1947 - the Summer of Dinosaurs

[jackjaques]

Timeline

1912 - Professor George Edward Challenger discovers the existence of prehistoric animals still living on a plateau in the Amazon basin in South America. He actually took a live pterosaur with him on his return trip to London, yet the creature managed to escape.

1913 - With diligence, the Professor manages to get funding for a second expedition, with the support of the London Natural History Society. Arrangements are delayed to the following year.

1914 - The Great War begins. The expedition is postponed.

1915 - Professor Summerlee, a reluctant member of the first expedition, retires to categorize fossils.

1917 - Professor Challenger opens a private museum.

1919 - Last attempts to get funding, to no avail.

1922 - Lord John Roxton and Edward Malone, the two other members of the first expedition, travel to the States to try and fund their own expedition.

1923 - They go back into the Amazon jungle but Lord Roxton succumbs to a spider bite, forcing Malone to return back to the States.

1924 - Malone sells the rights of the story, along with his handmade map, to a Hollywood studio and, the following year, a movie is produced depicting their adventure thirteen years back.

1933 - The attention of the showbiz is renewed when Malone's map changes hands. After a few months of preparation, a new expedition is launched, but this time to retrieve living specimens to be trained for entertainment.

1934 - The first "dino-circus" (as they were called) kicks off, joined by six others in the following years.

1941 - USA joins the World War II.

1942 - Interest in "dino-circus" starts to fade away.

1945 - Lothar Gluck Circus becomes the last "dino-circus", with all the others on their way to bankruptcy, having lost their dinosaurs to illness or malnutrition, or having them sold or donated to zoos or museums.

1947 - Boston, Lothar Gluck Circus last performance.

[jackjaques]

the show 1/2

"Laaadies and gentlemen!" — the voice of the host, in a bright red coat and a long black hat, echoed through the circus tent. The public finally began to quiet down.

"You will witness an histooorical event. Tonight, we will present to you the most teeerrifying creatures of the planet and, with saaadness in our hearts... we will have to say goodbye." — the man takes his hat and bows, only to continue:

"The greeaat Lothar Gluck Circus rapidly grew to become the biggest dino-circus in the North America, Europe and Asia. We performed before presidents! prime-ministers! kings and queens! Celebrities... and tyyyrants!" — his eyes wide open.

"Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, our last and fiiinal performance! The Lothar Gluck Circus is proud to present to you... dinosaurs from the daaawn of times!" — and almost immediately, the lights were pointing in the direction of a cage, from where came forth a small dinosaur, the size of an ostrich, all covered with colorful feathers. At its tail followed two clowns — one dressed as a green dragon the other as a silly hunter with a huge toy rifle — accompanied by the timely music of the bigband. Their humoristic number opens the act for the amusement of the public.

Act after act unveils — horses jumping over a tank-like dinosaur which then played on a drum with its tail; one elephant on a cart being pulled by a three horned dinosaur; until a faint roar sounds in the distance… the lights goes out and, all of a sudden, one bright beacon points up to the ceiling, then a second and a third one, searching for something. The lights all stop and, in precise sync with the atmospheric music, they all point to the center of the ring where the host was, arms wide open:

"Since ancient times there was one thing that nurtured man and his need to grow. It wasn’t science nor the old gods, not even women…" —here he stops for a laugh raising his eyebrows while he waits for the public to laugh with him— "It was, ladies and gentlemen, it was… feaaar!" —the lights point to the ceiling again and when, just a few seconds later, they point down at the center of the stage, instead of the host there is a small dinosaur and, behind him, a huge cage. The groove of the bigband goes to a halt and then, from inside the cage, comes forth a mighty dinosaur roaring on cue.
"I present to you, ladies and gentlemen, the hunnnter of the highlands! Fear the miiighty Altovenator ferox while the scent of its prey sends him to a frenzy!"

[jackjaques]

the show 2/2

In truth, after that first roar the venator almost looked calm now, inside its cage. The bigband changed the tune and the horned dinosaur came back to the center of the stage.

"Perhaps a bigger dish?" — enquired the presenter while the lights centered on the new arrival allowing for the smaller dinosaur to disappear to the backstage.

