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Chapter Six
My stuff is in the process of being moved to one of the bungalows and I am in charge of looking after a baby Tyrannosaurus, I have an awesome pay check…life is good. I am standing in a grassy patch not too far away from the bungalow and I admired the natural state of the area. The hatchling is going to be transported to me soon and it nearly broke my heart to leave him behind even if only for a few hours. I was as if a maternal instinct had suddenly awoken in me.
I have a talent of connecting with the animals I work with, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would want to take care of a dinosaur. I hear a van approaching and I turn to see it approaching at a slow pace. Eventually it reaches the bungalow and I take off at a run to meet them. Owen jumps out of the passenger's seat and Barry waves at me from behind the wheel. I wave back as I approach them and Owen goes to the back and unlatches the outside mechanisms. I stand not too far away and I can hear the thudding from the inside
"He give you guys a problem coming here?"
Owen looks at me with mirth
"Except for the crying? Naw, your kid is rather well behaved"
I shake my head with a smile and as soon as the doors open the infant comes tumbling out. He lands ungracefully on the grass and wails. I run up to it and sooth him and eventually his cries stop while he tries to become one of my appendages. I look up at Owen
"Thank you for having the patience"
"Like I said no problem"
The little one begins to sniff the grass and eventually finds something to occupy his time. I keep an eye on him as Owen clears his throat
"Something you want to ask me Mr Grady?"
"Owen, please"
I smile at him
"What made you take the job? I mean all the other prospective trainers were guys"
"Well, let's just say that I have something that they don't have in large amounts"
Curious he leans forward
"And what might that be?"
I smirk
"Talent"
He bursts into laughter
"You got me on that one, but seriously, why do you want to work here?"
"You don't think I have the talent?"
"More like I don't think that someone like you would want to work away from civilisation"
"What makes you say that?"
"Well for starters…"
He takes my wrist in hand and points out my watch
"It is rather futuristic…"
He points to my pocket
"I saw your phone, it's one of the latest models in South Korea. Probably hasn't even gone into production because the technology is too advanced"
"So that means I'm not exactly the person to fit in, but it doesn't really mean much"
I take my wrist away from him
"Maybe I feel more at home here, than I ever did back home"
I sit on the edge of the back of the van. Owen stands beside me, leaning on the side of the van
"I always wanted to fit in with the other kids, but I eventually realised that I was never really meant to fit in. No matter what I did I always stood out from them"
"Maybe you were meant for something greater"
I look up at the attractive man beside me
"Maybe"
I watch the hatchling as it rolls itself in the grass and then it realises that it can't exactly get back up with its tiny arms. Eventually it finds a way to roll onto its feet and runs over to a tree not too far away and begins to rub himself on the bark. I laugh at him and Owen turns to watch him too
"Already marking his turf"
I nod
"You know Miss Jones…"
"Rae…please call me Rae"
"Rae…I've never seen a dinosaur bond with someone so quickly"
"Claire says that when they hatch they imprint"
"It's just a theory; science can always take U-turns if it wants to"
I take a moment to think over that, but didn't answer him. The silence that stretches over us is comfortable. I hadn't ever experienced a comfortable silence before, always the awkward person when it comes to social interaction, but it was as if there was no need to fill the space with any sound.
We watch as something catches the hatchling's eye and he follows whatever it was in the grass, bumping his head into some things along the way
"I have a feeling that this one is going to be a handful"
I look at Owen from the corner of my eye
"When has a Tyrannosaurus Rex never been a handful?"
He laughs
"I'd drink to that"
"Stop flirting Owen, we have other things to do"
I jump off the back of the van and go to see Barry
"Sorry for taking so much of your time Barry"
He laughs
"It's no problem, but it is almost feeding time for the raptors"
Owen jumps into the passenger side and looks at me
"You doing anything tomorrow?"
"Not that I know of"
"Good, then we can have lunch. Maybe take you around the park some?"
I nod
"Sounds good"
"So about one-ish?"
"Yeah, I'll have to leave Rex with the other baby dinosaurs for some play time around twelve till three so yeah"
"Great! I'll see you tomorrow"
"Tomorrow"
I wave as they drive off and eventually Rex comes back to me when he no longer finds anything interesting to play with. We go inside the bungalow and I make sure to lock up everything.
Luckily the place was barely furnished and only had necessary things that I would need. I think I might have palpitations at the thought of Rex burning the place down. Rex makes himself comfortable on the floor bed and I change and get into my blow up mattress. Not bad for a first day.