Free Dinosaur Blackout by Judith Silverthorne Page A

work milking the cows, while he fed the other livestock and chickens. Together they finished cleaning the stalls. When Dad left to get a hammer from the tool shop to fix something in the kitchen, Daniel headed directly to the house with the milk pails. Mom wanted whole milk tonight for special bread dough, so he didn’t need to do any separating.
    After supper, Daniel offered to do the dishes so his parents could check on the Nelwins right away. He finished quickly as Cheryl chattered to him from her high chair, then swept his sister off for her bath.
    While she splashed and got him wet, part of his mind was on what might be happening at the Nelwins. He wondered again if they were somehow connected with the Stygimoloch theft. There had been no word from Corporal Fraser all day, either, and they hadn’t heard again from the reporter, Adrian McDermott.
    By the time Daniel had tucked Cheryl into bed and read her a storybook, his parents had still not returned. They must have found someone home. This was probably good. At least they would find out what was going on. He lay down on the couch and watched television with the volume turned down low so he could hear when they returned. The next thing he knew, Dad was nudging him awake.
    “Time to head for bed,” Dad said, easing Daniel to his feet.
    “How did it go?” Daniel asked, struggling to open his eyes.
    “The boys were there, but Horace Nelwin is missing. They’ve been looking for him since last night. That’s why they weren’t home when we were there. They started searching for him again early this morning.”
    “They must be worried,” said Daniel.
    “He’s never been gone this long before without them hearing from somebody about where he is.” Dad rubbed his chin in thought. “We stopped to talk to a couple of the neighbours, but no one’s seen him. Not even Corporal Fraser. We phoned him from the Milners.”
    “Wow!” said Daniel. His head was clear now. “What will happen next?”
    “Nothing for now. If he doesn’t turn up by morning, he’ll be deemed a missing person and a bulletin will go out looking for him.”
    Daniel’s eyes widened. “They’ll put out an arrest warrant for him?”
    Dad chuckled. “Well not quite that, but they will check hospitals and notify the network of police to check for him.”
    “Is his truck gone?” Daniel asked. “They could track him that way,”
    “The funny thing is that it’s not. But his atv is missing,” said Dad, scrunching up his face as he considered the possibilities.
    “That doesn’t sound good!” Daniel exclaimed. “He could be anywhere, maybe even lying injured out on the prairie somewhere.”
    “Yes, and a few neighbours have suggested we start looking for him in the countryside in the morning. Corporal Fraser agrees. Of course, there’s a chance he may just have gone some place to be alone. Or he could be sleeping off too many drinks somewhere,” Dad said.
    As Daniel mulled the information over, Dad guided him upstairs. “It’s late, son. Try to get some sleep. We’ll see if we can’t get things straightened out in the morning.”
    “Will Craig and Todd be coming?”
    “Yes, we’ve told them to make sure they come for breakfast and to bring us any news. They feel bad about not coming today, but we reassured them that we weren’t angry.”
    “Yes,” said Mom from the doorway. “The poor things didn’t know whether to keep searching for their father or not, and then they were afraid to show up here late, so they just stayed away.”
    “I’m glad you went to check on them then,” said Daniel, heading to the bathroom to brush his teeth.
    “Yes, we had a nice long chat and told them they could come to us any time they had a problem,” said Dad.
    As he swished the toothbrush around in his mouth, Daniel wondered if Horace Nelwin’s disappearance had anything to do with the fossil theft. Was it just a coincidence that both events occurred so close together? He still wanted to