Chapter 30: Sometimes I Wake Up Grumpy; Other Times I Let Him Sleep
June 24, 1993 - Thursday
Glancing to his left, Alan could see Ellie talking with Brian about the additional equipment that was just delivered. Brian . . . and his two wonderful children . . . had been at the dig site for the past three days. Brian had promised that today his computer contraption would work, but so far it had produced the same results as the days before. That is to say, not a thing. The promise of being able to take underground images without digging was fading fast. Either the explosives misfired, or the computer screen malfunctioned, or Brian's assistants would disagree about something, causing frequent pauses in the process. And when, by pure luck, the thing would work properly, the location picked was unsatisfactory, so there was nothing to see anyway.
From where he was standing, Alan could hear something about Brian waiting for one more part to arrive. He didn't want to get involved in that whole thing in any way, so he drifted off to his right, walking in the direction of the newest carnivorous discovery . . . a partial Tyrannosaur skull.
Two major discoveries had been made this summer, so far. The aforementioned rex skull, and the more incredible find in Alan's opinion . . . a Dromaeosaurid, which was a subgroup of the group Coelurosauria. These small dinosaurs were intelligent, large-eyed, fast, and bipedal. Very efficient killers. They were also closely related to birds, and that fact alone had motivated Alan to do an abundant amount of research pertaining to them. After years of researching and submitting reports, he was now considered an expert on the subject.
Naturally, he really wanted to concentrate on protecting the raptor, but the rex was only in the early securing stage, so he knew he needed to focus on that first. The raptor would get his attention soon enough.
"Alan!"
He stopped, knowing that he was spotted, readjusting his backpack. It was Ellie's voice. If it had been any other voice, he probably would have ignored it and kept on going. Pulling his hat down farther, he slowly turned in a way that resembled someone who had been captured by the enemy.
"I'm busy . . . so, uh, I'm going to get going," he said, quickly turning around.
Ellie disagreed with his choice to depart. She reached for him, grabbing his arm, making him swing back toward her.
"Oh, no you don't," she said, squinting in the late morning sun.
"I'm not going over there," he said, pointing toward Brian, "I have nothing to contribute to this experiment gone wrong, okay? It's all you and Rob. Alan is happily over on the sideline." Ellie placed her hands on her hips, frowning at him. This didn't detour him. "Alan is very happy. Very. So, leave me alone."
"When did this talking about yourself in the third person become popular with you?"
"I don't know what you're referring to."
Ellie didn't relent just yet.
"How about this then. You're very crabby today, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"I'm not crabby," he snapped. "I just don't want to deal with computers today."
"Well, if it helps, I wasn't going to ask you to go hold Brian's hand."
"No, that doesn't help."
"I'll just get to the point," she said, frowning at him again, "You had a phone call. From a Bob Morris."
"Who is Bob Morris?"
"How should I know?" she quickly answered. Alan glared at her, so she decided to supply him with what little information she possessed. "All I know is that he wants to meet with you and ask you some questions about John Hammond."
"Hammond?" He repeated.
"Yeah."
"Oh, great."
"What do you mean?"
"Hammond's probably sending some guy to tell me the funding is being cut."
"You don't think he'd come and tell you himself?"
"No. I've never met the man."
"Really?"
"Yes, really," Alan said. Thinking more about it, though, he realized that it was quite odd.
"The man gives you thirty thousand a year and you've never met him?" Ellie asked, echoing his own thoughts.
"I've talked to him on the phone a lot. And it's fifty thousand a year now," he added.
"That's a little more than weird."
"He's very eccentric . . . keeps to himself quite a bit."
"Fair enough," she commented.
"Okay, so I'll call this guy back later," he said, changing the subject, "I'm going to head out now."
"You don't think you should call him now?"
"No."
"Why not?" Ellie asked, knowing that she was probably pushing it.
"Because I don't want to."
Ellie shook her head, "You really are in a bad mood today, aren't you?"
"My mood is fine. Nothing is wrong with me," he answered. She was still staring at him, so he knew that he was expected to say more. Sighing, he said, "It's hot. I might be getting a cold. There are kids everywhere, threatening to disturb various fossils beds, and then there's that damn computer over there. The computer, if I may add, that isn't working at all. I'm just tired and want to be away from all of this nonsense."
"Fine. Just go, you baby."
"Thank you."
He walked away, choosing not to look back at her, as he knew she wasn't happy. He didn't care. He wasn't going to get involved in the whole computer thing and he had told her as much, so if she didn't like it, too bad. Of course, he would never intentionally hurt her feelings, so he kept the more negative thoughts to himself, allowing just the surface of them to make their way to her vocally.
