The Dinosaur Man

It's been five years since our time at Jurassic Park. Dad and Ellie got married and now I have a little brother and little sister. It took a while but a few months after our little adventure my relationship with my dad took a turn for the better and we are closer than ever. I am following in my parents' footsteps and am on my way to becoming an anthropologist and a paleontologist.

EGEGEGEGEGEG

Charlie is playing with his dinosaurs. He roars as he makes them fight each other.

"Actually, Charlie, those are herbivores. They wouldn't be interested in fighting with each other." Alan shows the boy a couple other dinosaurs, "But these ones here are carnivores, and they really like fighting with each other. They use their teeth and claws to rip each other's throats out."

"Alan, he's three. Let's wait till he's five." Ellie says as she walks up with the baby on her hip. Alan looks at his son.

"Oh, right. Sorry, Charlie."

"Ellie, it's Tom again. He has to talk to you about the last chapter." Ellie's assistant comes out.

"Just tell him I'm not gonna lose the Jack Horner quote." She turns back to Alan, "My editor thinks he's a paleontologist." They both look up when someone walks through the gate. It's Emily and her friend Mark.

EGEGEGEGEGEG

Mark and I pull up outside my parents' house.

"Thanks for agreeing to come to dinner," I say grabbing his arm. "My parents really like you."

"No problem, Em," He says taking my hand and squeezing. "I really like your parents." He nudges me and we get out of the car. He opens the gate and dad and Ellie look our way.

"Hey, Em. Hey, babe, look who's here." Ellie walks up to me talking in her baby voice and hands me my sister, stopping briefly with a peck on my cheek. My little brother runs up with one of his toy dinosaurs.

"Emmy, Emmy, this is a herbivore and dad's the dinosaur man," he says to me excitedly as I bend down so he can show me the toy.

"Dinosaur man?" Mark asks with a playful expression on his face. Charlie looks up at him and beams before rushing back over to the sandbox. I stand up and turn to my parents.

"Ellie, dad you remember Mark, my friend from school." I say a little shyly. He is starting to become more than just a friend.

"Nice to see you again." Dad says as he shakes his hand. Mark just smiles and returns the gesture.

EGEGEGEGEGEG

We all find ourselves in the dining room enjoying dinner. My brother and sister are both in bed.

"So, you know Mark's dad works for the State Department." I say nervously. I don't know what's wrong with me.

"Yeah. What does your dad do, Mark?" Dad asks incredulously. Ellie gives him a look.

"International relations, mostly treaty law and things like that." Mark says without missing a beat. Suddenly we are interrupted by my little sister.

"Uh-oh. Call of the wild one." Ellie says getting up. "I'll get her. You two…catch up."

"I'll come with you." Mark offers giving me a smile. "You and your dad need some time alone," he whispers in my ear.

"Thanks Mark." I say as he follows after her.

"He's a great guy." Dad says after a beat. I turn to look at him and see that he is sincere.

"I think so too." After a brief pause, I go on. "So, what are you working on now?"

"Raptors, mostly."

"My favorite." I say sarcastically.

"Do you remember the sounds they made?" I shiver as I remember.

"I try not to." He gives me a knowing glance.

"Em, all our theories about raptor intelligence, what they were capable of-we weren't even close." Now, I'm interested.

"Tell me."

"Well, we did cranium scans of a fossil skull. We found what looks like a very sophisticated resonating chamber." He looks at me while he waits for this information to sink in.

"Wait a second." I say putting my hand up to stop him. "So you were right? I mean, they had the ability to vocalize?"

"I'm convinced that's the key to their social intelligence."

"Which explains why they could work together as a team."

"And coordinate their attacks so the prey wouldn't know what was going on."

"They could talk to each other." The realization intrigues me and frightens me at the same time.

"To a degree we never imagined. Em, they were smart. They were smarter than dolphins or whales. They were smarter than primates." I let this settle in as I just stare at my dad. My mind flashes back to the visitor center. I knew it had to be more than coincidence that they were able to surround us so easily.

EGEGEGEGEGEG

I find myself walking Mark to his car. I am on my way to the dig in Montana for my work study and dad has a lecture, so Mark and I are parting ways.

"I just want to say, if you ever need help with anything-sometimes you forget to ask." He looks down to the ground and smiles shyly. "So you can call me. Anything, anytime. The same goes for your family." He says this as he grabs my hand.

"Sure." I reply shyly. He bends down and gives me a peck on the cheek. I wave as he drives away. I turn back to my parents. They are having their own goodbyes.

"You're still the best. I mean that," I hear Ellie say.

"The last of my breed." They kiss goodbye. Dad gets in the car as I walk up to Ellie.

"You should bring Mark around more often. He really is a great guy." I flush with embarrassment.