"Or a brighter one?" — again the tune changed into a more rhythmic pacing and three rather tall birds entered the stage following their lady trainer. These birds were really colorful and strange looking. And only after all of them were perfectly balanced on the back of the horned dinosaur, which rotated its skin-collar, was the public aware of the teeth on their beak and the claws on their wings.
Still, the venator wouldn’t react, but for a quick snap of its tail.

"No, ladies and gentlemen, this hunter wants anooother kind of prey! Let me present to you Viiincent Shellabarger, the wooorld famous dinosaur trainer!" — the eyes of the venator following his every move. The bigband plays a marching tune. Applauses! The man bows while the lady trainer takes the avisaurs away. Then he takes something from his pocket and, placing it on the parrot-like beak of the horned dinosaur, he pats it away while turning to the audience:

"As you can see, Sammy here grew accustomed to my treats!" — laughs! "But the venator behind me, which goes by the name of Dagger…" — he raises his eyebrows. More laughter! "This one only thinks of running on the wild! This one only thinks of the hunt! One might say that he hates me for putting him in those bars!" — and then, the trainer turns on his heels to face the imprisoned dinosaur. The venator answers with a even louder roar than before to the amazement of the audience. But then, when the trainer is coming back to face the audience again, the venator kicks the cage with one leg, then the other, balanced on its tail. The ladies scream in horror! Some people in the audience stand up.

The venator kicks again, as if raking the trainer with its long claws. But then he falls to one side, breathing hard.
The presenter tries to convince the audience that everything is part of the act, but Shellabarger looks intrigued (almost surprised). The bigband sounds as chaotic as those new bebop musicians, if sounding at all.

The trainer circles the cage and seeing that the venator wouldn’t get up he, to the surprise of everybody in the tent… kicks the cage.

And kicks it again!

[jackjaques]

press conference

Reporter #1: "Say, Mr Shellabarger, what were you thinking when you started kicking that cage?"
Vincent: "Well, I was thinking that I had to do SOMETHING or Dagger would get seriously hurt after that fall..."
Reporter #2: "Yes but, then he threw itself on to you. Weren't you at least a bit scared?"
Vincent: "You don't actually have time to be scared, son. When you have three tons of meat trying to cut you open, you react first or you don't live to talk about it..."

Nervously, the owner of the circus, Mr Lothar Gluck, interrupts the Q&A session with:
"Now, now... let me assure you that even not being part of the act the safety of the audience was never at stake!" — and he continues on, forcing himself to smile — "But let's not talk of the past, but of the future! I summoned you here to let you all know that we're taking this animals back to were they came from. Back to the deep Amazon, to the El Grande from whence people like Vincent here brought them. I want you to meet the kind of people that will carry out this task." — and, looking proudly to the crowd, he continues:

"Kurt Wendt, biologist and writer for the Muir Society AND the National Geographic Society." — applause.
"Harry Rée, photographer. Otis Green, paramedic and safety officer. Anthony Belzoni, veterinarian. And, of course, Vincent Shellabarger himself!" — one after the other, they step in line so that the reporters can shoot them. More cheering.

Then Lothar invites his team to join him while he shows some images of his dinosaurs:
"Dip and Casso, our acrobatic couple of neostruthiomimus planensis. Sheila, our kind ankylosaurus. Tiffany, Bell and Fire, our trio of avisaurs. Sammy, our always patient centrosaurus. And Dagger, our energetic altovenator ferox." — and, with some words of encouragement, he steps back and starts clapping.

---

Ok, you guys - this is it!
Any question/comment before we start?

[Deth Monkee]

I'm trained in small firearms, but do I have a gun?

[jackjaques]

One week has passed since the last performance of the circus and all the preparations of the last days are coming to fruition.

"Isn't she a beauty?" — asked Lothar when the train arrived at the docks pointing to the closest ship. "S. S. Libertad..." — he continued: "...what an auspicious name, Vincent!" To what Shellabarger replied, upon stepping out of the train:
"Let's hope so, Lotto. Let's hope so."

And with that Vincent Shellabarger sprangs on to help the dockworkers unload the dinosaurs down the train and up the ship:
"Be careful you rascals!" — following closely was Dr. Belzoni, a bit sleepy.

