Chapter 31

William sat back and stared at the stack of papers. He had spent the past four weeks going over the first draft of his dissertation and fixing the small errors that had crept into it. Sections had been changed to be more precise. The language had been improved to be more readable. References had been checked and the original sources double checked for accuracy.

This pass through the dissertation was at a less strenuous pace than the first pass. He had worked eighteen to twenty hours a day on the first draft. This draft, he had settled down to a twelve to fourteen hour a day pace. It was still hard on the mind and body.

Now that he had finished the second draft, he felt the need for a major break, but there were things that had to be dealt with first. He pulled out his telephone and dialed Ling. She answered on the second ring, "Hello, William."

"Hello, mom."

"Calling to gloat that I haven't found you yet?"

"No. Just wanted to find out what has happened with Derrick," William answered pleased to note that she had asked her question with more than a little amusement in her voice.

"Oh, he's staying in one of the guest rooms and is recovering just fine," Ling answered. She had brought Derrick home because of his actions when they had gone to save the White Buffalo. Derrick had stepped between her and one of the men who was about to shoot her. It wasn't necessary, but she appreciated his attempt to protect her. She'd been ready to subdue the man, but the presence of Derrick had forced her to change her plans and she had reacted with much more force than intended. That had accounted for one of the deaths. Despite her best efforts, Derrick had gotten injured in the process.

"I'm pretty sure that he's about ready to look for a job now."

Surprised that William would mention work, Ling said, "He mentioned something about that yesterday."

"With forty-eight square miles of property, I need a fulltime ranch foreman. Let him know that the position is his," William said.

"Good idea. He'd be perfect for the job," Ling said with a smile. She wondered how it was that John, Ed, and now William could always find the right person for a job.

"I would like a fence run along the front of my property in Arizona. Could you ask him if he'd be interested in putting a crew together to do that? I'm sure that a few of the young men on the reservation would appreciate a job," William said.

"Sure, I'll mention it to him."

"Thanks, mom."

"So how's your dissertation going?"

"I just finished the second draft," William answered as he ran a hand over the stack of paper that comprised the results of his work. It was a substantial body of work.

"That's good. You've been there for two months. It took your brother and sister longer than that to reach the same point," Ling commented.

"I'm going to take ten days off before tackling the third draft. Then I'll send it to my professor for his comments," William said. He knew exactly which sections his professor would ask him to change, but he was prepared to argue the case for keeping it as it was.

"You have your credit card. Why don't you get on a plane and fly somewhere for a short vacation? Go down to Cancun for a little sun or to the north for some skiing."

"And let you know where I am?" William asked with a grin.

"Oh, I didn't think of that."

The lie was so obvious that William burst out laughing. He said, "That was a good one."

"I had to try," Ling admitted. She was beginning to enjoy the game that was playing out between William and her.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow after you've had a chance to talk with Derrick."

Ling said, "I love you, William."

"I love you too, mom," William replied. He hung up the phone and went into the living room. Settling onto the couch, he considered what he wanted to do for the next ten days. The fact of the matter was that he missed Lucy. Even though they talked on the phone every morning, it was hard being separated from her. Half of the reason driving him so hard was to return to Lucy as quickly as possible.

He went into his father's room and looked through the camping equipment in the closet. Smiling, he decided that he'd try hiking through one of the parks where his father used to hike. He fished out his cell phone and spent the next thirty minutes inviting Joe, Mark, and Birdie to go to the Dinosaur Valley State Park with him on the next Saturday morning. All three of them accepted his invitation.

After parking in the parking lot in front of the main office, William got out of the car and looked down the road. He could see two giant statues of dinosaurs from where he stood. He shook his head at the sight. William said, "Wow. This is not what I expected. I don't see how it could have been like this when my father used to hike around here. My father would have hated this."

"It wasn't. For a long time it was just a plain area with a creek bed with the dinosaur tracks. I think it was after your father moved to Arizona that they opened the park to the public. We come out here on school field trips to check out the dinosaur tracks all the time," Birdie said.

William turned and headed towards the office to get information on the hiking areas. When he reached the front door, a man stepped out wearing a Ranger's outfit. It wasn't the uniform of a Park Ranger, but that of the naturalist group that surveyed animal populations. Surprised to run into a Ranger at a public park, William said, "I didn't expect to find a Ranger here."

The man, paused, turned and pointed into the building as he said, "The Park Rangers are inside."

"I studied under CC at the Druid College my fourth year," William said even as the Ranger was walking away.

The Ranger froze and turned to look back at William. A smile grew as he put the known facts together and came to the right conclusion. He said, "My God, you must be William Redman Carter."

