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Bozeman, Montana
June 1991
“Oh no…” whispered Adam, his brown eyes growing wider with each passing second. “This can’t be happening.”
“Shh!” hissed his companion next to him. “You know better. Don’t bring attention to yourself.”
Adam couldn’t look away, but he also felt the upending doom that was about to befall them if something weren’t done now. “We have to—”
“No!” exclaimed another voice. This one came from his other side. “It’s too late to save them. They were warned. We can only save ourselves.”
“W-w-what do we do?” Adam stuttered. Nothing prepared him for this. Hell, it was never mentioned in the brochure. In fact, he had to blame his cousin Mitch for this. “You should totally do this. I didn’t think I would get much out of it because it’s the desert and rocks and other crap, but you will get fit with the work you have to do. And if you’re really lucky… the local chicks will go nuts over you. Do it dude. You won’t regret it.” Adam had to resist rolling his eyes. I am regretting this so much!
“Listen carefully. No sudden movements got it?” instructed the one on his left. Christine was her name. Well, not her real name. It was her middle name, but she refused to say her actual name. When Adam arrived, he heard snippets here and there, but to say her name would only cause more harm than good. And between the three huddled together… she had the most experience on how to deal with this. “We need to crawl slowly twenty feet to the right. That will take us to the big rock. There should be enough cover for us to get behind it. Then when he’s distracted, we can make a break for it to camp. Whoever makes it… warn the others.”
“Makes it?” Adam gulped. “Y-y-you don’t mean…?”
He could practically feel her nodding. “One of us won’t make it out of here. If it’s you… be strong. Don’t show your fear. Got it?”
Adam couldn’t help it. He whimpered. This was NOT how I pictured my summer going.
“Ready? Go!” Christine ordered.
His companions were already moving. Adam froze. His brain couldn’t recall how he should move. How could it when the poor fools were discovered? He could only stare at the angry beast that was shredding them apart. No! It can’t end like this! Keeping his belly to the dirt, he shimmied backwards, but realized his error in not counting how far he had to go.
Keep going. Just keep going! He told himself. He couldn’t blink, couldn’t look away. He kept moving, picking up his speed. If he put enough distance between him and the horrific scene, then he might have a chance to survive. The fate of his future children depended on it.
As Adam moved, the awful dread returned to his stomach. He should have reached the rock. Why didn’t he reach the rock? Risking turning his head to look around, Adam felt the hot sting of tears in the back of his eyes when he realized he wasn’t close to safety. He had somehow moved away from the rock.
He could see Christine and the other volunteer watching helplessly. He could almost make out her mouthing “I’m sorry” to him.
This wasn’t the end! It couldn’t be! He had so much to live for.
Adam scrambled to his feet. He could run for it. He… Snap! His eyes dropped to where he had stepped on the dead branch, breaking it in two. In a place where vegetation was sparse, he had to find the one that was standing in his way when it was a matter of life and death.
I love you, Mommy, he thought, quickly squeezing his eyes when he heard the stomping in his direction.
He heard the menacing growl behind him, and he knew it was too late. From his peripheral, he could see Christine and the volunteer making a run for it. Well, Adam thought. I gave them a fighting chance. I hope they won’t forget me.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Adam swallowed hard. Turning on his heel, he lifted his gaze to face the inevitable. First, he dared to look back at the hapless victims before him. The damage was done. They were separated. There was going to be no more flirting from those two. Not until this was over.
“N-n-nowhere,” Adam answered. “Dr. Grant.”
xxXXxx
Volunteers. They can be worse than the students, I swear, Alan Grant thought, not realizing his scowl hadn’t left his countenance. If Alan had it his way, there would be plenty of funding for his dig without having to resort to the tourists or those with an “interest” in dinosaurs to help pick up the extra slack.
Perhaps if they spent less time flirting and more on the actual digging, then we could have made a lot more progress done!
He couldn’t understand why the one volunteer… Aaron? Aiden? Something with an “A” he knew that much had been away from the section he was supposed to be working on. It couldn’t have been to relieve himself since Alan found him in an open area with little coverage. In fact, the more Alan thought about it, he thought there should have been two other people there too.
Great. Now, I have to hunt them down too, he thought, his attitude souring more than it was when he stumbled upon that couple… No. Not going to think about that. If he did, then he would be thinking of what they could have been doing, and it only made his chest tighten.
As Alan made his way into camp, he caught sight of the two wayward graduate students. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the girl whose name… No. That wasn’t her name after all. She said it was… Christine. That was it.
“Hey!” he barked, causing both to nearly jump out of their skins. “Last I checked, break time is at noon. There’s a fossil that needs attention and we don’t want to have it lost in the dirt again.”
