“You sure seem to understand paleontology,” Dad smiled. “You don’t get it from me, so it must come from your mother’s side of the family. All I know about is farming and ranching.”
“That’s all related to geology,” said Daniel earnestly, “and it’s an important aspect, too.”
Dad tousled Daniel’s hair and sat on the edge of the bed. Then he pointed to the bag by the door.
“What’s this?” Daniel asked, going over and opening it up. He pulled out a thick grey woollen blanket. Something hard was wrapped inside. Carefully, he unfolded it. A camping lantern? He looked up at Dad in surprise.
“They’re for your hideout,” Dad said, and smiled. “Just in case you ever get storm-stayed again, which I hope you never do!”
“Thanks, Dad! This is great!” Daniel felt a glow of pleasure.
“Seriously, Son, I figured you could make use of them while you’re on your digs,” he grinned shyly. “I have something important to tell you, too.”
He smiled up at Daniel, then said, “We’ve done it. Mr. Pederson’s contacts convinced the bank that there were some viable archaeological finds around here. On the strength of that, the manager is willing to take the pressure off for awhile, and may even consider giving us an extension.”
“Wahoo!!” Daniel threw his arms into the air, holding the blanket and the lantern, and then danced in a little circle.
“Now don’t get too excited,” Dad warned. “Our land isn’t totally saved. We still have to look into various options for income and figure out how to come up with the payments.”
“But, remember what Mr. Pederson said, Dad?” Daniel felt a quiver of anticipation. “The dinosaur finds could be turned into an income.”
“Yes, but I’m not clear exactly how that works. But I do know that it could take quite a while before anything happens. Apparently it takes as much finagling to fund scientists as it does farmers.” Dad ruffled Daniel’s hair again.
“Great!” Daniel smiled. “I knew there had to be a way.”
“You sure did, but don’t count on it yet. We don’t know what will happen.” Dad stood up and walked over to the door.
“I know, but at least we can check it out.”
Dad stroked his chin. “We’ll look into things in the new year. In the meantime, I can keep farming.”
With a nod, he left the room.
~
Pederson was the last to arrive for Christmas dinner. Daniel greeted him at the back door. By the time he’d removed his boots and overcoat, his new bifocal glasses were fogged up – the air was moist from the pots of vegetables cooking. As he led him into the dining room, Daniel noticed how important Pederson looked with his clean-shaven face, and dressed in clean pants and a shirt with a tie.
Pederson stopped to look at the festive room, which was decorated with silver garlands along the walls and doorways. A huge red crepe bell hung from the middle of the ceiling light fixture. A six-foot blue spruce Christmas tree stood between the dining room and the living room, with lights that twinkled on and off, and a huge glittery star on top.
The tree ornaments were a colourful mix of old-fashioned sparklers and newer satin balls, crocheted snowflakes, small handmade wooden toys, and candy canes. Some of the decorations had once belonged to Daniel’s relatives, some were new things his family had acquired over the years. There were even the construction paper ones he’d made in school. More silver garlands finished off the tree.
The dining room was warm and cozy, with a bright white-and-red Christmas tablecloth on the table and a small potted poinsettia in the centre, courtesy of Jed’s parents. The table was set with Daniel’s grandmother’s best china, along with matching burgundy napkins. The good dishes were only used for special occasions like Christmas and Easter. Already the tossed salad, cranberry sauce, cold ham, and buns were on the table.
Daniel introduced Pederson to the Lindstrom family, scattered about the room. Doug Lindstrom, Jed’s dad, patted him on the back and stood chatting with him, while Jed’s cheerful mom, Greta, placed a huge platter of turkey on the table, then waved from across the room. Lucy, Lindsay, and Leanne entered, carrying bowls of vegetables, cabbage rolls, and dressing to the table, and then they took their places. When they were introduced, they giggled and hid their faces, a little in awe of the hermit they’d heard so much about. Pederson nodded shyly at everyone as they took their seats.
