Chapter 22: Innovative Campaigns and Family Skeletons

May 8, 1992 - Friday

After getting a late start, Ellie was on her way back to the campsite. When she had woken up, a cold had snuck up on her, attacking her in her sleep. After resting for most of the morning, she had decided to give work a try, even though Alan had told her that she didn't officially have to do anything, since she wasn't quite finished with the University of Denver. Still, since she was there, and he was working, she felt as though she should be working, too. It only took about an hour in the hot sun, to realize it wasn't going well, so she opted for more rest. On the way back, she spotted Rob coming from around the back of his trailer.

"What are you doing?" she asked, as an uninvited cough ended her question.

Rob stepped back and covered his face.

"Whoa. Get away. Rob wants to stay healthy."

"Very funny," she said.

Rob took his hand away from his face and laughed.

"I was just reclaiming my barbeque grill from Carl Porter."

"Is that right?" she said.

"Okay, well . . . so it's really his stupid grill. There. You caught me."

"It really doesn't matter to me, either way."

"You are definitely no fun, when you're sick."

"Sorry," she said softly.

"Well, since you seem so interested, I'm stealing this from Porter because someone needs to stop him from making that horrible smelling food he has suddenly found a craving for."

"Okay, Rob," she said, in a thoughtless way.

Rob frowned, as he came to the conclusion that she didn't care.

"I'm doing everyone a favor! Trust me there, miss sicky."

Ellie rolled her eyes. As they stood there, she heard the faint sound of a phone ringing.

"Isn't that your phone?" Ellie asked, wiping away a bead of sweat from over her eye.

Rob listened intently for a minute.

"I believe you are right, Dr. Sattler."

Ellie smiled. She liked the sound of having the title "Dr." inserted before her last name. Rob laughed and ran toward his trailer. The door was always left unlocked, so he quickly went inside, heading for the phone.

"Hello?" Rob said, slightly out of breath.

"Hey jerk," a female voice said on the other end.

Rob smiled broadly. He hadn't heard this particular voice in quite a while, but he instantly recognized it.

"Hey loser," he replied in return.

"So, how's it going?"

"Pretty good, Kara. You?"

"Well, one thing's for sure. I'm younger than you," she said, teasing him.

"Look, little sister. You're only three minutes younger than me, so I wouldn't be so happy if I were you."

"Good point. But the fact remains, you will be the big 3-0 before me."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Rob sighed. "So, what's up?"

"I was just wondering what you were doing for your birthday."

"I haven't really thought about it."

"Robster, it's in two days."

"I am aware of the date in which I will become a part of a new decade of people."

"What?"

"Nothing," he said, chuckling.

"Uh, well, anyway . . . I'm going to come down there to see ya."

"Really?" Rob asked, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah. The last birthday we spent together was like . . . " Kara tried to remember the last time they were together.

"Four years ago," Rob said, interrupting.

"Exactly. Four years is way too long."

"What about Dad?" he said, getting very serious all of a sudden.

"He's not coming."

Rob managed a smile.

"I know that, Kara. You know what I mean."

"Well, Dad isn't stopping me this time. He can't run everything that happens in life."

"He's going to get angry."

"I don't care. I want to spend my birthday with the one person who truly understands what I'm going through. We still have an unspoken bond, Rob. I can feel it. I feel it every day."

Always being the funny and supportive guy for everyone, Rob suddenly felt as if he could break down, all alone in his trailer. His eyes began to water, as he listened to his sister talk about how close she believed them to be. He felt the same way, but he hardly ever let himself think about the family that just wasn't as close as it used to be. Wiping away the tear that was about to drop, he cleared his throat.

"Not that twin bond mumbo jumbo again," he joked, his voice not quite sounding normal yet.

There was a silence for a few moments.

"Okay, well, I've got to go. I'm planning on driving down there tomorrow, okay?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Bye . . . jerk."

"Bye loser," he said, laughing. Then he added, "Drive carefully. I love ya."

"Love you, too, Rob."