Twenty minutes later, he reached his destination. He was set on spending a few hours securing the rex skull, without having another care in the world. As he knelt in the dirt to get a closer look at the new find, he heard giggling coming from behind him. Children . . . giggling. Perturbed, he quickly turned his head to see if anyone was there. On any given day, there was least five or six kids running around the dig site, so he was fully prepared to see one of the little darlings spying on him. There was nothing but digging tools and a few students lingering nearby though, so he went back to working on the fossil before him.
"Whatcha doing?"
The sudden realization of someone being that close startled him, but he didn't let it show much. He looked up to see who it was, but was blinded by the sun, so he shielded his eyes. There, standing before him was a young boy, shuffling his feet uneasily with his hands in his pockets, staring at him. It was Brian's older child, who he remembered Ellie mentioning earlier was nine years old. For the life of him, he couldn't remember the little brat's name.
"I'm doing my job," he said sternly, standing up, "So, if you don't mind . . . why don't you go find somewhere else to play?"
"It's boring here," the boy said.
"I don't care. Just go away," he said, realizing just how bad his mood really was.
The boy . . . the same boy that lied to him about burying something last summer . . . ignored him.
"So, what kind of dinosaur is this?" he inquired, removing his hands from his pockets and swinging one of them toward the ground, pointing to the fossil.
Alan stared at him. Maybe if he explained what it was, the kid would take a hike.
"It's part of a Tyrannosaur skull."
"Really?"
"Yes. Really," Alan answered in a deadpan fashion.
The boy took a few steps forward, as if to touch the fossil with the bottom of his shoe. Alan put his arm in front of him.
"Please don't do that."
"You're not a very nice guy, mister."
"And you're not a very nice kid."
The argument between adult and child could have possibly lasted several minutes, but it was cut short by noise emitting from Alan's radio.
"Alan?"
Instantly recognizing the voice as Ellie's, he grabbed the radio from his belt, "Yeah?"
"Have you seen Cody?"
Alan stared at the boy next to him. That was his name. Cody. Cody, the little lying holy terror.
"Yeah, he's right here . . . bothering me," he answered, continuing to stare down the boy.
Cody stared right back, giving Alan an uneasy feeling. He was sure that if this kid could figure out how to kill him in his sleep . . . he would do so, with no remorse. He couldn't believe he was actually having thoughts about wishing that his little Indiana-Jones-fan sister had been there instead. He let that scary thought drift far away.
"Well," Ellie said through the radio, "Brian was looking for him. Lunch is ready."
"Okay, I'll tell him."
"Oh, and Alan?"
"Yeah?"
There was a brief pause.
". . . lunch is ready for you, too. So, you come back, too, okay?" He could hear the amusement in her voice now, "You can walk Cody back with you, so that he doesn't get lost."
"Sure," he relented.
He put the radio away and looked at Cody.
"Let's go eat."
"I'm not hungry," the boy complained.
"I'm not either, but if there's one thing you can learn . . . it's to never disobey a lady's request. So, come on."
"Fine," Cody said, sulking.
Alan began to walk with the kid, somewhat disappointed in himself for taking the time to talk to him like a normal human being. As far as he knew, that had never really happened before. Was he getting soft? Was he starting to like kids? NO!
When he felt they were close enough, Alan told Cody good bye and watched the boy run toward some other kids that were playing nearby. He observed the children's behavior, much the same as a scientist would observe something completely mysterious. Some of the kids were kicking dirt at one another, some were spitting at each other, a few were dancing around in circles, while others were just drawing in the dirt. All of them were being loud in one way or another, and there was also an occasional clicking sound entering his ears. He briefly looked around for the source of the clicking, but found nothing more than that same bunch of kids playing and yelling. Shrugging, he moved on.
Wanting to get away from the unnecessary noise, he walked toward his trailer. He didn't get half way there, before he was bombarded with questions from various people. After answering about a dozen questions, he finally made it very close to his destination . . . only to be stopped one final time.
"Has your mood gotten any better?" Ellie asked, as she approached him.
He took a close look at her. Her face was slightly dirty and her hair was messy from the wind. She was absolutely beautiful to him. His bad mood was slowly being chipped away as he continued to look at her, a lopsided grin developing on his face.
She smiled at him, which made her even more beautiful in his eyes.
"I take it that's a yes?" she asked.
He nodded, his grin turning into a full-fledged smile.
"Sorry about earlier," he said softly, squinting in the sun.
