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JP3 Novel (Chapter Two)
By AlanGrant5
Jurassic Park 3 Novel
Chapter Two: Memory Lane
Renowned paleontologist, Alan Grant, lie on his stomach, brushing dust away from a bone belonging to a velociraptor. Sweat trickled down from his forehead and onto the hot sand, as he was overwhelmed with concentration. Surrounding him were his students, all of which took notes on what he did. Setting his tooth brush aside, Alan began to pick the dust from the crevices of the bone with his index finger and blew the remaining dirt off the fossil. Rising from the hot ground he once lied on, Alan swept the dirt off his shirt.
“Right calcaneus of an adult female raptor. Mild stress fractures. What’s this tell me?”
Waiting for numerous hands to rise, all but one student makes a gutsy attempt to answer the question. That student was Billy Brennan. He was a bright, twenty four year old who shared a love for paleontology. He reminded Grant of himself at that age. Billy was so fascinated with paleontology that he switched majors, leaving journalism behind. To see someone with so much interest in this field of work, especially since the public had full knowledge of Jurassic Park, was one of the reasons Grant refrained from quitting.
“Yes,” Alan said pointing to Billy.
Billy approached the prehistoric skeleton and cleared his throat, “It tells us that this bone connects to the navicula which was already found articulating to the cuboid. It also –”
“DR. GRANT! DR. GRANT!” a student called running towards him.
Grant stared at the young woman that approached him.
“There is a woman here to see you. An Ellie Satler I believe,” the student said breathing heavily.
In the distance Alan spotted a Ford Sedan and leaning on it, Ellie Satler. Alan waved for her to come over and smiled. Turning back to his students Grant continued.
“Exactly Billy. So what can we say for sure? Stress fractures in the heel...”
“She jumps,” Billy responded rather quickly.
“Right again Mr. Brennan. But why did she jump?”
Before Billy could answer, another voice came from the distance, “Possibly because it was a defensive posture against a ferocious, man-eating tyrannosaurus rex?”
Ellie Satler, with a child wrapped in her arms, approached the dig site. “Well, am I right or not, Dr. Grant?” she asked smiling.
Alan smiled, “Perhaps.” The sight of Ellie at an excavation site, brought back some old memories and feelings. The child that once was wrapped in her arms, was now on the ground running towards Alan.
“Uncle Alan! Uncle Alan!” the child exclaimed, jumping into Alan’s arms.
“Charlie! Your getting so big, I can barely carry you anymore,” Alan replied, gently setting the five year old down.
The students smiled at the sight, for it was a rare one indeed.
“If you have time, I was wondering if we could discuss the book?” Ellie whispered, trying to refrain from any unwanted attention.
“Yeah that’s fine. I’ll just be a few seconds,” Alan replied. Ellie nodded and took Charlie by the hand, making their way for the trailer. Alan gestured for Billy to come over.
“What’s up?” Billy asked.
“I want you to keep making up the plaster blotches. Whatever ratio your using, it’s perfect. And whatever you do, don’t let any tourists walk over my raptor. I don’t care if the Governor of Montana is with them; it’s just you guys. Understood?”
“Got it,” Billy replied.
“Everybody continue working! I’ll be back before you know it!” Alan said making his way toward the trailer.
Alan jogged over to the trailer and opened the door. Stepping into the trailer, Grant immediately noticed the difference in temperature. Outside it was well over ninety degrees, while inside it was barely eighty thanks to a rusty old air conditioner. Removing his hat, Alan stared at Charlie, who was gazing hypnotically into a telescope. The sight made him smile.
“He gets that from you, you know,” Alan said sitting beside Ellie.
“Gets what from me?” Ellie asked.
“The fascination with Science. I can see it in his eyes. The way he looks at things... you know he’s searching for a deeper meaning even when there isn’t one. He’s a good kid,” Alan said folding creases into his hat.