The phone on her end clicked and then a dial tone was heard. Rob stood there, holding the phone to his ear still. After a moment, he hung it up and rushed back outside. He wanted to tell Ellie the news, but when he got outside, she wasn't there anymore. He figured she must have left to get some rest.

Darkness was creeping up on the evening, when Rob emerged from his trailer again. He hadn't seen Alan or Ellie since his sister had called, so he decided to hunt them down. They weren't in or near Alan's trailer, or any other trailer in the vicinity. Disappointed, he began to walk toward his truck, when he heard laughing from somewhere very close. He followed the laughter, which sounded mostly like Ellie, and found her with Alan. They were leaning up against Alan's truck, laughing and talking. Ellie had her arms around Alan's neck.

"Isn't love grand?" he said, interrupting them.

When Ellie heard Rob's voice, she quickly removed her hands from Alan, acting as if she were just caught doing something horrible. Then, after giving it some thought, she laughed at her own stupid behavior.

"Love is grand. Yes," Alan said, smiling.

"You know, she's infected with some sort of horrible illness. It's inevitable that you will get it, now that you've come into contact with that airborne virus she's carrying."

"Shut up, Rob," Alan said.

Rob was about to retort, when Ellie cut off his upcoming, obviously stupid, response.

"So, who was on the phone earlier? I was waiting for you, but you were talking forever, so I left to get some sleep." Ellie said, turning to look at him.

"My sister," he answered. And then, looking at her a little longer, he added, ". . . interrupter Jones."

"Kara?" Alan asked, quite shocked.

"Yeah. She's planning on driving down here tomorrow. Wants to celebrate our birthdays together."

"That's great!" Alan said.

"Your birthdays?" Ellie asked, catching the plural of the word.

"Rob has a twin sister," Alan answered.

"Yep," Rob said, nodding proudly.

"Oh, man. There's another Tandy out there," she teased.

"Don't worry. She's the intellectual and stable Tandy."

"Oh, I already figured that one," Ellie added, smiling.

"Ha, ha, ha," Rob added.

"It'll be good to see Kara again," Alan said.

"I'm very much looking forward to it, myself," Rob said.

"Is she driving down alone?"

"Yeah," Rob answered, looking at them more carefully. They were standing next to Alan's truck and it was getting kind of late. "Oh, I'm sorry. You guys were leaving. I'll catch you later."

"You want to go get a beer and talk about things, Rob?" Alan asked to his back.

Rob turned around.

"Nah, it's okay," he said, thinking, "I guess, tomorrow, we can all go have a beer somewhere and talk about things," he added.

"Okay. But if you need anything. Call," Alan said.

"Sure thing. Thanks Alan."

Alan nodded, and he and Ellie watched Rob walk toward his own truck, which was parked quite a distance away. Just then, it began to rain. Alan and Ellie quickly made it inside the truck and Alan started it. In no time at all, it began to down pour.

"May showers are worse than April showers," Ellie commented.

Alan didn't respond. She could see that he was watching Rob, who had made it to his own truck now, trudging through the sudden storm.

"So, what's the story with Rob and Kara?" she asked.

"They haven't seen each other in a few years now," Alan answered. Then he added, "Probably more than just a few years actually. Time certainly does fly when you get old."

Ellie laughed.

"You're not old. Stop that."

"You are very bossy. Anyone ever tell you that?" he teased, as he began to drive the truck away from the dig site.

"All the time," she admitted, then "So, Rob and Kara. What happened? Why don't they see each other anymore?"

"Their father, mostly."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Rob's father disowned him about eight or nine years ago. I'm not exactly sure what happened there, but I do know that Rob hasn't seen any of them in person for a while, with the exception of Kara."

"What about his mother?"

"She's been out of the picture for years, so I'm told. No one in his family has heard from her in more than twenty years."

"That's awful."

Alan nodded in agreement. The rain, rapping against the windshield, was coming down faster than the windshield wipers could keep up. It was getting very difficult to see, causing Alan to slow down.

"And his father refuses to speak with him? That is awful, too," Ellie said, starting to feel anger toward the man that was giving her friend grief.