* * *

It's 4 o'clock in the morning. You've just arrived by train to the docks where the S. S. Libertad awaits for its precious cargo to be loaded to set sail to southern waters.
Lothar Gluck approaches you with a smile, smoking one of his smelly cigars:
"Sorry to have you come here at this hour, but the dinos are cold-blooded. It's easier this way, they're less active at night." — he explains. But heartily continues: "They don't know what they're missing! Hey?" — he finishes with a laugh, not worrying if the rest did get his joke or not.

---

Now, what do you want to do?
Talk with someone? Visit your accommodations on board? Make sure no one forgot about your equipment? Help with the cargo?

[Mouse]

Only after coming here and actually seeing the S.S. Libertad could I believe my incredible fortune. At this point I did not care what the actual ship looked like. As long as it kept afloat it would be the most beautiful vessel I had ever known. I had thought it to be difficult to be taken on this voyage without any actual qualification (that I was allowed to show, thanks to my colourful background I wasn't even allowed to be a simple dentist) but the fact that I had not asked for payment of any sort must have been enough to convince them that I was an actual biologist. It was funny how money was of such importance in this country.

Without even knowing it Lothar Gluck had already given me many subjects for my study. The members of this expedition seemed to come from an array of many different races. Mr Green's behaviour would be very interesting to observe indeed.

"Herr Gluck, I vould be zankful if I could see ze accomodations. Some of ze liquids I vork wid are volatile and sensitive to rough handling. I vould like to see that I can set everyzing up properly so I don't endanger any of the crew during ze voyage. If all has been delivered already zat is. Vould you also be so kind to explain to me if and how ve might interact wiz ze animals during ze trip? I must take many notes to make sure ze Muir society get a proper article you see."

((I apologize for being unavailable during the last weeks, I have been travelling in Iceland and Gotland and when I was going to get back to writing Norway happened, so I have been rather busy))

[jackjaques]

"Oh, Herr Wendt, — Lothar replies, suddenly regaining his German accent — all dzie material is on board, ja. Kein Problem!"
Still, somehow he changes his posture and changes his speech:
"As to the dinosaurs, Vincent is in charge of the all operation. You should talk to him once you set sail. But you can always talk with Dr. Belzoni. (If you don't mind him...)" — whispering.
"Gute Reise!" — he says with a warm handshake.

Otis, with a vast experience on carrying the dinosaurs from town to town, was of great help with the loading; while Harry took this opportunity to unpack his photo camera and start his reportage.

Two hours later, both Dr. Belzoni and Shellabarger were tired with all the ordeal, but if the first managed to fell asleep almost at arms reach of one of the cages, the latest still had the energy to boss the dockworkers around because of some ropes.

By then, Lothar Gluck gave a last speech of encouragement and then went away to his own affairs — most probably sleeping for the rest of the morning, free of the weight the dinosaurs inflicted upon him.

At 7 o'clock the Captain, a grey bearded man, gave the command and the ship left the dock southward. Half an hour later the Libertad was already leaving the Massachusetts Bay. Shellabarger had a mug of black coffee with him — he didn't want to sleep during the first hours of the trip.

---

What about you guys?
Anything you want to do or is it more than time to sleep?

[jackjaques]

Only eight hours after setting sail the boat was already past the continental shelf into deep waters.

The dinosaurs were incredibly calm as was the rest of the crew, safe from some nauseated accompaniers (as was the case of Harry Rée and Kurt Went) who just couldn't handle the motion sickness.

On the other hand, Otis Green was happy to help the sailors with the dinosaurs hygiene, brushing their backs with a wet broom and changing the sawdust on their cages. The smell was a mix between elephant piss and parrot droppings, but at least it felt like doing something.

The night came and with it a veil of deep coldness, followed by a thick fog at sunrise, which lasted until noon when a storm shook the boat for more than two hours. It was all it took to change the mood of the dinosaurs, specially Sheila's. Lots of containers were broken during the storm and the sailors were very busy trying to fix everything.

Shellarbager and Dr. Anthony were also below deck to check in the dinosaurs' comfort.

---

What about you guys? What do you want to do now that the storm is over?

[holloway]

Otis stood on deck the afternoon after the storm, shaken and still soaked from the fog and mist the Libertad had passed through earlier. There were dangers other than dinosaurs on this trip and he hadn't been properly prepared for them. He would do his best to help fix the mess, but he'd try and work his way into the crew and maybe make some friends. From his experience as a firefighter he knew that having someone solid covering your back and looking out for you was worth more than any protective suit or hose.

