The Fossil Hunter of Sydney Mines

by Jo Ann Yhard

  “What have you got so far?” Mr. Grange asked.

  Grace gulped. She hadn’t been paying any attention to the sites Mai had looked up.

  “The steel plant in Sydney left behind over one million tons of contaminated soil,” Mai recited. “The pollutants have run off into Sydney Harbour and caused fish contamination and many other environmental problems.”

  Mr. Grange nodded. “Go on,” he prodded.

  “It’s one of the biggest contaminated sites in North America,” Mai continued. “There have been a lot of attempts to do something about the mess in the past, but nothing has worked so far. The government is hoping a new cleanup program will work.”

  Mr. Grange seemed satisfied. “Very good,” he said approvingly. “Carry on.”

  “Nice going, Mai,” Grace said after Mr. Grange had circled the room and returned to the front of the class.

  “Thanks,” Mai grinned. “Now what were you saying again?”

  “Get this—” Grace lowered her voice and jumped back into their previous conversation. “My mom’s car broke down the other night and Stanley just happened to be there. He drove her home. Now he’s coming to dinner! I mean, what’s he after?”

  “Rick Stanley? So does this mean we’re going to the fossil museum?” Fred asked. “Grace, are you nuts? Don’t you remember when you broke in there and tried to steal back all the fossils your dad donated? You knocked over that big display case. Your picture is probably plastered on their wall with a sign above it that says Most Wanted!’”

  “Fred’s right,” Mai said. “For once. Besides, your mom will totally freak if she finds out what you’re up to.”

  “What do you mean, for once?” Fred huffed. “Seriously, Grace. You said your mom was acting really weird lately. She could totally blow it and send you to one of the prison camps for kids. I saw it on the Discovery Channel—Problem Kids: Last Resort. It’s not pretty!”

  Fred didn’t know how close he was about the prison camp for kids. Grace’s mom had actually threatened to send her to one when she’d broken into the museum. Her mom had even brought home the brochure. It was covered in pictures of kids smiling and wearing identical clothes, hiking up Cape Smokey.

  It was the same brochure that Grace’s mom had pointed to on the fridge that morning. Even though she’d never actually said she’d send Grace there, it was obvious that’s what she meant—another of her mom’s extremes.

  “You’ll come back programmed like some robot, dressed in a uniform and eating tuna sandwiches!” Fred stood up and jerked his arms up and down in a lame robot imitation. “And you’ll talk weird, like ‘Hello, my name is Grace Elizabeth. Hello, my name is Grace Elizabeth!’”

  Grace looked down at her tie-dyed T-shirt and ripped jeans. Uniform? No way.

  “Tuna? What’s wrong with tuna?” Mai asked. “It’s full of omega-3. You know—brain food.” She clutched her lunch bag. “You could use some brain food, Freddo, that’s for sure!”

  “Whatever,” Fred said, rolling his eyes. “Anyways, Grace, you can’t go to the fossil museum. You’ll be arrested.”

  “Everyone’s probably forgotten about that,” Grace said. “And it was all that security guard’s fault anyway. He tried to tackle me. I ducked and he’s the one who fell into the display case. Besides, we’re not going there.”

  “Where else is there?” Mai looked confused.

  “Point Aconi. I’m sure Dad was fossil-hunting out there that day. I mean, no one even checked the area because someone at the fossil museum said he went back to the office that afternoon. But what if it was Stanley that said that, to cover his tracks? Maybe there’s a clue out there somewhere…”

  The bell rang. Grace was glad of the distraction. Chairs scraped and the sound level jumped to a roar as chattering students herded toward the door.

  Fred stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder. “I’m busy at lunch. I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

  “You’re the one who’s always Mr. Spy Guy,” Mai said. “What’s more important than this?”

  “I have to check something out. I’ll tell ya later.”

  “Fred’s up to something,” Mai muttered to Grace as they watched him walk away.

  Grace and Mai met up with Jeeter in the cafeteria at lunch. Mai bought an egg sandwich. Grace noticed that Mai’s lunch bag was missing and smiled to herself. It was probably ditched in her locker with an uneaten tuna sandwich still inside.

