STONE
Jenny
zipped her jacket up as far as it would go against her throat without pinching
the skin. She could not decide which action would benefit her more; to rub her
arms or to jam her hands into her jacket pockets. In her indecision, Jenny
shivered as she squinted up at the sky. She wished she had either thought out
her plan a little further or at least wore a little more. It was spring, but
the nights still dropped to temperatures reminiscent of winter.
She drew
her knees up to her chest, which seemed to help a little. If only it wasn’t so
dark. Yes, the glow from the half-moon helped, as did the starlight. Yet it was
a darkness that seemed to bring a thick blanket of silence with it, almost
suffocating. As lonely as Jenny often was, she didn’t quite feel alone until
now, as she sat hunched up against a rock formation in the Petrified Wood Park
in the late evening. After park hours, locked within the gates, and much to
Jenny’s consternation, out of the bathrooms. She didn’t much relish the thought
of exposing any of her skin to the cold air if she needed to pee at some point
during the night.
Still, she
was here, and now she was committed to her plan, hasty and butt-freezing as it
might be. She would spend the night at the park, amongst the “sculptures”.
Ever since
Jenny could remember, the park had fascinated her and the architecture there-
stacked formations built with pieces of petrified wood from the entire
surrounding region. She had always envisioned a mysterious race of gnome-like
beings as the builders of the different formations until she had become old
enough to understand it was a human accomplishment. Even then, she continued to
imagine that the origin of the installments to be less mundane in nature.
Her family
had brought her there several times, but she’d been there more often with just
her mother right up until the month before her mother had died from
complications during what should have been a routine surgery on her spine.
Since then, Jenny had only been able to make the trip to Lemmon on her own
twice in the last three years. At seventeen, she had a license, but no car of
her own, so she still relied on buses and the occasional hitched ride to get
out this far from her home.
Jenny’s
butt was now nearly number with cold so she stood up, glancing towards the gate
as if she expected to see a phalanx of armed security officers, led by her furious
father. This trip and overnight stay wasn’t something she had discussed with
anyone at all prior to her departure. She’d left her phone at home as well,
deliberately. Reception was bad at the park, anyway.
Jenny
dreaded the punishment she would face when she returned home, but she hoped at
her father would at least understand her reasons. Maybe he would, maybe he
wouldn’t. He didn’t really seem to invest much in the memory of Jenny’s mom.
She felt as if he’d moved on way too quickly and completely. Sharon, her dad’s
girlfriend, was nice enough and Jenny genuinely enjoyed hanging out with her,
but she didn’t see why her dad had to begin dating less than a year after her
mother’s death.
But
whatever. She was here now, and she was locked in for the night. She might as
well start what she came here to do. Jenny blew on her hands in a desultory
attempt to warm them, figuring that her upcoming activity would keep her warm
enough. Friction and all that.
Approaching
one of the smallest columns, Jenny pulled out the hammer from her small
backpack. She listened carefully, squinting through the darkness in all
directions. She was positive that her presence had not been detected at all
while she had been hiding in the bathroom during closing time. Why else would
she have been locked in, including the bathroom entrance (which she had
unfortunately forgotten to unlock when she emerged, therefore preventing her
return there and also a safe refuge when the park opened)?
After
satisfying herself that she wouldn’t attract any unwanted attention, Jenny
raised her hammer and brought it down on the column as hard as she could.
* * * *
An hour or
so later, Jenny flung the hammer down with an exasperated grunt. She really had misjudged a few things about
this entire endeavor. Including the time factor. She’d envisioned the
dismantling of the columns that contained the materials she planned to build
the new monuments to take only a few minutes. Just a few minutes with her
hammer to loosen the fossilized wood from the cement bonds, but the
craftsmanship was excellent and her hammer a small, lightweight tool hardly
sufficient for the task. Her hands were numb with cold, except for the pain
from absorbing the sharp vibrations of the repeated impact of metal upon stone.
She’d also dome some damage to the stone pieces, chipping off fragments.
Jenny
inhaled deeply, closing her eyes tight to stave off the frustration that fell
heavily upon her. Then a sob escaped from her throat. And the tears came. She
dropped to her knees, drawing in ragged breaths, holding her face in her cold
hands, the hot tears burning against her skin.
“I’m so
sorry, Mom,” she cried, rocking back and forth on her knees. Jenny raised her
wet eyes to the sky again. “I really wanted to do it.”
She had
planned to build a monument to her mother. Something that all the people that
came to the park would see, and think it was just another sculpture, but Jenny
could come back again and again and know that it was a secret between her
mother and herself.
But she was
cold and tired and hurting, and she’d only loosened three of the stones. She’d
likely be arrested for vandalism and trespassing, and her dad would ground her
until she was ready to retire. She
continued to cry, her tears splashing upon the ground so strongly it was
audible. Kind of like a faint hail. Or something clinking on stone.
Jenny held
her breath, pausing in mid-sob. She strained to listen better in the darkness,
and nearly let out a scream of surprise when she realized she was indeed
hearing something clinking on stone.
