Ellie was awakened by a chorus of parrots and other species of birds singing and chattering in the treetops near the dormitory, as if welcoming the morning. Briefly, she thought of Jack, her parrot, wondering how he was adjusting to her absence, but she knew she didn�t worry about him. Her parents would care for him until her return.
Opening her eyes, she knew instantly that she had overslept. A quick glance at the clock on the bedside table confirmed that suspicion: Nine-thirty. Typically an early riser, instances of oversleeping were rare, and she rose up on one elbow to wipe the sleep from her eyes with the other hand. Alan was also an early riser, but it did not surprise her that he had not awakened her. He would have allowed her to sleep, believing that she needed the extra rest, but she knew that was not really the case. What she needed was exercise and work to tone up and strengthen her loose muscles.
She yawned contentedly as she sat up on the edge of the bed to allow a moment for the drowsiness to diminish before actually getting up.
Finally pushing herself into the final commitment of rising, she stretched her lean body and strolled to the window to look outside through the iron bars. The glass windows had been left open for the cooling breeze.
It was a beautiful day, more beautiful than any she could remember in recent history. The morning mists that hung over the valleys were slowly evaporating under the strong rays of the sun. The air smelled clean and refreshed as she leaned on the window sill and pressed her forehead against the bars, taking in as much of the scenery as she could.
Beads of moisture clung to the grass after the previous night�s storm, and water had collected in puddles in low areas. Cirrus clouds decorated the brilliant blue sky. Humidity was high with traces of ground mist still blanketing the valley floor with ribbons of wispy fog. The mist and the water puddles would quickly evaporate under the brightly glowing orb that shown its radiance on the island. Ellie thought the morning was very picturesque, like a picture out of a scenic calendar.
From the upstairs window, she was provided a better view of the research facility across the narrow valley in which the entire compound of buildings was nestled. The view was obstructed by the large trees occupying the space between the two buildings, but she could see the dome and the long roof that concealed untold secrets from the rest of the world. Alan had not yet taken her there to show her the interior of the structure, but she anticipated that he would do so soon, for it was an integral part of the entire operation and his research. It was there that the animals of Jurassic Park had been born.
Turning away from the window, her gaze fell upon the gray fabric wall that separated her cubical from Alan�s, and wondered what role he was playing in her subconscious mind toward helping her to heal. She could not deny the fact that even during her marriage, she had craved Alan�s companionship, had longed to caress his ruggedly handsome face again, to gaze into those expressive blue eyes that could equally be kind and gentle or hard and piercing. Regardless of what the future held for them, being here with him now was worth all the dangers from the animals and worth the primitive living conditions.
Opening the dresser drawers, she gathered up the clothing she intended to wear that day, and pushed back the drape that formed the door.
Her eyes automatically went to Alan�s drape, and she noticed with surprise that it was still closed. Because he typically left the drapes open upon rising, it was apparent that he had overslept as well.
Moving to his cubical, she quietly pushed back the edge of the drape and saw that he was still sleeping soundly on his bed. Her heart swelled with love for him, and she resisted the urge to slip inside to watch him until he awakened. Instead, she leaned against the edge of the cubical, watching him for several moments. He lay on his abdomen, his face turned toward her on his pillow. The sheet was pulled up to his waist, revealing his strong bare back, and one arm dangled over the edge of the bed.
Finally, unwilling to disturb him, she allowed the curtain to fall back into place, and padded on bare feet down the corridor to the linen closet to grab a towel, then proceeded to the bathroom. Her jeans were placed on the countertop and she hung her blouse on a wall peg.
She had not spent much time in the bathroom the previous two days, so she looked at it now with critical eyes. Ignoring the urinals, which were of no consequence to her, she observed the rest of the room, repulsed by what she was seeing. She knew that Alan had cleaned it up when he had first arrived, but he had not scrubbed as thoroughly as a woman would have. Mold and other disgusting bacteria darkened the grouting on the ceramic tiles on the floor and up the walls to about shoulder height, where the tiles were replaced by painted walls.
A first aid kit was affixed to the wall near the door, and beneath it was a small refrigerator, which had obviously held perishable drugs, such as injection penicillin. She did not bother to open it; the power had been out for years before the generator had been hooked up for Alan, so anything it contained was ruined anyway. On a shelf beside it was a variety of cleaners and scrubbers, and she turned the bottles so that she could read the labels and found them suitable to clean the grout and the toilets. She would do so at her earliest opportunity.
