***
At the same moment, Henry, sitting on a rock overlooking Crater Lake from the rim and killing time until his meeting with Sorrelson, wasn’t thinking about his wife. Not at that moment, anyway.
He was staring out at the water as he’d done every day since the monster had been swallowed by the earth below the lake.
Half of him still expected the creature to suddenly emerge from the water and resume its rampage. The other half was sure it was dead, stuffed and rotting in the earth’s reclosed fissure deep under the lake.
The earthquake, which had been officially a 8.2 on the Richter scale, hadn’t noticeably damaged the caldera or the land around it. Though it had transformed the underwater terrain, geologists believed, collapsing many of the lava tunnels and caves beneath the lake. Maybe all the underwater caves were now gone or closed off. Henry prayed they were, because when he thought about that underwater cave they’d been in he saw again the piles of human bones and the eggs waiting to hatch. If the caves had collapsed, there’d never be any more eggs. Never be another creature.
But he often wondered…were there more of those eggs somewhere under the lake in a cave even now, incubating, waiting to hatch? Ready to birth more potential monsters that would terrorize humanity?
It was something he didn’t want to dwell on too long. It gave him the willies.
Things were finally back to the way they’d been, and he’d be the first one to admit, he’d never been so glad to see those nosy, noisy park visitors as he was when the park had reopened. Routine was comforting.
If only they wouldn’t all pester him about telling the tales of the dinosaur. He hated reliving it so much. Oh, well, nothing was perfect, was it?
Laughter played on the air off to his right, gulls called to each other over the lake as a chill breeze ruffled his hair. He appreciated the beautiful fall day. It was sweet to be alive.
Henry sighed as he watched the tour boats putter across the water far below. The old boys were back, as were the locals and the workers in the restaurants and shops. It was good to have the park full of people again.
The homeless had returned to their original camp. Now it was Henry and Ann who took them supplies and helped them when they could. With the newspaper’s help, Ann had found some of them jobs. It was the least she could do for George. She’d written heart-tugging stories about them, as well, and people sent in money, clothes and food. There’d been enough money so some of the families had been moved to modest houses in town. Ann had become dedicated to the cause and it made her happy to help.
George would have been proud of her.
It was downright cold today, Henry thought. The metallic odors of winter were already in the air, crisp and tangy. He’d had to wear a jacket, and he pulled the collar up tighter around his bare skin. Never should have gotten that haircut. He missed the warmth on his neck. He’d need gloves by the time he went off duty if the temperature kept falling. The skies above were filled with puffy, fat grayish clouds he recognized well enough. Snow was coming. The water mirrored the sky’s grayness. The water wasn’t crystal blue today, the way George had liked it.
He missed George. Nobody to gobble down donuts and coffee with at the ranger station in the mornings anymore or to gossip with over the newspaper at the lodge. No more strange Indian stories. No more venison left at his back door. He thought of George as his eyes traveled the land around the rim. George had loved to come up here, too, to stare at the sparkling water below, to weave stories and recount memories.
Sometimes on the brink of twilight, Henry would trek up here and look down at Wizard Island or the Phantom Ship and he’d swear he could see the Deep Rover glimmering just under the water line as it glided past the islands. He liked to believe Lassen was down there exploring the lake’s floor and the caves…forever.
He focused his eyes on the woods behind him. And if he tried real hard he fancied he could almost see his Indian friend, along with Greer, standing in the trees’ shadows, waving and smiling at him. Laughing. They weren’t resentful they were dead and he wasn’t. They were happy he’d made it through alive. That he was with Ann and his family.
For Henry, they’d always be there now, in the park, along with the others who’d died. And with him, their friend.
They were leaving now, fading back into the trees. Goodbye George. Farewell Dylan
The Deep Rover slipped beneath the water again. See you later, Lassen.
Glancing down at his watch, Henry knew he should be going, too. It was time for his budget meeting. Time to start planning the new ranger headquarters. Then check on the scientists at the dig. Life went on.
He stood up, brushing the dirt and grass from his uniform pants and repositioning his hat, and with one last longing look at the serene water and a final smile for the ghosts, he turned and walked down the path towards the lodge. It was time to return to the world.
It was time to go back to work.
* If you liked this book you can continue to read further adventures of Ranger Henry Shore, Crater Lake and more…dinosaurs…in its sequels: Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising and Dinosaur Lake III: Infestation.
Twenty of my novels are now also available as audio books at Audible Audio Books.
***
About Kathryn Meyer Griffith...
Since childhood I’ve been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. But I’d already begun writing novels at 21, over forty-four years ago now, and have had twenty-two (ten romantic horror, two horror novels, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time travel, one historical romance, thrillers, and four murder mysteries) previous novels, two novellas and twelve short stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books/Eternal Press; but these days I exclusively self-publish. My Dinosaur Lake novels and Spookie Town Mysteries (Scraps of Paper, All Things Slip Away and Ghosts Beneath Us) are my best-sellers.
I’ve been married to Russell for thirty-seven years; have a son and two grandchildren and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis, Mo. We have a quirky cat, Sasha, and the three of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist, and a folk/classic rock singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the day I die…or until my memory goes.
2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *Finalist* for her horror novel The Last Vampire ~ 2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS * Finalist * for her thriller novel Dinosaur Lake.
*All Kathryn Meyer Griffith’s books can now be found in audio books.
Novels and short stories from Kathryn Meyer Griffith:
Evil Stalks the Night, The Heart of the Rose, Blood Forged, Vampire Blood, The Last Vampire (2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS*Finalist* in their Horror category), Witches, The Nameless One short story, The Calling, Scraps of Paper (The First Spookie Town Murder Mystery), All Things Slip Away (The Second Spookie Town Murder Mystery), Ghosts Beneath Us (The Third Spookie Town Murder Mystery), Egyptian Heart, Winter’s Journey, The Ice Bridge, Don’t Look Back, Agnes, A Time of Demons and Angels, The Woman in Crimson, Human No Longer, Four Spooky Short Stories Collection, Forever and Always Romantic Short, Night carnival Short Story, Dinosaur Lake (2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS*Finalist* in their Thriller/Adventure category), Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising and Dinosaur Lake III: Infestation
My Websites:
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