.Trashes and Resource Fork

Hi all,

I am not an Apple expert so was wondering if I could tap your brains?

I have a document on a USB which has a created date of (example dates) 1 Jan 13.

I have a resource fork '._' for this document dated 1 Feb 13.

I have .trashes, .spotlight etc created date 1 Mar 13.

How can I have .trashes etc created after an Apple created resource fork was created as I thought .trashes was created when first inserted? A little confused, but sure there is an explanation?

If it helps, the document may have been a 'doc' file taht was subsequently saved as a 'docx' file at some point…

Many thanks

Shep