Dinosaur Summer by Greg Bear Read Free Book Online

with Harryhausen some more. The actresses aside, Harryhausen was the closest in age to Peter-- twenty-seven. "How long have you been a moviemaker?" Peter asked.
    "Just a few years," Harryhausen said. "Haven't had the chance to do much yet. How about you?"
    Peter shook his head. "I'm a writer, I suppose."
    "Is that what you want to be?" Harryhausen asked, catching the uncertainty in his voice.
    "I suppose," Peter repeated. In a quiet rush, Peter said, "What's all this secrecy? Mr. Ford seems to know something, and my dad--he's holding something back, too. What are we going to do?"
    Harryhausen made a face and held up his hands. "Damned if I know. We're going to follow the animals south to Tampa and make a movie about the trip, is what I've been told. I don't dare hope for anything more."
    ***
    The big top opened forty minutes later and they entered to take their seats in the front rows beside the center ring. The public was allowed in, and after half an hour, the big top bleachers were only three-quarters filled. Anthony leaned over to Peter and whispered, "What'swrong with Americans these days? Doesn'tanything get them excited?"
    Clearly, his father was worried. If the last performance of the last dinosaur circus was not a sellout, standing room only, then who could tell what Mr. Grosvenor might think back in Washington, D.C.? Maybe he'd cancel the whole article, photos and all.
    Large cages with thick black bars had been erected at each side of the center ring and two smaller cages had been placed in each of the outside rings. Steel-bar tunnels covered with tarps led from the side tent into the cages. One of the tunnels stood over fifteen feet high.
    Outside, a wind started to blow and the canvas of the big top flapped and snapped, letting in little gusts. Peter could smell fresh air and rain. The crowd seemed expectant and cheerful. Big spotlights switched on and the ringmaster came into the center ring, followed by his assistant.
    The ringmaster's name was Karl Flagg. He stood ramrod straight in his red coat and high black hat and black jodhpurs, a thick black belt cinching in his stomach, broad shoulders tapering without interruption past his nonexistent waist to his knees. He looked imposing in the ring, but at the dinner Peter had noticed that Flagg was only a little taller than he.
    "Ladies and Gentlemen!"The ringmaster's voice boomed through the tent without help from a loudspeaker. The audience quieted. "You are here to witness an historic performance, a performance of which we are all immensely proud. Tonight, we will show you some of the most wonderful and terrifying animals on Earth, and with sadness in our hearts . . . we will bid them farewell.
    "Lothar Gluck's Dinosaur Circus first performed on this very date two decades ago, in 1927 . . . and quickly grew to be the biggest dinosaur circus in North America, Europe, and Asia. We have performed for presidents and prime ministers, kings and queens . . . celebrities and tyrants! "Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, for your delight, and yours alone, and for theVery. Final. Performance! Lothar Gluck presents . . .
    "Animals from the edge of time!
    "Beasts transported at great peril from the fabled and horrifying Lost World of El Grande, the last of their kind!
    "Performing . . .
    "InCIRCUS LOTHAR . . .
    "Lothar Gluck's world-renowned DINOSAUR CIRCUS!"
    The tarps were rolled back from the caged runways and spots swung to highlight an animal running toward the two cages in the center ring. Peter saw that it was Dip, the maleStruthiomimus that had pecked at Shellabarger's hand. Simultaneously, a clown in a ridiculous green dragon suit with broad floppy red wings jumped and stumbled into the ring and slapped up against the cage door. The door swung open as the clown stared at Dip in stupefaction. The ostrich-like dinosaur pushed at the door with his three-clawed hands, pulled his head back on his long neck, and stepped through.
    Another clown dressed as a mighty