Mary Anning's Curiosity

by Monica Kulling

  The girls reached the square. Before entering her house, Mary said, “I wish you well, Ann, I do. But I’ve got to work.”

  Then Mary disappeared indoors.

  Since Pa’s death, Mary had kept busy — on the beach hunting or in the cellar cleaning and preparing curiosities. She went at first low tide and didn’t stop until the last possible moment. Pa’s debt loomed over Mary like the massive Black Ven.

  Joe hunted when he could, but that wasn’t often. He was busy learning how to give an old sofa a new life — by fixing the springs and adding fresh padding and fabric. Mr. Hale was also teaching Joe how to set up his own upholstery business. Until Joe knew everything there was to know, he wasn’t being paid a penny, but once he had his own shop, that would change.

  “I’ll have a regular wage then,” Joe had announced proudly.

  Besides selling the fossils she found, Mary added to the family’s money box by doing small odd jobs, like running errands or shopping for old Mrs. Stock who was too weak to do it herself. Mary could easily have found work cleaning houses, but she loved being outdoors. Even the coldest, most blustery days filled her with excitement and joy. Housework couldn’t compare.

  Ammonites sold well and, because they were plentiful on Monmouth Beach, Mary always had a good selection. Seashells sold well too. Mary felt she could find those in her sleep! One day, Mary had found a sea lily, and that had brought in enough to buy food for a day or two. She’d even found a rare fish fossil that she sold to Miss Philpot for her collection.

  But the money Mary made was never enough to pay back the debt. If she could only find a fossil unlike any ever seen before, she could bring in enough money to settle the debt, with some left over besides. That desire drove her on.

  When Mary came through the door, Ma was sipping tea at the kitchen table. Since the baby’s death, she mostly sat and sipped tea, staring into space, with little interest in anything.

  “I’ve something wonderful to show you, Ma!” Mary said, as she pulled out a silver coin from the folds of her hankie and plunked it on the table.

  Ma took no notice of the money. All she saw were Mary’s red hands.

  “Your hands,” she murmured. “They look like a washerwoman’s, not like those of a young girl.”

  But Mary wasn’t interested. She wanted to tell her mother about the wonderful thing that had happened on beach. Her hands could wait. Besides, Elizabeth Philpot and her sisters had concocted a cream to heal hands cracked by sand and saltwater. Mary had a small jar of it and she would use it later.

  “A wonderful thing happened, Ma,” Mary began. “I was packing up for home when I found a limestone clump that turned out to have a great nodule inside. I chipped at the crust and there it was, deep inside — an ammo the size of a pork pie!”

  Ma smiled, lost in thought. She fingered the coin, thinking of all it could buy.

  Mary continued, her excitement filling up the room that was beginning to grow dim as evening approached. “The ammo was surrounded with shale, and I knew there would be hours of work to clean it. I was wrapping it up when a fancy tourist lady came up and said she wanted to buy it. Just the way it was! Dirty with clay!

  “I was so surprised to see her, dressed so fine and walking in shoes that didn’t suit sand, that I didn’t answer. She took my silence to mean that I didn’t want to sell the ammo and offered an even higher price! She gave me half a crown for it! Can you believe it? It wasn’t even clean, but she wanted it just the way it was. ‘I always like to bring an unusual stone home from my walk on the beach,’ she said.

  “Isn’t that something, Ma? The lady thought the ammo was an ordinary stone and not the long-ago creature that Pa always said it was.”

  Mary stood grinning. Her flood of words seemed to have cheered Ma.

  “You made this much selling one ammonite?”

  Mary nodded.

  A half crown was enough to buy food for the week and a little besides — pork pies, bread, bacon, tea and sugar. For the first time in weeks, hope stirred in Molly Anning’s breast, like a bird healing from a broken wing. But almost as quickly, hope died as the thought of Pa’s debt loomed back into view.

  “It’s an amazing story and a goodly coin, but it’ll not make a difference to the debt, Mary,” said Ma. “I fear that with each passing day, debtor’s prison draws closer.”

