Baby Brachiosaur

Hunter and Aiden loved dinosaurs.

Stegosaurus, triceratops, allosaurus, diplodocus, t-rex – they loved them all.

Every day, when the mailman flew in on his pterodactyl to drop off their family’s letters and packages, Hunter and Aiden would press their faces up to the window in the front room. They loved watching the pterodactyl swoop gracefully through the sky. When it landed in their front yard, they would wave “hello,” and the pterodactyl would wink in response.

Their neighbors across the street, the Jones family, had a little pet procompsognathus named “Compton.” Sometimes the Joneses would let Hunter and Aiden play with Compton, throwing treats for him to catch in his tiny mouth, or playing tug-of-war with his toy rope.

Hunter and Aiden also had a friend from school, Emily, whose family owned a stable of six gallimimus dinosaurs. They rode them on dino trails through the forests on clear days, and even entered them into competitions now and then. Emily would often invite Hunter and Aiden over to go riding, and it was so much fun!

The boys wished they had a gallimimus of their own to ride, or a procompsognathus to play with, but their mom was uncomfortable around dinosaurs. She’d gotten a bad bite from a cranky microraptor when she was a little girl, and she’d had an irrational fear of dinosaurs ever since.

“They’ve all got such beady little eyes,” she would say whenever the boys asked about getting a pet dinosaur. “They always look like they’re about to make trouble. You just can’t trust them!”

It was hard being a pair of dinosaur-loving boys growing up in a house where dinosaurs were not welcome. But that didn’t stop Hunter and Aiden from dreaming about having a pet dinosaur of their own.

***

One day, Hunter and Aiden were on their way back from their friend Emily’s stables, where they’d spend the morning riding and feeding the gallimimus. As they were crossing the street just a few blocks from their house, they heard a rustling in the bushes, and a small squeaking noise.

The boys immediately went to investigate the sound. As they parted the bushes, they found a tiny dinosaur, sitting in a nest, surrounded by bits of colorful egg shell.

“A baby dinosaur!” Aiden gasped, his eyes wide.

“It must have just hatched,” Hunter agreed. “But where’s his mama?”

The boys looked around, but could see no sign of the mother.

“What do we do?” Aiden wondered.

Hunter thought it over. “Let’s stay here for a while, and see if she comes back.”

Aiden agreed, and the boys settled in, waiting for the mama dinosaur to return. While they waited, they played with the baby, who was taking shaky steps back and forth between the boys, rubbing its head against their sides, and occasionally tugging on their clothes with its tiny teeth. They laughed and petted the baby, cooing over every adorable thing it did.

After a while, though, the baby seemed to be growing a bit frantic. The squeaking grew louder and more demanding, and the tiny dinosaur kept trying to chew on their clothes and getting frustrated.

“What’s wrong with him?” Aiden asked, worried about their new little friend.

“I’m not sure…” Hunter watched as the baby dinosaur tugged on his jacket pocket, trying to pull something free. After a few moments of struggle, the baby wrestled a cookie out of Hunter’s pocket, and with a triumphant squeak, began devouring it.

Aiden laughed. “I think he’s hungry.”

Hunter thought it over. “Maybe we’d better take him home with us, and take care of him. Just until we can find his mother, of course! I’m sure Mom won’t mind.”

Aiden scrunched his nose. “I bet she will.”

Rolling his eyes, Hunter sighed. “Well, then we’ll just have to keep him hidden. He’s just a tiny baby dinosaur. How hard could that be?”

Very carefully, the boys picked up the baby and carried him to their house, the dinosaur still happily snacking on the cookie.

As they opened the front door, their mother called, “Hi, boys! Did you have fun? Anything exciting happen while you were out?”

The two brothers looked at each other, and Hunter quickly hid the baby dinosaur in his jacket. “Nope! Just a normal day!”

“Fun, though!” Aiden chimed in.

“Well, that’s good. Go get your bedrooms tidied up, please – the Joneses are coming over for dinner later!”

“Okay, Mom!” the boys called back, and rushed up to Hunter’s room. They closed the door behind them, and set the baby dinosaur on the floor, where he promptly curled up on a discarded t-shirt and fell asleep.

