The Dinosaur Keeper

Chapter 16

Dawn yawned its way into daybreak and for more times than he could remember that week, Rex was awake long before he should have been.

Slurping from a mug to his side, final plans were being thrashed out, conviction of its success wavering every now and then, before optimism came flooding back.

It had to work.

Had to.

The consequences of failure were unthinkable and subsequently occupied half of Rex’s thoughts throughout.

If Bob turned up in the next couple of days the scheme would be over, and all would be lost.

Rex was sure that he would be due on the plains any day now, victorious in his previous trapping attempt, keen to strut around the plains barking about his freedom.

But Rex’s thinking had improved no end these passed few days, and he hoped to enhance this cockiness and draw Bob into over self confidence.

Self confidence which would lead to his own downfall.

But he couldn’t appear too soon.

Rex knew the answer to this problem, but kept putting it to the back of his mind, pretending another answer would present itself.

But every thought he had about the problem of Bob arriving too soon, gave the same solution, and so would be pushed right out of his head again.

Eventually he gave up and tried to convince himself that it didn’t matter, maybe Bob wouldn’t make an appearance, but he knew with all the Dinosaurs involved and their reluctant agreement, that he could leave nothing to chance.

Occasionally Rex gave himself the terrifying task, trying to block out any other thought, but knew that ultimately he couldn’t undertake it, his presence needed on the plains to organise.

The assignment would have to go to one of the Dinosaurs, a couple if they wanted to make up the numbers, but really this open invitation could only be undertaken by one specific species, the others too big or easily noticed.

The Velociraptors were the only choice and Rex was certain that one would definitely volunteer, but he felt that perhaps the company of him would be best served on the plains, in case corroboration was needed.

But there was no doubt, at least one of the Velociraptors would need to go and monitor Bob at his lair, making sure he didn’t pick today to come down to the plains.

Rex felt sick and rising sharply from the kitchen table grabbed the edge of the sink, hunching over the top of it.

His equanimity returned and a quick dousing under the cold water tap relaxed the Dinosaur Keeper further.

One by one he ticked off the reasons for his choice.

They were fast, nothing faster than a Velociraptor at full pelt, and could easily conceal themselves, camouflaged by nature’s colours in the dense undergrowth, ever watchful on the Rogue Creature.

If one of them got into trouble they were also the smaller of the Dinosaurs and could probably dart in and out of places that Bob couldn’t squeeze his little toe into.

If the worst situation presented itself, there were always those razor sharp claws. Bob had bigger ones, but the Velociraptors had the reach, one flick of a long arm could do irreparable damage, even to a Tyrannosaurus.

Besides, this was all worst case scenario, all they had to do really was find a good spot and spy on Bob, merely watching his movements and come running back if he looked like he was coming this way.

That’s if Bob didn’t see them first.

Rex hurled this thought to one side, he couldn’t do everything himself and although having a team was new to him, he was determined to embrace its advantages.

Late last night he had first noticed that only half the plan was actually in place.

Sure, they had eventually agreed to the bit of paper shown, after dramatically acting the idea out, but in reality they had agreed to help build the trap, what about the getting Bob in it part?

If one of them last night, just one, had asked him how we get Bob here, Rex felt sure he would have been starting this adventure alone.

So rising early, the morning had barely finished brushing the sleep out of it‘s eyes, unable to slumber too long as he turned over the notion in his head, he eventually had come up with the solution to tempt Bob to his fate.

Pausing as the guilt flooded into his chest, Rex’s thoughts led him to Pooetesleap, currently snoring lightly. Rex gulped hard and his eyes began to dampen slightly, as his gaze went over the plump hairy shape of his four legged friend.

There was no time for this and Rex slurped the last of the coffee and tightened his shoe laces, running a finger around the canvas heal.

Casually dressed again, Rex did wonder why he had worn his uniform dutifully over all these years.

There was nothing in the Manual that said he had to, he’d checked in all the relevant parts, but day in, day out he put it on, paying the expensive dry cleaning bills if he so much as had a smattering of dirt on it.

