought that was a good sign, but the old man didn’t seem to want to talk.

“Mom wants to know if you need anything.”

“Only the
Stygimoloch
back.” He grimaced and set his cup of tea down.

Neither one of them mentioned that even if the
Stygimoloch
fossils did turn up, there was no telling what condition they’d be in, but they were both thinking it. Daniel hated to see his old friend so miserable. Something had to be done to perk Mr. Pederson up.

Without thinking it through, Daniel blurted out. “How would you like to see the real thing?”

An instant sparkle lit up Mr. Pederson’s eyes.

“You know I would.” He tilted his head and looked at Daniel. “So you still have what you need to go back to the past?” he asked.

Daniel nodded.

“Grand!” Mr. Pederson sat up a little straighter. “Let’s talk about how I can go.”

“How
we
can go,” corrected Daniel. “You and me.”

Mr. Pederson shook his head. “No, I won’t let you go.”

“You can’t go without me,” Daniel protested. “You don’t know anything about it or what to expect!”

“But I do!” said Mildred Roost’s voice from the doorway.

Daniel groaned. He hadn’t meant to talk about going back to the world of the dinosaurs, not yet. But the words were out, and there was no taking them back.

Chapter Five

“
Y
ou didn’t think you’d get away
without me, did you?” Dr. Roost chortled.
Daniel hadn’t heard her arrive. She must have parked the truck some distance away and walked from there to Pederson’s. She thumped her cane across the old boards laid over packed dirt that served as the floor and settled herself in a chair.

“And I agree, young man, you are staying home. Ole and I can go by ourselves.”

Daniel shuddered. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I know all your reasons why and I agree. It is dangerous for us. We’re not spring chickens any more. But I think with a few calculations we could come and go fairly quickly right close to where we saw the
Stygimoloch
.” She grinned at Mr. Pederson.

“We’d just stay long enough to observe their feeding rituals and take a few pictures. We wouldn’t venture anywhere else.” She turned back to Daniel. “We’d be back before you knew it.”

“How could you calculate where to go?” Daniel asked. He still didn’t agree, but he was willing to hear what she had to say. Now he knew how his parents must feel when he tried to talk them into letting him do stuff they thought was dangerous.

“You already know the approximate place you land in the past whenever you leave from your hideout. And we know where we returned this last time was only a couple of hills away from where we are right now. We just need to draw up a map and measure some distances here, then see if we can’t figure out how to land in the general location of the place where you and I saw the
Stygimoloch
.”

“I see what you’re saying, but some of that landscape was pretty tricky and we backtracked a couple of times,” Daniel answered.

“I’m sure if we put our heads together and studied our photographs, we’d be able to pinpoint the spot fairly accurately.” Dr. Roost’s enthusiasm for a return trip was evident.

“What do you think?” Daniel asked Mr. Pederson.

“I think we need to consider this carefully, before we make a decision as to whether or not we go.” Thank goodness. Mr. Pederson hadn’t made up his mind yet.

“What’s to think about?” asked Dr. Roost.

“The danger we’d be in, for one thing,” replied Pederson. “I’d like to consider all the possibilities first.”

Dr. Roost gave a brief rundown of what Ole Pederson could expect. As she spoke, Daniel could see the excitement grow in the old man’s eyes.

“This seems too good of an opportunity to miss,” he admitted. Maybe Pederson had made up his mind, after all.

“Indeed,” said Dr. Roost. “We’ll only be there for a short time.”

“Very short,” said Daniel, though he still worried about the old couple’s stamina and about how they would cope for even a few minutes.

Pederson handed the teacup and the plate with crackers and cheese back to Daniel. “Here, get rid of that and grab some paper. There’s some right over in that drawer.” He indicated a dilapidated cabinet along one wall.

He turned to Dr. Roost. “We need to think it through carefully so you and I can make the most of it while we’re there.”

“Whoa, wait a minute,” protested Daniel. “I still want to come with you.”

“Too dangerous,” Mr. Pederson and Dr. Roost said in unison.

“If you’re only going for a few minutes, it’ll be safe enough for me!”

“We’ll decide that later,” said Mr. Pederson, sidestepping the issue.

“Nope, I won’t help you unless you let me come.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the pair.

Mr. Pederson grinned sheepishly at Dr. Roost. “I think he’s got us.”

“Yes, we need him to pull it off.”

Daniel grinned at them. They sounded like they were planning a bank robbery. “Yep, without me you’re not going anywhere.”

“Fine, young man,” said Dr. Roost. “Grab that paper and let’s get started.”

“It’s a deal then? I come with you?”

Mr. Pederson gave a wry smile. “You drive a hard bargain.”

“It’s only fair,” replied Daniel.

Daniel scurried over to the old cabinet to get the paper and a pencil.

“You’ll need a ruler too,” said Mr. Pederson. “You’ll find one in the drawer with my cooking utensils.”

Daniel lifted his eyebrows in surprise.

“I always know where it is if I keep it in there.” The old man shrugged his shoulders.

Daniel found it and joined the other two at the table. Pederson began drawing the outlines of the surrounding land with the use of a ruler, plotting his shack and Daniel’s hideout on the diagram.

“How do you know where they go?” asked Daniel.

“I know how many steps I take to get to places and how long my strides are,” he answered, his eyes alight with interest. “It helps to keep track of where I’ve searched and where I’ve notated something unusual.”

“This is a good start,” Daniel said. “But for the Cretaceous Period, I’ll need my notebook and the pictures, which are at home.”

Dr. Roost nodded. “Yes, there’s plenty of time to do that tomorrow. I’ll see what I can remember and try to draw something to scale tonight.”

“I’d better get back. I promised I wouldn’t be long.” Daniel turned to Mr. Pederson. “So will we see you at breakfast tomorrow?”

“Wouldn’t miss your mom’s cooking for anything!” he smiled.

“I’ll give you a ride back, young man,” said Mildred Roost.

“Thanks. My folks will be glad to see you’ve returned too. Everyone kind of disappeared today.” He explained about the missing Nelwin brothers.

“Maybe they’re having problems with their dad. They know they can come to us if they need to. But it’s best to let them sort things out on their own until they ask for help,” said Pederson, rising to his feet. “Come on, I’ll walk you to the truck.”