The boys watched him for a few minutes, smiling at the adorable sight. After a while, though, Aiden frowned. “Hunter, what do we do if we can’t find his mama?”

Hunter thought about it, then shrugged. “He’s pretty small. Maybe we can keep him.”

“I’m not sure Mom would like that, though,” Aiden argued.

“Maybe not,” Hunter agreed, “But he’s little. We could keep him hidden. Maybe she’d never find out he was here!”

Both of the boys smiled at the idea, daydreaming about keeping the little dinosaur as their secret pet.

“What kind of dinosaur do you think he is?” Aiden asked.

They examined the sleeping baby, trying to match his features to the dinosaurs they knew.

“He kind of looks like a brachiosaur,” Hunter mused, “but he’s way too tiny. Brachiosaurs are massive.”

“Is there a small breed of brachiosaur that we don’t know about?” Aiden wondered.

“Maybe. I’m sure we’ll figure it out eventually. What we really need to decide now is what to call him!”

The brothers got to work discussing names.

Eugene? Too boring.

Maximus? Too fancy.

Skaldor, destroyer of worlds and master of galaxies? Too long.

Tim? Too short.

Buttercup? Too girly.

Dino? Too obvious.

Finally, the boys decided they would call the tiny dinosaur “Bruce.” It just seemed to fit.

Bruce yawned, stretched, and began squeaking demandingly, gently head-butting Aiden’s hip. He seemed to want something, but what?

The boys heard footsteps on the stairs. Frantically, Hunter threw a sweatshirt over Bruce and tucked him into the corner next to his bin of Legos.

A quick knock sounded on the door, and Mom popped her head in. “Boys? What are you doing in here? I thought I heard some kind of loud squeaking noise.”

The boys smiled innocently, trying to keep one eye on the bundle of clothing moving slightly in the corner. “Nothing, mom! We’re just… playing!”

“Squeak, squeak,” Aiden added helpfully.

Mom laughed, then paused. Her eyes caught on something behind them. The boys froze, unsure what to do, as she walked past them to the very corner where Bruce was hidden. She bent down, reaching toward the sweatshirt hiding the dinosaur. Hunter tensed, and Aiden clapped his hands over his eyes, as mom stretched her hand out, picking up…

A Lego.

“Hunter,” she scolded. “We’ve talked about this. You need to put your Legos away properly when you’re done playing with them. If someone accidentally stepped on this, it would hurt like crazy! Please be more careful in the future.”

She tossed the Lego at Hunter, and he caught it, dizzy with relief. “Yes, ma’am! Sorry about that!”

She shook her head, moving past them and heading for the door. “You boys and your Legos!”

Mom left the room, calling back, “Stop playing and get your rooms tidied up, please! The Joneses will be here soon.”

“Yes, Mom,” the brothers chorused, trying to look as innocent as possible. When the door shut behind their mother, they immediately rushed over to the corner to check on Bruce. They pulled the sweatshirt back, and his sweet little face peered up at them, curiously. He squeaked loudly, then rubbed his head against the palm of Aiden’s hand.

“You’re right, Bruce,” Aiden told him. “That was a close one.”

The boys quickly tidied their rooms, then met back in Hunter’s room to play with Bruce a little more.

The tiny dinosaur was chasing a cotton ball across the floor, batting at it with his head and long neck. He chomped on the cotton ball, then spit it out in surprise, soft white cotton sticking to his tongue.

The brothers laughed as Bruce pawed at his tongue, trying to clear away the fluff. Successful, he turned back to play, but then paused. The boys heard a loud rumble from the direction of Bruce’s stomach, and he began squeaking again, loudly.

“Shh, quiet, Bruce!” Hunter scooped up the little dinosaur, trying to calm him.

“I think he’s hungry,” Aiden said. “Let’s take him down to the kitchen and see what kind of food he’s interested in!”

Hunter thought it over. “Okay, but we’ll have to be sneaky about it. I’ll hide Bruce in my shirt. And you,” he said to the dinosaur, “you’ve got to be quiet, okay? We’ll get you some food, but you need to hush.”

