with senile dementia talking to himself.
“God had nothing to do with it,” Sean suddenly barked, startling Roper. He’d almost forgot he’d said anything.
“Well, all I’m saying—”
“—so anything beautiful is from God, anything ugly or repulsive is from Satan. Pretty naive stuff isn’t it?” Sean hissed, still not looking at Roper.
“I was just trying to make conversat—”
“—Grosvenor’s arch was created by the very natural forces of nature, wind, water and frost. You don’t have to throw God into the mix. That’s just another layer that’s not needed.”
“If you find a Rolex in the desert, you instinctively think it was made—”
“—don’t give me that tired old watchmaker’s crap. I don’t see any machined parts lying around Grosvenor’s,” Sean declared as they bounced through another pothole, banging both their heads on the roof. “Do you?”
“Well no, not in that sense, but certainly the human body is pretty intricate. So complex, it makes you think there has to be a creator.”
“Yeah, he created man in his own image, I remember. Yet, man eats, drinks, defecates, urinates and copulates like any other mammal. Maybe, your precious damn cows were also created in God’s image.”
“Maybe not the exact image,” Roper said, “but if you’ve got a template that works—”
“—with a sledgehammer anyone can pound a square peg through a round hole.”
“Well then, what do you believe?” Roper asked, immediately thinking he should have shut up. “I’m sure you’ve got a theory.”
“Damn right, I do,” Sean confirmed. “I believe Darwin got it right on the first try. The reason we eat drink and copulate like animals is because we are animals. I know that idea drives you creationists crazy. You prefer to distance yourselves from the animals, but if you take into consideration the track record of the human race, I’m sure the animals would like to distance themselves from us. However, despite their objections, we did descend from primates.”
“That’s is your opin—”
“—I’m not finished yet,” Sean interrupted. “Eventually man developed the capacity for abstract thinking. With this newly acquired skill, he became capable of contemplating his own demise. Of course, this scared the hell out of him, so out of necessity he invented an antidote, something powerful enough to grant him eternal life. With a task this big, he needed a super power, a supreme being, so he created God. But eternal life is still a pretty big favor to ask of anyone, including God, so man developed an elaborate system to court God’s favor. Hence, worship, religion and sacrifice were born. Now that’s your real creation.”
“This is getting us nowhere,” Roper said, “you’re certainly entitled to your opinion.”
“And regardless of the absurdity, you are also entitled to yours,” Sean snarled as he braked down for a curve.
Again, they rode in chilly silence. The road, resembling an obstacle course, darted up and down numerous dry washes and around countless S-curves, but in spite of the occasional assent, the trend was ever downward. Navigating off the steep bulwark of the Gut required all of Sean’s attention. Finally, the road leveled off a bit as they crossed the almost barren stretch of Four Mile Bench and approached the pygmy forest of Dog Flat. Without comment, Sean abruptly turned south off the more well-traveled road onto a barely visible two-tire track.
“This is not the road to Paradise Canyon,” Roper observed.
No answer.
“Paradise Canyon is the other—”
“—I know damn well,” Sean blurted out, “where Paradise Canyon is.”
“Then, may I ask, where we are going?”
“I just want to check on the Ruby Flat dig.” Sean forced out the words, as if it took a great effort. “It’ll only take a few minutes.”
“An archeological dig?”
“Paleontology.”
“Looking for what?”
“Dinosaurs.”
“I didn’t know you were interested in that,” Roper said, arching an eyebrow.
“Got my bachelor’s degree in paleontology,” Sean answered, warming slightly. “At the time, there were no jobs. So I’ve never really worked in the field.”
“I know what you mean, my degree’s in English history and literature,” Roper said, then added with obvious enthusiasm, “but I do love paleontology. I do a lot of reading.”
“Periodically, I do some volunteer work,” Sean continued. “With this new monument, I was hoping they might hire me as their paleontologist.”
“Maybe they will,” Roper said, bracing for an upcoming bump. “I didn’t know there was a dig here on the Kaiparowits.”
“There’s several. This one was started a year or so ago by the University of Utah, before there was a monument, but now it’s under the direction of the BLM. So far, it’s been poorly funded and staffed, all from the university with almost no help from the BLM,” Sean said. “Compared to its potential, not much is being done.”
“Morrison formation?” Roper asked. “Like Vernal’s Dinosaur National Monument?”
“Nah,” Sean shook his head. “The whole Kaiparowits is Cretaceous. We’re talking about the Straight Cliffs formation, seventy to ninety million years ago. Same formation that has all the coal.”
“Then we’re not talking Jurassic dinosaurs,” Roper said. “Like Tyrannosaurus Rex or Stegosaurus?”
“No, but we’re seeing their eventual successors, right before the dinosaurs disappeared,” Sean explained, “not nearly as much is known about Cretaceous dinosaurs.”
“So what species are we talking about?”
“The better known ones are the Parasaurolophus, the tubed duckbill dinosaur, and Theropods like Dasplotasaurus. He’s a direct descendant of T-Rex.”
“Have they found any of them here?” Roper asked, his eyes shining with fascination.
“We hope to,” Sean replied. “They’ve been found in similar formations in Alberta, Canada and in New Mexico.”
“Bet they would be almost priceless,” Roper said, shaking his head in amazement.
“Don’t know if it’s true,” Sean continued, “but I’ve heard of an intact Parasaurolophus bringing eight to nine hundred thousand dollars on the black market.”
“Black market?” Roper asked, surprised. “I didn’t know there was a black market for fossils.”