Today he stroked his jeans and reasoned that there was no point wearing his formal work clothes today, if he ever wore them again, as he was bound to get dirty and casual clothes were easier to clean.

Placing two fingers in his mouth, a sharp whistle alerted Pooetesleap that it was time to go. Stunned at the interruption the ginger dog sprang into action, slightly confused at the early start to the day.

“We’re not waiting for the whistle this morning”, said Rex softly, and strode into the lounge picking up the satchel, thankful that only the plans and lunch were in their now, clicking the door open with a turn of a wrist.

There was a slight mist, which was always confusing for Rex, as he was used to a seasonless climate but he knew what it was a second later.

Christmas would soon be upon them and this was his early warning.

By the mornings turn of Chunk it would be gone, and routine would return.

“Take it from me Rex,” Max began startling Rex by his presence, “its one thing to motivate them all, it’s another thing entirely to keep the faith”,

Rex’s shock turned to worry and no answer presented itself.

“I notice you’re casually dressed again”, Max continued, “Make sure you put your uniform back on when returning to normal duties”, and with this he promptly disappeared behind the bushes.

As rigid as a statue Rex watched as the last centimetre of Max’s tail disappeared behind a tree.

He knew that Max meant well, it certainly made Rex think about how he was going to return to the subject of the trap again, but he could have done without this jolt into reality.

Slowly making the way forward toward the plains, his mind sharpened and Max’s previous comment became something to be grateful for, as if he had deliberately forced Rex to focus every thought into crystal clarity.

With this new found lucidity he scooped up a pile of Dumdums from the first burnt out fire he passed.

An hour later and a rather sweaty Dinosaur Keeper collapsed in a heap, next to the biggest pile of Dumdums he had ever seen. There were hundreds stacked on top of each other, spilling out left and right, a mountain of snacks for the taking. Never before had it occurred to him how many Dumdums that the herds and he got through each day.

Rex couldn’t even remember seeing this many being alive and was sure he would have noticed so many trotting about, in the numbers that know stood in front of him. Mind you they did seem to skulk around a bit in the forests, and hide in the bushes fearful of their other role.

This reminded him.

A couple of seconds later and there was a vat of milk in front of him, and a good dozen or so Dumdums dizzily wobbling about the place, sapped of any energy and light headed from the bounty they had just given.

The vat stood next to a large pot that Rex had also doubled back for, and further still behind that was a large square plastic box, tightly shut.

It was going to take a months supply to do this but Rex was certain that it would pay dividends, as he lit a fire and placed the pot full of water above it.

Ten minutes later and the water was bubbling away nicely as Rex unlocked the plastic box and tipped the contents in.

It was hard not to giggle as the aroma of the coffee filled the air and danced around Henry’s nostrils a few metres away.

The great dinosaur’s nose flared up every now and again, Rex eventually having to clamp his hand to his mouth to stop laughter bursting out.

After about three or four minutes he plunged a sieve into the liquid, squeaking as it slid snugly down the sides, before eventually coming to a halt at the bottom of the pot, Rex pushing it as far as possible with a large stick.

Having a quick look around, to ensure everything was laid out, Rex counted the mass of tin mugs and other containers, eventually giving up, content that there was enough.

The whistle sounded and Rex shouted,

“Breakfast!”

Henry was the first to awake and smiled quickly at Rex, nodding his approval. Quickly he became expressionless again and the Dinosaur Keeper winked brightly, signifying he was in on the ruse.

But unfortunately Henry’s adopted appearance turned to one of disgust.

“What on Chunk is that smell?” he questioned.

Rex sniffed one arm pit and then the other, before understanding that the colossal creature actually meant the bubbling pot in front of him.

“Its coffee”, he replied, for the first time grasping that they wouldn’t have had this before, “You drink it”, he concluded.