"Well, it looks like Kara is trying to change that now. So, that's good. I've met her a few times over the years. She's a very friendly and beautiful young woman. It's a shame that they don't spend more time together."

"Sounds like his father is an idiot," Ellie observed.

"My guess is that we'll probably never know. I've only met that man once and didn't say a word to him, I have no idea what Rob might have done."

"Anyone who can disown a child, for any reason, is an idiot. Whatever happened to good old forgiveness and moving on?" she said in an angry tone.

"Hey, don't get mad at me. I didn't do it."

"Sorry about that. I'm just not feeling well."

"Well, let's get you home and take care of you," he said, pulling her toward him.

Ellie leaned her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes, and thought about how favorable taking care of her sounded. She felt miserable, so a little pampering could do her some good. Then, she looked at the situation differently.

"You shouldn't get so close to me, you'll get sick, too," she said, moving away from him.

"I'm sure there's no way to stop that from happening now. Don't worry about it."

She leaned her head on the back of the seat and turned her head toward him. The rain had let up a little bit, with just the gentle sound of the tiny droplets of water bouncing off the truck.

"You're a very nice man."

Alan looked at her and smiled, as they drove to the house. It was the beginning of the weekend now, and Alan had grown accustomed to spending it in Glasgow with Ellie, letting Dr. Porter take care of the weekends.

May 9, 1992 - Saturday

Stirring in his sleep, Rob quickly jumped up and almost fell out of bed. He had been having a nightmare of sorts, but couldn't remember what he had been dreaming about. Whatever it was, it left him feeling extremely sad, almost to the point of tears. He glanced over to the clock. It was 4:30am and it was still dark outside. Sitting up on the side of the bed, he tried to remember even one detail, but there was nothing. He laid back in bed, staying awake and alert for a time, and then finally drifted back to sleep.

It was a beautiful late morning at the dig site and the volunteers were well on their way to getting the place in tip top shape. It would be less than two weeks until the students would show up now, and Rob had things right on schedule. He was quite proud, in fact, that things were going so well. And to make it even better, this year he and Ellie had gotten together a sort of campaign, advertising the dig site to prospective volunteers. It was a new idea, that involved letting completely inexperienced people come and see how a dinosaur dig site worked. The best part was these people were willing to pay, which would really help out the always dwindling financial situation. Ellie had been a big help in getting this campaign off the ground, but had a few reservations about it, after she realized Alan's problem with children. A lot of the people had expressed interest in signing up their children, prompting Rob to buy up some more ad space, to further explain prices and things. The campaign moved forward, with neither of them being brave enough to tell Alan a thing about it so far.

Rob was on the phone, talking to yet another man who wanted to sign up for a weekend in July. After writing all the necessary information down, he pleasantly said his good-byes and hung up the phone. Smiling, he left his trailer in search of Ellie, to tell her about how well things were going. As soon as he got outside, he saw Alan instead.

"Hey, Alan. Great day to be alive, huh?" he asked, shielding the sun from his eyes.

He noticed that Alan looked upset. He looked down and saw that he was holding a piece of paper, cut out from a newspaper. Alan held up the paper.

"What is this?" he asked.

Rob took a closer look at the paper and recognized it to be the ad he was running in one of the local papers.

"Oh, that. I was going to tell you about that. It's a new idea to get some funding for the site. It's working very well, by the way."

Alan, still upset, began to read some of the ad out loud.

"Whether it is just yourself, or a large group, you can join the Montana 1992 Dinosaur Expedition. You can join for a day to several weeks."

"Yeah. I wrote that. Doesn't it sound professional?" Rob asked, trying to joke around.

Alan read on farther.

"Families are encouraged to go on a vacation of a lifetime and take part in something educational and fun. So feel free to bring the kids!" he said, emphasizing the kids part, "Just call now and ask for Rob Tandy."

Rob searched for something in which to say, but the look Alan was giving him was making it very difficult to think of anything.

"Uh, yeah. Parents pay for each kid, too. It's more money for us in the long run."

Alan glared at him, still holding the paper in his hand. Rob decided that he didn't think he could take the heat alone.