  The horror of living within the confines of the prison, where people who could not pay their debts were made to live with rats, lice and other vermin, kept Ma wide-awake most nights. If they were sent there — and they would be if they couldn’t soon pay the debt — would they ever get out again?

  “We’ll not be sent there, Ma, if we pull together,” said Mary, as cheerfully as she could. “Not if I find the giant crocodile. That great beast would bring in enough to pay off the debt and blast our worries to dust!”

  Ma studied Mary as though she were a stranger, then wearily shook her head.

  “There’s not a hope of that happening, my lass. You sound like your father when you talk like that. He always thought there was some big creature in the cliffs and spent time hunting when he should have been working at his trade. But it’s like looking for a black cat in a coal cellar, Mary. Your pa gambled with our daily bread every time he spent the day on beach. He might have thought he had all the time in the world to repay his debt, but as it’s turned out he didn’t.”

  Ma sighed before she continued, “You’re twelve now, Mary. It’s time to face reality. You’re never going to find a fossil big enough to wipe out Pa’s debt. So please, let’s not hear any more about it.”

  Suddenly, the door was flung wide and Joe burst through, shouting, “I found it, Mary! Ma! I found the great croc!”

  7

  —

  The Eye in the Cliff

  Joe had stumbled upon the odd shape in the cliff quite by accident. Some days after work, he went down to the beach to be close to Pa. Today, he stood studying Church Cliffs, his mind filled with memories, when suddenly he noticed an unusual shape in the limestone. It looked like a large round dinner plate. Or a monster’s eye!

  Was it part of a large creature? Could it be the giant crocodile Pa had talked about for as long as Joe could remember? Or was the late afternoon light playing tricks on him?

  Joe stared at the saucer-sized shape. It stared back at him with a glare that made him shudder. He walked to the cliff and reached up to trace his finger around the outer edge.

  “It might well be the beast,” he murmured in awe.

  Had he, Joseph Anning, found the fossil other hunters had never had the good fortune to find? Pa had hunted for the creature all his life, convinced that the many verteberries they’d found over the years were the vertebrae of the creature’s enormous spine. Others might think these were nothing more than harmless curiosities, but Pa believed that the verteberries were bits and pieces of a larger puzzle. If you could put them together, the individual pieces would make up the spine of a creature unlike anything anyone had ever seen.

  Joe thought back to the day, years ago, when Pa had brought home a large verteberry, what some folks called a dragon’s tooth. It was the size of a round loaf of bread! Pa had bent over and placed the verteberry on his back.

  “Can you see, by its shape, that this bone has to be part of a spine?” asked Pa excitedly. “Now try to imagine how large the creature must have been to have a spine this big. And, it’s buried in the cliffs out there, just waiting for us to find it!”

  Now, as Joe stood at the cliff, another feeling took hold — that of dread. What if Captain Cury stole his great discovery? Joe would never forgive himself if that happened. But how could he keep a find this size a secret?

  Joe searched the rocky beach for a suitable marker and found it in a large slab of shingle. He dragged the flat piece of rock over to the cliff and placed it at the base, below the eye.

 
; Captain Cury was crafty.

  We’ll have to be crafty too, thought Joe, scuffing at the rocks and pebbles to remove his tracks from the rocky shore. Then Joe took off for home. He hoped that the Captain hadn’t been watching him from the cliff top. He often did that, scoping out the scene to see who was making some great discovery that he could swipe.

  Joe didn’t dare look back in case it was true.

  When Joe told Mary and Ma about what he’d found, Mary immediately grabbed her coat and was out the door.

  “Are ye comin’, Ma?” asked Joe eagerly.

  “I’ll see the beast soon enough,” she replied, sounding lighter than she had in months. “Besides, I’ve got supper to get.”

  Joe and Mary tromped along the beach, watching where they placed their feet while keeping an eye on the cliff tops. Fortunately, Captain Cury didn’t seem to be around. The sea was creeping in. There wasn’t much time before high tide swept onto the beach in full force.

  At the cliff, Joe scraped away the seaweed he’d used to cover up the shingle marker. He pointed to the round shape etched in the cliff’s face.