  They snagged a vacant picnic table on the edge of the football field, far away from any unwelcome ears. “I think I’ve figured out how to get away for a while after school tomorrow,” Grace said, peeling a slice of pepperoni off her pizza and popping it into her mouth. “Jessica owes me big. She blew my cover last night about studying together.”

  Jeeter gobbled down a handful of fries. “What’s Swim Star gonna do?”

  “I’ll get her to pretend to be me and go to my place after school. It works out perfectly ’cause we’re off tomorrow afternoon for that teachers’ meeting. Plus, my mom’s working.”

  “But what if your mom calls? I mean, Jessica could be your twin, but she doesn’t sound anything like you.” Mai unwrapped her sandwich and took an unenthusiastic bite. “Besides, it takes forever to bike all the way out to Point Aconi. Can’t we go on the weekend?”

  “I can’t,” Grace replied. “I’m grounded and my mom will be home. I’ll just tell Jessica not to answer the phone. Then Mom will check in with Stuckless instead. He’ll tell her I’m home and voila—it’s perfect!” She grinned. “What could go wrong?”

  Chapter

  6

  IT TOOK LOTS OF ARM-TWISTING, BUT JESSICA FINALLY AGREED to miss her swim team practice the next day and cover for Grace.

  “Only one problem,” Jessica said. “You said this Stuckless guy is pretty sharp, right?”

  “That’s for sure. He’s King of the Snoops,” Grace replied.

  “Well, I’m gonna need it then,” Jessica said, holding out her hand. “You’re gonna have to give me the hat or you’ll be busted for sure.”

  Grace reluctantly slipped off her hat. Her fingers brushed the embroidered letters as Jessica tugged it from her hand. A hollow feeling filled her, like she’d just given away part of herself.

  Hours later at Black Hole, Grace ran her fingers through her hair for the millionth time. She felt weird without her lucky cap. It was like her brain wouldn’t work properly or something.

  “Grace?” Fred said, waving a hand in front of her face. “Come back down and join us earthlings.”

  “Sorry,” she said, “what were you saying?”

  “Nothing important—just how we’re not going to get arrested or killed!”

  “Chill, Freddo. It’ll be a piece of cake,” Jeeter said.

  “Sure, Mr. Piece of Cake. Why don’t you just hack into the fossil museum computers and all will be revealed!” Fred waved his hands in front of Jeeter’s face like a magician. “It shouldn’t be any problem for a genius like you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Well, you’re such a wizard with Roger’s computer. You could probably solve the whole mystery.”

  “Knock it off, Fred.” Mai poked him in the ribs. “Just ignore him,” she told Jeeter with a smile. “His brain has turned to chocolate mush from all the candy bars he eats!”

  “No one’s getting arrested,” Grace said. “I told you; we’re not going to the fossil museum. We’re going out to Point Aconi. If Rick Stanley did lie about seeing my dad, then maybe something happened out there. We’ll have to be careful, though. There’s probably a lot more sinkholes. My dad said the area was more dangerous when it rained, and it’s been raining buckets lately.”

  “Great,” Fred gulped. “Killer sinkholes!”

  Grace unfolded her map on the wooden table. “We’ll have to hike through the woods here.” She traced a line with her finger on the map. “The woods are really thick, but they’ll give us more cover and they’re farther aw
ay from the strip mine site.”

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to go in by the mine site?” Jeeter asked. “All the trees would be cleared.”

  Grace shook her head. “We can’t. They have tons of security guards roaming around because of all the protests and vandalism. And they aren’t friendly.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Fred jumped up and started to pace. “Didn’t you tell us a guy got punched in the face by some security goon at a protest?”

  “I remember that,” Mai gasped.

  Fred’s foot was tapping a mile a minute. “Maybe we should forget about Point Aconi. At least the fossil museum doesn’t have killer sinkholes!” He lowered his voice as if he was telling a ghost story. “Besides, didn’t someone die when they fell into a sinkhole up there last year?”

  “That was in Glace Bay!” Grace replied.

  Grace turned to Mai for support. But Mai was nervously peeling small splinters of wood from the tabletop with her fingernail. Grace felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. What if they don’t go? she thought to herself. They couldn’t chicken out on her now. She wouldn’t be able to do this alone.

