Stranger Than Fanfiction(70)
“So I guess it’s safe to say you don’t believe the truth is out there,” Cash said.
“The truth is out there,” Diane corrected him. “But who wants the truth when they have something better to believe in? And with the world in the shape that it’s in, who could blame them?”
Cash tried really hard not to let the words of the crazy UFO lady resonate with him, but she was starting to make sense.
“I might agree with you, but I still think you’re nuts,” he said.
Diane laughed. “I sell shirts that say PROBE ME, I’M IRISH. Do you think I give a shit about what people think? Now come upstairs and get out of this heat. I’ll treat you and your friends to Strawberry Probesicles—on the house.”
Chapter Eighteen
CARNIVORES
At three thirty on Thursday afternoon, Cash’s attitude still hadn’t changed much since they had left the Teepee Inn—not that the others could blame him. As they walked around Dinoworld, all their moods took a turn for the worse. For one, it was so hot in the New Mexico desert they felt like they were being cooked alive. And just like with the world’s biggest rubber-band ball, it was obvious Dinoworld’s website was run by total liars.
After viewing the images on Dinoworld’s home page, the Downers Grove gang was expecting a colorful and primitive biosphere like in Jurassic Park. Instead, the world’s largest collection of proportionate dinosaur statues was a trailer park—literally. For just ten extra dollars with admission, travelers could park their RVs among the large reptiles for the night. The dinosaur statues were so worn-down it was hard to tell them apart from the motor homes parked throughout the site. Even the nicer ones looked more like weathered pi?atas than the giant creatures that once dominated the earth.
“Oh look, it’s a triceratops,” Sam pointed out.
“That’s just a Volkswagen with its hood popped up,” Joey said.
“You know, none of us were here sixty-five million years ago,” Topher said—always ready with a silver lining. “This could be exactly what the real dinosaurs looked like and Steven Spielberg’s the one who got it wrong.”
“Then no wonder God killed them all,” Mo said.
Dinoworld was by far the biggest letdown of the trip thus far. They would have asked for their money back if the tickets hadn’t been just two dollars apiece.
“This blows,” Cash said. “I’m going to take a nap in the pterodactyl nest. Wake me up when it’s time to leave the Land of the Lost Afternoon.”
The nest he was referring to was actually just a pile of dinosaur limbs that had broken off over the years, but the actor made himself comfortable in it anyway.
“We should have gone to Santa Fe instead,” Mo said. “How far away are we from Albuquerque?”
“About a half an hour,” Joey said. “And our dinner reservation at the Aztec BBQ isn’t until seven o’clock. So we’ve got some time to kill.”
“Do you guys want to go watch those people at the Winnebago?” Sam suggested. “It looked like they were building a rocket.”
Everyone shrugged and headed in that direction.
“While you guys are people watching, I’ll go put gas in the station wagon,” Topher said. “It’ll be one less thing we have to do tomorrow morning.”
Topher returned to the station wagon and drove a little ways down the road to a gas station that also had a dinosaur theme, called BrontosaurGas. He swiped his credit card at the pump and played a game on his phone while he waited for his tank to fill up.
A black Toyota Prius with tinted windows pulled in to the pump next to Topher. He glanced at it for a second and saw the vehicle had California license plates. It was identical to the one Sam had been paranoid about two days ago on their way out of Oklahoma City. Topher knew the odds it was the same vehicle were highly unlikely, but it didn’t stop a suspicious feeling from forming in the pit of his stomach.
The driver got out and filled his Prius with gas. He was in his forties, wore a Hawaiian shirt and fedora, hadn’t shaved in a week, and chewed on the end of a toothpick. As he waited for his gas tank to fill he kept glancing over at Topher and the station wagon. Topher got the feeling he wanted to start a conversation but he didn’t look up from his phone.
“Is this your mom’s car?” the man asked.
“Excuse me?” Topher replied, not sure who the man was talking to.
“I asked if this was your mom’s car,” he said. “I noticed the MY CHILD’S AN HONOR STUDENT sticker on the bumper. You seem a little young to be a father.”
“I’m the honor student,” Topher said. “Well, I was. I just graduated from high school.”
“So I was right,” the man said. “Are you going to college?”
The strange man was a little too interested in Topher for Topher’s comfort.
“Um… yeah,” he said awkwardly. “I start in the fall.”
“And what about your friends? Are all of them going to school, too?” he asked.
Topher suddenly felt like the lead character in a stranger danger PSA. Was he referring to the friends he was traveling with? If so, how did he even know he was traveling with friends? He glanced at the man’s pump and saw the numbers weren’t even moving—he wasn’t there to get gas, he was there for him.