"Did you and dad plan this tag team effort?" She chuckles and waves away my accusation.

"I'm just saying try not to let this one go."

"Okay mother," I say dramatically.

"I push because I care."

"I left his number on the fridge. If you need anything done around the house while we are gone, he said he would love to come help out." Ellie eyes me suspiciously.

"Well, that's awfully sweet of him." Dad honks the horn and we turn to look. He points at his watch. Ellie turns back to me, "You better get going. I love you, babe."

"I love you too." We hug quickly and I hop in the car. We wave as dad backs out.

"What took you so long?" he inquires after a few moments.

"Girl talk," is all I say. He scoffs and turns his attention to the road.

EGEGEGEGEGEG

Alan is standing in an auditorium giving a lecture.

"Through the painstaking study of the anterior chamber in multiple specimens, we can determine the exciting correlation between the upper palate and the larynx. This lets us theorize, theorize, mind you that the raptor was capable of sophisticated vocalizations which would have been a tremendous evolutionary advantage." Alan watches as people begin to get up and walk out. He is a little disheartened by this.

"Raptors were fierce, intelligent and socially sophisticated. They were able to hunt in numbers and coordinate their efforts. Were it not for the cataclysmic events which overtook them, it is entirely possible that raptors rather than humans would have become the dominant species on this planet. I hope this has been of interest. It certainly excites us as paleontologists. There's much, much more to discover. That is why we continue to need and ask for your support." He pauses waiting for a reaction. "Thank you." The hostess starts clapping and people feebly follow.

"Thank you very much, Dr. Grant. Now, does anyone have a question?" Several hands automatically rise into the air. Alan grabs the mic before responding.

"Fine. Does anyone have a question that does not relate to Jurassic Park?" Some of the hands go down. "Or the incident in San Diego which I did not witness?" Almost all the hands go down but a couple. "Yes, sir?"

"Your theory on raptors is good and all, but isn't all this conjecture kind of moot? I mean, once the U.N. and Costa Rica and every one decides how to handle that second island, scientists will just go in and look for themselves." Alan looks at him indignantly.

"Dinosaurs lived 65 million years ago. What is left of them is fossilized in the rocks. And it is in the rocks that real scientists make real discoveries. Now, what John Hammond and Ingen did at Jurassic Park is create genetically engineered theme park monsters, nothing more and nothing less." A young girl stands up to ask a question.

"Are you saying that you wouldn't want to get onto Isla Sorna and study them, if you had the chance?" Alan smiles slightly.

"No force on Earth or heaven could get me on that island."

EGEGEGEGEGEG

I watch as Billy flirts with one of the girls at the site.

"Billy, I don't think I'm doing this right." The girl states.

"Let's try the toothbrush. You got to go slowly. Just take a little bit at a time." He models while staring at her. I just roll my eyes.

"I can never tell what's rock and what's bone."

"Technically, it's all rock. The calcium in the bones is replaced during fossilization." I say like the answer is obvious. Billy glares at me and I glare back. He turns to the girl.

"But you can feel the difference. See? Rough…smooth. Rough, smooth." He says taking her hand in his and they feel together. I hear a car door slam and see me dad.

"Dad." Billy's head flies up at this.

"Dr. Grant." We both quickly drop what we are doing.

"Emily, Mr. Brennan." He yells down to us. We both make our way up to him.

"Flirtatious much, Mr. Brennan," I whisper in his ear.

"Jealous much, Miss Grant," he whispers back. I give his arm a stiff punch. We both laugh. We have developed a sibling type of relationship since he began working for my dad.

"So, how'd it go?" I ask.

"Well, it's not too late to change your major." Dad answers looking at me and Billy.

"Not good, huh?" Billy surmises.

"Worse, we're gonna have to pack up in four weeks."

"Three. I had to rent equipment. Come here, I gotta show you something. You like computers, right." Billy motions towards a tent.

"Dad likes the abacus, Billy." I joke. Dad nudges me in the ribs. We enter the tent to see a massive computer.

"Meet the future of paleontology. It's a rapid prototyper. I enter in the scan data from the raptor's skull. The computer breaks it down into thousands of slices. Then this thing sculpts it, one layer at a time. It's done." He pulls out the wooden resemblance of the resonating chamber. "I give you the resonating chamber of a Velociraptor. Listen to this." I listen as Billy blows. The sound sending shivers down my spine as I my mind flashes back once again.

"Wow. This is brilliant, guys. Really, it is. Sad to say, it's just a little bit late." At that moment a man comes into the tent.

"Dr. Grant? Paul Kirby, Kirby Enterprises." He reaches out his hand and shakes dad's hand offering a business card. "Hey Billy," Mr. Kirby says. I give the man a once over before casting a sideways glance at Billy. He doesn't meet my gaze.