“Sorry Dr. Grant!”
“Our bad, Dr. Grant!”
Both hurried back to the site. He couldn’t recall seeing anyone run that fast back, but he supposed he could appreciate the hustle. Turning on his heel, Alan headed to his trailer. Maybe there’s a message…
The cool air from the A/C was a nice reprieve from the humidity, but his focus was on the machine next to the phone. The screen blinked the same number as before, and Alan felt his hopes being dashed once more. But… he swiped the phone and punched in a few numbers to see if there were any missed calls.
Nope. Zip.
He then punched the area code and the rest of the number he had memorized after dialing it as he had been doing the last several days.
There was a click to signify the connection, and the irritating business signal beeped once, twice, three times. Then the mechanical voice started its unsympathetic message that the number was unavailable.
Again.
Alan clenched his jaw as he slammed the phone back down. Take it easy, old man, he told himself. Losing your temper isn’t going to help. You have a dig to run, and you can’t afford to let the group know you’re upset. I can’t believe I have been able to reign it in so far. I just have to keep it going as well as I have been and hopefully everything will be back to normal.
He nodded once to himself and thought he should go back to the dig to supervise the students and volunteers. He needed a diversion and getting his nails and elbows dirty was what the doctor ordered. And he could make sure that no one else becomes distracted by any PDA.
Alan did stop to grab a water bottle from the refrigerator. Twisting the cap off, he swallowed a couple of mouthfuls and then put it back. As he was closing the door, he heard the trailer door swing open as the steps groaned under the weight of the person entering.
“Alan, we need to talk,” said Ron, his dig site manager.
xxXXxx
Ron Carlson was a man who did remarkably well under pressure. He had dealt with his fair share of crises and knew how to maintain a calm composure when things were more or less going to Hell.
It was why he excelled at his job and why dig after dig Alan Grant retained him. Another big plus was that he had met his fiancée during one of Grant’s digs. Kim had been a volunteer looking for a mini adventure in the desert, and they had hit it off. So much so, they had stayed in touch after she had left.
Ron would go as far to say he would consider himself friends with Alan. Working together, getting to know each other over the years would do that. He had witnessed Alan in an array of situations from getting that dreadful call from the university to close up early to uncovering fossils of all shapes and sizes to the disappointment of a discovery not yielding what they hoped for.
Yes, Ron would say he had seen the highs and the lows that came with the territory.
But this… This was a whole other level. He hadn’t been prepared for it nor was he equipped to handle the pressure that had quickly evolved to near Armageddon proportions. He was certain that even Hell shuddered as a result.
And he blamed himself for not seeing the signs sooner.
At first, the setup was routine. Everything was going like clockwork. When Alan arrived, well, Ron noticed there was something missing. It hadn’t raised the flags yet since… you know… things happen. Delays happen. And Alan was in relatively good spirits—grinning, cracking a joke or two (with Ron) and got right to business (with the students and volunteers).
But looking back, he should have realized that Alan’s standard procedural speech had a slight edge to it. He was more snappish than usual. When it had been one of the students’ turn to make breakfast, he had overcooked the scrambled eggs, which prompted a sarcastic remark from Alan that was anything but teasing in nature. And then someone had asked the question and Alan hadn’t answered just glared until the person shrank away in retreat.
At that point, Ron figured the paleontologist must be in the doghouse. Or would it be dinohouse? He could relate. When Kim got mad at him, he would be miserable until he righted the grievance he caused.
Time. That was all Alan needed for whatever rough patch to smooth over. He debated if he should ask what he did (because Ron was a guy, and he knew that even a genius like Alan Grant can and could do stupid guy things without realizing it) but went against it. If Alan wanted to talk about it and get his advice on the matter, then he would approach him.
Then came the bonfire incident.
Everyone had gathered together for an evening of relaxation and bonding time as per the custom on these digs. The fire was crackling, the sugary stench of melted marshmallows was in the air, and the snicking of beer bottle tops popping off was the soundtrack, including the murmurings of conversations. Eventually, someone suggested an icebreaker they could play. Each person would introduce themselves and then share two truths and a lie, and the rest had to figure out which was the lie.
Fun, right?
At first, the game started without a hitch. Everyone mostly had a couple of beers in them, and it made for some loose tongues and wild statements. Alan was sitting next to Ron and the site manager wasn’t sure if the big cheese would join in the frivolities or not. It was a hit or miss with him sometimes.
But then it became her turn.
If only she didn’t have that name!
Never in a million years had Ron expected Alan to react the way he did. By the time his ranting was over, the entire group was speechless. Even Ron wasn’t sure how to respond.