She moved in and quickly hugged him. In the distance, he heard the clicking noise again, but ignored it this time.
"All is forgiven . . . as long as you're making dinner tonight," she added.
Squeezing her tight for a minute, not really wanting to let the moment pass, he finally took his hands from around her waist.
"I think I can handle that," he said, still smiling.
"So," Ellie began, "Where were you headed?"
"To get a drink," he admitted. "It's been a trying day."
"You're not going to eat?"
"Maybe later," he said. Smiling, he continued, "Alan is very tired."
"Aww," she said, "How about a back rub? Would that help?"
Without waiting for a reply, she moved behind him and began to rub his shoulders. He closed his eyes, savoring the moment.
"Yeah, that's pretty nice," he said softly.
Now that she had him in an approachable and somewhat happy mood, Ellie continued.
"I was wondering if you might want to go take a look at the Dromaeosaurid?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Carl seems to think it might be Velociraptor."
"Dr. Porter is a geologist. I don't think he really knows, just by looking."
"Well, you saw it. What do you think?"
"I think I need an aspirin and something to drink, okay?" He asked, his eyes still closed as she continued the impromptu massage.
"Okay."
"So, I'll see you in about an hour, maybe two. I want to rest for a little bit. I need to get out of the sun."
"Okay," she repeated, and then she added, "Want some company?"
She was still rubbing his shoulders and back and he knew exactly what she meant by that last statement. As tempting as that sounded, he opened his eyes and turned around to look at her.
"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I need some rest," he reluctantly answered.
She smiled.
"How about I walk you to the door then? Would that be all right?" she teased.
"Can you keep your hands to yourself for that long?" he teased right back, smiling coyly.
"Yeah, I think I can do that," she said, laughing.
"Because I know that you're always looking for ways to get me alone in that trailer."
"Well, yes . . . yes, that is true. But . . . "
"But what?" he asked, after she remained silent.
"I don't know," she said, laughing. She went back to the original question, "So, may I walk you to the door, or what?"
"Absolutely," he quickly answered, nodding his head once.
The clicking noise repeated, causing him to look around again. He couldn't figure out what it was and it was driving him crazy. Ellie noticed the confused look that had appeared on his face out of nowhere.
"What is it?"
"Click, click."
"Huh?"
"The clicking. Click, click. You don't hear it?"
Ellie humored him by listening for a second. The only noises she could hear were the normal sounds associated with the dig site.
"What clicking? I don't hear a thing."
Alan went from quizzical to annoyed.
"Well . . . I don't hear it right now . . . per say," he said, his brow creasing with confusion.
Ellie laughed, "Okay."
He could see that she was thinking he was crazy.
"The next time I hear it, I'll yell for you. Because, regardless of what you're thinking about my state of mind, I know I heard something."
"I think that resting is exactly what you need. Or maybe you should get your ears checked. When was your last checkup?"
"No, that's not it, you patronizing woman, you."
Ellie decided to refrain from further jeering.
"I'm going to check on Brian, see how he's doing."
Alan was looking around, not really listening to her. He was slowly spinning around now. She reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him from tracking the noise she hadn't even heard in the first place. She waited for him to look at her.
"I think you might need a vacation. Work, college, work, college . . . it's taking a toll on you."
"We've had a bunch of vacations."
"I think you need another one," she suggested, looking at him funny.
"Yeah, maybe," he said, laughing at his own actions. Suddenly, an idea came to him, "How about we go to Miles City this weekend?"
"Great," she answered. After a short pause, "Why?"
There was no reason for her to know about Miles City and he had totally forgotten about that. Smiling, he answered, "I like to go there to pick up supplies."
"Since when?"
"Since forever."
"This is the first I've heard of it."
"Well, last year Rob and I had gone when you went to visit your mother."
"Oh, I see."
"So, we can go there this weekend."
"Are you sure you don't want to wait until the weekend after maybe? I really didn't think it would be easy to get you away from this dig site, after all of the extraordinary finds this month," she pointed out.
"Next weekend is the Fourth of July weekend. Everything will be closed."
"Good point. Sounds good then."
"So, we'll leave Friday . . . if that's okay with you?"
She nodded, and then added, "Okay, well, I'm going to go find Brian."
"What for?"
It was at that moment that she was certain he hadn't been paying attention until the whole vacation thing had come up. He looked very tired and worn out, so she didn't get upset with him.
"I'm going to see how things are going with him," she answered, quickly kissing him on the lips.
"He needs someone to watch him, that's for sure," Alan commented, as she backed away.
"Oh, stop that," she said softly. "He's a nice guy. A nice guy who is having a hard time with some new technology. It's not his fault really."
