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don’t know. I’ve been here in the park for less than ten years.”
    “Tell me about both earthquakes.” Justin tugged a notebook and a pen from a bulging pack sitting on the ground behind him. He looked up, giving Henry his full attention. “Or anything you can recall. You discovered these fossils–and yes, they’re genuine fossils–after the most recent quake?”
    “Yes, it uncovered the site.”
    The scientist nodded. “I’d already been told most of the damage was done below this lake, though.”
    “Really? How do you know that?”
    The young man smiled. “Secondary degree in seismology, remember? And I did the research. Then also, with the lava rivers and tunnels this caldera is supposed to have underneath it, this whole area could become very unstable, if it isn’t already. It’s something you’ll have to keep in mind, not only for your reports, but for the safety of all the people in the park.”
    “I’d wondered about that myself.”
    Justin jotted something down in his notebook, the guy was nothing if not thorough, and went back to examining the site. Henry right beside him.
    “Never seen any fossils like these, though,” Justin repeated, unable to hide his excitement. “As I said, perhaps the bones are an unknown breed of dinosaur altogether. A brand new species. Wouldn’t that be fantastic?”
    He found the younger man easy to talk to. Soon they were discussing more than fossils.
    Justin wanted to know why Henry had become a park ranger and Henry told him the sanitized version he gave most people; that police work in New York had become just too dangerous. It turned out that Justin had been a cop himself, for a short while, after his first two years of college. Unsure of what he’d really wanted and tired of school, Justin dropped out and had attended a local police academy. He’d served on a small town police department for nine months before he decided it wasn’t for him.
    “For me, it was too boring. Riding around all night in a squad car hoping someone would rob somebody or try to shoot someone, not my thing anyway I discovered…and the dinosaurs were still calling to me.” The scientist grinned. “So I went back to school, worked around my classes to pay my way, got my degree in record time and here I am.”
    They had a lot in common, age difference aside.
    “I need to walk down to the lake and take a look around to see if there’re more fissures or broken ground, Chief Ranger. How about meeting me later at the lodge for lunch?” Justin asked Henry as they were getting ready to part ways. “We can continue discussing our prehistoric friends here and compare the pros and cons of being a police officer in the United States today.”
    “Can’t make it, I’m sorry to say. I’m supposed to go home and squire my wife back up here so she can take pictures.” Henry had previously mentioned that Ann worked at a local newspaper. “And I have work waiting at headquarters.”
    Justin’s carefree expression went serious. “Do you think your wife might hold off a while on publishing those photos where everyone in the world would see them? For a few days?”
    “I’ll talk to her about it. She’ll be disappointed, but I don’t see any reason why not. The paper’s a weekly and they just put this week’s edition to bed. It’d be a week anyway until the pictures come out. That enough time for you?”
    “I imagine it’ll have to be.” Justin crossed his arms, obviously relieved. “Well, then, how about joining me for dinner around six? You and your wife? I’d like to meet her. I can give her some expert input for that article of hers.”
    “You got a deal, Dr. Maltin. Ann and I haven’t eaten at the lodge for…at least a week,” he joked. “We need to get out.”
    “Please, call me Justin.”
    “Okay, Justin. And you’d better call me Henry, then. Enough of this Chief Ranger stuff.”
    “You got it, Henry. See you at six.”
    “See you then.”
    They shook