The Tooth (8 page)

We returned to Napier on Sunday afternoon. There was nothing more we could do about the fossil until we got help, and hanging around the canyon would only increase the chances of clashing with the Basinhead Gang.

Unfortunately, my plan to have Ms Marshall visit the canyon during the next week was dashed when I called at the museum on Monday: she was out of town and wouldn’t return until late Wednesday. All I could do was make an appointment for Thursday and hope she could come to Pounamu at the weekend.

It was a frustrating three days, waiting around until Thursday. However, it did give us the chance to prepare our presentation. Mits worked on a PowerPoint presentation using the photos he’d taken, while I worked on the casts.

The epoxy resin mould was an inverted image of the fossil. To get the true image I had to fill it with plaster of Paris. It took some experimenting before I had several excellent replicas of the cast. I then worked on them with paints until, at a glance, you would think they were the real thing.

On Wednesday night, Mrs Smithson invited Dad and me for dinner so that both families could view our presentation. Mits started with his PowerPoint projected onto the large screen in the Smithsons’ lounge. He’d done an impressive job. By blending images into one another, you got the
impression of The Tooth being unveiled before your eyes.

Then, on the last slide, he’d let his fantasy take flight. He had superimposed a picture of a dragon so that The Tooth was part of the dragon’s mouth. It was so well done you could almost imagine that the overhang contained the skeleton of the dragon. Everyone had a good chuckle about it.

I then presented my models. While they had less of an impact than the photos, everyone agreed that they looked remarkably like a real fossil, and gave a sense of being incredibly ancient. Altogether it was a great evening and ended up with them promising their support.

I’d wanted to meet Karen Marshall by myself; however, Mits insisted on being there. I agreed only when he accepted that I would do the talking and he would remove the slide showing the dragon. The last thing we needed was her thinking we were just silly kids, full of fantasies.

We met her in an office on the top floor. The room was decorated with fossils and stuffed birds. On her desk were a number of smaller objects, including a glass paperweight containing what looked like a dinosaur tooth.

After I’d introduced Mits, she asked, ‘So, I gather you’re here to see your mother’s things?’

‘Yes, please,’ I replied. ‘But there’s something we’d like to show you first.’

She raised her eyebrows. ‘Oh yes, and what’s that?’

‘We’ve found a dinosaur fossil.’

‘Oh?’ she said in a doubting voice.

‘Yes,’ I went on, trying to ignore her reaction. ‘And we made a cast of it.’ I fished a replica out of my bag and placed
it on her desk. She picked it up, and slowly the look on her face changed from one of doubt to one of astonishment. It was wonderful to watch.

‘You made this?’ she said, excitedly.

‘Yes.’

‘You’re not having me on, are you?’ The doubt was slowly returning.

‘No. We’ve also got a lot of photos which we can show you.’

Mits pulled out the disc. ‘Can we use your computer?’

The disc was loaded and Mits went through his presentation. Karen stopped him at a couple of places to ask questions, which I answered. Then, just when I thought it was finished, Mits clicked to the dragon one.

‘Oops,’ he said, although I knew he’d done it intentionally.

Karen burst out laughing. ‘Very good,’ she said laughing some more. ‘Yes, we all have our dreams. I’ve always wanted to find a big dinosaur fossil, but it’s unlikely to happen around here. Still, this tooth will do very nicely.’

She studied the replica some more. ‘So, how did you know where to look?’

I told her the complete story from my earliest memories, right through to our discovery in the middle of the night.

‘You kids are incredible,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Absolutely incredible.’ She picked up the glass paperweight. ‘Do you know what this is?’

‘A dinosaur tooth?’ I suggested.

‘Yes. But it’s much more than that. It is a replica of the Mantell tooth—the first dinosaur fossil ever identified. This was found in England in 1820 by a Mary Mantell. Her
husband, Gideon Mantell, identified it as the tooth from a large reptile which he called the
Iguanadon
. Later, another man—Richard Owen—invented the name ‘dinosaur’—meaning terrible lizard—to describe it and other fossils that were beginning to be found. Gideon and Mary’s son, Walter, came to live in New Zealand, bringing with him this fossil. It now lies in Te Papa as one of their most important treasures. The Mantell tooth really was the start of all thinking about dinosaurs. That’s how important a single tooth can be.’