"Then who's fault is it?"
"No one's fault. He'll get it working. I have faith." She stared at Alan for a moment, and then added, "And you should try to have a little faith, too."
"I have faith that his little demon kids are going to give me an ulcer," he said under in breath.
Ellie had already turned to walk away. She heard something about "demon" and "kids", so she turned around and came back to him, "What did you say?" she asked, her hands on her hips.
"I said, have fun."
Ellie rolled her eyes, unconsciously straightened out the collar on his shirt, and then began to walk away again.
"You're hopeless. You know that, don't you?" she asked over her shoulder.
The smile on his face answered the question, so she went on her way, shaking her head.
Ellie had almost made her way all the way to where Brian was, when she realized she had forgotten her glasses. Helping with the computer was useless without them, so she had run back to grab them from the trailer. Alan was fast asleep that quick. She smiled at him and quietly picked up her glasses and exited the trailer.
Softly cursing to herself for always forgetting her damn glasses, she made her way toward the last place she had seen Brian. He was still in the same place, tinkering with the machinery and computer alike. As she approached him, she could now see the technician's daughter was standing before him, jumping up and down in an angry fashion. Finally close enough to hear them, she could make out some of the choice words the six-year-old had for her father.
"I don't care! I don't want to!" she yelled.
Neither father nor daughter had noticed Ellie, until she spoke.
"Something wrong here?" she asked in a nice way.
Little Megan stopped her angry jumping and yelling at once, and looked at her.
"I want my camera back," she said in a saddened way. There were still a few tears streaming down her face.
Ellie looked up at Brian, "Where's her camera?"
He smiled slightly, knowing that if he was too happy, his daughter would have another tantrum.
"She doesn't understand that the camera is full. I need to take it to the local drugstore to get developed."
"Oh, I see," Ellie said, nodding.
"I gave her a new disposable camera, but she wants the old one back."
"The old one has special secret pictures on it, Daddy," Megan noted, in a way to tell her father that it was such an obvious reason.
Brian leaned down to be at his daughter's level.
"Honey, your secret pictures will be on their own pieces of paper when I get it back. So that you can keep them forever."
"I don't want them to be out of the camera!" Megan exclaimed, beginning her jumping again.
"Honey, Daddy will talk about this later, okay? It's time for lunch," Brian insisted.
Megan started to cry. She was hungry, but there were just more important things to worry about right now. She couldn't understand why her father couldn't see that.
By now, Ellie had leaned down, too. She adored children and the way they could make their tiny problems develop into giant problems an adult just couldn't ignore. It was another reminder that she really wanted children when the time was right.
"Megan, what kind of secret pictures were in the camera?"
Megan stopped jumping, which made her father sigh with relief. He knew that she was spoiled rotten, but being a single father wasn't easy and he was always trying too hard to give her everything her little heart desired.
"Dr. Grant," Megan answered in a whisper. To make sure her father couldn't hear what she was saying, she had cupped her little hand around her mouth.
"Dr. Grant?" Ellie repeated in a whisper, noticeably amused.
Megan frowned at her, so Ellie forced the smile to leave her face.
"Well, why don't you use the new camera to go and get more secret pictures . . . " Ellie whispered the last part, ". . . of Dr. Grant."
Megan smiled and looked as if she hadn't thought of that concept.
"Okay!" She shouted.
Ellie stood up, as Brian handed over the new disposable camera to Megan. The little girl had already moved onto another thought process, though.
"Do they have hot dogs, Daddy?" she asked.
"I'm sure they do, Meglet," he answered.
Ellie smiled, as 'Meglet' became even more happy and began to skip away, her little work boots tossing dirt around as she jumped. Brian was quiet for several seconds watching her get farther away.
"Sorry about that," he said.
"For what?"
"For the way my daughter acts. I'm afraid she's a little more than spoiled."
"Oh, don't worry about it, Brian. She's adorable. Really," Ellie answered.
They watched Megan run into her brother, who was throwing rocks at some other kid.
"Well, at least she found her brother," Brian said, cringing as one of Cody's rocks hit another boy in the shoulder.
"Yeah," Ellie said, watching the brother and sister head toward the food. "So, Brian, how long has she had this little crush on Alan?"
Brian laughed.
"Oh, that. Sorry about that, too," he answered. "She's done nothing but talk about him since we were here last summer. She's quite relentless."
Ellie smiled, thinking that it was very cute, and also thinking that she now realized the source of the "clicking" in poor Alan's head. She patted Brian on the shoulder.
