"Melinda, look over there." Sarah pointed to a large
bone situated in the walkway so visitors could touch
it. Her daughter hurried over and stroked it as if
it were a pet kitten. Sarah noted how Melinda's tiny
hand was dwarfed by the bone and moved to place her
own slightly larger hand on top of her daughter's.
"Wow." The word came out in a breath of air. "Mommy,
do you think ... Is this a T-rex bone?"
"Actually," a man spoke from behind them, his
Scottish burr musical, "it's the right humerus from
a brachiosaurus altithorax."
Sarah jolted in surprise at the sound of his
voice, loud and unexpected in the quiet of the
aisle. Melinda turned her gaze to the speaker, a
tall, black-haired man in a tailored gray suit.
"That's a veggie-saur," Melinda commented.
"That's right, he was an herbivore. You're
very smart."
Sarah looked on as the man squatted down on eye
level with her daughter and tapped her tiny button
nose with his index finger.
"The brachiosaurus was enormous. If you were
inside the fifth story of a building, brachiosaurus
could peek in through the window so you could pat
him on the head and feed him lettuce."
Melinda giggled at the idea. Sarah kept a
cautious eye on the pair, suspicious of any stranger
who would butt into their conversation. As if he'd
sensed both her gaze and her apprehension, he turned
to face her. He smiled before standing and extending
a hand. The corners of his cobalt eyes crinkled at
the sides and, when Sarah tipped her head back to
look up at him, she noticed several permanent lines
there--as if smiling was a habit of long standing.
"I'm Doctor Duncan MacPherson. I'm a guest
speaker here this week."