Her eyes went to the replica in her hand. ‘And your fossil will also become a treasure. Perhaps it will become known as the Thomas tooth,’ she chuckled. ‘It might seem like just a tooth, but for New Zealand palaeontologists it will be a gold mine.’

I smiled. ‘So, you’ll help us get it out of the rock?’

‘The museum will certainly want to be involved,’ she replied. ‘But we will probably need people from Te Papa as well. We would want to examine all of the surrounding rocks and that could take a long time.’

‘We don’t have a long time,’ said Mits. ‘It’s likely to be flooded soon.’ We then went on to explain about the hydro dam and the lake.

She listened in silence. When we’d finished, she said, ‘I think I’d better go out there and take a look.’

This was just what we wanted. I’d already organized to take Dad out on Saturday. ‘Can you come this weekend?’

‘Yes,’ she said without hesitation. ‘But do we have permission to go onto the place? The museum couldn’t go onto private land unless we had permission.’

‘I’ll get permission,’ I said quickly.

‘It has to be in writing.’ She pulled a form out of a drawer. ‘As soon as this is signed we can go.’

I took the form and we left soon afterwards. In our excitement, Mum’s paintings were forgotten and we didn’t make the trip down to the basement. I didn’t mind. We were doing other things which were equally important in remembering her. The paintings would wait for another day.

That evening it started raining. By the time I went to bed it was pouring down. Every time I woke, I could hear the rain pounding on our iron roof. The drought was over. I listened and worried. If they had closed the diversion tunnel at the dam, then we were in real trouble.

By mid-morning the rain had stopped, much to my relief. After ringing Grandad to get the address, I set off on my bike for the retirement village where Fred and Sarah Hyde were now living. I needed a signature on the museum’s permission slip.

The village was nestled under some hills out Taradale way. I didn’t know which particular unit was the Hydes’, so I had to call at the office. Then they had to telephone Sarah and Fred to see if they wanted to see me.

‘What did you say the name was?’ came a loud male voice out of the telephone.

‘Timothy Thomas, Mr Hyde,’ repeated the office lady.

‘Timothy Thomas? Never heard of him. Tell him to go away.’ Then we heard a muffled voice in the background. ‘Oh,’ said Fred, ‘that boy.’ Then louder. ‘All right, he can come over. Though I don’t know why he would want to see us.’

The office lady gave me directions, and a minute later I was knocking at their door, wondering what I was letting myself in for.

Sarah Hyde opened the door and greeted me warmly, before leading the way into a small lounge. Fred was sitting in a rocker chair by a ranchslider. He acknowledged my presence with a nod. Then we sat in silence while Sarah insisted on getting me a drink and some cake.

When everyone was seated, Sarah asked, ‘Do you remember us?’

‘No. I’m sorry. I remember very little from that time.’

‘Well, you were only small, weren’t you?’

‘He’s still small,’ put in Fred. ‘Hasn’t grown up much at all. He’s still a runt.’

‘Oh, there’s plenty of time to grow yet. He could end up bigger than you,’ said Sarah. She was plainly annoyed by her husband’s rudeness.

Fred snorted. ‘Had a phone call from your grandfather the other day. He’s not much of a man either.’

That’s all right, I thought, because he thinks you’re a silly old coot. Out loud I said, ‘That was about the people living on your farm. Do you know what they’re doing?’

‘Clearing the scrub is what they’re doing. Are you suggesting something else?’ His voice showed the first touch of fear.

‘They’re also doing something with horses,’ I said. ‘They’ve got horses down in the canyon by the river.’

‘They’re allowed to. They can do what they like.’ This time the fear was obvious. I decided to leave the horses alone.

‘Is that what you’ve come about? To tell me what they’re
doing. Well, you’ve wasted your time. I don’t want to know.’