"Well, let's go have a bite to eat, what do you say?"
"I'm starving."
Ellie began to walk toward the rather large lunch table that was set up near the research trailer. Brian fiddled with the computer keyboard for a few more seconds, and then followed her.
"Why aren't you out there looking at the possible Velociraptor?" Ellie questioned Alan.
After a mini search, she had found him in the research trailer.
"I'm heading out there now," he answered, closing a large encyclopedia, "I needed to make sure the Rex was secured for now. And by the way . . . that area is off limits to students, volunteers, and the tourists. I asked Rob to put some warning signs around it and to block it off."
"Yeah, I think he's done with that."
"Oh, good," Alan commented, "Where is he now?"
"He's helping Brian recompile-"
"Thanks," Alan said, cutting her off before the computer jargon kicked into high gear.
Ellie rolled her eyes, and then immediately thought about just how many times a day he would cause her to do that to him. He was such an easy-going guy, unless you were talking about either computers or children. If one of those topics came up, he was like a totally different person. She wasn't going to make a big deal out of it right now, though.
"Okay, well, I'm going to see what Brian and Rob are up to. Then, I'll meet you over there, okay?"
"See you in an hour," he said.
"No. Not an hour," she corrected him, "I'll be there soon. I just want to get an update from them. An update, that's all."
"Sure," he said, heading out toward the Dromaeosaurid area, flipping the brim of his hat toward her.
"I mean it!" she yelled to his back.
Making it to the same old place that Brian seemed to live daily, Ellie only found Rob standing there, staring at the computer screen.
"Where's Brian?"
"Oh, he had to go get a computer part," he said, barely glancing at her.
"From where?"
"It turns out a local shop had what he needed, so he left about twenty minutes ago."
"Oh, okay," she said, looking around. She spotted Megan playing nearby. "He left the kids here?"
"No, just one of them. One of the other parents is watching her. He took the little dude with him."
"That was good of him."
"Alan says those kids are evil," Rob said, never looking away from the computer screen.
"They're not evil. Just a little spoiled, is all."
"Evil. Spoiled. I think Alan thinks that's the same thing, Ellie."
"Yeah, probably," she said, grinning, "So, what are you doing?"
"Watching the program recompile. It's fun."
She wasn't sure if he was serious or not.
"I bet."
"No, really it is. There are hundreds of lines of code here. Simply amazing stuff."
"Ms. Ellie?"
Ellie looked down and saw Megan standing there, looking up at her. Slightly puzzled, she looked in the direction where she last saw the little girl, since it didn't seem possible that she had gotten from point A to point B so fast. Obviously, she wasn't over there anymore.
"Yeah, Megan?"
"I want my Daddy," she whined.
"Oh, well he should be back very soon, okay?"
"Okay."
"What do you have there?" Rob asked the little girl in a nice way.
"Nothing," Megan said, staring at him.
Rob smiled.
"Is that a camera?"
"Yes."
"Cool."
"It's her special secret camera, Rob," Ellie explained.
"Oh, is that right?" he asked.
"Yes."
Megan wasn't all too sure about Rob, so she kept her answers very short. He was very talkative and very friendly. Almost too friendly, reminding her of the dangerous strangers her Daddy had told her about. The kind of person to be very friendly, offer you candy, and then be mean to you. She was smart enough to realize the meaning behind that obscure sentence . . . it meant trying to steal you away and kill you, and that was why she looked at Rob in the way she did.
Just then, Brian's truck pulled up, causing Megan to go into an abundant burst of anticipation. Her father being back meant one thing to her . . . the pictures were here! She politely excused herself from Ellie, looked strangely at Rob, and then high-tailed it toward Brian.
"Daddy!"
Brian grabbed a small white paper bag out of the truck and handed to the animated child. She tore into the bag, grabbed the enveloped-shaped picture holder and opened the flap, throwing the white paper bag on the ground.
"Hey, pick that up," Brian scolded her.
She sighed and did what she was told for once. She was too happy to think about disobeying at this point. Her brother exited the truck and made fun of her for a second, just one more thing she ignored, as she was transfixed on the photos. She handed the bag to her father, as her tiny fingers began to go through the twenty-four exposures.
Her happiness faded quickly.
"These are not right," she said softly, going through them quicker.
"What's wrong with them, sweetie?"
"They're far away."
"Let me see," Brian said, taking the photos from her.
He flipped through them and noticed that they all looked as if they were shot from a very long distance. She had been too far away when she took the pictures, leaving the people very small in the photos. You couldn't even really tell who any of the people were.
"Meglet, you were supposed to get closer than that."