Next, she moved to the shower stalls. Like the rest of the bathroom floor, it was surfaced in ceramic tile, and in the center of each stall was a drain to carry away the water. Reaching out, she dipped her hand in the barrel of water that stood between the stalls. It was very cool.
She stood for several moments looking at the corner stall, dreading the idea of using the cool water to bathe with, but she had skipped her morning shower yesterday, and did not wish to do so today. �May as well get this over with,� she muttered.
She removed the oversized tee-shirt she slept in, draped it over the nearest rod along with the towel, then stepped over the tile threshold that prevented water from washing back into the rest of the room, and pulled the shower curtain closed. A bar of soap was lying in the soap dish that was built into the wall, so she filled the pot with water, and after a brief hesitation, she poured it over her head, resisting the urge to yell from the shock.
�Oh, damn that�s cold!� she said aloud as gooseflesh popped out on her skin.
Grabbing the soap, she quickly lathered her lean body, then shampooed her hair. At last, she dipped the pot in the water again and rinsed herself off. The shower was completed in what must have been in record time, and she jumped out of the shower stall, feeling surprisingly invigorated.
Quickly, she toweled off and draped the towel over the rod, then hurried to the counter and stepped into her jeans and put on her bra, then reached for her can of deodorant spray on the edge of the countertop.
At that moment, the bathroom door opened, and Alan stepped inside. Instead of politely turning away and excusing himself, as she had expected him to do upon walking in on a half-dressed woman, he stopped just inside the doorway, his eyes staring at her with such intensity that she felt compelled to cover herself. She looked quickly around, seeking something with which to do just that, but she had nothing handy. She had hung her blouse and her tee shirt on a wall peg, and the nearest towel was draped over the rod near the shower stalls. Lacking anything else, she crossed her arms over her breasts.
�Alan, please!� she protested, annoyed.
His eyes lifted to her face, and she saw shock in his eyes. She realized at that moment that he had not been staring lustfully at her near-naked torso, a reaction that would have been out of character for him, even after all this time alone on the island. Instead, he had been staring at the two scars that marred the smooth skin of her abdomen, both made visible by her low-rider jeans.
�My God, Ellie,� he exclaimed, horrified. �You were in the accident, too!�
She nodded, slowly. �Yes.�
�I didn�t know! I assumed it was just Mark and the kids. I never expected � I didn�t stop to think that you might have been hurt or �� He didn�t complete the sentence. That she could have been killed in the accident was too painful for him to even contemplate. �I didn�t know,� he repeated.
Sequestered away on the island, he would not have known about it until he returned home, or until he decided to contact her for some reason. He knew her parents might not have passed along the news to him, even if he had been home at the time of the accident. He had been out of her life for a long time. They might not have even realized that he would want to know.
She could see that he was greatly distressed by the injuries she had sustained, but she could only wonder: Was it because he still cared so deeply for her that the thought of losing her to death was unimaginable, or was he repulsed by the sight of her scars?
�Alan, I don�t want to talk about this right now. If you don�t mind, I�m trying to get dressed.�
He seemed to realize for the first time that she was not wearing her blouse and that she was self-consciously attempting to cover herself. Without another word, he turned and dodged out of the lavatory. The door drifted slowly closed behind him.
Ellie stared at the door for a long moment, then turned her attention to the reflection in the mirror, gazing specifically at the ugly scars on her abdomen. Her fingers traced each of the pink lines that marred the fair skin, a constant reminder of the accident that had nearly claimed her life. She had faithfully applied the scar cream intended to minimize the results of the incisions, and the doctor had assured her that they would fade over time, but right now they were a glaring beacon highlighting the surgeries that had been necessary to save her life.
She glanced at the door again, feeling very self-conscious, wishing that Alan had never seen them. She had hoped to eventually tell him in her own way, after she had been given more time to recover and the scars had had time to fade somewhat, but that privilege had been denied. She could well imagine the shock he had felt upon finding out in such a brutal way that her smooth, unblemished body now had permanent scars.
Frustrated, she strode across the tiled floor and snatched her blouse from the peg and pulled it on over her head, concealing those thin pink lines beneath the fabric.
Out of sight, out of mind.
No, they would never be out of mind, for they had dramatically changed her life. Nothing would ever be the same as it had been before.
When she was fully dressed, she went downstairs to face Alan, knowing that there would be questions to be answered about a subject she was not yet ready to discuss.
She found him in the kitchen starting a pot of coffee. He looked up when she entered the room, and a moment of uncomfortable silence passed between them.