"Yes, I am," William answered. Joe, Mark, and Birdie were staring at William wondering how a complete stranger in the middle of nowhere knew who he was.

"I'm Ken Walker. CC is a very good friend of mine. She told me all about your time with her. Of course, all of the Rangers know your brother, John, and his wife, Susan."

"These are my friends Joe, Mark, and Birdie," William said well aware of his brother's relationship with the Rangers. He pointed to each person as he introduced them.

"Birdie? You wouldn't happen to be Beatrice Fletcher, would you?" Ken asked looking at the young woman.

"Yes, I am," she replied wondering who this man was and how he knew about her.

"You picked up an injured Red Tailed Hawk about a month ago. How's it doing?"

Shocked, Birdie answered, "She's doing fine."

"Good. Do you think it will fly again?"

Turning on her professional face, Birdie answered, "Yes. The bone is healing well. The joint wasn't impacted. There was a slight infection, but it cleared up after we treated it with antibiotics."

"Excellent."

"So what is a Ranger doing here?" William asked.

"I heard some more footprints were found outside the park. I came to see if that was true and what would be the environmental impact if it was opened to the public. Would you like to go with me?"

Looking over at the other three teenagers, William answered, "Sounds interesting. We just might be some of the first people to see tracks that were made a hundred million years ago."

Joe said, "That would be so cool."

Mark thought about it for a second and said, "Do you mean that we'd get a chance to go off the marked trails?"

"Yes, but I'll have to insist that you be careful and make as little impact on the environment as possible." Ken put an arm around Birdie and said, "Walk with me. We have a lot to talk about."

Uncomfortable at having a strange man's arm around her, Birdie shrugged it off. Stepping back, she said, "I don't think so."

William stepped forward and said, "Birdie. You can trust him. He's a Ranger. Believe it or not, you and he have a lot in common. If he wants to talk with you, it would be in your best interest to listen."

"You don't even know him," Birdie said.

"True, but he's a friend of my brother, my brother's wife, CC, and he's a Ranger. That's enough to recommend him to you, but if you are really concerned then let me say that Rangers have a compact with the Druids. Any Druid will treat a Ranger as an equal and vice versa."

Puzzled, Birdie asked, "What do you think he wants to talk to me about?"

"Joining the Rangers," William answered with a smile. He gestured to the Ranger and said, "Go walk with him. Joe, Mark and I will follow you so that you have a little privacy for your chat."

The three young men walked about thirty yards behind Birdie and Ken. Joe asked, "What do you think they are talking about?"

"About Ranger stuff," William answered.

"I've never heard of these Rangers. There are Park Rangers, the Texas Rangers, and the baseball team. So who are they," Mark asked.

"The Rangers are the best organized and most rational of the environmentalist organizations. They work to protect environmentally sensitive areas. They make sure that animals are not over hunted. They protect endangered species. And, unless I'm mistaken, they are about to get into the business of wildlife rehabilitation," William said.

"Wildlife rehabilitation?" Joe looked at William with a confused expression.

"Treating wild animals that have been injured and releasing them back into the wild once they've been healed," William explained.

Frowning, Mark said, "That's what Birdie does."

"Exactly."

"Oh. I see what you mean. He's talking to her about joining their organization," Joe said. Over the past month, his opinion of Birdie had changed. He'd come to recognize that she was very talented in what she did. The fact that an organization that did all of the things William had described was interested in recruiting her increased her stock in his mind.

"Exactly," William answered with a smile.

It took two hours to reach the new site where Ken had been directed. He paused on the bank of the Paluxy River and looked around. Although it was named a river, other areas of the country would probably consider it to be a stream. Although it was November, the weather was not cold. He said, "Let's get out of our shoes and roll up our pants. We'll want to walk along the shallows and look for the tracks."

Birdie pointed ten yards upstream and asked, "Is that a fossil over there?"

Looking in the direction Birdie pointed, Ken nodded his head when he spotted what appeared to be a long thigh bone. He looked around and said, "It might be. Why don't you all have a seat while I look around?"

William promptly sat down. Turning to the others, he said, "Have a seat. Ken needs to examine the flora and fauna to determine if there's anything environmentally sensitive here. We'd just get in his way and probably trample anything that's important."

Birdie sat down and asked, "William, what do you know about the Rangers?"

William answered, "I studied woodcraft under CC at the Druid College. We spent weeks out in the woods learning how to track, read sign, and observe nature. Of course, I already had that at the Native American College. Still, I'd have to say that she's as good at tracking as any of the Native Americans that I know. That's saying a lot.

"As an organization, there are about forty members now and they are spread all over the North American continent. They work with the government and other environmentalist organizations to study wildlife, plants, and the land.