"You didn't tell me that," she said, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes.
"I think I told you to look through the little hole, make sure what you want to take a picture of was right in the middle, and then push the button."
"I did that."
Rob was looking over Brian's shoulder now.
"Yep. The people in the pictures are always in the center. They're just a few miles away."
Ellie pulled Rob back, giving him a nasty look, "You're not helping."
"Sorry," he said, snickering. Then, he mouthed the words "Meglet?" to Ellie, laughing as he did so.
Ellie waved him off and approached the distraught girl.
"What's the problem?"
Megan took the pictures back from her father and handed them to Ellie, who had already knelt down to her level. If there was one person who would understand all that was wrong with this . . . Megan knew that it would be Ellie. The girl handed the photos to her, wiping a tear away at the same time.
Like Brian before her, Ellie thumbed through the photos.
"You know, Megan . . . some of these pictures turned out okay."
"Like which ones?"
Ellie grabbed one in the middle of the pack. It was a picture of . . . who else . . . Alan. In the photo, he was near one of the water towers getting a drink. She had been close enough to him when she snapped this particular picture, so at least he was in focus and you could tell who was in the picture.
Megan studied it for a minute. Alan was in the picture, but the cup he was drinking from covered most of his face, so it wasn't all that great. It did seem to be the best of the lot, though.
"Yeah, that one isn't bad," she finally agreed.
As Ellie got to the end of the pack, the last picture made her laugh. It was a picture of Rob. Perfectly in focus. Perfectly centered. A perfect picture in every way.
Rob had placed himself behind Ellie, so that he could see the rest of the pictures. He wanted to have something to make fun of Alan with later and this little girl, and her camera, were the perfect thing in his opinion. He was genuinely surprised to see his mug included in the pictures. He had forgotten about jumping in front of the camera earlier.
"Hey, that's me!" He exclaimed, "What a good looking guy, eh?" he asked Megan.
Megan remembered that picture very well. She had wanted to get a picture of Alan and just before she pushed the button, that idiot jumped in front of the camera with his giant goofy smile. She wasn't happy about it then, but now she was really unhappy. She took the pictures from Ellie, walked up to Rob and kicked him as hard as she could in his shin.
"Megan!" Brian shouted.
Yelling didn't matter, though. She was very upset.
"You're an idiot!" she shouted at the dumbfounded Rob.
Before Brian could grab her, she ran away, leaving her father to apologize to the adults.
"Sorry about that. She's just a little more than spoiled, as I've said before."
To Ellie, it seemed like he had done this quite a bit, because his little speech seemed well rehearsed and similar to the sorry speech from earlier.
Rob was holding his leg and watching Megan run away.
"She's a mean little thing," he said, laughing. He looked at Brian, "But I like her spunk!"
Ellie was stifling a laugh until Megan was far enough away not to see or hear it. She let out a hearty laugh, placing a hand on Rob's shoulder.
"You okay? Or do we need to call a medic?" she joked.
Ellie found out from Dr. Porter, that Alan had returned to his trailer. The fact that he was never where he said he was going to be, was kind of getting her mad. The afternoon had pretty much dwindled away, leaving only a few daylight hours to spend on the raptor.
She made it inside and quietly shut the door, thinking he might have decided he needed more rest. He wasn't sleeping, though. He was on the phone, his back to her. He didn't look very happy as the conversation came to an end.
"Okay, thank you. I'd very much appreciate it if he could call me back as soon as possible. Yes, I understand that he's out of the country. Yes. But I'm sure they have phones there, don't you think? No. I'm not getting rude with you. Look, just tell him to call Alan Grant in Montana. It's urgent. Yes. G-R-A-N-T, yes. Thank you."
He hung up the phone and sighed deeply.
"Everything all right?" she asked.
He hadn't realized she was there. Slightly startled, he turned around.
"Maybe," he answered.
"Oh?"
"Remember Bob Morris?"
"Yeah."
"Well, he doesn't work for John Hammond. He works for the Environmental Protection Agency."
"Interesting," Ellie said, a little worried.
"It gets worse," Alan said, "He's a lawyer."
"Very interesting."
"He wants to come here and talk to me about the Hammond Foundation."
"Did he say about what?"
"Not really. He was very vague."
"Do you think you're in trouble?"
"I hope not."
Ellie could see the beginnings of stress in his tone, so she tried to make him feel better.
"Maybe he's just preparing annual reports about Hammond and wants to ask a few questions."
"If that was the case, I think he would have been less vague."
"True," Ellie admitted, "But I don't think it's something to get worked up about."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"When is he coming?"