Finally, Alan said, �Ellie, please forgive my rudeness upstairs. I didn�t mean to stare, but . . .� He shrugged. �You never mentioned that you had been in the car, too, and it just struck me that if you had died, I wouldn�t even have known about it.�
�I tried to contact you,� she told him. �I left messages for you at the Museum and the University, but no one at either of them bothered to inform me that you were no longer there. I spent the last three months wondering why you never called or even sent a get-well card.�
He considered her words for several moments, realizing that even in the overwhelming grief of her loss, she had thought enough of him to realize that he would want to know. �I�m sorry, Ellie. If I had known, I would have come to see you. We didn�t tell you where I was because we didn�t want you to worry about me.�
Her eyes snapped to his face. �We?�
�Yes. It was a decision that Mark and I made together when we discussed the final plans.� He looked away, refusing to add the discomfort he had felt under Mark�s penetrating gaze as they had sat in his office discussing the trip and his demands for autonomy. Ellie�s husband had been keenly aware that the paleontologist was his wife�s former lover, and Alan had actually wondered at the time if Mark had hoped he would be eaten by dinosaurs and therefore taken completely out of the picture. Alan had no intention of interfering with Ellie�s marriage, but during his visit to their house the previous summer, Mark had apparently noticed the attraction that still existed between them. Alan had known that her husband did not like it, but at the time he had been gracious and accommodating, allowing them the time and the space to talk. Later, alone in Mark�s office, he had seen the jealousy that flamed in the other man�s eyes when he had seen Alan gazing at a photograph of Ellie that stood on the expensive oak desk behind which he worked.
Unaware of his thoughts, Ellie said, angrily, �You should have told me! Mark should have told me! Someone should have told me! I had the right to know!�
�We did what we thought best at the time.�
�I knew it!� she stated. Irritated, she thumped her fist angrily on the stainless steel countertop. �I knew he was keeping something from me, but I never in my wildest dreams ever imagined that it could be this.�
�Ellie, don�t think ill of him. He was only thinking of you ��
Her eyes flashed with an accusing stare. �And you! If you had bothered to check in every once in awhile, you would have found out about the accident.�
�Ellie, it never occurred to me that there would be an accident to find out about. Things like that happen, but you never expect it to be someone you know or . . . care about.�
Damn it, why can�t I just say the word?
Ignoring the frustrated voice inside his head, he continued, �I never called in because I figured Mark or his supervisors would start wanting progress reports. Then, if they perceived a willingness on my part to communicate with them, I would have Hammond asking for my phone number and calling me, wanting me to check on this or that, and I just didn�t want to be bothered with specifics. This is my research, and I didn�t want them wasting my time with suggestions.�
�Kevin, Mark�s associate, told me that you demanded complete autonomy, and that it was granted. Surely they would have respected that.�
�Maybe. I wasn�t willing to take that chance. Once you get something started, it�s hard to break. And you know how persistent John Hammond is.�
�You were very foolish, Alan,� she told him. �By not checking in, no one would have known if something had happened to you until Miguel came with a load of supplies. And even then, no one would have known exactly what happened because he refuses to leave the landing strip.�
�He has a family.�
�I know. He told me, and I can understand that, but when you didn�t show up right after the plane landed, I worried that you might have been injured, or --- worse.�
�Ellie, I�m very careful ��
�Mark was a careful driver, and look what happened to him! It was thoughtless of you! It was thoughtless of both of you!�
He was growing weary of the debate and her accusations. �I already apologized for that,� he reminded her.
She sighed. Arguing about it was not solving anything. She pressed her hand to her forehead, a gesture of frustration, then allowed the hand to drop to her denim covered thigh with a slapping sound. �I know. It�s just that . . . if anything happened to you, too, I don�t know what I�d do.�
�You�re strong, Ellie. You would go on, just like you�re doing now.� He paused. �Well, maybe not exactly like you�re doing now! Most people who have survived an accident don�t run off to an island inhabited by dinosaurs!� His lips turned up slightly, indicated that it was an attempt at levity, but she did not smile in response. Continuing, he said, �The point it, you would cope. Everyone has to cope with loss.�
She shrugged. �I suppose.�
The coffee began to pour from the filter into the pot, and Alan reached into the cabinet for a pair of coffee cups.
Turning abruptly, Ellie opened the pantry door and searched through the array of packaged goods he had ordered: boxes of cold cereal, a box of cream of wheat, another box of oatmeal. None of it particularly appetizing at that moment. �What do you want for breakfast?�
�There are still some eggs and the bacon,� he suggested.