She stood
quickly, backing away from the column she had attempted to dismantle, nearly
tripping backwards over the hammer on the ground. Windmilling her arms wildly,
Jenny regained her balance.
“Who’s
there?” she called out aggressively. Then as a sort of reconciliatory gesture,
added, in a softer tone, “I got lost and got locked in here.”
A prolonged
scraping noise issued from somewhere left and to the rear of Jenny. She spun
around, scanning the impenetrable murkiness.
She thought she saw movement out of the corner of her eyes, but her
vision was also prism-blurred by residual tears. She wiped her eyes quickly and
squinted in the direction of the perceived motion, but nothing. She could still
hear the clinking and scraping sounds, though.
Then she
saw it. A large lizard, slowly climbing over the top of a nearby column. Its
claws clicked upon the stone as it stretched each leg out before flinging the
limb forward. The scraping noise was now apparent to Jenny as it pulled itself
up another few inches. It regarded Jenny
solemnly, slowly extending its tongue before gulping.
Jenny
nearly laughed in relief. Now that she knew what to look for and listen to, she
could see several other lizards merging into her line of vision. Then several
more. And several more.
“Okay, wait
a minute,” Jenny muttered. She’d suddenly remembered that lizards were
cold-blooded animals, and therefore shouldn’t be out on a night this chilly.
Also, these ones were so big. She would have remembered seeing of hearing of
them before.
The first
one she’d seen was now perched atop the column. Then it rose up on its hind
legs.
Jenny
realized that she wasn’t looking at a lizard. After all, she’d seen all the
Jurassic Park movies. She screamed.
The
dinosaur creature didn’t flinch or blink. It simply regarded her. As did the
others, which after a hasty survey of her surroundings, Jenny surmised now totaled
several dozen. All of them also rested on their hind legs, staring at her in a
reptilian mimicry of meerkats.
Jenny wanted to back away, or flee,
but the things surrounded her completely. The air in front of her became hazy with
Jenny’s quickening breaths condensing in the chill. She was shivering violently too and Jenny was
not all that sure the cold was the cause.
The
creature atop the column bent down slowly, placing its head close to the top of
the structure. It opened its jaws and licked the stone. Absurdly, an image of
the triple-dog dare scene from the A Christmas Story movie popped into Jenny’s
mind and she suppressed a giggle. She wouldn’t let her nerves get the better of
her.
The
dinosaur kept licking, outlining the topmost stone embedded in the formation.
Then it raised its head again to stare at Jenny, and with a foreleg, placed its
claws on the rock and pushed. The stone fell to the ground, and the dinosaur
slid back a few inches to regain its perch on the column.
Jenny
blinked. Then the creature pointed at the stone with its foreleg. Jenny blinked
again. She must be imagining things now; maybe the cold was making her
hallucinate-
A sensation
of pressure on Jenny’s left sneaker caused her to look down. She bit off
another scream. One of the dinosaur things was right up against her sneaker,
one foot resting on top of her shoe. It was looking up at her, and then with
its other foot, it pointed at the same stone. A chill that had nothing to do
with the temperature washed over Jenny as she looked around her. Each and very
one of the creatures was pointing at the stone.
“What do
you want from me?” she stammered.
Several of the reptiles cocked their heads, unblinking eyes upon her. She looked back at the stone, and took a
tentative step towards it. A ripple of anticipation ran through the gathered
creatures. Jenny slowly reached out for the stone, her eyes fixed on the
ascended dinosaur. As soon as she grasped the stone, a low chitter of
excitement surrounded Jenny.
She stood
up swiftly, the stone cocked as to throw it at any would-be attacker. The only
response from the dinosaur facing her was immobility, save for a slow blinking
that seemed almost reproachful.
Jenny
blacked up again, and then set the stone down on the grass. A muffled cracking
from behind the girl caused her to turn quickly, still apprehensive. She was
just in time to glimpse another dinosaur licking at a stone, which then fell to
the ground with a muffled thump. An idea
dawned upon Jenny.
“Are you, like, helping me?” she asked
the creatures, shaking her head in wonderment. One of the reptiles bobbed up
and down in a mannerism that Jenny realized was akin to a parrot emulating the
human nod. She turned slowly, scanning the entire congregation of dinosaurs,
eyes slightly blurry from nascent tears. “Really?” More than one of the creatures repeated the
nodding movement. Several of the others were already occupied with the rock
formations they perched upon, loosening more pieces for Jenny to utilize.
Why,
was the question prevalent in Jenny’s thoughts as she started to busy herself
with building the new monument. As she worked, the Why crawled every so steadily through her brain and then into the
back of the throat, where it sat for some time, tickling slightly. Suddenly, it
dropped onto her tongue, and fell out of her mouth.
“Why? What does this have to do
with any of you? Do you do this all the time, or am I different or what?” Jenny
blurted, a small chunk within the clutch of her hands. This time, the creatures ignored her,
continuing their labors. Jenny bit her lip, but then sighed. This was for her
mother. Did it really matter?