"July 8th."
"Wow, that's quick. What is that? Next week?"
"About two weeks," Alan said, glancing at the calendar hanging on the wall. He sighed again and added, "This situation is looking more and more bleak."
"Are you going to call Hammond?"
"Mr. Morris told me not to."
"Really?"
"Yeah. He pretty much demanded it."
"Oh."
"But I called Hammond anyway," he said, smirking. "Only, he's not around. Out of the country or something," he added, gesturing toward the phone.
"We'll just have to play it by ear, I guess."
"I'd rather talk to Hammond first. This all seems very fishy to me."
"Yeah, I'm getting the same vibe."
"Well, there's nothing I can do about it, until Hammond calls me, so let's head on over to the raptor."
"Sounds good to me," Ellie said.
June 25, 1993 - Friday
Her hair blowing in the breeze, Ellie awoke in the car and pushed the button to roll up the window. She had been sleeping for about an hour. Alan was driving, and had been listening to the weather report, when he heard the window going up. He turned the radio down just a little bit, and glanced toward her.
"I was just thinking about you," he said, smiling.
"You were, were you?" she asked groggily, stretching her arms.
He pointed toward a land formation on the side of the road, that they were about to pass.
"Remember this place?"
Ellie studied the cliff, as they began to drive past it. Indeed, it did look familiar, but she was having trouble focusing. They drove past the cliff and when she saw a few road signs that looked equally familiar, she finally remembered where they were.
"This is where that dashing and debonair Australian guy saved my night . . . and possibly my life," she said, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek, "Did I ever properly thank you for that?"
"Oh, yes. A hundred times over, by now," he responded quickly.
The reminiscing got Ellie thinking about something.
"I guess that explains why you were going this way the night I nearly drove off this cliff. Were you going to Miles City back then, too?"
He nodded, as he watched the road.
"I usually go there twice a summer, for supplies and things."
"It certainly was fate, running into you that night," she said.
"I don't know about that fate stuff, but I'm absolutely elated that I was going out of town that weekend."
Ellie smiled and looked out the window. She was very quiet, as she placed a hand on the side of her head and leaned into the window.
"What's wrong? Not feeling well?" Alan asked, noticing that her mood had altered some.
He was so in-tune to her needs at times, and each time it impressed her. He could always figure out when she wasn't feeling well, but then he was clueless about a great many other things when it came to her.
"I've got a headache," she said, leaning toward him.
He put his arm around her and she fell back to sleep on his shoulder.
Alan put the gasoline nozzle away, indicating that the tank was full. He had already paid, so he got into the car, started it and waited for Ellie. She was inside buying some soda and junk food. As he was watching her, a sudden ringing caught his attention. He looked down on the seat and saw Ellie's portable phone lying there sideways, almost ready to fall between the seats. He rescued it and stared at it, as it continued to ring. After glancing into the gas station and seeing that she wasn't going to come back in the next minute or so, he began to attempt figuring out how one would go about answering the phone. One of the buttons had a crude picture of a phone on it, so he pushed it and held it to his ear.
"Hello."
"Is Ellie Sattler there?" A somewhat familiar male voice asked.
"Yes, just a moment."
"Is this Grant!" the voice asked, slightly cracking in the static.
Alan didn't know how to react to that, except for to be a little cautious. The lack of placing Mr. or Dr. in front of his name caused an alarm to sound in his mind.
"Yes, it is."
"I'm going to get you back. Both of you."
"Who is this?"
Before he even asked the question, Alan had all but guessed who it was. There was only one person he could think of that was upset enough with both Ellie and himself to threaten them.
"I think you're smart enough to figure that out," the man said.
"How did you get this number, Greg?"
"Like I would tell you."
"Talking on a portable phone, so it can't be tracked is clever."
"You know what's really clever? What I've got planned for you."
Alan took a deep breath, as he gripped the phone tighter, angering quickly. He glanced toward the gas station, noticing that Ellie was the next in line to be waited on.
"Greg, you got off easy, so why don't you just stop bothering us. Why don't you just go on with your life and become a scientist and sprout your infinite wisdom all over the world?"
"My life was altered because of you."
"Your life was altered because of yourself."
"Watch your back, Grant. You never know when your magnificent career will go down the tubes."
When Greg got to the word 'magnificent', he had trouble saying it, hinting to Alan that he may have been somewhat inebriated.
"Why don't you stop harassing me? How about that?"