Daniel’s dad greeted Pederson like an old friend, shaking his hand before he took his place at the head of the table. Daniel grinned over at Jed, who studied the old man carefully. Jed’s three sisters pulled their chairs closer together and stared at Pederson openly, trying to determine if he was someone to be wary of or not. When Cheryl gurgled and cooed at him from her highchair and he winked at her, they all relaxed.
Once everyone was seated, Mom came in and set the bowl of steaming hot gravy down on the table. As she took her place, everyone complimented her over her preparation of the meal. It did look spectacular.
Dad poured wine for the adults and Mom made sure all the kids had juice. Then Dad rose with his glass in his hand.
“I’d like to start off by making a toast to Ole Pederson.” He raised his glass. “First of all, thank you for saving our son!”
Pederson nodded his head slightly.
Then Daniel’s dad continued. “And secondly, even though we’ve still got some figuring out to do, we couldn’t have kept the farm intact without you,” Dad toasted, tipping his glass in their new friend’s direction. “To Ole Pederson, a lifesaver in more ways than one.”
Pederson sat beaming modestly, as everyone clinked their glasses and sipped. Daniel was surprised when he shuffled to his feet a few moments later.
“Thank you, but, ah, I’d also like to propose a toast...to young Daniel, here,” he said, raising his glass in the air. “Without him, I wouldn’t have come to know you good people. Come to think of it, he’s also responsible for saving my life at least twice.”
Pederson bent and nudged Daniel in the shoulder. “Did you ever think about becoming a doctor, lad?”
Daniel could feel his face burning, but only smiled as everyone raised their glasses to him. Then the laughing and talking resumed as they began passing the food around the table. Everyone ate heartily and by the time Mom presented the choice of Saskatoon pie, shortbread cookies, or mince tarts for dessert, Daniel was too full to have anything. He also knew Mom had Nanaimo bars, sugar cookies, and butter tarts for coffee later. He and Jed clutched their stomachs and groaned.
A few moments later, Pederson seemed fidgety, and then he stood up again and spoke quietly.
“Ah. I’d like to say thank you to all of you for taking care of me so well, and being so kind,” he smiled and raised his glass of wine at Daniel and his parents. “What I’d like to do, that is, I’d like to say...” He looked around in bewilderment at the table full of expectant, smiling faces.
Then he focused on Daniel’s dad and continued, “What I mean to do is, ah, well, although I can’t lease out my land, because I promised my wife before she died a couple of years ago that I would never do that. She believed in my dreams, you see.”
Pederson’s face flushed a bright red, and he pushed his glasses back into place as everyone sat quietly, waiting for him to go on.
“Well what I’m trying to say is that I’d like to offer you Bringham folks a short-term interest-free loan. Mind it would only be until we get our joint venture going. But I happen to have a bit put aside, and I can’t think of a better use for it than sharing it with my good neighbours here.”
Daniel’s parents glanced at each other in amazement.
“Wow,” said Daniel, jumping up from the dinner table. “Do you really mean it? Dad, does that mean we can stay here for sure and I can keep Gypsy?”
“Whoa, wait a minute Son, calm down,” said Dad. He turned to Pederson. “I can’t let you do that.”
“Why in tarnation not?” Pederson seemed surprised. “Besides, I hav
e a stake in seeing that your land isn’t torn up, too. You never know what might be hidden here.”
Dad was astounded at first. Then he looked at Mom, and she shrugged back. “Are you sure about this, Mr. Pederson?”
Pederson said, proudly. “I’m sure. Since young Daniel first came to pay me that unexpected visit, my life hasn’t been so lonely. Besides, now there’s an opportunity to do what I’ve always wanted.”
Daniel had never seen his parents so speechless. They sat humbly, with their eyes shining.
Sitting back down, Pederson stared down at his plate for a few moments, then continued to speak in a soft voice. “When the museum board wouldn’t give me a leave of absence or funding to prove my theories, I decided to go my own way. I took early retirement and moved up here.”
“The fact is,” Pederson went on, “Now that I’ve proved my point, I’ve been thinking about getting myself a place in town, at least when I’m not working at the excavation site. My health isn’t what it used to be.” He winked at Daniel. “If I do that, I’ll need someone to watch the place here for me. We could maybe figure it out as some sort of payment in kind.”
