Jurassic Park: A Landscaper's Tale
Chapter 1
A cool afternoon breeze swept through the newly planted ferns along the front of the white limestone Medical Center. The breeze offered the first relief from the day's heat and humidity, which had seemed particularly oppressive even for Isla Nublar. David Harrison took a drink from his bottle of water. He stepped back to admire just how well the center's landscape was turning out. Only two years out of college, David was floored that his submitted designs for the park had been chosen. He'd never worked with some, or even most, of these types of plants before, but Mr. Hammond had been impressed enough to hire him. An opportunity this big was something that he couldn't pass up.
Looking at his watch for the third time in as many minutes, David hoped it wasn't too obvious that he was just waiting around. He had let his workers off early as he did every Friday so they, along with the other contractors, could catch the boat for the mainland. David, however, had decided to remain on the island for the weekend. He told his crew it was to work on some new ideas for the stone wall at the Visitor's Center, but his men knew he had made plans with one of the nurses from the clinic.
The first day they were on site at the Medical Center, one of the workers had sliced his arm cutting binding wire from a pallet of stepping stones. Thankfully the wound had been minor, but David knew Jake needed stitches. Walking into the clinic with a worker whose arm was dripping blood had created quite a commotion among the staff. But once the nurses realized the wound had not been caused by one of the animals, they all seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Twenty stitches later, Jake and the nurse who had sewn him up stepped into the waiting area. Though it had been hard to miss the large white bandage around Jake's arm, it was even harder to miss the young brunette beside him. Thanking her and the rest of the clinic staff, David and Jake rejoined the crew outside. In the days that followed, April – after much hounding, Jake had finally given in and told David her name – would stop by on her way out of the Medical Center and talk for a few minutes with David, asking how Jake was and commenting on how well the landscape was coming along.
Another quick glance and this time his watch read three fifty-nine. He made a brief check of his shirt for dirt and kicked a black chunk of mud from his boot. Of course April had seen him dirtier than this, but he wanted to look especially good this afternoon.
It had been only two days ago that April agreed, the first time David asked, to spend Friday evening with him. He had even taken the time to clean up his "Benz," a park-issued Jeep Wrangler, number six of fifteen gas-powered Jeeps given to all contract foremen.
"Hard at work I see." With a smile April Westbrook descended the few steps in front of the Medical Center to stand beside David. She was wearing her blue scrubs, her hair hanging in a ponytail between her shoulders. Her dark green eyes twinkled in the late afternoon sunlight.
"I was just finishing up," David lied, brushing his hands off on his khaki shorts. "Everyone else said I worked them too hard so they took off."
"Well I'm glad you decided to stick around," April said. The breeze carried a soft smell of tropical anticeptic soap from the clinic. "I'm looking forward to my unofficial tour of the island." As part of the orientation process, all workers were given a brief tour of the completed sections of Jurassic Park. David had promised April a better, more extensive tour this time. Since orientation, more animals had been released into their permanent pens and other areas of the park had been opened. Not to mention they wouldn't be sitting in a cramped Explorer with four other workers, listening to a prerecorded voice telling them what to look at.
"Good, I am too. How 'bout I start by giving you a lift back to the Dorm?" David offered. April agreed, then proceeded to joke that David must not work too hard if not only his clothes but his Jeep managed to remain so clean.
Park housing, or the "Dorm" as the workers called it, was a three-story building just behind the Visitor's Center. It would eventually become the main hotel once the park opened for visitors, but for now it was home for the nearly two hundred workers on the island. Occasionally, small groups of inspectors or consultants would stay in the hotel for a few days while checking the progress of the park. In fact, Mr. Hammond's grandchildren were supposedly coming for the weekend, staying in one of the executive suites, of course.
"So I'll meet you in the cafeteria at five-thirty?" David asked as April stepped onto the dirt road in front of the Dorm.
"You might be surprised," she said, leaning into the Jeep. Her keys and ID card hung from the lanyard around her neck. "There aren't many people around on Friday nights, so you can usually talk the chefs into making almost anything. Two weeks ago I had one of the best burritos ever. It reminded me of this little restaurant I used to go to in college." Like David, April was a recent graduate who had been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time when Hammond's park opened. "I'll see you later."
David watched April go into the building then parked his Jeep in the small lot behind the Dorm. It was mostly empty, except for a few other gas Jeeps and one of the white vans used by the painters. Walking across the lot, David noticed the wind had picked up a bit. Nothing too major, but he hoped there wasn't another storm coming.
"You still haven't told me why you've been working so much with the Med Center's landscape," April teased as David drove down the dirt road approaching the main gate. She had changed into a pair of nicely fitted jeans with a light blue shirt. Her hair was undone and framed her beautiful face. "Doesn't the crew at the Visitor's Center need supervising too?" The slight smirk and raised eyebrow meant she knew the answer. Afterall, David had quickly changed the subject when she asked at dinner.
After a brief pause David replied, "Yeah, but nothing good ever happens at the Visitor's Center at four every afternoon."
Smiling, April turned to look out the window as the Jeep passed through the massive wooden doors that marked the entrance to the park. Though a few clouds had begun to roll in, the weather was holding out. The sun would still be up for at least another hour or so. That would give them plenty of time to see the new exhibits, especially the lookout point above the Brachiosaurus' enclosure.
"I saw Mr. Hammond's grandkids and a couple other people get into the tour Jeeps before dinner," April said. "Looks like there's quite a mixed group here this weekend." David had seen them too. A girl and a boy, both trying hard to look like adventurers; a quiet man under a dusty old cowboy hat, looking skeptically at the lizard-painted Jeeps approaching him; a tall blonde woman who seemed eager to begin the tour; a strange, dark clothed man with sunglasses that seemed eager to follow the blonde; and finally a worried man who looked like he'd never had a day of fun in his life, a lawyer David thought. They had all piled into two of the electric Jeeps and headed out on the guided tour of the park.
"They're on the rail-tour," David began, referring to the electrical rail that ran underneath the tour vehicles. "They probably won't see much. One of the wardens was saying how the animals don't like sitting out in the open for everyone. But I know a couple access roads that should give us some pretty good chances of seeing them."
"Well I'm already enjoying this tour better than the first," April admitted with a grin.
David was too caught up in her smile to hear the distant rumble of thunder.