�How about an omelet?� she asked. �We can use bacon and cheese. Do you have any onions in that garden of yours?�
�Yes, I pulled some green onions the other day. They�re in the vegetable drawer with some green peppers.�
�Perfect.�
�That sounds wonderful,� he admitted. �I haven�t had an omelet in years.�
She opened the refrigerator door and removed the packages of eggs and bacon along with the onions and a small green pepper, and carried them to the counter top. She glanced at the large toaster that was plugged into the wall beneath the cupboard. �Does this toaster work?�
�Yes.�
�How many slices do you want?�
�One.� He stood close by, leaning against the work table, watching as she started breakfast by frying the bacon first. When she saw that he was standing idle, she opened the utility drawers until she found the knives. Removing one, she presented it to him. �Make yourself useful.�
With a smile, he took the knife and began chopping the onions and the pepper into fine pieces. �I guess your parents weren�t overjoyed when you decided to come down here,� he said while he worked.
�That is an understatement,� she admitted, glancing over her shoulder as the bacon sizzled and popped in the skillet.
�They never did like me much,� he concluded, regretfully.
�That isn�t true. Mom told me last week that they were always fond of you. It�s just that your work kept us such a long way from them. They weren�t exactly thrilled about us living together, either. They would have supported us more if we had married. I�m their only child, and they worried about me.�
�I bet they�re really worried, now. You can�t get much farther from the real world than this.�
Her expression became somber. �Yeah, I guess you�re probably right about that. I�m afraid I didn�t take their feelings into consideration when I made my decision. I just knew I had to get here as quickly as possible.�
�Why?� he asked, still puzzled that she had come at all. �What is the real reason? Why was it so important to come here? Regardless of what you said when you got off that plane, you didn�t come here just because you wanted to work with me again.�
She gazed at him for a long moment, impressed with his perception, but it was difficult to answer his question without sounding like she had completely lost her mind. She turned back to the skillet. �I did want to work with you. That part is true, but you�re right. There is another reason. I�m just not sure, yet, exactly what it is, but I know it�s valid and profound and that it will present itself eventually.�
His expression was skeptical. �Ellie, you�re not making any sense. It sounds like you�re saying that you came all this way on a whim.�
�I can�t explain it, Alan,� she retorted, somewhat defensively. �It was a feeling, like a premonition or something, but it was so overpowering that I couldn�t ignore it. You can�t imagine what it�s like to be struck with a sensation like that.�
His brow puckered slightly. �You believe in premonitions?�
�I don�t know if I believe in them or not because I�ve never encountered one. I only knew I had to come here.�
�That really isn�t much of a reason, you know,� he said, skeptically. �Just what is it that you think is going to happen?�
�I don�t know, exactly.� She raised her hand and added quickly, before he could speak, �I know it sounds crazy, but I had this overwhelming sensation that you were in danger, and that I could save you.�
The frown deepened, not out of concern for himself, but for her emotional well-being. She was not making sense. �So you decided to put yourself in danger as well? Ellie, I�m in danger every time I set foot out the door, but I�m afraid there really isn�t anything you could do to save me, even if the premonition came true and the worst happened.�
She shrugged, staring into the frying pan with the disappointing realization that he did not believe her. �I don�t know. I just felt I had to be here.�
�It�s probably a psychological thing: You know, being unable to save your family, so you focused on me.�
That sounded logical, but she was unwilling to accept it as the reason for the premonition. �Maybe,� she replied, doubtfully.
Moved by her willingness to travel halfway around the world and place her in danger for his sake, he said, �I don�t believe in premonitions, Ellie, but I do appreciate your concern.�
She turned around again to look at him, but he did not do the same. With his back to her, he continued to chop the onions and peppers. �What are we going to do today?� she asked.
�I thought maybe we�d get you started on some weight training,� he suggested. �We�ll have to start you out slowly, gradually working up, but if you�re wanting to get back into shape, that�s the place to start.
�Sounds good,� she agreed. �When that�s done, I�d like to scrub the bathroom floor. It looks awful!�
He nodded. �I know. I�ve been meaning to get to that, but haven�t found the time. We�ll make time for it today.�
�What about your research? I hate to take you away from that.�
�The dinosaurs will still be here tomorrow,� he said, pleasantly. �That�s the nice thing about confining them to an island. They can�t go anywhere.�
At that moment, neither was aware that her premonition would come to pass the very next day.
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