Suffice to say, no one forgot that episode. The poor girl was resorting to using her middle name just to pacify the beast. If that wasn’t bad enough, Ron was doing damage control to keep the students from leaving and the volunteers from quitting. Regardless of the dig experience figuring in as part of the program’s requirement, several were willing to take the incomplete, delay their graduation, and wait for another dig.
It was that bad.
Ron assumed Alan would snap out of it or at the very least have a better grip, but that wasn’t happening anytime soon. And Ron was at his wit’s end. He didn’t know how long he could keep putting out these fires and trying to prevent the paleontologist from being triggered.
Even worse… they haven’t been out here a full week yet.
The last straw was when the student and volunteer came running up to him to tell him that Dr. Grant was losing it again over a young couple’s flirtatious bantering. The thing that set off the fuse?
A kiss.
Really a peck on the mouth.
Ron had to talk to him. There was no other way. Before he walked over to the trailer, he quickly wrote a letter to his fiancée with his last Will and Testament scrawled hastily. Then he made the short trek to what would be his final seconds on the planet.
“Alan, we need to talk.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
Ron’s jaw dropped. “You don’t know?”
Alan blinked in confusion. “Should I?”
“Well… yeah.”
“I’m going to need a bit more than that.”
Ron sighed. “Alan, you have been asshole lately. And not your usual assholey-ness. You have been upgraded to the kind of asshole that everyone wants to quit. Even me and I have put up a lot with your shit.”
“What do you mean? No one has said anything about quitting. And this is a first from you.”
“Because no one wants to talk to you!” Ron exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air. “I don’t want to tell you this, but it’s clear to me what’s going on. So, for the love of all that is good, get on—” he emphasized this with a finger extended to the object, “—the phone, call Ellie, and apologize for whatever tiff you’re in. I don’t care if you’re not the one at fault. Apologize, beg, grovel, whatever. Say what you need to say to bring her here to end the misery!”
Ron was panting harshly by the end, but the cathartic release was a relief settling in his chest. It felt good to say the name that was the elephant in the room all this time.
“And another,” Ron continued, not giving Alan a chance to rebuke, “the grad student Christine? Newsflash: not her name. It’s Ellie. Just like Ellie. She has a right to the name. Not one single person owns it, so you better start using it correctly. And I’m not saying you have to give up your unyielding expertise, but you can start kissing up to those poor students and volunteers who have been terrorized by your behavior. They don’t deserve that treatment even if you’re having a bad day or in this case a lover’s quarrel. Man up, Grant!”
Alan’s face was indescribable. In all the years they worked together, Ron had never raised his voice or used this level of brutal honesty. Even Ron was impressed that he hadn’t cracked under the pressure to confront the beast. The only person that could do it and get away with it was Dr. Ellie Sattler, and as she wasn’t present at the moment (and her absence being the noticeable cause for Alan’s sourness—without a doubt), Ron was doubly impressed he was still standing and not joining the prehistoric fossils they’re trying to unearth.
Of course, it could have been the shock that Dr. Alan Grant was currently experiencing. Then as it was starting to sink in that his dig site manager had torn into him about his conduct, his face swiftly became beet red.
Here it comes, Ron thought with a mental gulp. Kim, I love you. Please remember me as brave and not as some idiot who pissed Alan off.
While he braced himself, he hadn’t expected the next words to leave Alan’s mouth.
“Everyone knows I’m miserable?”
xxXXxx
The second Ron gave him the riot act, Alan was floored. Yeah, he knew he had been somewhat short-tempered, but he thought he had done a fairly decent job covering up his emotions. Clearly, Ron had to have been exaggerating…
But the more he listened it was quite apparent that Alan’s behavior was in fact not as reigned in like he believed he had been doing. To his mortification, he couldn’t recall in exact detail what he said to the student. He wouldn’t deny that hearing Ellie’s name did elicit a “strong” reaction though not for the reason Ron was insinuating.
Alan felt a rush of embarrassment and shame from the burning sensation on his skin.
“Um, yeah?” Ron answered. After a beat, he said, “So, are you going to call her or…?”
Running a hand through his hair, Alan muttered, “I tried already—”
“You have? Terrific! Keep trying. She’ll eventually answer and—”
“It’s not—we—Ron, there was no argument. Ellie and I didn’t fight.”
“Okay… Then how come she isn’t here? Look, Alan, you can tell me. You forgot an important date, haven’t you? Was it her birthday? I’ve been there before. Not a mistake I would repeat again—”
“It wasn’t that Ron,” Alan said tersely. Placing his hands on his hips, he breathed sharply. “Before we had to leave, Ellie got a last-minute call to do some guest lecture in Oklahoma. It was only going to be a small gathering and a couple of days at most.”