  “So, are we going to help Grace or not?” Jeeter challenged, staring at Fred and Mai. “Aren’t you supposed to be the fossil hunters? Not scared of a little hike, are you?”

  Fred looked insulted. “Of course we’ll help. We’re always here for Grace. Aren’t we, Mai?”

  Mai let out a nervous giggle.

  It did the trick and the ominous mood seemed to vanish.

  “Great, then it’s settled!” Grace said.

  Fred, Mai, and Jeeter nodded in approval.

  “Since it’s still early and it’s my last official day of freedom…” Grace started with a smile, “why don’t we check out the tunnel by the Halfway Road pit?”

  “Seriously?” Fred said. “Awesome! We haven’t been through the tunnels for months. Let’s go!” He clicked on his flashlight and hurried past the brook into the tunnel. Within seconds, his light had disappeared into the blackness.

  “Where’s he going?” Jeeter asked.

  “One of the bootleg tunnels running from here ends at an old open pit mine at Halfway Road,” Mai said. “Great fossils.”

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to bike there?” He pointed up toward ground level. “You know, like normal people? It would definitely be faster!”

  “What’s the fun in that?” Grace laughed.

  “Come with me. I’ll show you.” Mai grabbed Jeeter’s hand and tugged him along.

  Jeeter looked back at Grace. Save me! he mouthed.

  Grace waved him on with a smirk. Jeeter didn’t seem too happy to be alone with Mai. They disappeared into the dark, their bobbing flashlights fading quickly. Grace took her time before following behind them, enjoying the quiet.

  The dark tunnels didn’t scare her at all. She’d gotten used to them from fossil-hunting with her dad. “I sure wish you were with me now, Dad,” she whispered into the blackness.

  “Grace, come in,” Mai’s tinny voice called out from her walkie-talkie.

  “What’s up?” Grace answered.

  “Where are you?”

  “Close. I’ll be there in a sec.” Grace picked up her pace, careful to watch her footing on the slick tunnel floor. Water drip-dripped a constant beat along with her footsteps as she turned right then left down different arms of the warren of tunnels.

  Grace bent low through a narrow section under Main Street. Since the tunnels were all hand-dug, they shrunk and expanded with no set pattern and she had to pay careful attention not to trip or bonk her head. Fred had smacked his head more than once when racing through the them.

  She rounded another sharp turn and, instead of the expected blue sky from the opening at the pit, she faced glaring flashlights.

  “Did we take a wrong turn?” she asked, swinging her beam back the way she’d come.

  “Nope,” Fred said.

  “Then where’s the opening?”

  “Gone,” Mai said softly.

  “Gone?” Grace echoed.

  “Cave-in!” The glow from Fred’s flashlight made ghoulish shadows on his face.

  Grace ran her light up and down the wall of earth and rock where the entrance to the pit opening once stood. “I wonder when this happened…” she mused aloud.

  “We haven’t been here for ages,” Mai said. “It could have been anytime.”

  “Good thing we weren’t here when it happened,” Fred added. “We’d be pancakes…dead ones!”

  “No kidding,” Jeeter said. “Interesting hobby you guys have.”

  Grace knelt down. Her flashlight picked up distinctive shadows on the flat rocks. “Hey, look at this.”

  “What?” Mai bent low beside her.

  “Stigmaria fossil.” Grace held up a large piece of slate in her gloved hand.

  “That’s a great one,” Mai said. “Look at the ridging on the root, there.” She ran the tip of her finger along the dark ridges.

  “What is that, a plant?” Jeeter didn’t sound impressed. “Where are the raptor bones?”

  “Hey, Jeeto, a little respect,” Fred said. “These plants are a lot older than your raptors—by, like, over two hundred million years.”

  “Okay, fine,” Jeeter mocked. “They’re really old plants. But I don’t see them starring in a movie!”

  “Ya know, you’re a bit of a—”

  BAARRROOOMMM!!!

  Suddenly, the ground rumbled. Bits of rock and grass rained down from above them.

  “Ouch!” Fred yelped, rubbing his head.

  “What’s going on?” Mai cried.

  Larger rocks started tumbling from the ceiling and walls. Grace scrambled to her feet. A table-sized piece of slate thundered down to the ground and shattered beside her.

