Dung By The River

Dung By The River was a short story that takes place after the events of Summer's End.

## Plot

The story begins with Claire claiming that the summer heat, which she describes as "cottony," makes her scales itch. Every morning Owen finds her itching a sensitive spot on her skin using her thagomizer, her plates, or her horns. She cannot reach behind her frill, so Owen has to get these for her. He complies as to avoid putting her into a depressive state.

Claire is still depressed about being a Stegoceratops, but she and Owen are coming to terms with the fact that it will never change. Owen is also concerned about Lily's delayed schooling, as their family is unable to return to the school where she was supposed to be educated.

None of Owen's attempts to prevent Claire from itching due to the heat work; removing the bedsheets and tampering with the air conditioner are not viable options. As he has to scratch her every morning, he becomes exhausted, and Claire notices. He tries to deny that he is tired, but she sees through it. She offers to sleep on the floor so that her twitching doesn't bother him, but he refuses to let her. She suggests that she could cool off in a stream, which Owen initially thinks is a metaphor for dealing with her dinosaurian situation, but she explains that it's a real stream and brings him to it.

When they come upon the stream, Owen is horrified to see that it is polluted with brown muck. He tries to find the source of the pollution, but Claire starts making excuses not to investigate. They go anyway, and Claire becomes anxious when they follow the stream into a canyon. She insists that they not investigate any further, which makes Owen suspicious. He continues, and to Claire's embarrassment he comes across an enormous pile of Stegoceratops dung, which Claire admits is hers. She defecates from the top of the cliff. The dung has polluted the water, but is fertilizing local wildflowers. They try to think up a new water source; Claire doesn't want to drink from the bathtub, so she decides to find another clean river.

Owen searches their property and locates a pond. Claire deems it acceptable.

Over time, Owen begins to notice that some of Claire's dung piles are off-color or oddly shaped. He doesn't know much about her anatomy or biology, so he can't be sure if she's unhealthy. After they send Lily to bed, he confronts her about her health, despite knowing that reminding her that she is a Stegoceratops will cause her to become emotional. As he predicted, she becomes progressively angrier and claims that he uses love as an excuse in every argument. Claire claims they shouldn't discuss it with Lily upstairs in earshot, and Owen asks if Claire is ashamed not to be human or ashamed of Lily. Claire finally breaks, admitting that she thinks Owen will leave if he learns too much about Claire as a Stegoceratops. Owen admits that he wasn't planning on being married to a Stegoceratops (even though he's happy to be with Claire now), but before he can finish his sentence, Claire runs out the door. Lily wakes up and asks if Claire is okay, and Owen says that she needs some alone time.

She returns from the woods not long after, and Owen rushes over to apologize. Claire, however, is willing to drop the argument right away after having drank from the pond, and seems abnormally calm. They go to bed early after Owen agrees to put some fish that Lily caught in the lake into a new body of water so that they survive.

The next morning, Claire finds Lily's fish dead in the pond. Claire is initially angry with Owen for putting the fish in her drinking water and letting them die, but after taking a long drink, she calms down.

For several weeks, Claire continues to be more docile than usual, and Owen assumes it is due to the pond water. She lets his mistakes slide when normally she would not, so he does not bring up her changed behavior. In early Fall, Claire lies down in the yard despite Lily's attempts to get her to play, and Owen tries to convince himself that she's hibernating. Her scales become dry and flaky. Eventually, after a few days of this, Claire vomits several times and Owen becomes highly concerned. She says she has been feeling ill for around a week and didn't tell Owen as to avoid worrying him. She is dizzy, has stomach pain, and her urine is dark. Despite Claire's protests, Owen gets in the truck and heads into town, using the machine to bypass the magic barrier.

In town he bumps into Tammy-Lynn, who informs him that the nearest hospital is three hours away. She says that her father is a veterinarian, which Owen says is good enough.

He brings Tammy-Lynn and her father Clyde to the ranch, and makes them promise not to tell anyone that Claire is a Stegoceratops. Despite their shock, Clyde agrees to help. Meanwhile, Tammy-Lynn begins to worry that if Owen chose a Stegoceratops over her, that she must have some underlying problem that makes her less attractive. Claire passes judgment on Tammy-Lynn as well for not escaping the impoverished life that she and Owen grew up in.

Dr. Mueller returns and informs them that Claire may have arsenic poisoning. At first they are confused as to how she contracted this condition, but Owen realizes that it must be from the pond, and blames himself for not stopping it from happening. There isn't an easy treatment; Dr. Mueller suggests that they may have to consider euthanasia if she does not start to recover.

With Lily put to bed, the adults try to make Claire as comfortable as they can, but all of them know that she may die soon. Owen explains how Claire came to be a Stegoceratops, and gets her some tomato soup. The Muellers send Owen upstairs to rest while they watch over Claire.

Near death, Claire confides in Tammy-Lynn that Owen can't make it on his own, and neither can Lily. Claire entrusts Tammy-Lynn with being there for her family after her death. As she is now about to die, they summon Owen and Lily, who mourn Claire. Unable to watch the tragedy, the Muellers head out to their truck; Owen tries to pay Clyde, who turns down the offer. Tammy-Lynn prays for Claire's recovery, and thinks she sees an angel cross the sky.

The following morning, Tammy-Lynn wakes up still in the truck outside and Owen wakes up next to Claire on the carpet. He discovers that Claire is alive, to everyone's astonishment.

Everyone fills in the arsenic-poisoned pond, ensuring that it cannot cause further harm. Clyde expresses happiness at treating his first real patient despite flunking out of medical school. Lily presents the Muellers with a drawing of the two families together. Claire begins itching again, but Dr. Mueller explains that it's likely biting gnats. He suggests they build Claire a scratching post, as sprays would be inefficient due to how often she goes in and out of the house. Tammy-Lynn and Claire make amends, and they realize that the pond is going to overflow as they fill it with dirt. Instead, Dr. Mueller suggests filling the pond with a basic substance to counteract the arsenic seeping in from the ground, and Claire concludes that this pond will serve as her new latrine.

As the Muellers leave, now friends with the Dearings, Claire concludes that she can be happy as a Stegoceratops so long as she has her friends and family by her side.

## Trivia

* Claire references the events of the chapter Sick, recalling the time she and Owen were both ill.
* The story takes place in Fall.