"Ellie helped," he said, implicating her.

Alan shook his head and became a little bit more reasonable-looking.

"Figures," he sighed.

"Oh, come on, Alan. The situation isn't that bad. There'll probably only be a few kids," Rob said, knowing very well that there were going to be a lot more kids than that, since he was the one taking the reservations.

Alan shook his head, handed the piece of newspaper to Rob, and then pointed at him.

"You're taking care of them. I'm not bothering with them at all."

"Absolutely."

"I mean it Rob. I'm not wasting a second on one of those snot-nosed, yelling, crying, kicking, little heathens."

"Wow," Rob snickered, taken aback by Alan's very angry tone. "Don't worry. I'll take care of the inexperienced volunteers . . . and their little darlings."

"Good," Alan said, checking his watch, "I've got to be somewhere, so I'll talk to you later."

"Where you going?"

"I have to meet Carl, to go over some of the placement of tents and things."

"Can't the great Carl Porter figure out what he's doing on his own, by now?"

"I guess not," Alan said, laughing as he thought about it. "He's just being considerate. That's all." Alan began to walk away. "You should try it sometime," he added, not even turning around.

"Sure thing. Maybe that will be one of my "turning 30" resolutions," Rob said to his back. "Probably not though," he added, only loud enough for himself to hear.

Rob watched Alan disappear past some trailers, and then went back to search for Ellie. After about fifteen minutes of searching, he ended up by the research trailer, where he found her moving some stuff around.

"Hey, Ellie."

Placing a stack of reference books on a nearby table, she looked up at him.

"Hey," she said, kind of cheerfully.

"You look like you're feeling better."

"Yeah, I am, surprisingly. I'm just trying to stay out of the sun for a while. It wears me out fast."

"Good idea," Rob said, and then he got to the point, "I just took another reservation for July. That makes fourteen adults and four kids that month."

"That's great. And they all agreed to pay?"

"They sure did. Every single one of them was eager to get a reservation actually. This could turn out to be one of the best things to ever happen to this place."

"We need to stop keeping it from Alan, though."

"Oh, that's no longer a problem."

Ellie's mouth dropped open.

"He knows?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

"He found one of the ads."

"Was he mad?"

"A little bit. I smoothed it over with him, though."

She laughed.

"You did, did you?"

"Hey, it's my birthday tomorrow, so I just used that to my advantage."

"That was it?"

". . . And I promised to watch over the kids. Keep them away from him."

"Well, I think you got off easy."

"Me, too," Rob said, laughing with Ellie.

As they continued to talk, a phone in the reference trailer started to ring. Ellie found it on the floor and picked up the receiver.

"Dr. Sattler," she said, answering. "Uh, yes. Yes, he's right here."

After a second, she moved the receiver from her ear and cuffed it with her hand.

"It's for you."

"Who is it?" he asked, taking the phone from her.

She shrugged, indicating that she didn't know.

"Hello," he said. "Yes, this is Rob Tandy."

Ellie watched Rob listen to whomever it was on the phone. His facial expression grew very grim.

"What?" he half shouted.

"What is it?" Ellie whispered to him.

He didn't answer her.

"When?" he said to the phone.

Ellie watched as Rob continued to nod and speak into the phone, looking very serious. He began to desperately and silently gesture to her, telling her that he needed some paper and a pen. She hurried around the trailer, gathering up what he needed, and then handed the stuff to him. He quickly began to write something down, thanked the man on the other end of the phone, and then hung up.

"What happened, Rob?" Ellie said, after waiting long enough for him to say something.

After a beat, Rob finally stopped staring out into space, and looked at her.

"It's Kara. She was in a car accident," he said, still not believing the words himself yet.

He looked as if he were going to fall over, so Ellie grabbed a chair and directed him to sit in it. He looked up at her. Tears were slowly streaming from his eyes.

"How bad?"

He didn't answer.

"How bad, Rob?"

"She's in surgery now," he said, as he suddenly stood up. "I . . . I have to get there right now."

"Okay, okay. Calm down. I'll go get Alan and we'll all go together."