Between Jenny’s efforts to move
quickly in counteraction to the cold, and the dozens of dinosaurs, only a
couple of hours had passed when Jenny carefully placed a fragment just so. Then
she declared, “That’s it. I’m done.”
Stillness fell like a hammer shattering
all sound and motion. The reptiles all stared at Jenny, blinking in unison.
They all carefully made their way down the various mutilated sculptures, some
pushing some stones loose as they descended. They encircled the girl once
again, crouching upon their hind legs. A ripple ran through the assembly, and
then one section of the circle parted as if to make a pathway for Jenny. She
smiled and performed an approximation of what she assumed a curtsey looked
like.
Almost simultaneously, the
creatures turned their attention away from her and gazed off in the same
direction. With a sudden shiver not caused by the chilly night air, Jenny
realized that perhaps the opening in the circle was not to let her out, but to
let something in.
A dull, muffled thudding began, and
for the briefest of moments Jenny thought perhaps it was later enough for the
park to be opening up again, and she was hearing the noises of the gate being
opened. Yet the thudding was too rhythmic, and lacking the sound of metal. Jenny found herself breathing hard, drawing in
the icy air. She tensed, drawing her muscles into her frame, making herself as
small as possible.
When Jenny saw the figure that
appeared out of the darkness, though, her limbs turned liquid. She flung her
arms out desperately as her knees buckled, her entire body trembling. Her lungs
burned as if there wasn’t enough oxygen in the world to breathe.
The dinosaur that came into view as
it emerged from behind a large sculpture was not a Tyrannosaurs Rex, but it
came pretty close. It stood at 12 or so feet tall, and walked on its massive
hind legs. Cold-blooded it may have been, but it had enough body heat to
generate a cloud of vapor as it rumbled an exhalation.
Jenny tried to make herself as
still as possible but her trembling only intensified as the near-Rex took
several steps towards her. The ground vibrated slightly while the creature
advanced.
Reaching deep within herself, Jenny
pulled out hidden reserves of strength. She spun on her heels, poised to run
like hell, but immediately stumbled as she realized all of the smaller reptiles
now blocked her path, and several now held their jaws open revealing tiny
pointed teeth. Not quite a threat, but a warning. The ground still vibrated. Jenny twisted her
head over her shoulder to get a better look at the larger dinosaur and bit off
a scream. It was right behind her. She turned to face it, lost her balance, and
landed on her ass.
Studying her for a few moments, the
larger dinosaur remained motionless, giving Jenny the hope that it was as benign
as the other reptiles had been thus far. But her heartbeat amped up as it
leaned over her, bringing its snout close to her chest. Slowly, its jaws
parted, revealing large fangs and an enormous tongue that slithered out with
seeming sentience.
The tip of the creature’s tongue
brushed against Jenny’s jacket, and with a sizzling sound, the fabric began to
dissolve. Jenny yelped and scrambled backwards. Or at least she tried to, but
with a suddenness that belied the dinosaur’s size and previous languor, it
stepped onto a loose fold of Jenny’s jacket, pinning her in place. Jenny’s
scream emerged from her throat translated as a squeaky whine. As she struggled, the dinosaur touched her
jacket again with its tongue, this time applying a vigorous lick.
Jenny let out another cry, but this
one a mixture of surprise and trepidation as saliva ate away at her clothes,
exposing a large patch of bare skin. She winced in anticipation of her flesh
being seared by acidic burns, but her skin remained intact and uninjured.
The large reptile continued to lick
away and Jenny momentarily overlooked the fact that she was becoming more
exposed to the cold night because she flushed a deed red head to toe as she
realized she would soon be naked. She tried to get to her feet again now
unfettered by clothes but the large creature abruptly opened its jaws and let
out a throaty snarl, reaching for her shoulder with its foreleg as if to take
hold of her. To ravage, to restrain or to
. . . rape?
Jenny had no idea where that notion
even came from. Ew. Even as her
thoughts tumbled around in a confused tangle, the dinosaur continued stroking
Jenny with its tongue. Jenny shivered;
quite a lot of her body was now exposed to the chill. Then the almost-Rex licked her skin directly,
and the magic began.
A deep warmth dripped through her
flesh, a thick, syrupy heat that actually prickled and sparked. Sort of like
Pop Rocks, Jenny thought as she relaxed slightly.
Vivid colors, swirling and crashing into each other
silently, like a living kaleidoscope. Jenny closed her eyes, but the colors
still roiled and writhed behind her eyelids, and Jenny laughed as her nerves
began to tingle and vibrate.
* * * *
When the
park manager discovered Jenny the next morning, naked and delirious, he could
not understand how she could have survived the night without any clothing, for
none was in sight. He also couldn’t fathom how she had managed to dismantle
several sculptures and create a new one, a near-perfect facsimile of a woman,
neatly cemented together.
But what
perplexed him most of all, as he hurried into his office to grab a blanket for
the poor girl and to call the police, was the hundreds of footprints all around
the grounds, strange, birdlike shapes of sizes not characteristic of any local
bird species.