“No thanks!” was Henry’s firm reply, “There is no way that stuff is coming near me. Besides you seem to have got the scale a bit wrong, that pot is about a quarter the size of my mouth!”, with this he stepped back, the ground shuddering, retreating to a safe distance with the rest of the herd.

Rex knew that there was no way that he could brew enough coffee for everyone, or feed them all, but it was a gesture and he felt a bit deflated at Henry’s comments. As well as a gesture, the food was hopefully going to act as a bit of subterfuge, but this could only happen if the others reaction was a bit more favourable.

The Stegosaurus’ had heard Henry’s comments and stopped a few metres short of the pot, although they did circle round in a friendly kind of a way. The Pterodons perched in a nearby tree and stared intently at the mound of Dumdums, impatiently moving from foot to foot.

With no such reserve, Velociraptors were charging up to where Rex was standing, grabbing a Dumdum each but not eating them just yet, choosing to eye Rex up and down with suspicion.

Rupert went up to pot and sniffed it casually, not entirely convinced of its merits.

“Its coffee”, Rex said, deciding not to use Rupert’s name in case it gave anything away to the rest of the group.

“Hold on”, Rex continued and grabbing a cup poured a large serving, thrusting it into Rupert’s hands.

This was promptly dropped, Velociraptor claws not being the ideal thing for grasping small metal containers, and splattered on the ground, sinking into the soil.

Rex plumped for a larger squarer tub this time and was pleased as Rupert managed to cup it in both claws taking a large mouthful, cheeks bulging.

The cheeks remained bulging until eventually, eyes screwed tightly shut, Rupert sprayed the contents of his mouth over Rex.

“I’m sorry Rex”, he eventually said licking the back of his hand rapidly in an attempt to get rid of the taste, “But that is the worst thing I have ever tasted”.

Rex stood ladle in hand, slightly stunned, and soaked head to toe in black coffee.

Well that was all the coffee gone to waste then, he thought, and no chance of getting some more anytime soon.

Rupert continued to make disgusted noises, hopping from left to right and waving his arms up and down by his side.

“Oh drink some of the milk for Chunker’s sake!” he eventually said perturbed at the animal’s lack of gratitude and current jiggling movement.

Rex was greeted by the same look that Henry had given him when he had said coffee.

“The milk”, he repeated “it’s the white stuff in the other pot there”

Rupert wasn’t convinced, but not being able to get the taste out of his mouth was willing to try anything.

Gingerly he lowered himself down over the pot and took a cautious sip.

He froze, absolutely still.

Then looked up and met Rex’s stare, before sticking his whole face back in the pot gulping briskly.

“That,” he finally stated, coming up for air and panting heavily, “is absolutely beautiful”.

The other Velociraptors looked at each other for a split second before charging toward the pot tussling for best position.

Minutes later and an emptied pot span round on its side, milky faced Velociraptors occasionally looking inside it hoping to find more.

“More!” one of them eventually demanded, but Rex scanned around and could not see one Dumdum.

“I’m afraid that’s your lot”, he said pouring a cup of coffee and resigning to the fact it would be drunk black.

“Besides”, he continued between swigs, “There’s work to be done”, and he motioned in the general direction of the compost heap.

With this he took a tiny bite of a Dumdum, and all the other Dinosaurs followed his lead, the Herbivores hastening their munching of the grass.

Rex looked around for a few seconds and waited for the Velociraptors to greedily cram Dumdums into their mouths, cheeks bulging, a few reaching for another helping before they had even started chewing the first.

This was the perfect time to speak, to broach the first tricky subject.

He looked through the corner of his eye at Rupert but addressed the group as a whole,

“I need a couple of you to go to Bob’s lair, to monitor his movements and tell me if he looks like coming our way”.

It had worked, they had stopped chewing but were confounded to silence, unable to make any noise their mouths so full.

It wasn’t long before chewing started again, more rapidly this time, swallowing chunks of the food so large, that they were at risk of choking.

But it had bought Rex time, the first time they spoke they may refuse, but at least they would have had the opportunity to think about it and he hoped they would realise it had to be done.

