Finding Home Kate Field (readera ebook reader TXT) 📖

Although it was hard to imagine the Corin sitting next to her in that environment, with his well-worn hiking boots and fleece. Sometimes she almost made the mistake of thinking that he was just an ordinary person like her.

Eventually they drove down a winding lane and turned into a car park overlooking the beach. A visitor centre, café, and toilet block fringed one side of the car park, and on the other side sat a row of picnic benches on a grassy ledge. Corin reversed into a space in front of the picnic benches.

‘Tea?’ he asked. Without waiting for a reply, he set off across the car park to the café and soon returned with two polystyrene cups. He offered one to Mim.

‘How much is it?’ she asked. ‘I’ll pay for my own.’

‘It was free.’ He smiled when she pulled a sceptical face. ‘Scout’s honour. I promise I haven’t done anything so ungenerous as buy you a plastic cup of weak tea.’

She wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not but she wanted the tea so she took the cup he was offering. Corin went round to the back of the car and opened the boot. It was full of plastic boxes. The largest contained a pile of clipboards but there were lots of smaller boxes with lids whose contents Mim couldn’t see. There was also a first aid kit – an alarming sight – and a couple of ring binders. Corin picked up a utility belt and fastened it round his waist.

‘What’s that for?’ Mim asked, pointing at a hammer dangling off his belt. ‘I thought we were here for fossils, not DIY.’

‘Stop trying to jump ahead. You’ll find out soon enough.’ He uncovered a couple of folding chairs. ‘Would you mind setting these up at the end of the table?’

It must have been a secret signal; as soon as Mim opened the chairs, a middle-aged couple sensibly dressed in boots and matching anoraks approached.

‘Is this the fossil talk?’ the woman asked. She looked at Corin and his car with a doubtful expression, as if she’d expected an altogether less scruffy business. ‘Corin Howard?’

‘That’s right. I’m Corin. How lovely to meet you.’ He held out his hand and the woman shook it, all reservations apparently swept away by a posh accent and a charming smile. She could hardly have looked more dazzled if he’d kissed her. Mim said hello and no one even seemed to notice.

Over the next ten minutes, more customers drifted over and took seats either at the picnic bench or on the folding chairs, until they were a group of nine in total. Corin asked them all to sign a disclaimer, which alarmed Mim as much as the first aid kit. How dangerous could fossil hunting be? More dangerous than she had expected, if Corin’s safety talk was anything to go by. Apart from the inevitable risks of walking on an unstable and potentially slippery beach, he showed them photographs of recent rockfalls in the area and warned them not to go too close to the foot of the cliffs. Mim made a mental note to stay close to Corin. Better to be bored than crushed to death…

After the safety talk, Corin handed everyone a clipboard and sheet of paper to make notes while he gave a brief introduction to fossils and how to recognise them. He passed round a small plastic box and invited everyone to take out one item to study. Mim picked out a dark grey item in a spiral shape. It was beautiful but she had no idea what it was.

‘These are ammonites,’ Corin said. ‘One of the most common fossils you’ll find. Now, you need to train your eyes to find them. How would you describe them?’

‘Dark-coloured,’ someone suggested.

‘Round?’ called another. Mim ran her finger over the object in her hand.

‘There are ridges around the spiral,’ she said.

‘Perfect,’ Corin said, smiling at her. Mim felt as if she’d come top of the class. ‘Remember those things as you walk along the beach. Look out for something dark and round with ridges.’

Everyone around the table obediently wrote a note and Corin passed round his next sample, which was a belemnite, a bullet-shaped fossil that he explained was part of the skeleton of a squid-like creature. He also showed them a piece of fossilised wood and an ichthyosaur vertebra, before ending with a lumpy black object.

‘Who can guess what this might be?’ he asked. Mim wracked her brains but it only looked like one thing to her and she didn’t want to appear stupid by saying it.

‘Children are usually better at guessing this one,’ Corin said, after a few incorrect guesses. ‘Can you imagine the reaction when I explain that this is coprolite – also known as dinosaur poo?’

Everyone laughed and Mim kicked herself for not saying that in the first place. Corin spoke for about forty-five minutes, but the time flew by. How could Lia say this was boring? Mim wished that she’d had a teacher like him at school: someone enthusiastic and motivational, someone patient and for whom no question was too stupid.

Corin allowed a ten-minute break for toilet visits and to buy hot drinks before they headed onto the beach. Mim helped him tidy up the boxes of samples and the chairs.

‘I’m glad to see you haven’t died of boredom yet,’ he said, smiling at Mim. ‘There are newspapers in the café if you’ve had enough and would rather wait in there.’

‘No way,’ Mim said. ‘I’m not missing out on the fun bit. I can’t believe such old things are lying about on the beach and not locked away in a museum. It’s incredible.’

‘We do have to hand it in if we find anything rare,’ Corin said. ‘It’s unlikely, though. The serious fossil hunters will have searched the beach hours ago.’

‘Really?’ That was annoying. Mim had been hoping she might get lucky and find an ammonite. ‘How do you know all this stuff, anyway?’

‘From a degree in Geography, a master’s