The others stood around listening to the argument. May Anna caught sight of Vinny and came across.
‘You don’t look too good,’ she said.
‘I’m all right, but it’s so hot, and I wish they’d stop arguing. What’s it all about?’
‘It’s about what happens next. This bone you found . . .’
‘I didn’t find it! I wish Joe would stop saying I did. He found it. It’s just a way of getting at Dad.’
‘I’m afraid Joe’s like that. And he’s dead sure now that the rest of the skeleton is lying there right in the hillside, just waiting to be dug out, and Sam’s telling him to take it slow.’
‘But he’s got to, hasn’t he?’
‘Sure, but it’s a question of how slow. We’ve got a couple of foot-bones, right? But that doesn’t mean there’s a joined-up skeleton all neatly lying together. There could be just this foot, which a leopard or something brought here. But let’s say it wasn’t like that, and the body died in shallow water. Then the water will have moved the bones around, and crayfish and crocs could have carried bits away. The bones could be spread out right through the hill. That’s if they’re there at all, because the body may have been lying the other way round, right? Out this way . . .’
May Anna gestured to show the imaginary strata spreading out beyond the hillside, as they would have been before the endless seasons had eroded them away.
‘. . . and those two bones are all that’s left.’
‘But you’ve still got to look and see. I mean, it might be there.’
‘Right. But look how the strata run. Into the hill, see? There’s a whole lot of hill to be cleared away to get at the one we want. Tons and tons and tons of earth. That means a labour force. How are we going to raise a labour force out here in the badlands? It’ll take money, not just to pay them, but to get them here, feed them and keep them here. Money Joe doesn’t have – not till after Thursday, maybe, when the Craig people come. Then if he’s got enough to show them, he can have all the labour he wants, and real funds for next year, and real good people who’ll want to be with him next year. That’s a lot to ask for on two little bones, Vinny. But if he could maybe find a leg-bone, a knee . . . So he doesn’t want Sam hanging about, waiting for a labour force before he starts serious digging. You see?’
Vinny nodded. She felt a need to explain something to May Anna. Making her bed that morning she’d found an old tube of eye-shadow, May Anna’s colour, wedged between the leg of the bed and the hut wall. Then on the earth floor she’d seen four square marks where the legs of another bed must have stood close alongside hers.
‘I don’t know Dad very well,’ she said. ‘My step-father’s lovely, but I just decided I wanted a dad of my own, like I’ve got a mum of my own. But it doesn’t mean I’ve got to be with him all the time, or anything like that, only to know him a bit.’
May Anna put her hand on Vinny’s shoulder and held her comfortingly against her side.
‘You’re doing fine,’ she said. ‘Your dad’s a great guy. He needs a daughter like you. It’s good you came.’
‘Has he got to be enemies with Joe?’
‘They’re not enemies, but Joe’s Joe. He’s got to be always telling you he’s there. Times he drives everyone crazy. Other times we’d be lost without him. Dee Huntsman couldn’t take Joe, so she said she was sick and went home . . .’
‘She was your geologist?’
‘Right. And OK she got a bit sick, but if it hadn’t been for Joe she’d have hung in. And look at today. We’ve a whole heap of things waiting decisions which only Joe can make, but instead he takes off blind after a hunch he’s had in the night and because he wants to show you how to find fossils, and we all know he’s going to come back and decide things out of the top of his head, messing up work some guys have been doing for weeks. And he’ll still do that. But what else? While he’s off on this crazy jaunt with you he pokes into a bit of hillside and comes up with a proto-hominid foot-bone, which any museum in the world would give its eye-teeth for! So we’ve all got to forgive him. Even Sam. Sam’s as thrilled as the rest of us, if you want to know.’
‘I suppose he is, but . . .’
‘You’re like him that way, I guess. Excited he may be, but he’s still got to do the job right – slowly, methodically, not missing a damn thing. Sam would never have bust that bone Joe’s waving around now. They should’ve been a good team, you know. Sam needs Joe to raise the funding and find the sites, and Joe needs Sam to do the work right, so no-one’s going to argue about what they’ve found.’
‘I wish they’d stop arguing now.’
‘Just stopping . . . Any minute . . . Told you . . .’
Dr Hamiska laughed and jumped to his feet and clapped Dad on the shoulder in a no-hard-feelings way, then started striding round the hillside giving the rest of his team their orders. Dad came gloomily over.
‘I guess Vinny’s feeling the heat,’ said May Anna.
‘No, I’m better,’ said Vinny. ‘What’s going to happen now?’
‘What’s going to happen now is perfectly bloody,’ said Dad. ‘I suppose I accept it’s got to be done in the circumstances. Joe wanted everyone out here, the cooks even, pretty well hacking into the hillside at random, but I’ve persuaded him he’ll have to make do with two trenches. I’ll do one and Fred will do the other.’
‘What’s so bloody about that?’ said May Anna. ‘Fred’s good.’
‘It isn’t Fred. It’s the results Joe wants by Thursday. I don’t want to kill myself carting spoil around in this heat, so Fred and I are going to have to be out here by sunrise to get the heavy labour done while we can still stand it . . . I’m afraid you’re not going to see much of me over the next few days, Vinny . . .’
‘Vinny can help me,’ said May Anna. ‘We’ll have fun.’
‘If Joe gives you a look-in,’ said Dad. ‘He seems to have persuaded himself that she’s some kind of good-luck token.’
‘Well, I’m not,’ said Vinny. ‘I’m going to come and help you.’
‘I’d love you to,’ said Dad carefully. ‘But I’m not that easy to help. Most of it I’ve got to do myself.’
‘Then I’ll just come,’ said Vinny. ‘It’s all right. I won’t be bored. I want to learn to draw like Nikki.’
‘Well . . .’
Dad was looking at May Anna, who wasn’t saying anything. All Vinny knew was that she didn’t want to be left at the camp being Dr Hamiska’s good-luck token. A new thought struck her.
‘Couldn’t we come and camp out here?’ she said. ‘Just you and me and Dr Wessler. Then you can start digging as soon as it’s light and I’ll cook your breakfast and . . .’
May Anna was laughing. Dad was looking round the parching landscape, miming disgust.
‘I’ve never seen a less inviting spot for a fly-camp,’ he said.
‘Please, Dad.’
‘It’s an idea,’ said May Anna. ‘It’s only three nights, Sam, and you’re always saying any fool can be uncomfortable in camp.’
Dr Hamiska came striding across.
‘OK,’ he said. ‘Ready, Sam? Let’s get an awning rigged up for you to work under.’
‘Hang on a sec,’ said Dad. ‘I’ve been thinking. Since time’s so short the best thing would be for me to set up a fly-camp here . . .’
‘Just what I was about to suggest. Good man.’
‘If May Anna can take the jeep back, with Vinny, Vinny can pack my gear while May Anna gets the other stuff together – there’s the orange tent in the store, May Anna, and we’ll need three beds . . .’