The Museum

Brand and all his classmates gathered around the teacher at the front desk of the museum. He pulled out an itinerary and began to talk to the students. "Alright everybody, gather round. We're going to be led on a tour of the museum exhibits, do the planetarium show, and then we'll go out to the picnic areas for lunch. After that we'll be shown the special dinosaur exhibit and then after that's over you'll be free to explore the museum until it's time to leave. We'll meet up again at the front desk at around 4 o'clock. If you have any questions feel free to ask me or one of the Mosh employees."

After he finished his speech the teacher handed the reigns over to one of the people in brown shirts who worked at the museum. She began to go over the rules of the tour and started explaining the origins of the museum. The class followed her as she began the tour of the museum. Near the back of the group, Brand was hardly paying attention. After all, he wouldn't be able to see what he came for until after lunch.

The first part of the day passed by rather quickly. Even though he knew this was supposed to be the dullest part of the trip, Brand couldn't help but admit that he was having a better time than he thought he would. The tour about Northeastern Florida history had been a little boring, but after that they had seen exhibits about energy and marine life that had actually been quite interesting. And everybody enjoys the planetarium.

After the show, Brand and his classmates filed out of the museum and into the park to eat lunch. Biting into the expired lunchable his foster parent had given him, Brand overheard a couple of his classmates talking about the next part of the field trip. "I don't see the point in looking at a bunch of old dusty bones for hours. I wish we'd just end the trip early and go back to school." one said smugly. "I get what you mean. If you've seen one, you've seen them all." the other replied nodding.

Shaking his head Brand wondered how anyone could pass on the opportunity to look at the remains of the most powerful creatures that had ever walked the Earth. He quickly finished eating his food and was about to go over to where the other kids who had finished were waiting when suddenly a shooting pain shot through Brand's chest but faded almost immediately. Sweating a little bit, he decided it probably wasn't that serious since it went away so quickly. He put it out of his mind and headed over to where his classmates were standing. Once everyone was done and gathered together the teacher guided them back to the museum where the started the event that Brand had been looking forward to.

Passing into the room that had been labeled "Dinosaur Adventure", the class was greeted by a winding path with fossils of prehistoric animals on either side. Each set of bones had a plaque that had the animal's name and a brief description about its life. All of a sudden a voice came over the speakers. "Welcome to Pangea! In the early history of Earth all of the continents were connected into one big super continent." The voice was a little corny but it still had a nice effect. The voice continued to enlighten the class about the early part of Earth as they continued down the trail that had been filled with dinosaur bones.

Brand was enjoying himself quite thoroughly walking down the path and gazing at the bones of different ancient species. Most of these dinosaurs were on the smaller side so he knew his favorites would be toward the end. After walking a ways the pathway suddenly opened up into a giant hall filled to the brim with gigantic fossils. Even the ceiling had dinosaurs hanging from it. Video screens were installed at various points in the room that were playing educational videos of the different creatures on the loop. And employees with colorful uniforms and hats were walking around and talking to visitors doubtlessly giving them even more information. The impact it had on the class was obvious. Even the two that had been badmouthing the fossils earlier in the day had their eyes open in wonder.

Nearest the opening were a Tyrannosaurus and a Stegosaurus that had been positioned to seem like they were in an epic fight to the death. Brand knew that such a fight would have been impossible since there was a smaller gap of time in between the Tyrannosaurus Rex and humans than between the T-Rex and the Stegosaurus. But it still looked pretty awesome.

The teacher gathered the class and told them that from here they were free to do what they wanted until the appointed time that they meet at the front of the museum to leave. Some of the students went towards the exit but most stayed in the hall and started to explore the fossils. Brand went off on his own and began looking at the various displays. He had seen most of these dinosaur's fossils before but he still loved every opportunity he got to see them again. But there was one he hadn't seen and it was his favorite: the Giganotosaurus promised in the brochure. Even if it was just a skull, it was still his favorite dinosaur and he had never seen the fossils in person.

After looking for awhile Brand started to worry. There was a few tables with various fossils that didn't have a full skeleton, but he didn't see what his heart had been yearning for. Apatosaurus, Iguanodon, Pachycephalosaurus, Deinonychus, even some Albertosaurus parts, but no skull. After fruitlessly searching for awhile he decided to ask one of the guides walking around where it was. "I'm sorry." one of the guides began. "That particular skull had a tooth broken off and is in the back until we can repair it." He gestured to a door with a window which was cracked open and had a big sign on it that said "Employees Only". "Isn't there anyway for me to go in the back and look at it?" Brand pleaded. The guide shook his head. "Against the rules. I'd probably get fired for doing something like that. And it probably won't be able to be viewed again until after the special event at this museum ends. Sorry again kid."

The guide walked off leaving Brand stunned. This couldn't be happening. He'd been waiting all summer for this trip and practically all his life to see a Giganotosaurus fossil. The king of the theropods, the giant of Argentina, the biggest land carnivore in the history of the world was so close to him, but it may as well have been a million miles away. Was this the way his 14th birthday was going to end? In extreme disappointment and depression? No, there had to be a way for him to see that skull.

As time went by, Brand saw that more and more people were leaving the hall. Seeing an opening he ducked into the door with the "Employees Only" sign hanging on it. He found himself in a hallway with a few doors on each side and swinging double doors at the back. He decided to try the doors at the back and ran forward. Reaching the doors he swung one of them open to reveal what looked to be a storage room. And there, sitting on a table was the thing he had been wanting to see since the moment he learned about it. A Giganotosaurus skull in all it's toothy glory, and the single tooth that had broken off sitting next to it.