‘No,’ I said patiently. ‘I came to ask for permission to go onto the land looking for fossils. I’ve got a form from the museum that needs signing.’

Fred thought about that for a while before asking, ‘What sort of fossils?’

I had rehearsed my answer to this. ‘We won’t know for certain until we’ve looked. But the rocks are the right type and age for something.’

I could see him processing the information. I got the feeling that he wanted to agree, but something was holding him back. ‘No!’ he said finally.

As soon as I started to argue he cut me off. ‘I said no! And that is my final answer. Now get out of my house.’

What could I do? Nothing, except to stand and leave. Sarah followed me to the door before closing it with a bang. Dejected, I walked slowly back to the office where I’d parked my bike. What was I going to do now? Without permission, Karen Marshall could not help us; without Karen, we couldn’t retrieve the dinosaur. And if it stayed in the rock, it would soon be lost for ever. The whole thing was being messed up by a grumpy, rude old man.

Then I heard my name called; not loudly, but urgently and with determination.

‘Timothy. Wait!’ It was Sarah Hyde. She guided me behind the office so that we were out of view of their house.

‘I’m sorry about that,’ she said, sadly. ‘His mind’s not the way it once was.’

‘He seemed scared,’ I said.

She thought for a while before answering. Then she
pointed to a house three down from theirs. ‘That’s where Mr and Mrs Williams live. They’re a nice couple, but their boys are mongrels. They’re the ones out at the farm. The other day, after your grandad rang, I mentioned the call to them. Half an hour later one of the sons arrives at our house. I wasn’t in the room, but from the sound of his voice I felt he was threatening Fred. And ever since he left, Fred’s been jumpy. You’re right, he
is
scared. That’s why he wouldn’t sign the paper.’

It was my turn to think for a while. ‘Mrs Hyde,’ I began. ‘We’ve already found a fossil on your farm—a very important one. If we don’t get it out of the rock soon, we never will. They’ll be filling the dam soon and it’ll get flooded. We really do need that permission slip signed.’

‘I’ll sign it,’ she said firmly. ‘I’m a joint owner, so my signature is as good as his.’

‘Great,’ I said holding out the paper and a pen.

I’d already filled in the names and details of the property, using information that Grandad had supplied. All she had to do was sign. She held it against a wall and wrote her signature with a flourish.

I let out a sigh of relief. As she handed it back she asked, ‘Where is the fossil?’

‘Please don’t tell anybody, but it’s in the canyon.’

‘Oh!’ she said raising her hand to her mouth. ‘Then I can’t give you permission to go there.’

‘Why not?’ I asked; my heart was sinking again.

‘We don’t own it anymore. We sold all of the river land to the electricity company. That’s how we could afford to come here. They own all of the land that will be flooded.’

I suppose I should have thought of that.

‘But I don’t think they’ll mind,’ she added, smiling. ‘After all, it’ll be a lake soon. Why should they care?’

‘I won’t tell them, Mrs Hyde, if you don’t.’

She winked at me. ‘Mum’s the word, eh!’

‘Yes. And it might be best if you don’t tell anybody about my visit. Especially Mr and Mrs Williams. Their sons might cause more trouble.’

‘Oh, don’t you worry,’ she replied, firmly. ‘I won’t be talking to them ever again. And I certainly won’t be talking to their mongrel sons.’

Good, I thought as we said our goodbyes, and I hope I never have to either.

It rained again Friday night, and, while it was not as heavy as the previous lot, I still worried about the dam filling. The rain hadn’t stopped when, at eight o’clock sharp on Saturday morning, Karen Marshall pulled up in front of our place in her dirt-splattered SUV.

I introduced Dad to Karen, and vice versa. They’d spoken on the phone, so they weren’t exactly strangers. I couldn’t help but notice Dad’s shyness when he shook hands, and I wondered if this was why he’d never found another partner.