“No way”, said one Velociraptor.

“No chance”, said another, whilst the others finally finished their meal.

But it was only a handful that declined outright, the rest merely remaining silent.

Still none of them had actually said yes.

“It has to be done!” Rex finally said staring at each one of the more silent Velociraptors squarely in the face, daring them to break eye contact, pacing back and forth along the line.

A couple squinted before dropping there gaze, but still nobody agreed.

“I’ll do it,” said a slightly shaky voice, and Rex passed a hand over his forehead, sighing slightly, recognising it was Rupert.

“Thank you very much”, he eventually said, prepared to accept that his one ally in the Velociraptor ranks would now be going away.

“Yes thank you, erm…” and with this he carried on the last word for a while as he turned his left wrist round and round.

Rupert eventually caught on and said,

“Rupert,” finally comprehending that knowing his name would have given too much away.

“I’ll go with him”, said another, and Rex jolted back in surprise spinning round to where the voice came from.

“Thank you,” he stated, smiling in the direction of a Velociraptor slightly smaller than Rupert, but just as toned, repeating the motion he had just finished.

“Rupert” came the reply.

“Yes I know that,” confirmed Rex, “What’s your name?”

“Rupert”, came the reply again, more slowly this time.

Rex couldn’t help but look confused and adopted a more serious face, determined to have some kind of control over the group, terrorising them if needs be.

“You’re called Rupert”, he eventually spluttered, “Well what a coincidence, two of you in the same pack!”

“We’re all called Rupert”, came the voice of the original Rupert, and confusion was replaced by complete chaos in his mind.

“You’re all called Rupert”, he quizzed eventually.

“Yes nice of you to take note Rex”, the original Rupert continued, “Mind you, you’ve only been here nearly seventeen years, can’t expect you to notice everything!”

With this a little round of chuckles came out, everybody becoming most amused.

Rex completely forgot his steely composure and laughed along more bemused than anything.

“But how do you tell each other apart, you know if you want to single somebody out”, the words tripping over themselves as they left Rex’s mouth.

“Why would we want to?” the original Rupert replied.

Puzzled, Rex started a sentence that didn’t even leave his lips. They were a tight knit bunch, and he supposed a name would signify the pack rather than the individual, which is who they would always be referring to.

Anyway, every other human could be called Rex for all he knew, assuming there were any other humans of course, something that Rex doubted more and more as the years passed.

“Look,” said the original Rupert, “We don’t really use names to be perfectly honest, we find it’s much friendlier to approach one of the pack personally if we wish to talk, it’s a bit more polite that’s all”.

Rex nodded in agreement and looking at his four legged companion had to admit that their names never changed.

“If you like you can call me Rupert”, continued the original Rupert, hopefully soon to be known simply as Rupert, “and name any other Velociraptor as you go along, if you must shout from any sort of distance, you can start with Rupert,” he ended and pointed at the most recent volunteer for the first treacherous watch.

Blimey though Rex, naming indeed! Turning to the other Velociraptor, who was now excitedly hoping from one foot to the other, clicking occasionally to the delight of the rest of his pack.

“Erm,” began Rex not having the foggiest where to start.

“Erm, Ru”, he started again before hearing the ridiculous beginning in his own ears, “Ru, erm, Ru, Ruben”, he finished unconvincingly.

This mattered not at all to the Velociraptor, who whizzed around in a circle before running straight at Rex, aborting at the last second and shooting passed his right hand side, repeating his new name over and over again.

“Ruben? Very inspired Rex!” Rupert said under his breath, staring at a defiant Dinosaur Keeper who shrugged in his defence.

“Where are we going then?” Rupert asked, the newly named Ruben coming to a halt and remembering the onerous task that they would have to undertake, shivering at the thought slightly.

“Ah yes, you and Ruben, well actually it’s probably easier if I show you”.

With this he produced a folded bit of paper from his back pocket and guided then through their best course to follow, pointing out where he thought Bob normally exited his liar and thinking hard about any kind of shelter that they could hide behind.