  “It’s the monster’s eye, innit?”

  Seeing the curiosity again made Joe shiver. He needed Mary to say it was indeed the creature and not just his wishful thinking.

  Mary stared at the eye, then merely nodded.

  Finally, she spoke. “’Tis indeed the creature, Joe. Last night’s storm uncovered it.”

  Mary tried to imagine how huge the fossil must be to have an eye this size. She stood on the slab and reached up high to touch the shape’s rough surface.

  “Do you think it’s the whole beast, Joe?” she asked. “How will we free it?”

  Joe shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s a powerful amount of work. I wish Pa were here. He’d know what to do.”

  Mary was about to suggest that Elizabeth Philpot might help when Joe tugged at her sleeve. “Don’t look now, but the Captain’s come into view up top, and he’s seen us.”

  Captain Cury was short and barrel-chested. He wore an old canvas coat that came to his knees and he walked the slippery shoreline using his spade as a walking stick. The Captain had a nose for discoveries, especially those that belonged to others. You had to be clever to outwit him.

  Now the wily hunter expertly picked his way down the pathway. Soon he’d reach Church Cliffs beach, and then it would be over. Their secret would be out.

  Before that could happen, Mary jumped into action.

  “Turn your back to the cliff, Joe, and I’ll steer him away.”

  Mary began to meander toward the sea, keenly studying the beach as she walked. Out the corner of her eye, she saw that the Captain had taken the bait and was following her.

  Suddenly, Mary dropped to her knees. She’d caught sight of something! With energy and focus, she began chipping away at the rock.

  “Hey-ho! You! Anning lass!” Captain Cury’s shouts boomed above the sea’s pounding surf. “Found summat, have ye?”

  Mary had found something. It was a gryphie the size of her hand — the largest she’d ever seen.

  “I have,” she muttered, working to free the curiosity.

  The Captain peered at the Gryphaea. He’d never seen one this big either. It would sell like a hot griddle cake in Charmouth.

  Joe, meanwhile, when he was sure that the Captain wasn’t looking, had carefully covered the eye with wet sand and seaweed.

  The Captain aimed the blunt end of his spade at the fossil.

  “Let me tackle that toenail for you,” he offered. “I’ll dig it up right quick.”

  Mary jumped up and pushed the spade away.

  “Not like that! The gryphie won’t be worth a thing if it’s in pieces.”

  Captain Cury gave the scrawny girl before him his fiercest look. His bullying tactics rarely failed, but Mary was far from backing down.

  “Miss Mary,” he said menacingly. “Your pa would be none too proud to see you give an old man grief over a common curiosity.”

  “It’s my find,” Mary replied firmly, though the comment about Pa stung. “It isn’t as common as all that, and you know it.”

  Before Captain Cury could shove Mary aside, Joe grabbed the old man’s spade. “You’ll not thieve from us today, Mr. Curiman.”

  Mary went back to the work of freeing the gryphie. She followed the fossil’s lines and left a margin. Later, she would remove the excess rock with chisel, brush and pick, and plenty of patience.

  Captain Cury’s next words stopped Mary cold.

  “I saw the two of you mighty captivated by yonder cliffs,” he said, nodding toward Church Cliffs. “I’ll find what it is you’ve stumbled upon, though you be hiding it. I got the nose, you see.” Captain Cury tapped his nose and then turned, muttering and tromping toward the cliffs that held the rare fossil.

  Joe started to follow Captain Cury, but Mary pulled him back.

  “Don’t,” she whispered urgently. “If you act to protect it, he’ll twig that we’re hiding summat. Then he’ll not give us peace until he’s stolen it.”

  Mary and Joe watched as Captain Cury scouted the cliff face, walking to and fro, stopping once in a while to take a closer look. They held their breaths when he stood for a long while, gazing at the very spot where the fossil lay hidden. But then he turned to leave, not seeing anything out of the ordinary, and Mary and Joe relaxed.

  If the Captain found the eye and claimed the discovery as his own, Mary didn’t know what she’d do. This fossil would save her family from the poorhouse, and she was bound and determined that the find should be all theirs.

