How It All Goes Down
Chapter 1: Almost Paradise
- In a Land Rover, Mike Bowman drives his wife Ellen and daughter Tina to a beach in Costa Rica.
- Tina spies what she thinks is a squirrel monkey crossing the jungle path.
- The Bowmans arrive at a deserted beach.
- Ellen worries about snakes, while Tina plays out of their sight.
- A lizard chirps and jumps on Tina. Her parents hear her screams.
Chapter 2: Puntarenas
- Tina is seen by Dr. Cruz.
- Tina's bites are disappearing, and the doctor doesn't recognize the animal that bit her.
- An American biologist named Dr. Guitierrez believes it was a basilisk lizard.
- With the animal apparently identified, analysis of its saliva halts.
- A sample is sent to San José (the one in Costa Rica).
- Tina thanks Dr. Cruz and observes that he has changed his shirt but not his tie.
- Dr. Cruz asks Tina how many toes the lizard had. She says three.
- Dr. Cruz tells this to Dr. Guitierrez.
- Dr. Guitierrez no longer sure that she was attacked by a basilisk lizard.
Chapter 3: The Beach
- Marty Guitierrez looks into basilisk lizard bites and finds nothing. Reports come to him of other animal attacks on children in the area.
- Guitierrez goes to the beach to see if he can find the creature Tina saw. He finds one being eaten by a howler monkey.
Chapter 4: New York
- The lizard is sent to Dr. Simpson, but because he's on a field trip, the animal is forwarded to Dr. Stone at Columbia University.
- Dr. Stone can't identify the animal, but he can check it for diseases.
- The tests show nothing worth noting.
- A fax is sent to Dr. Guitierrez.
- Dr. Stone assumes (wrongly) the lizard is a basilisk and that the bites pose no major health concern.
- Elsewhere in Costa Rica, a midwife discovers the baby in her care is dead, attacked by lizards.
Chapter 5: The Shape of the Data
- Back at Columbia University, a technician named Alice Levin sees Tina's drawing and identifies it as a dinosaur.
- Richard Stone explains that it's a present-day animal.
- Alice wants Dr. Stone to send the animal to an expert, but Dr. Stone says no.