A game of cards and a stiff drink or two might loosen some of the crew up after the storm - if it was going to be like this throughout the journey it was better they enjoy any free time they got whenever they could.

[Mouse]

This was hell. There was no other appropriate way to describe it. I had only set foot on this boat when it started rocking back and forth and making my head spin like mad. I had hoped t get some work done and mix some of my more essential liquids but I had spent most of my time either hanging over he railing, hurling less pleasant things into the ocean or in my cabin when I was so nauseated that my legs had gone weak. I had gotten nothing done, and the storm had been even worse. At least I managed to pack down my glass bottles before it hit, lest they'd shatter but I hardly felt like setting them up again as any work that required concentration gives me a headache. I promise to myself: no more boats.

At least it brought something good with it. The storms had rattled the dinosaurs enough to make them active. What damage they could achieve when frightened! Steel cages and containers had clearly been ripped by claws and fangs. They really showed that they fared well even against the machineries and constructions of man. I wonder what species we might find when we arrive? Perhaps this is something I should write down for the National Geographic? Any reader would be interested in some excitement. The boatride didn't provide much of that.

[jackjaques]

Aug 31, 2011 10:23:12 GMT holloway said:

(Otis) would do his best to help fix the mess, but he'd try and work his way into the crew and maybe make some friends. (...)
A game of cards and a stiff drink or two might loosen some of the crew up after the storm - if it was going to be like this throughout the journey it was better they enjoy any free time they got whenever they could.

The first contact you had amongst the crew of the Libertad was Stevie, a young boy of few words but a quick smile that helped cleaning the cages and feeding the dinosaurs. He found that the avisaurs loved bread and Sheila was very fond of his broom massages.

As for the rest of the sailors, they did enjoyed playing cards - with the mandatory "recipe" - a mix of red wine, soda and brown sugar. The night after the storm you were getting the lousiest hands and couldn't keep up with the game.
All of the sudden, one of the sailors playing raises of his seat yelling: "Cheater!" at the guy in front of him. And then, turning to you: "You saw what he did, didn'ya!?"

At a different table one of the older sailors was offering a glass of "recipe" to Stevie: "Come on lad, have at it!"

[jackjaques]

::At the same time, somewhere in Venezuela::

The girls of Jocelinda's had the best of luck: nice clothes, white bed sheets and mosquito nets. Rosita knew what he liked and James would always visit her between jobs. The sight of her, bathing herself at the washbasin with a sponge, helped him come back alive from the deep jungle too many a time. When he looked at her, he would even forget about...

Sé que estás ahí, hijo de puta! Muéstrate!* — Gastón, shouting from the hall. And if he was making himself known, he most certainly wasn't alone.

What do you want to do?

---

* I know you're in there, you sonofabitch! Show yourself!

[jackjaques]

Aug 31, 2011 14:51:27 GMT Mouse said:

This was hell. There was no other appropriate way to describe it. I had only set foot on this boat when it started rocking back and forth and making my head spin like mad. (...) I promise to myself: no more boats.

Feeling both nauseated, Harry and Kurt were seldomly seen by the rest of the crew. Still, if Kurt decided to spent his time writing his reportage in the confinement of his cabin, Harry came out feeling quite refreshed after the storm. His time at the war wasn't for naught afterall.
When he approached the sailors, one of them offered him a glass of "recipe", very smooth and sweet, but with a strong after taste. After a while, at a different table, they were they were giving it to a young boy: "Come on lad, have at it!" — to which he fearfully complied, drank and said nothing for a few seconds almost as if giving time for the booze to settle in.

[aturin]

Its always hot, so damn hot. The sight of the cool water in the basin excited him almost as much as the lovely ladies, although in very different ways. But the heat made everyone so angry, so ready to fight over the smallest things, surely there should be some places thought of as holy, as places of rest and solitude.

With a over exaggerated sigh, he pulls on his trousers starts eyeing up the window and doors shouts back. "Cuál es él usted mono grande, su hermana finalmente lanzada le de su cama"*


*What is it you big ape, your sister finally thrown you out of her bed