Daniel and Jed exchanged significant looks. This could make for some great weekend adventures.
“Say, yes, Dad, Mom,” Daniel implored, as he looked at his parents’ surprised faces.
They nodded in agreement with broad smiles.
“Okay,” Dad told Pederson. Then he laughed and said to Daniel, “I guess I could learn to take your advice once in a while.”
Daniel looked over joyfully at Pederson. Jed gave him the thumbs-up. The Lindstroms cheered and complimented Pederson, who sat quietly contented. When Daniel’s mom got up and gave him a hug, two bright red spots of embarrassment appeared on his cheeks. Daniel grinned.
A tinkling spoon tapping against a wine glass drew everyone’s attention to Greta Lindstrom. “While we’re on the subject of the partnership and the dinosaur research,” she said, “I’ll let you in on a little secret. Just between us.”
Daniel looked over at Jed. Now he knew why Jed could never keep a secret – the trait came from his mother.
“As you know, I work part-time in the town council office. I happen to know that the bank manager has already talked to the mayor,” she said with pleasure. “They figure the finds would be a great boon to the town’s economy in terms of tourists coming to visit the area, which I know you all hope will happen, too. Well,” she revealed, “They’re planning to invite you to go to the next town council meeting in January to talk about the possibilities. They want to get involved and help.”
Everyone clapped at this news!
Daniel turned eagerly to his dad. “And I bet there are some government departments, and scientists, and maybe even archaeological societies and museums that would give us advice on how to set up this kind of thing!”
Pederson patted Daniel enthusiastically on the back. Daniel flushed.
“I have some other contacts who might be willing to help with that aspect, too,” added Pederson. “We’ll see it’s done properly.”
Then Doug Lindstrom piped up, “We’d like to help in any way we can, as well.” Greta and Jed nodded in agreement. The girls nodded solemnly too, but didn’t seem quite sure about what was going on.
Daniel jumped up and raised his juice glass. “To great partnerships and great friends!” He beamed at Pederson. “And to even greater dinosaur finds!”
Epilogue
A year and a half later, Daniel stood beside Pederson at the opening of their new town museum. The town council had voted unanimously to donate the old rink for a small museum and research station. Plans for the future included a new fully equipped building, but that would take some time and fundraising. In the meantime, they’d established an impressive collection. The temporary centre was already attracting tourists and paleontology buffs.
Daniel’s family had survived their financial crunch with the help of Pederson and the loan extensions from the bank. They were still operating the farm, although on a smaller scale. They spent a lot of their time now constructing their own tourist attraction, with hiking trails and sites for overnight camping excavations. Jed’s dad had gone away to work in Regina for a while to save their farm. The Lindstroms had also partnered with the Bringhams and Pederson. They planned to help run the tourist booth, refreshment area, group tour bookings and, once things swung into full gear, transporting people out to the digs.
Pederson concentrated on the actual excavations, supervising the teams that came out from the museums and universities. Daniel was his primary assistant on the weekends. Jed often appeared as well, but Pederson and Daniel never told him any really confidential information until they were ready for everyone to know.
Today, Pederson, with a museum staff badge pinned to his shirt, pointed to a display that showed an assemblage of dinosaur bones and a replica of a nest with Edmontosaurus eggs. Paleontology experts at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina, along with several from the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, were still studying the real ones, especially the baby skeleton. The skull had been studied and released for display.
The full-scale Edmontosaurus that Pederson had unearthed had been assembled and erected nearby in a huge roped-off area. It stood about two and a half metres high, with a series of bumps running along its neck, back, and tail. Its hind legs were larger than the front ones, and its protruding jaw contained hundreds of teeth. Exhibits along the walls showed stages of geological evolution, then excavation phases, and samples of fossils found in the region. Huge drawings and posters depicted the creatures of the Cretaceous period found in the province so far.
