This can’t be real. I can’t be back in the goddamn Stone Age.
1
Fancy
I’m rarely left speechless, but this discovery is truly remarkable.
A complete Ankylosaurus skeleton buried with care in the Yucatan Peninsula.
So many questions run through my mind, and the minds of the other paleontologists out here on this excavation. The jungle buzzes with excitement. What we’ve found is going to change the known history of dinosaurs in this area.
There is no historical reason that this intact skeleton should be here, its death estimated to be millions of years after the rest of its kind became extinct.
“What does it mean?”
“Why would it be buried like this? It looks like a ceremonial burial.”
“This changes everything we know about dinosaurs.”
I look at my colleagues, as stunned as they are.
When Carlos suggests breaking for lunch, I’m on board, anxious to tell my BFF about the morning.
Back in the camp, I FaceTime Summer. She picks up right away and I smile when her face fills the phone screen.
“Wow, does this phone call mean you made a breakthrough?” she asks.
I grin. Summer knows me better than anyone. We were foster sisters during our teenage years and now she’s my forever family. The two of us are thick as thieves, but we’ve taken wildly different career paths. Which is why I’m in Mexico while she’s in Southern California hustling her organic apothecary products, trying to break into the market.
“Yes,” I exclaim, “we did. We just finished unearthing the skeleton today.”
“What dinosaur was it again?” she asks, multi-tasking by propping her phone on her bathroom counter and applying a mud mask.
“It’s a fully intact Ankylosaurus. An herbivore twice the size of a car, lizard-looking with a large spiky tail that means while it didn’t hunt prey, it was capable of knocking out the legs of a T. rex. A protector, more than anything else.”
Summer smiles indulgently. “That’s so exciting. Did you meet any hot archeologists at the dig site?”
I groan. “This is not about hooking up with scientists, it’s about–”
“I know, I know,” she sighs. “But you need to have some fun too, Fancy. I know you take work seriously, but I get worried you’re going to wake up one day having missed out on the best things in life.”
“And by best things you mean finally having sex?”
She snorts. “No! I mean companionship, a partner, a family?”
“Like you can talk. You’ve never had a boyfriend either.”
“Maybe not, but I’m trying. I’ve been on three dates this week.”
I lift my eyes, surprised. “Wow. Really? Any of them getting a second chance at your heart?”
She shakes her head. Her mud mask is beginning to dry, but she still looks beautiful. “Nope. I’m picky. Call me crazy but I want a guy who is both hot and smart.”
I smirk. “And a good cook, and good with kids. Summer, your Ideal Man list is a mile long. It’s gonna take more than one guy to meet all those needs.”
“Why are we talking about me?” she asks. “Tell me about you.”
“You know I only want romance if it’s totally out of the blue, completely catching me off guard. If I have a chance to overthink it, I might ruin it.”
“So you want some man to just catch you when you’re falling and be your knight in shining armor.”
I snort. “A knight? How about a beast?”
Summer laughs. “You’re crazy. But promise me that if you meet some wild barbarian you’ll let him take you to bed?”
“I promise,” I say, laughing. “Though we both know that won’t happen.”
“Are you doing anything non-work-related while you’re down there?”
“Actually, yes. Carlos, my supervisor, planned a day trip this weekend. We’re going to the beach in Tulum. They are forcing us to pace ourselves and take weekends off. Personally, I’d work every day until forced to come home.”
Summer laughs. “Well, I’m glad it’s forced leave then, because I don’t want you to work yourself to death. Enjoy your youth! And a trip to the beach sounds amazing. Pack a tiny bikini and an open mind.”
My stomach rumbles and I remember I need to eat before I head back to the dig site. “Okay, and I’ll pack food too because you know how quickly I get hangry.”
Summer smiles. “Don’t want that.”
“Good luck with your dates. I need details if any of them go beyond a second, okay?”
“Promise. And you’ll still be home for my birthday, right?”
“I wouldn’t miss your twenty-fifth for the world, babe.”
I don’t particularly want to go on this day trip with my colleagues. I’d like a long, hot shower, another phone call with Summer, and a good meal – alone.
It’s been a long few weeks working side by side with my co-workers. And as a second-year graduate student, I’m the low person on the totem pole. Sometimes I would like to be a little more appreciated for my contributions, but I know it takes time to earn kudos.