The trip passed quickly, with Karen telling us stories from her life as a curator. She’d worked in a university geology department for several years after getting her doctorate. It was then that she did a lot of field work in out-of-the-way places. Later she’d moved to Te Papa where she’d worked on the presentation of exhibits. She had stories about famous people she’d met, and paintings worth millions of dollars that she’d handled. For the past three years she’d been working in Napier and was hoping, eventually, to move up to being the Head Curator.

Mits and I might as well not have been in the car. Karen was talking to Dad, not us. Only occasionally would she speak to us via the rear-view mirror. We were also ignored by Dad. He had his body turned so that he could watch her driving and talking. I had the feeling that something was happening between them that I wasn’t quite reading.

After Gentle Annie, we turned down the road to the dam site. Things had certainly changed. There was now a small lake backing up from the dam. The diversion tunnel was covered in water, so we figured that it must’ve been closed. The river above the lake was carrying much more water than before.

It was still raining when we got to Pounamu. We had planned to go straight to the canyon, but decided to call into Nanna and Grandad’s to wait and see if the rain would stop.

Dad seemed embarrassed as he introduced Karen. I saw a slight smile form on Nanna’s face as she looked at the two—I’m sure she was seeing something of what I’d noticed in the car. The two women greeted each other warmly. Then after Grandad had shaken Karen’s hand, he turned and took Dad’s. There was no mistaking Dad’s surprise and mine, too—I’d never seen them shake hands before.

We were invited to stay for lunch and, even though we had food in the car, the offer was accepted. That lunch was the first time I could remember Dad and me ever eating together with my grandparents. It was like the sort of family meal I enjoyed at the Smithsons. The conversation was easy, there was lots of laughter, and everyone was involved. In a way I was disappointed when it stopped raining and we had to leave.

There were no vehicles outside Fred and Sarah’s old house. In fact nothing to show that it was inhabited. We drove on past.

The track into the canyon was wet, especially the part
around the clay pit, which was a muddy red bog. Karen put the vehicle into four-wheel-drive and we slid our way around to the other side. I looked back and saw deep wheel tracks where we’d been. It worried me that we were leaving such obvious signs of our visit.

To our relief there was no flooding in the canyon. The lake had not yet reached this far upstream, although from the amount of water flowing down the river it didn’t look like it would take too long.

I was pleased to see that the horses had gone. I had half-expected that they might now be corpses, but there was nothing that was visible. In fact, the place looked unchanged from our last visit a week before.

‘This is an old river bed,’ said Karen, standing on the edge. ‘Once the river would have flowed right around the bottom of this cliff. That’s how the canyon was formed. Then the land must have tilted, becoming steeper and causing the river to take a more direct route. There are places like this alongside lots of the rivers around here.’

‘So there might be dinosaur fossils in other places?’ asked Mits.

She laughed. ‘Maybe. But I wouldn’t count on ever finding anything. The formation of a fossil from a land animal is a very rare event. And finding them is even rarer. I would say that your find down there is more than a chance in a billion: it was lucky that a fossil formed in the first place; it was lucky that the river carved out that particular bit of rock; and it was pure luck that Tim found it.’

‘Tim’s always been a lucky boy,’ said Dad, ruffling my hair. ‘Haven’t you?’

I said nothing. I didn’t consider myself lucky. I might have
been lucky to survive the river and crawl out at this spot, but I’ve lived the rest of my life without a mother. I didn’t think that was too lucky. The others must have been thinking much the same, for an awkward silence developed.

It was broken by Karen. ‘C’mon, Tim. Show me your dinosaur. I’m bursting to see it.’

‘Yes,’ added Dad, with forced cheerfulness. ‘Let’s go see the beast.’

We hadn’t left any markers to indicate the approach through the ongaonga. Instead we used a line formed by a stump and a large slip on the distant hills. Unfortunately the hills were still covered in cloud, so we had to guess where it was.

In the end we didn’t need to see the hills. The place was very easy to find—far, far too easy. Someone had hacked a track through the ongaonga with a scrubcutter. Mits and I stood and stared in dismay.

‘I gather you didn’t do this?’ said Karen.

We shook our heads, too shocked to speak.