"Or maybe I'll go in an entirely different route. One can never be sure," Greg stated, brushing aside Alan entirely, "Instead of ruining your career, perhaps I'll just hire someone to run you down, or maybe shoot you, or how about beating you up and stabbing you. Hell, even burn you alive or drown you."
After listening to that slurred montage of violence, Alan was now sure he was drunk. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ellie exiting the store, walking toward the car. He removed the phone from his ear and hit the button with the image of the phone with a line through it, silencing Greg Diamond's angry and insane threats.
The car door opened and Ellie quickly got inside, looking strangely at him.
"Why are you holding my phone?"
Alan looked at the phone in his hand as if he didn't realize he was holding it at all. He smiled, but she could see that it wasn't genuine.
"It was falling between the seats, so I picked it up," he explained, and then he placed it in front of her, "Here."
She took it, still looking at him strangely. He seemed upset about something, but she couldn't imagine what. He started the car, forgetting that he had already done so, producing a screeching sound that made Ellie cringe. He softly swore under his breath, and put the car in gear.
He steered the car around a few people walking back and forth from the pumps to the building, and then finally made it to the approach leading to the main road. Ellie watched him in silence, as he became more and more irritable. He was waiting, rather impatiently, for one more car to pass by before pulling out on the road. The car was moving rather slowly, and to Ellie it seemed to only get slower, the closer it got to the gas station. As the car neared the entrance, the older man driving the car turned into the gas station, setting Alan off.
"Asshole! What in the bloody hell are you doing?" He shouted through the open window, and then he added more of an American insult, "Why don't you learn to use your God damn blinkers!"
The yelling startled the older gentlemen, as his car passed Alan's, causing him to veer to the right and almost run onto the little bit of grass that was planted in the front of the gas station.
"Son of a bitch," Alan seethed, as he glared at the man.
"Is there something you need to talk about?" Ellie asked, almost to the point of being amused at his rudeness.
"Not exactly."
"Alan, relax."
"People need to learn how to drive."
"Taking your anger out on a stranger who forgot to use a blinker is a little stupid, don't you think?"
He wanted nothing more than to stop thinking about Greg Diamond and the last thing he wanted to do was worry Ellie by bringing up his name. He realized he needed to share the negative knowledge.
"Greg just called you on your phone," he simply stated, gesturing toward the portable phone still in her hand.
"He what?"
"Yeah, I had a pleasant conversation with the little delinquent."
"What did he say?"
"Oh, the usual. How are you . . . I'm plotting my revenge . . . watch your back, I'm going to kill you."
"He threatened to kill you?"
"Yeah. In a round about way, yeah," Alan said, bending the truth, thinking about all the ways Greg had plotted to kill him.
"We need to call the police."
He wasn't about to go that route again. His anger had taken over now. With his rage increasing, he pulled the car over to the side of the road and violently placed the gearshift into the park position. After a second or two to gather his thoughts, he turned toward Ellie, glaring at her.
"The last time the damn police got involved, there was a lot of hassle and trouble. I'm not going to be interviewed again . . . in a police station or in a damn courtroom. I'm just not."
His position was understandable, so she didn't push the police issue for now. Instead, she tried to find out more about what had happened.
"What did he say to you exactly?"
"It doesn't matter. He was drunk."
"Alan, whatever he said . . . it has gotten you very angry. Just tell me."
"I already told you."
"That's all he said?"
"Pretty much," he sighed, and then he looked at her. She was about to protest, but he took her hand in his and looked into her eyes, "He threatened to get even. He threatened to ruin me. And then he threatened to kill me. In that order. So, I doubt whether or not I need to worry about it, since he's obviously just trying to rile me. And he did just that, getting me angry enough to yell at you. I let him get to me for a second, but know I'm putting an end to that. There's no use in getting mad, so I don't want to talk about it anymore, okay?"
"Okay."
He nodded, smiled and drove the car back onto the road. After several quiet minutes, he added, "And we'll get your phone number changed just as soon as we get back."
"Okay," she softly repeated.
She let it go for now, but she was very much worried about what the two of them talked about on her phone. Greg Diamond was a real problem. He had already proven that he could carry out a threat, so Ellie would concentrate on talking Alan into going to the police later. The little derelict wasn't going to get away with just threatening people at will.
As he continued to drive, Ellie's phone rang again. The chances of it being Greg calling back were very good at this point, since Alan had hung up on him. After a brief tense moment of looking at one another, she answered it. Alan saw the relief in her face, as it was obvious she had recognized the voice as friendly, causing him to relax himself.
"Hello, Mom," she said, sighing.
Alan laughed.
"Yeah, like that's much better," he teased, as she playfully hit him in the arm.