“That’s all? Alan, that’s not a reason or excuse to be grumpy. Hell, you are worse than an annoyed Grumpy!”
Alan scowled at the comparison to a cartoon character, but he let it slide. “Ellie should have been here by now. I’ve been calling ever since, and I haven’t been able to patch through. The number says it’s unavailable.”
“Oh.”
Alan nodded. “Oh, is right.”
Ron mulled it over as a new revelation struck him. Of course! “Alan, my friend, I get it. I understand. She left you and you’re obviously hurting—”
“What!?” Alan gaped. “No, no! Ellie didn’t leave me. Not—not like that.”
“Alan, breakups are tough. Many of us have been down that road before. You don’t have to keep it inside. Let it out.”
“Ellie. Did. Not. Break. Up. With. Me.” Alan punctuated each word through clenched teeth.
“Then how do you explain this week?”
The paleontologist lowered his gaze. “I missed her, okay? I’m used to her being here as a buffer, so I don’t go insane.”
“Alan, I worked with you before Ellie. It never was like this.”
“Well, that was because she changed how I work. And…” The last part he grumbled to himself, but Ron asked him to repeat it.
Alan glared. “I’m not repeating it.” Bad enough he admitted to himself that if Ellie were around… she would be shamelessly flirting with him, teasing him, and then they will be sneaking off to have their own little “fun” and seeing other people doing that just made him jealous, and it made him long for her even more.
It would have been better if he could hear her sweet, honeyed voice. If he could just listen to her speak, then it would be the balm he needed until she arrived.
But as the number was unavailable… he had no other way to reach her to find out why.
The unknowingness was grating his last nerves.
Then again, Ron’s suggestion didn’t help either. Alan never thought about their relationship ending. As far as he could tell, they were good. Happy. Yeah, they had a disagreement or two now and then. Who didn’t? But nothing that would indicate either party walking away from the other.
Alan was second guessing it all.
Had the guest talk been all a ruse? Did Ellie want to leave, and I wasn’t picking up on it? If she really wanted to break up, then she would have told me. Right? Right!?
The shrill ringing of the telephone caused both men to jump. They glanced at each other before Alan quickly rushed to pick it up. “Hello?!” He paused as he listened to the other end. “Ellie!?” The feeling of reassurance washed over him until…
“What? Tornado?”
xxXXxx
Apparently, not long after Ellie had arrived in the city of Laverne, they were hit by a storm that soon escalated into a tornado. Fortunately for Ellie, she had been able to seek shelter with some storm-chasers who had been in the area at the time. Naturally, the power had been knocked out, which was why she hadn’t been able to contact him or him her.
Emergency power was restored for the time being for Ellie to call him. She told him she was going to stay longer than she told him to help out but wanted him to know that she was safe, and she wasn’t hurt. And most of all, she loved him.
While it wasn’t the news that Alan wanted to hear, he was just grateful that she was all right. He knew her well that she couldn’t not help, and even though he was desperate to see her for himself, to reassure him she was safe, Alan had to be patient and wait for her.
Of course, word spread throughout the site about what happened to Dr. Ellie Sattler, and there was concern as well as joy that she hadn’t abandoned them. Not purposely. It didn’t erase the fears that many still harbored towards Dr. Grant, but as Ron had kindly pointed out to him… He had a lot of kissing up to do.
Suffice to say, the atmosphere changed dramatically.
Christine resumed using her given name Ellie without backlash. The volunteer lovebirds were able to be openly affectionate without criticism. When the eggs were overcooked again there was no overreaction. And Ron was able to rip up his last Will and Testament.
Eventually, Ellie Sattler arrived at the site, but she didn’t come alone. She brought along her new friends who had helped her and after learning what she did for living… they wanted to tag along.
Alan wasn’t surprised after meeting Dr. Jo Harding that she and Ellie formed a quick friendship. Both blonde scientists had a lot to discuss about their fields and their respective significant partners.
Jo’s husband, Bill, was an interesting guy. He told Alan that he had been a weatherman before giving it all up to chase tornadoes to study them better and to be able to use the data to better help people. He told him that they had a long way to go to develop the necessary technology, but he had ideas on how it might one day be achieved.
Alan was just grateful to the Hardings for being in the right place at the right time for Ellie.
Now, everything was the way it should be. Ellie was back with Alan, they had new friends in a couple that were also scientists and understood the importance of their work, and no one needed to be none the wiser about how Alan behaved when Ellie was missing.
“Hey, Alan. I just heard from a volunteer an interesting story while I was gone…”
Well, it wasn’t going to last long.
The End