Ellie smiled, “Yeah he is. He admires you a lot you know.”
“Me? How is that?”
“Well, Mark isn’t around all that often and when he is –”
“The guy does work for the State Department Ellie,” Alan interrupted.
“I know and when he is around, even for the slightest amount of time, it makes Charlie so happy. But even then, that doesn’t inspire Charlie to want to work at the State Department. Ever since I took him down here a couple of years ago, he’s been completely enthralled with dinosaurs. You know how much I’ve spent on trying to keep the back yard ‘hole free’?”
“What do you mean?”
“Every day he is determined to find a dinosaur in our backyard. I mean, if you didn’t know we had a kid, you’d think we had a gopher infestation.”
The both of them laughed. After the brief moment of laughter, there came an awkward moment of silence. Alan cleared his throat, “I typed out the information you needed.”
“You typed? You used a computer? Congratulations Alan,” Ellie said sarcastically.
“Actually neither. I had one of my students do it for me,” he said handing her the papers.
“Wow, this is more than I expected. Thank you very much,” she said flipping through the pages.
“You know Ellie, you didn’t have to drive all the way out here just to –”
“I know, but I just wanted to see how you were doing... how ARE you doing nowadays anyway?”
“Me, I’m fine... my OCCUPATION on the other hand is a completely different story.”
“How so?”
“Raising money was never easy,” Alan began. “But before Jurassic Park became world wide news, you could at least find it. Somewhere. Now fossils are out and everyone wants to see real live dinosaurs.”
Ellie nodded.
“We’ve found raptor remains and I have developed a theory that the key to their social intelligence, the way they can work together as a team, lies in their ability to talk to each other.”
“You mean the sounds they made,” Ellie said recalling the events that took place several years ago on the doomed island of Isla Nublar.
“Given a chance, I’m certain I can prove my theory that the raptor might have been capable of birdlike vocalizations... GIVEN THE CHANCE.”
“You know if you ever need anything, I’m here. You’re bad about asking for help, but if you –”
“I know, Ellie, I know. But I’d rather go on dozens of fund-raising tours, before asking anyone for help.”
“You’ll always be the same Alan Grant. I guess I can’t change that, but Alan, don’t be afraid to change... we all do. Don’t be afraid to evolve,” Ellie said.
“It’s not that I’m afraid... it’s that I refuse. Change hasn’t been on my ‘to-do-list’, mostly because ‘change’ never really turned out that well for me. I think you know that better than anyone.”
Ellie shook her head, “Your a stubborn man Dr. Grant, a stubborn man. Thanks for the papers.” Ellie gave Alan a parting hug. “Say goodbye to Uncle Alan,” Ellie said picking Charlie up from the ground.
“Bye Uncle Alan,” Charlie muttered as Ellie headed out the door.
“Bye Charlie,” Alan said waving. “Drive safe!”
As the two of them headed back for the car, Charlie jumped from his mothers grasp and made a mad dash towards Alan.
“I forgot to give you this!” the boy said, taking out a crumpled piece of paper. “It’s a t-rex!”
The drawing of the meat eating dinosaur was hard to make out, but for a five year old, the picture was a masterpiece. “Wow this is very good! Your a great artist Charlie.”
The boy nodded his head in agreement, “Bye.” And with that, the small child ran back towards the Ford Sedan. Ellie waved and opened the door for Charlie.
“See! What did I tell you, he’s a paleontologist in the making!” Ellie yelled entering the dust covered car. Alan smiled and waved. He watched the woman he once loved, drive off into the Bad Lands of Montana. He still loved Ellie, but not in the same way he once did. As the sun became obscured by a near by canyon, Alan turned around and gazed at his dig.
“Who was that?” Billy asked walking towards Alan.
Alan paused, glanced back at the dissapearing vehicle, then back at Billy. “That? Oh that was just an old friend,” Alan replied.
3/10/2002 9:06:30 PM
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