Threshold shift

Chapter 28

He ran into Gregory outside the new fast food place. There were a lot of crowds, a mix of young and old, male and female, customers, all waiting patiently for their food. Owen's former intern had a huge paper bag in one hand, balancing milkshakes and soft drinks on a tray in the other.

"Oh, hey, Mr. Grady!" he greeted him with a smile.

"Gregory. How are you doing?"

"Great! We're all doing great. Thanks to you."

Owen saved the milkshakes from crashing and gestured at Gregory to lead the way to wherever he was going with the food.

"Me? What did I do?"

They were weaving through the early afternoon crowds, dodging balloons, trying not to step on small children or get run over by excited families. Owen nearly tripped over one of the dinosaur-shaped baby-carts.

"Ms. Dearing told us that we'd be responsible for the babies rescued from the poachers' ship. All of us are now working shifts at quarantine, even in the hatchery!" Gregory's eyes glowed with enthusiasm. "It's amazing! We can learn so much! They are dinosaurs we know from here, but then again they're different because they're from Sorna. And we know you recommended us. Thank you, Mr. Grady! Thank you so very much! It's the best that ever happened to us!"

Owen chuckled. "Glad you're enjoying it."

They had arrived at one of the round tables a little off Main Street. The table was in the shade of a large tree. A group of interns were waiting there, waving excitedly at them and smiling widely. Owen laughed as they gushed at him for giving them another chance to prove themselves. All were in love with their work at Quarantine, were invested in taking care of the eggs and newly hatched babies, and they were learning so much more every day. Especially how not to imprint the wild dinosaurs on them, to prepare them for getting back home to their own island when they were strong and big enough.

"You never did anything wrong, guys," Owen told them. "Just because there was one idiot among you it shouldn't fall back one everyone. You all checked out fine and you have promising careers ahead of you."

There was a chorus of smiles and thanks. Owen declined an invitation for food.

"Still working. See you around. And raise those babies right."

"We will," Gregory promised, his words echoed by everyone either verbally or by vigorous nodding.

Owen chuckled as he continued on a parallel path to Main Street and finally passed a Personnel Only sign to the back roads.

He was happy to hear his idea had worked out so well for everyone involved. Like he had told Claire before, there were some promising talents among those young men and woman. Not just preternaturally speaking. He was looking forward to seeing who would stay and work at Jurassic World.

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It wasn't often that she saw Owen Grady in the Bamboo Forest, on his own, not a single raptor around. Serena had let him use her precious forest for one of his hide-and-seek exercises, after closing hours, just before nightfall, for the pack a few times already. She hadn't been there personally, though.

Now, there was only Owen.

Standing between the tall bamboo stalks, she looked at him, noting the tired expression, the fine lines of past pain and stress.

Had it only been a little over two weeks since Grady had accidentally run into the poachers? She had thought it had been more.

Time flies, she mused. And she hadn't really had had fun in that time.