Chapter Eleven
‘So Long And Thanks For All
The Berries’
Tommy and Jason didn’t leave the
valley right away. They spent some time
catching up on sleep and preparing for their journey home. It turned out that their dinosaur friends didn’t
live in the cave at all. In fact, they lived in a village the dinosaurs had
built so they could stay together and fight the Myrites. Unfortunately, when the Myrites took over,
the dinosaurs had to abandon it. Now
with no sign of the Myrites since the uprising, the dinosaurs decided to move
back to their village and stick together just in case the Myrites ever
reappeared again.. After helping their
friends settle back into the village the boys set off on their way home.
It took almost a day to travel to
the other side of the valley, but Tommy and Jason were not alone. The dinosaurs had kept their promise right
to the end. Kypou, Bonta, Typhoo, Peko,
and even Harpi had come to see their friends off.
“This is as far as we can go,” said
Kypou.
“That’s okay,” said Tommy. “Thanks for bringing us this far.”
From what Tommy could remember, the
dinosaurs had brought them to more or less the right spot. Up the valley wall and along the river
should take to boys right to the closet door.
Bonta gave them each a warm hug.
“Take good care of yourselves,” she
said touching Tommy’s cheek. The
branding mark was gone now.
Typhoo smiled his shy smile and Peko
jumped on Tommy giving him a big hug.
“Thanks for saving me Peko,” said
Tommy. “You’re really brave.”
Peko giggled and jumped down.
Amazingly enough even Harpi stepped
forward and held his hand out to Jason.
Jason grasped his hand and they shook.
“No hard feelings?” said Harpi.
Jason smiled. “No hard feelings,” he replied.
Harpi looked at Tommy then back to
Jason.
“You know your not bad... for
humans.” They all laughed.
“What will you do now?” Tommy asked
the dinosaurs.
“Rebuild our lives, I guess,” said
Kypou. “It will be strange without the
Great Stone or the Myrites. We’ve spent
our whole lives fighting them, but I’m sure we’ll survive.”
Tommy found this last comment hard
to take. He already knew their
fate. He balanced the pack full of
berries on his back and they said their final good-byes. Then, Tommy and Jason began their journey up
and out of the valley. Near the top,
the boys turned to wave one final time but their friends were already
gone.
Jason continued on ahead but Tommy
remained, staring down into the quiet valley.
Jason came back and joined him.
“What do you think will happen to
them without the Great Stone?” he asked Tommy.
“Maybe start acting like normal
dinosaurs, I guess,” said Tommy.
“Unless scientists have been wrong along.”
It was really uncertain what would
happen. The only thing Tommy did know
was that when he finally got home to his time, his dinosaur friends would be
gone forever.
The boys turned around and
disappeared into the jungle.