Chapter
1 ‘Yum Yum’ Page 3
They walked along for what seemed to
Jason to be a pretty long time for just a closet. He was beginning to wonder if Tommy’s imagination wasn’t
contagious and hoped it wasn’t fatal as well.
Tommy stopped as they neared the
wall of plants. “Before we go any
further,” he said. “You’d better cover
your eyes. The light ahead is pretty
bright.”
Jason sighed and closed his
eyes. I guess this is part of what
makes an imaginary world so exciting, he thought, we’re probably going to end
up in the garage. Tommy took him by the
arm and they continued on.
Jason felt something brush against
him, then a warm breeze on his face.
“You can open your eyes now,” said
Tommy. Jason did.
Bright
light scorched his eyes and he quickly shut them. Jason slowly opened his eyes again and was surprised to see that
they weren’t in the garage at all but in some kind of forest. Jason was completely baffled by what he
saw. How was this possible? There just couldn’t be a forest inside
Tommy’s closet, could there? He looked
over at Tommy, who was wearing sunglasses.
“This...,” said Jason. “This is totally amazing! Where did it come from?”
Tommy shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said taking off the
sunglasses. “But I saw this here
earlier.” He pulled out his book and
showed Jason. Jason read the blurb next
to the picture of the Compsognathus.
“What are you going to do now?” he asked.
Tommy grinned. “Explore!
What’d you think! Just imagine
the different kinds of dinosaurs there must be here! I’m going to be the first to see them all!” He rubbed his hands together eagerly.
Jason’s eyes widened. “Are you crazy!” he gasped. “Your book says the dinosaur you saw is
carnivorous. I’m not gonna be lunch for
any dinosaur. I still have to fix my
bike!” Jason paced up and down the
clearing waving his arms around and yelling.
“We’re going home right now and when Dad gets home we’re going to tell
him everything!”
Tommy shook his head. “Forget it,” he said. “I’m staying until I get a picture of a real
live dinosaur.” He crossed his arms and
stared defiantly at his older brother.
Jason continued to protest and Tommy
would have listened if his attention weren’t diverted by something he saw out
of the corner of his eye. Jason soon
realized Tommy wasn’t listening to him and turned to see what he was finding so
fascinating. Up in the sky a dark
object was speeding towards them.
Before they knew what was happening, a huge bird descended upon
them. Unfolding its huge clawed feet,
the bird made a grab for the boys. They
tried to run but the great beast was much too fast. Tommy and Jason let out screams of terror as the giant
prehistoric bird soared into the clear blue sky with them firmly in its
grasp.
After several heart stopping moments
Tommy stopped struggling and opened his eyes.
The height they were at was dizzying!
They must have been thousands of feet in the air. In the distance he could see a mountain
range and below a huge green valley and a river that cut through the land. At one end of the valley was a waterfall and
at the other end the river had punched a hole right through the valley wall and
flowed off into the distance. Fighting
the fierce wind Tommy raised his head and looked up at his huge captor. The bird’s body was covered with short brown
fur and instead of feathers the wings were huge pieces of tightly stretched
skin. Its wingspan was well over the
length of a school bus. Tommy tried to
remember what prehistoric creature this was, maybe a Quetzalcoatlus or the
Pteranodon, but he wasn’t sure. He
looked over at his brother. Jason’s
eyes were tightly shut. Tommy called
out to him but a great rush of air grabbed his words and whipped them
away. There was no way Jason was going
to hear him. The flying dinosaur
unexpectedly changed its flight path, gliding down close to the ground. Without warning the bird relaxed its grip
and let the boys go. Tommy and Jason
fell screaming towards the ground below.
They landed with an unexpected loud splash, plunging deep into the dark
murky river water. After a few moments
the water's surface ceased to ripple and once again flowed quietly along.
Jason broke through the rivers
tranquil surface and looked around wildly for any sign of Tommy, but could find
none. Panic gripped Jason’s entire
body. Just as he was beginning to think
his brother was lost forever, the water near him began to bubble, and Tommy’s
head popped up. He was struggling for
air and flailing around. Jason swam
towards Tommy and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. Jason knew their only chance was to swim for
the shore. He dare not think about the
creatures that might be swimming around beneath them.
After what seemed like hours rather
than minutes, the boys reached the shore and collapsed on the muddy bank.
“What was that thing?” wheezed
Jason.
“I think it was...gasp... a Quetzalcoatlus or... gasp... a Pteranodon but I’m not sure.”
said Tommy. He dragged himself up to
his knees.
“What did it want with us?” asked
Jason.
“It probably thought we were food
and was taking us back to its nest to feed to its young.” said Tommy.
“What!” exclaimed Jason. It made him sick to think he’d almost become
prehistoric bird food. “Why’d it drop
us then?”
“I don’t know,” replied Tommy. “Maybe it was trying to crack us open... you
know, to get at our guts,” he added.
Jason made a face and got to his
knees. “What do we do now?” he
moaned. “We’re miles away from your
closet!”
Tommy surveyed their
surroundings. “I think I know which way
to go to get home,” he said pointing off to their left. “I saw a valley over that way. I’m pretty sure my closet is on the other
side.”
“You mean you had you eyes open!”
said Jason with horror.
“It wasn’t that bad,” said Tommy.
“Oh yeah,” grumbled Jason. “ A piece of cake!”
The boys got to their feet and began
the long walk home.