Bruce calmed down, seeming to understand. Hunter tucked him carefully underneath his t-shirt, and felt the baby dinosaur curl up against his belly.

“Okay, let’s go. But Aiden, you go first and keep an eye out for Mom and Dad.”

The boys crept down to the kitchen, listening to their Dad whistling to himself from the living room as he vacuumed the carpet. Mom was in the dining room, setting the table.

“Quick,” Aiden waved his brother forward. “Go, go, go!”

They threw open the refrigerator door, and stood staring at the food. What did dinosaurs eat? Besides cookies, of course.

Hunter felt Bruce shift, and his head peeked out from the bottom of Hunter’s shirt. The dinosaur gave a loud squeak of delight when he saw the contents of the fridge, and began wiggling to get free.

Dad stopped whistling and shut off the vacuum. “What was that noise? Did you hear it, honey?”

The boys heard their mother respond, “I did. I swear, I’ve been hearing weird noises all day. It sounded like it came from the kitchen.”

Hearing their mother’s footsteps coming toward them, the boys gasped and quickly shoved Bruce into the fridge. They closed the refrigerator door just as their mom entered the room, looking confused. When she saw Hunter and Aiden, she laughed.

“It was just the boys, babe, nothing to worry about,” she called over her shoulder. Then she crossed her arms and looked at her sons. “Although you two have been acting awfully strange today. What’s with all the squeaking?”

Aiden grinned innocently. “We’re inventing a new language! One squeak means hello, two means goodbye, and… that’s all we’ve figured out so far.”

Mom laughed. “You two are so weird. I’m pretty sure you get that from your father.”

“Yeah, right!” their father’s voice called from the living room.

Their mom chuckled again, then turned to go back to the dining room. “As you were, men.”

“Squeak, squeak!” Hunter responded cheerfully. “That means ‘goodbye!’”

After their mom left, they threw open the doors to the fridge to check on Bruce. They found him laying on his back, his tummy swollen, surrounded by crumbs and food remains. He’d eaten everything on the middle shelf.

Smiling contentedly, Bruce let out an enormous belch.

“Oh dear,” Aiden said. “I hope none of that was for tonight’s dinner.”

Just then, the doorbell rang. Hunter grabbed Bruce and shoved him into his shirt again, trying to hide the lump with his arms.

They got to the front door just as Mom swung it wide open. “Welco – aaaaaaahhhh!” she screamed. Behind the Jonses, a massive brachiosaur face was peering into the house.

“Don’t be afraid, Cassi Jo!” Mr. Jones soothed, “I think she’s just looking for something. And brachiosaurs are gentle giants – she won’t hurt you!”

The enormous dinosaur let out a mournful call. In response, Bruce started wiggling madly. He stretched his long neck up, and peeked out from the collar of Hunter’s shirt. Upon seeing the gigantic brachiosaur at the door, he let out an excited squeak.

Mom turned and spotted the little dinosaur sharing her elder son’s shirt. She nearly fainted in surprise, but Dad put his arms around her and held her steady. “Seems like the boys have a bit of a story to share with us,” he observed.

Hunter gently detangled Bruce from his shirt and set him down. Bruce ran for the door on his clumsy little legs, dashing past the Joneses, stopping only once he reached the big dinosaur’s face, which had been lowered to where he could reach. Stretching his neck as long as it could go, he rubbed up against the brachiosaur’s jaw, chirping delightedly.

“I think we found his mom,” Hunter murmured to his little brother.

“I think you mean, she found us,” Aiden said.

Very carefully, the mama dinosaur scooped Bruce up with her teeth, and set him gently on her back, where he curled up happily. He looked down at the boys and squeaked twice, as his mother turned and carried him away.

“That means ‘goodbye,’” Aiden sighed.

Hunter put an arm around his little brother’s shoulders. “It’s okay,” he said. “Maybe he’ll come back and visit us someday.”

“Yeah, I bet he will,” Aiden agreed.

And with that comforting thought in mind, the boys turned their attention back to the Joneses, their father, and their speechless mother. They were more than ready for dinner. They couldn’t wait to share the story of their adventures that day with their new friend, Bruce.

The End