  “We’ve got to get out of here!” Jeeter shouted.

  “Run!” Mai screamed.

  Chapter

  7

  MAI TOOK OFF DOWN THE TUNNEL.

  “That’s not the way back to Black Hole!” Fred yelled to her. He raced after Mai as she flew around the corner.

  “Fred, wait!” Grace called out, imagining him running into a wall, or worse. She and Jeeter followed behind him. But he disappeared around another turn before they could catch up.

  “Are we going in a circle?” Jeeter called back to Grace after they took another right turn.

  “Seems like it!”

  They veered to the right yet again. This time, they were greeted by a beam of sunlight at an opening. There was no sign of Fred and Mai. Cautiously, they stepped out into a thick cluster of trees.

  “Over here,” Mai whispered from a few metres away.

  Grace and Jeeter crawled over to where Mai and Fred were hiding.

  “Look!” Mai pulled back some branches. They were on the opposite side of the old Halfway Road pit, but it wasn’t the same quiet spot they were used to. “I think that’s what caused the falling rocks in the tunnel,” she said, pointing to a bunch of bulldozers and backhoes buzzing around fresh piles of dirt and rock.

  “What are they doing here?” Fred asked.

  Grim realization washed over Grace. “The government must have issued a lease to the mining company after all,” she said glumly.

  “What do you mean?” Jeeter asked.

  “This was one of my dad’s projects with the anti-strip-mining group. I even protested with him. He thought this site was a win for sure because it’s right in town!” Grace stepped through the trees. Fred, Mai, and Jeeter followed behind her.

  “Sorry, Grace,” Jeeter murmured. He squeezed her shoulder.

  “Thanks.” Grace could feel tears stinging her eyes. All of her dad’s hard work was going down the drain. There hadn’t been any more protests since he’d disappeared.

  Grace and the others watched the hornet’s nest of activity down in the pit. The name Breton Hauling Limited and the initials BHL were all over the equipment. That wasn’t the name of any mining company Grace remembered. This one must be new.<
br />
  “We should leave, Grace,” Fred said. “We could get into trouble for trespassing if we get caught here.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Grace replied.

  Suddenly, a pickup truck sped into the pit, pulling in beside another one parked close to where they were standing. Grace recognized the truck, even before its driver got out. The truck’s owner spied them and strode briskly toward them.

  “Hello, Grace.”

  Grace stared at her next-door neighbour, Mr. Stuckless, but didn’t answer him. Mai poked her in the ribs.

  “You kids can’t be here. It’s private property.”

  “We’re not doing anything,” Grace finally replied.

  “Well, it’s a working pit now. You have to leave, for your own safety.”

  Grace folded her arms across her chest and scowled.

  “Not planning a protest, now, are you?” Stuckless demanded.

  “Maybe,” Grace snapped. “You’re not allowed here!”

  Mr. Stuckless’s smile disappeared. “Not a good joke. But we have a lease now anyway, so we most definitely are allowed here.” He pointed toward the street. “But the same can’t be said for you kids. You’re trespassing!”

  Grace felt a hand tugging on her sleeve. “C’mon,” Mai murmured. “Let’s go!”

  Without saying another word, Grace turned and strode back through the trees. Mai, Fred, and Jeeter followed behind her. Silently, they walked back to Black Hole to get their bikes.

  “I wonder when they reopened the pit,” Fred said, hopping on his bike.

  “I never heard a thing about it,” Grace said. “But then it was my dad that filled me in on all that stuff.” She tugged viciously on one of her pack straps. “Mom doesn’t care about it!”

  No one said anything.

  They rode wordlessly back up Pitt Street and with a wave split off into different directions. Grace pedalled slowly toward home. Her mom’s car was in the driveway, with a shiny red sports car behind it. Oh, great! she thought to herself. She didn’t feel much like company.

  Grace opened the back door and was instantly surrounded by a swirl of delicious smells. Mom’s cooking? she thought as she walked toward the stove. She never cooks. Mmmm…smells like boiled dinner. Grace lifted the lid to peer inside. She grabbed a fork and snagged a piece of corned beef. Delicious! Her stomach rumbled.