Sorry about the boring Chapter names folks!

Chapter 3

Shuttle

When everyone was off the boat and trying not to get trampled by the crowd, the squad finally got a good look at the man Ms. Moynihan had pointed out, but they hadn't been able to pick out in the sea of bodies.

He was wearing a striped t-shirt, khakis, and had a white coat hanging over one arm and a Portland Pirates ball cap. He looked like he was maybe late 30s or 40-something years old.

"Ugh. It's too hot today," Buzz mumbled. "When are we getting inside?"

"Tell me about it," Caruso said.

"Dude! Like, why are you wearing that jacket! It's 100 degrees out!"

"It's my style!"

"Would you two knock it off?" Fiona sighed.

"Oh Fiona, we just got here. Now turn that frown upside down and have some fun," her mother said.

"I'm not being grumpy, Mom."

The stranger smiled as he came into earshot.

"I don't blame you. The heat's been ridiculous this week. We should get a small storm tomorrow though so hopefully it cools down. Then again, the humidity might make everything worse. Hi Ms. Moynihan!"

"Aaron, it's so good to see you," Ms. Moynihan said happily as she hugged the man. "You don't write! I had to reach out to you."

"I'm so sorry, Ms. Moynihan," Aaron said. "After graduation, I sucked at keeping in touch with everyone."

"Oh don't worry about it, dear. Everyone, this is Aaron Okesty. He went to Kittery Point High School—."

"A lifetime ago," Aaron said as he shook everyone's hand. "Ms. Moynihan was the best teacher I ever had. She's the reason I got so interested in dinosaurs."

Max froze, shaking the man's hand. "Uh… that's… cool."

"You betcha." Aaron winked, which just confused the hell out of the teens even more.

They couldn't tell if that meant he knew or was letting them in on some joke.

"What do you do, Aaron?" Fiona's dad asked, leading on his suitcase handle.

"That's a little complicated. I'm technically a biologist, but most of my job is making sure all the carnivores get the nutrients they need. Hold up, let's get you folks on the shuttle so you can drop your luggage off at the hotel. Plenty of time for me to brag about being a glorified butcher later."

That got them a couple of laughs and they obliged, letting Aaron show them where to go, how to check in, and where to put their luggage so it didn't take up room in the shuttle.

There wasn't a ton of time for gawking just yet, but Fiona had to resist the urge to laugh as her dad started taking pictures of everything, even the shuttle when it showed up. "Dad, you gotta save some room for the dinosaurs."

"I know, I know. This is just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, sweetie," Mr. Flagstaff said. "Remind me to thank Ms. Moynihan again. It's just so kind of her to pay for us to come. I have to make it up to her sometime." He paused and lowered his voice. "Do you know if they have a… uh… you know… a spinosaurus here?"

"I don't think so, Dad," Fiona said, patting his shoulder. "I think they did on the other island, but I read a news report that it was so aggressive that they had to put it down when they started building this park."

"Oh, that's sad. I was hoping you could make a friend."

"Dad!" Fiona chuckled. "I don't know if these dinos could even understand us."

Ms. Moynihan pursed her lips but didn't comment.

"This way, folks!" Aaron called after having a chat with the driver of the shuttle. He couldn't have heard the little father-daughter conversation.

The kids noticed when Aaron sat with Ms. Moynihan at the back of the bus. The two started talking in low tones, but they weren't the only ones.

"Hey," Buzz said, standing up a bit to lean over the top of Max's seat. "Did Ms. Moynihan ever say to you why she's finally coming here now?"

Max frowned. "No…"

"You don't think she's acting strange?"

"I'm not sure, Buzz," Max huffed.

"You know what I think?"

"Caruso—."

"Hear me out," Caruso argued against their groans as he slid into the seat across from Max and Rodger and next to Fiona while Buzz took his across the small isle. They were seated near the back and a surprising number of rows around them were empty. "I think she's lonely."

"Dude, what?" Buzz asked.

"Think about it! Dinosaurs. We've had living, breathing dinos for years. On one hand, she's probably not enthused about them since she's so serious about the world belonging to humans…"

"Technically," Rodger corrected, "These dinosaurs aren't 'real' dinosaurs. The DNA has so many gaps that when they fill them in, there's probably a lot of features—."

"Yeah yeah." Caruso waved him off. "But she's been stuck with Veloci as the only other actual dino for 65 million years! You don't think she's not a little interested in these?"

"Of course she's 'interested'," Rodger retorted. "She brought us here, didn't she? It's going to be super weird for her to see the animals here."

Max frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well… imagine if humans went extinct. Like if we lost everyone. Our family. Our friends."

"Wow, way to be a downer, Rodge," Fiona said.

"Hold on, I got a point! Okay, everyone dies. And imagine if we stuck around for as long as Ms. Moynihan did."

Buzz nodded, getting what Rodger was saying. "And one day a bunch of aliens showed up and cloned fossil human DNA and, like, put them in a zoo. Planet of the Apes flashbacks, dude."

"I hated that movie," Caruso muttered.

"Oh dang. You're right," Fiona said. "I didn't consider that."

"Really? Seemed kinda obvious to me," Rodger said. He said, "ow!" as Fiona punched his arm.

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