‘Then who did?’ added Dad.

Mits answered for me. ‘Sam Mason and his cousins, I bet.’

Karen asked. ‘Are they the people who are living in the house?’

‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘There’s a boy called Sam Mason. He goes to our school. He was staying here over the holidays with some of his cousins. He knew we were looking for a dinosaur fossil.’

‘So,’ said Karen, ‘he must’ve spied on you to see where you went.’

I nodded, angry with myself: we should’ve been more
careful. We knew he was around the place, and yet we’d taken no precautions to stop him following us.

‘Well there’s nothing we can do about it now,’ said Karen, ‘so let’s see what damage they’ve done.’

I led the way, which was so much easier without the stinging nettle. There was now water flowing down the waterfall, making the ground soggy and slippery. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, but when they did I was overcome by a huge feeling of relief. The rock face was just as we left it. The Tooth was untouched.

‘Yessss!’ hissed Mits coming up behind me. ‘He didn’t find it.’

‘It’s very well camouflaged’ said Karen. ‘I doubt whether I’d give it a second glance.’

‘Somebody’s been chipping at the rock here,’ said Dad, peering at the boulders in what was now a small stream.

‘That was us,’ I said.

‘Not that much,’ added Mits. He was right. Most of the boulders had large chips out of them. Mason or his cousins had bashed away here for some time.

Then I laughed.

‘What’s so funny?’ asked Dad.

‘I only chipped at the rock to see how hard it was. But Mason must have thought we’d removed The Tooth. He must have spent hours looking for one for himself. I bet he was angry by the time he was finished.’

‘They could still come back,’ said Karen.

‘Then we’d better not leave any clues about where the fossil really is,’ said Dad.

‘Definitely,’ added Karen. ‘Let’s just do what we have to do and get out of here.’

For the next half hour Karen walked around the whole area, cleaning and studying bits of rock. Meanwhile, Dad surveyed the cliff face and the surroundings. He was searching for ways to get equipment down from the top.

After we’d finished, we stood looking at it for a while making sure we hadn’t left any tell-tale signs of our work.

Dad came in from the canyon floor. ‘So how are you going to get it out of the rock, Karen?’

‘The first thing is to waterblast the whole of that overhang. I would want to be sure there was nothing else there before we started using rock saws and the like. Then I would want to take out a much bigger chunk than just the bit The Tooth is in. It will make a much better display in a big block.’

‘Will that be easy?’ I asked.

‘Not too difficult. The rock is not the hardest I’ve worked with. With the right tools we’ll be able to drill and cut it.’

Mits asked. ‘Won’t it be too heavy to carry?’

Dad answered, ‘I think we can winch it up the waterfall. It all depends if we can get a truck in at the top. If we can, it shouldn’t be too difficult to lift things. The fall is almost vertical.’

After a final check of the camouflaging, we returned to the top of the cliff. A walk to the source of the waterfall showed that it was possible to get a vehicle around, so long as the ground didn’t get any wetter in the meantime.

‘How about doing it next weekend?’ asked Karen. ‘I’d like to do it earlier, but I can’t get off during the week. We don’t have enough staff to cover this sort of thing.’

‘Next weekend will be good,’ agreed Dad. And so it was decided: we would retrieve The Tooth in a week’s time.

Before we left, Dad examined the white container. ‘This
is in good nick. It’s too good to be sitting out here.’ He turned to Karen. ‘Take a copy of the serial number. I’ll check it out on our database.’ The serial number was painted in large letters on all four sides. No attempt had been made to cover them.

‘Also, add bolt cutters to our tool list. I think we should take a look in here next time.’

Karen said, ‘You know, they wouldn’t leave this here if they weren’t coming back.’

‘Yeah, you’re probably right,’ said Dad.

I also agreed, and yet strangely it didn’t worry me so much now. They
had
been back, and they had
even
been where the fossil was. But they hadn’t found anything. I felt that even if they came looking again, it would end up the same: they wouldn’t find it because they didn’t have a clue about what they were looking for.