  Meanwhile, the young fossil hunter got busy wrapping her gryphie in a rag. “Perhaps the Curiman’s eyesight isn’t as sharp as yours, Joe,” she said with a smile.

  “Perhaps,” replied Joe, but he wasn’t as hopeful.

  Heading home, Mary and Joe looked back only once to see if the Captain had lingered at the cliff. They were relieved to see that the incoming tide had chased him back to the footpath.

  But tomorrow was another day and another chance for Captain Cury to find them out. Joe and Mary needed to be sharp to protect what was theirs. They knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

  8

  —

  The Fossil Shop

  It was two weeks since Joe’s discovery. Ma was busy with a customer when Mary and Joe burst through the door. The day after Mary brought home the half crown and Joe stumbled on the eye, Ma had the idea to turn the front sitting room into a shop.

  “If ye are set on following in your father’s steps, we best do it right,” she’d said. “Shall we call it the Fossil Shop?”

  Pa’s tools were brought up from the cellar. No more standing in floodwater to clean curiosities! Display shelves and a counter were built. Mary was even able to carve a wooden sign, which now hung outside.

  Since that day, Mary had worked in all types of weather, hour after hour, all the while keeping a lookout for the Captain.

  Today Joe had come down to see how Mary was getting on. The weather was raw and a harsh wind had buffeted them all the way home. Now, they stood in the shop with roses in their cheeks and excitement in their eyes.

  “The eye is amazing, Ma!” said Mary.

  “It’s only the skull, though,” said Joe.

  “The body of the beast is somewhere higher up,” said Mary. “I’m sure of it!”

  The customer, who’d had her back to the door, turned.

  “What beast is this?” she asked with a smile.

  Mary hadn’t seen the woman standing in the corner of the room, and now she’d spilled the secret! Relief washed over her when she saw it was Miss Philpot.

  “Joe found the dragon.” Mary’s words tumbled out excitedly. “It’s buried in Church Cliffs! I’ve been working on the skull for days, but it’s a powerful amount of work. T
he hardest bit will be getting the beast out of the cliff.”

  “We don’t know how we’ll do it,” Joe picked up the story. “And we fear the Curiman will grab the dragon from us. He’s been sniffing round. It won’t be long afore he twigs.”

  “What dragon is this exactly?” asked Miss Philpot. She was still rather new to Lyme and, as yet, didn’t know all the town’s secrets.

  “It’s the Lyme Regis dragon, ma’am,” replied Joe. “Only it’s not really a dragon — probably more like a giant crocodile. Folks have been talking about it for years. I found its eye, and it’s enormous.”

  “I’d like to help you if I may,” offered Miss Philpot, catching the excitement. “It sounds like a real scientific discovery.”

  The keen sparkle of interest in Miss Philpot’s eyes reminded Mary of Pa when he talked about how old the curiosities were, what they might be and why they were buried in the coastal cliffs. Could Miss Philpot be trusted not to take the discovery away from them?

  Ma must have been wondering the same thing, for she replied, “That is a kind offer, Miss Philpot, but I’m sure we’ll find a way.”

  Mary caught Elizabeth Philpot’s look of disappointment, followed quickly by embarrassment.

  “Of course, I didn’t … I didn’t mean …” Elizabeth sputtered.

  Mary jumped in. “We’d love your help, Miss Philpot.”

  “We would?” asked a surprised Joe.

  “Yes, we would, Joe,” Mary assured him. “Miss Philpot is our friend. She’d never cheat us out of our curiosity.”

  “It’s settled, then,” said Miss Philpot, beaming. “Together we’ll find a way to bring the creature to the Fossil Shop!”

  It was early dawn, and the night’s stars still faintly glimmered. The howling winds and lashing rain that had plagued the seaside town for days had finally ended. Mary hadn’t been able to go on beach because of the storm, but today she was going to see if the waves had done their work and uncovered more of the great beast. Joe started work at Mr. Hale’s first thing every morning, so he could not come along.