Happy that he had recounted all his knowledge and thankfully remembering the bush that he had sheltered behind at Bobs hideout, with the expanse of forest behind perfect for a Velociraptor, he bid them farewell.

“Return by the evening’s turn of Chunk!” he demanded, watching as they ran off, towards the house and exiting at the side of the forest.

Not once did Rex take his eyes off them, until they were impossible to follow, yet never did they look back, which reassured Rex the right ones had been picked, or rather volunteered, for the job.

Tutting to himself he stepped backwards, completely lost in thought, before coming to a halt as he hit a solid fleshy obstacle.

Looking up Henry’s face beamed down at him and Rex finally recalled there were other Dinosaurs present.

“Right then, right then,” he said, “You lot follow me!” and pointed at the remaining Velociraptors.

“Henry,” the Dinosaur Keeper continued, “You line up the rest of your herd, from the centre of the plains to the perimeter fence. Stegosaurus’ stay as you are for now”.

He had ordered the Diplodocus’ into action at this point, knowing it would take them ages to get sorted out and wanting them ready when necessary.

The Velociraptors were needed now and dutifully followed him towards the compost heap, where he had been the night before.

Drawing a large circle in the ground with a stick he simply ordered,

“Get digging”, and motioned at the ground.

“How deep?” was the reply.

“Oh, about Tyrannosaurus size”, and Rex couldn’t help but wink.

Several hours later and a nervous looking Rex sat on a rock, left leg bobbing up and down, biting at what was left of his fingernails.

The Dinosaurs were shattered, and rightly so, it had been a hard day’s work, even the Diplodocus’ had started to feel the strain by the end of the day.

They too though wore the same expression as Rex, concern had subsided into outright worry.

The turn had happened two hours ago, yet no Rupert or newly named Ruben had returned.

Twenty minutes, Rex had calculated, twenty-five minutes at a push, it would have taken then to get back.

Looking at his watch again for the second time in as many minutes, quarter-to-seven, beamed unhelpfully back.

The day had flown by, but he was sure the same couldn’t be said for two Velociraptors whose singular task was to observe their only enemy.

If anything he expected them back early, bored with the charge they had been give, Rex had even prepared a scornful little speech, though he was unsure if he could tell off either of them, as brave as they were.

Still as the afternoon had gone on Rex had hoped that they did return early, being absolutely exhausted himself.

He hadn’t done too much of the physical labour, the Dinosaurs were organised to do that, but they didn’t half moan! Rex was worn out from deflecting the gripes that were hurled his way, constantly reminding them why they were doing it and that it was more for their benefit than his.

The Velociraptors had made a good start and as he now peered into the hole, he could see that on the first day they had made excellent progress, their claws ideal at shifting the soil, as they took it in turns to dig.

Shortly after they had begun Rex had brought the tractor down to the side of it and unhooked the trailer.

He then motioned to the Stegosaurus’ to approach, two at a time he had demanded, and positioned them either side of the trailer’s steel arm.

Squeezing together they launched this onto their shoulders which enabled them to wheel the trailer, now full of dirt, towards the centre of the plains.

There had been complaints, the first of many, about why they couldn’t just use the tractor. Rex had silenced them by saying that it would be too noisy and may attract the attentions of the Rogue Creature, which seemed to stem any further argument.

In reality he couldn’t think of anything else for them to do, but had wanted all of the Dinosaurs involved, so this was the first thing that sprang to mind.

As they approached the centre of the plains, the real genius of Rex’s assembly line kicked in.

The smallest Diplodocus, the one that was only a couple of times bigger than the house, was stood there to greet them. He in turn was next to the second smallest Diplodocus, who was next to the third smallest, or really quite large one, and so on and so forth until right at the end near the perimeter fence was Henry, the biggest of the lot.

As the Stegosaurus’ stopped, moaning all the way it might be added, the first Diplodocus picked up the trailer with his mouth and passed it along the line to the next, until Henry finally tossed the contents over the fence and passed the trailer back for the Stegosaurus’ to put it next to the hole again.