The room was jammed. A group of Daniel’s schoolmates surrounded him and Pederson. At the back of the crowd, a handful of parents, including Daniel’s and Jed’s, stood with photographers and newspaper reporters from the local paper and all over the province. One Regina television crew, another from Swift Current, and a third from Medicine Hat were also taping the grand opening of the centre.
Daniel felt his heart expanding as Pederson explained the exhibit. “This is also the first hadrosaur-type skull to be discovered,” he said proudly, pointing to the skull.
Then he explained, “The hadrosaur was the first American dinosaur to be described, and the first nearly complete skeleton found. It was discovered in 1858 in New Jersey in the United States, but it was skull-less, although hundreds of teeth were found.”
Pederson guided them over to a highlighted display of a replicated nest with the baby skeleton.
“And so, you see, the Edmontosauruses appear to have been highly social creatures. They probably travelled in herds and seem to have laid eggs in communal nests. That means that several females dropped their eggs in the same nests.”
He directed them to take a closer look at the diorama of his dig, where he described how he had located the nest.
“This is the first conclusive evidence of nests and eggs of this particular species,” he said, “although there have been a couple of other types of hadrosaurs found elsewhere in North America – in Alberta and Montana to be precise.”
The group of students broke out into excited conversation.
“Mr. Pederson, doesn’t that mean that the information in most museums will have to be updated?” Jed asked loudly over the noisy crowd.
“Yes, it does, young man,” Pederson nodded. “New discoveries are always challenging our assumptions in the world of paleontology.”
“And this also means the books have to be rewritten,” Daniel spoke up.
“Indeed it does, Daniel. So others can say they ‘saw it in a book’ too.” Pederson winked at him.
Daniel’s parents had moved up beside him. He felt Dad’s arm squeeze his shoulder, and Mom gave him a hug. He gazed out over the crowd of classmates and noticed Brett and Wade staring attentively and in respectful awe of Pederson. About time – calling him a murderer!
“There are many more explorations to conduct, and we do
n’t know what else may be out there,” Pederson said. “It takes a great deal of enthusiasm and dedication, like young Daniel here has, to unearth these irreplaceable relics of an extinct species.” Pederson smiled at him. “And I’m sure he’ll make some great discoveries of his own someday.”
Daniel smiled and squeezed the lucky receptaculites fossil in his pocket. He hadn’t turned it in to be put on display. It was private. In fact, he still had a few interesting stones stashed in his secret hideout. And that was definitely going to stay off limits!
Bibliography
Reid, Monty, The Last Great Dinosaurs: An illustrated Guide to Alberta’s Dinosaurs, Red Deer College Press, Red Deer, Alberta, 1990, ISBN: 0-88995-055-5.
Stewart, Janet, The Dinosaurs: A New Discovery, Hayes Publishing Ltd., Burlington, Ontario, 1989, ISBN: 0-88625-235-0.
Storer, Dr. John, Geological History of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Museum of Natural History, Government of Saskatchewan, 1989.
Wallace, Joseph, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaur,Michael Friedman Publishing Group, Inc., New York, N.Y., 1987, ISBN: 0-8317-2368-8.
url: http://www.enchantedlearning.com
Vocabulary/Descriptions
The paleontological material found throughout this novel comes mostly from the Cretaceous period. A brief description of some of the terms used follows, with their pronunciations. The Frenchman Valley, where this story takes place, is located in the southwest and central areas of Saskatchewan.
coprolite: (KOWP-ruh-lyte) (“dung stone”):
Coprolite is fossilized feces (animal waste). The term coprolite was coined around 1830, when the earliest-known specimens were found. They are quite common now.
cretaceous period (cree-TAY-shush):
The Cretaceous period lasted from about 146 to 65 million years ago. Flowering plants and trees made their first widespread appearance, creating bright beautiful landscapes with their reds, yellows, and purples. Before that time, the browns and greens of trees and ferns were contrasted only by the blues of the skies and seas. The Cretaceous period was the latter part of the Mesozoic era, when great creatures roamed the land and pterosaurs, huge flying creatures, ruled the skies. A variety of small creatures also populated the earth and seas. The climate was tropical all year round.
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