'If you saw the island, it wouldn't seem so far-fetched. It's beautiful. There hasn't been anyplace like it since the seas rose. Everything's pristine, unspoiled. They're get-ting a million Euros for a reservation.' Tom whistled. 'That's more than my department's budget. This Green sounds pretty mercenary.' Rick shrugged. 'He probably has a lot of expenses.'
'Do you have any idea where this island's located?' asked Tom.
'They say it's in the Montana Sea.'
'Never heard of it. Sounds more like advertising copy.'
'Yeah,' agreed Rick. 'It's obviously the Interior Sea-way. The island's somewhere on the western side of the seaway, not too far from the coast. There's some moun-tains nearby.'
'The seaway didn't extend as far north as Montana by the Upper Cretaceous,' said Tom. 'My guess is their 'Montana Isle' is in New Mexico or Colorado. Those mountains must be part of the Sevier Orogeny.'
'They were big,' said Rick. 'The peaks had snow on them.'
'Not much left of them now,' mused Tom.
Talking about the ancient land drew Tom's imagina-tion toward it. As a paleontologist, he sometimes felt like he had spent his life trying to imagine a grand party by picking through its garbage. Now, Rick had an invitation to that party. Tom started to envy him, as his doubt paled before such a wondrous vision. 'The weather should be nice,' he said almost dreamily. 'Not too hot. There'll be flowers, too ... and birds ...' Tom laughed. '... and poison ivy.'
'And a sea full of plesiosaurs and a continent full of dinosaurs,' continued Rick.
'With my baby brother acting as tour guide. Maybe I could come along to fluff the pillows.' They both laughed at that idea. Tom picked up a large fossil shell from off a table and, as he turned it in his hands, he grew pensive. 'Remember when you found this?'
'That's my first ammonite,' replied Rick. 'I must have been eleven.'
'It was the first time I saw you happy after Mom and Dad's accident,' said Tom, handing Rick the fossil. The rock brought back a flood of memories with its touch. 'I slept with this fossil for years.'
'Your stone teddy bear,' mused Tom. 'Grandma feared you'd grow up strange.'
'I did,' said Rick.
Tom chuckled, then grew serious. 'When you gave it to me as a graduation present, I was really touched,' he said. 'It's hard to believe you'll soon be picking them up off the beach, brand-new. I wonder what colors they'll be.'
Rick tapped into his brother's reflective mood. 'All those summers, looking for fossils . ..'
'I remember a few winter trips, too,' said Tom. 'We nearly froze our butts off.'
'Yeah, but we found some great stuff,' said Rick. 'Those were good times, Tom, all of them. Good times.'
While the chili simmered, the talk turned to past trips and past eras. As they spoke, the past wove in and out of their conversation, and the ancient sea flowed through it. They spoke of their visits to its dry, ossified shores and imagined the bones of its creatures clothed again in flesh. They ate dinner and remembered the camps in the desert, where the smoky taste in the food did not come from a bottle of seasoning. The evening wore on, and eventually it was time for Rick to go. Tom left the room momentarily and returned with something in his hand. He held it out to Rick. 'You've had your eye on this ever since you were a kid. I think it's time you had it.'
Rick looked down at the precious hunting knife in its weathered leather sheath, the thing he coveted most as a child, and a lump formed in his throat. 'Tom... I... I...'
'Can't send my baby brother to the Cretaceous un-armed, can I?' said Tom with a false heartiness to mask his feelings. 'I want you to have it.'
'I don't know what to say.'
'Say thanks. Then say good-bye, you've got a plane to catch tomorrow morning.' Rick hugged his brother. 'Thanks.'
'Bring me back an ammonite,' called out Tom, as Rick headed down the hall. Rick turned. 'I'll try,' he said. Then, with one last wave, he walked out of Tom's life forever. 4
RICK GREW INCREASINGLY ANXIOUS DURING HIS TRIP TO