The total process took ages, but at least at the end of the day there would be nothing to signify the appearance of a dirty great hole, should a certain unwelcome visitor appear.

The Pterodons proved to be the hardest of all the animals to get involved. It wasn’t that they were unwilling, it was just difficult to see how they could fit into the whole process. In fact they just sat about for the first hour, while Rex desperately racked his brains trying to think of a job for them, remaining calm on the outside. Then about an hour into the dig he heard the first ‘OUCH!’ and a clang of a claw against something harder than soil.

Greeted with the sight of several puzzled looking Velociraptors standing about Rex had looked into the shallow hole and saw a smattering of small boulders, each about the size of a melon. Straight away he had whistled at the Pterodons to come over and pick a boulder up each in their humungous claws, where feet on any other walking animal would have been. They quite merrily flew off with them between their toes, dropping them over the perimeter fence where the soil was being placed, and Rex felt secure in the knowledge that his charge of organiser, leader even, was well deserved.

But now, lost in thoughts again, surmised that even though they had made a steady first days progress, they had a good couple weeks work ahead of them, before completion.

Pushing this aside, the more important topic of Ruben and Rupert popped back to his furrowed brow and an over active imagination.

“Where are they,” he shouted unable to contain himself any longer, “Where on Chunk are they?” he repeated again.

“Who us?” Rupert asked.

Looking cool and calm, both he and Ruben trotted round the corner as the final echo of Rex’s scream left ear shot.

“Where have you been?” he demanded, “I said after the evenings turn, you should have been back a good hour and a half ago”.

Rupert smiled, and let the other Dinosaurs return to their sleeping places, readying for the night to draw in and occasionally made reassuring noises to the rest of his pack, all of them groaning with exhaustion, but relief of his safety gasping out on calmer faces.

“He didn’t move all day”, Rupert started happy that they could not be overheard.

“It was weird,” he continued staring Rex directly in the eye, “But he just sat there from the moment we arrived until just before we were about to leave. I think he was asleep, but every now and then he’d make a noise, scared the life out of us when he did that I can tell you!”

With this he looked around, as if worried for the first time, eventually drawing Rex in closer.

“Then as we were about to go, and I swear we were moving as slowly and silently as possible”, Rupert again looked around “He just got up and walked right between us”.

He paused and Rex held on to every word, desperately trying to piece the image together.

“We left it about ten minutes, in case we ran in to him when we were exiting,”

Rex nodded with approval,

“But then he returned, again walking smack bang in the middle of us”

Rex’s eyes were full of horror, transfixed by the story, and his friend’s close shave.

“And this is the weird thing, and I’m not trying to scare you”, Ruperts voice was barely above a whisper now,

“I’m sure he saw me, his eye seemed to look straight into mine, turning my stomach to ice, but then he just carried on. So we left it an hour and a half, assured he was fast asleep again and then slopped off, running the last few metres”.

It was a strange tale, but Rex put the last part of the story down to paranoia.

That was until Rupert’s grand finale,

“The thing is,” he continued, “Ruben said he thought the same thing happened to him!”

Rex really was terrified this time. One Velociraptor with a case of the nerves was one thing, but two was something quite different, it at least made the story hold some water.

But his leadership had gone well today and he was determined to keep hold of it.

“Never mind”, he eventually said giving no or little thought to what was to follow, “At least you’ve taken your turn now. With the rate we’re going you’ll not have to do it again, we’ll send a different pair tomorrow”

With this Rex turned and started toward the house, he wasn’t sure if he could keep his face straight anymore, and was worried that his concern would show.

“No I can’t”, was Rupert’s reply, “Us Rupert’s look out for each other, you should know this by now. We decided, Ruben and I, we’ll do the rest of the watch’s”.

Rex stopped in his tracks fearful of anything else that might be said, but his scaly friend uttered the words anyway,

“You’ve got your role Rex. I think I’ve just found mine”