Excerpt
While Ken and Jessica planned, a series of blasts at the camp had moved
hundreds of thousands of tons of shale and uncovered what appeared to
be dinosaur prints. Experts were summoned who confirmed the find and
Ken was put in charge of making impressions. But the weather was too
cold for the plaster of Paris to set, so each print had to be covered with
a small tent and heated. It was a slow, mind-numbing job and it caused
all work to slow to a crawl. But the contract stipulated that if artifacts
were found during construction they had to be preserved and must take
priority.
More experts came who slowed the work even more. The men grew
frustrated as the endless winter dragged on. Tempers flared during the
long, long nights and the mood was exacerbated by the endless noise
of diesels running 24/7 – fleets of trucks and other enormous pieces of
equipment, motors idling to stop them from freezing up – each with its
own tempo – creating a cacophony that no one could shut out, not even
in their deepest sleep.
Working conditions worsened. Rocks and boulders either heaved up to
the surface as frost shifted the roadbed, or fell from cliff faces and damaged
vehicles passing below. Injuries and deaths mounted.
Workers paid little attention to danger. One day the operator of a crane
with a long boom swung his machine around, not noticing the man walking
directly in the path below him. The enormous ball and hook dangling
from the end of the boom removed the back of his skull.
Every time someone was killed, work stopped. One cold day a siren
sounded at about noon and the first aid medics tore out of the small field
hospital and rushed into the lab. “Bring your trucks down,” they yelled,
pointing to an area of the camp where a large wooden scaffold was being
erected.
John and Ken raced down in their pickups. A large part of the scaffold
had collapsed and five men had fallen to the rock surface below. The
two men who were still clinging to life were placed in the station wagon
ambulances and driven to the clinic. One died on the way and the other
shortly after arriving. While an investigation took place, Ken and John
were given time off. Ken drove to Jessica’s house and stayed with her for a
week, helping her to plan their wedding.
At the end of the week, he returned to camp, while Jessica, Margaret,
and Patrick prepared for a trip to Fort St. John – to engage a Justice of the
Peace, and to load the truck with supplies for the reception.
Ken was working at the lab the day Patrick and his sisters set off on the
hundred-mile journey to town. He was bent over a specimen when he
heard the familiar wail of the siren. Looking up, he saw one of the ambulances
heading for the camp’s main gate.
Mayanaam
vequinox
Manolis 