Duncan Takes a Vacation

Chapter 29

          We could have been unconscious for seconds, minutes, or even hours, and when the three of us awoke, we found ourselves sitting quietly in the time machine.  The boys were still fastened by their seat belt, and I was still clutching the chair with my claws. 

          When the dizziness passed, I was able to let go of the chair and tried to figure out our location.  The time machine was no longer in the room where it all started, instead we were sitting on a large grassy plain as the sun burned brightly in the sky.  The trees and bushes around us didn't look like anything I had ever seen before - even on television.  Peculiar looking insects were crawling around on the muddy ground beneath us.  Absolutely nothing looked familiar.  The hot, dry desert which completely surrounded us in Arizona was nowhere in sight.  I looked for something that I could recognize, but only the unusual appeared before us. 

          The meter above the lighted dial on the time machine was brightly flashing on and off.  It was covered with moisture and I had to wipe it with my wing in order to see it.  It appeared to be broken because the date on it read 100,000,000 B.C.  That was ridiculous!  How could we have traveled this far back in time?  

          I looked at the twins who were still sitting.  They were clinging onto each other with bulging eyes and shaking like someone had put ice down their pants. 

          I thought to myself, "Look what you two turkeys have gotten us into!  Don't just sit there and shake, do something!" 

          The twins had no intention of moving, at least not for the present time.  I figured that we had to get back to where we were going and these two didn't look like they were going to be any help. 

          Suddenly, from behind a huge rock, a huge creature appeared.  It must have been at least twenty feet tall.  Rows and rows of sharp teeth filled its large gaping mouth.  This prehistoric creature appeared to be a dinosaur.  To be more exact, it looked like a tyrannosaurus. 

          I remembered reading about this huge reptile in one of Jimmy's science books.   It was the most fearsome dinosaur of all the meat eaters. It had long, powerful hind legs that allowed it to run and catch its food.  Its head was enormous, and its mouth was full of dagger-like teeth that were six inches long.  It also had a long tail that was used along with its sharp teeth to fight other dinosaurs.  I hoped this monster didn't see us, or we would be goners for sure. 

          Staying quiet and keeping still would be the most sensible thing for us to do.  Moving and attracting attention would be a stupid mistake.   But as usual, something stupid did happen: the twins, after seeing the dinosaur, screamed and yelled at the top of their lungs, and carried on so loudly that the tyrannosaurus looked up in our direction. 

          A mighty roar shook the earth, and the dinosaur walked slowly towards us.  I thought that I had to do something to get us out of there - but what?  Lucky for us I paid close attention and carefully watched Pops operate the time machine.  So I pushed the giant button on the machine with my beak.  I set the meter to the present time and turned the lighted dial with my feet.  The only thing left to do was to throw the switch. 

          The twins, who were still screaming, squirmed and wiggled until their seat belt unsnapped.  Then those two characters jumped from the time machine, fell several times in the mud, and scrambled behind some trees.  Now what was I going to do? 

          The tyrannosaurus was getting closer and closer.  I could have very easily flipped the switch and disappeared back to the present.  But would it be nice to leave the twins back in the age of the dinosaurs?  I'm sure Jimmy and Marvin wouldn't object.  If I did decide to stay, the huge reptile would surely destroy the time machine.  His gigantic feet would squash it like a bug; then we would have no way of returning to the present time. 

          I thought that the only correct thing to do would be to stay with the twins and try to get out of this place together, so when the tyrannosaurus was almost upon me, I flew straight towards its mouth hoping to lead it away from the time machine.  It snapped its huge, drooling jaws trying to catch me in its mouth.  Its breath was horrible and almost made me sick to my stomach.  The wind from the pressure of its snapping jaws closing pushed me away, sending me like a meteor crashing into a nearby tree. 

          The monster saw what it had done and moved closer to me.  I was quite stunned and now unable to get away from this enormous reptile.  As it cornered me, I knew I was in big trouble.  Pops wouldn't be able to pull me out of this one.  He wouldn't be born for at least 100,000,000 more years, and I couldn't wait that long because only a few seconds were left in my life. 

          As I felt the tyrannosaurus's hot, smelly breath getting closer to me I knew this must be the end.  Why did I have to play the hero and remain behind with the twins when I could have been on my way back to the present?                         Suddenly, a deafening roar shook the earth, but it wasn't the tyrannosaurus.  It seemed that another dinosaur, a triceratops, was approaching.  The tyrannosaurus turned and also let out a huge roar.  These two looked like they were going to have a fight. 

          The triceratops had bony plates around its neck.  It also had three sharp horns on its head that were used for defense.  Thank goodness this guy came around when he did, or I would have been an afternoon snack for the tyrannosaurus. 

          The two terrible lizards raced towards each other snapping and clawing.  The tyrannasaurus tried biting on the armor plating of the triceratops, so the triceratops lowered its head and pushed its sharp horns deep into the stomach of its enemy.  The tyrannasaurus fell back dead unable to do any more harm. 

          I felt relieved knowing we were safe at last because the triceratops was a plant eater and didn't have any interest in us.  It slowly walked off into the sunset not knowing that it had saved our lives. 

          As for the twins, they were still shivering and hiding in the bushes not knowing where to go or what to do. 

          By now I had regained my strength and flew to the time machine.  It was still set ready to go back to the present.  All I had to do was to flip the switch.  I flew to the twins and said, "Let's go home!" 

          They must have known I knew what I was doing.  So they stood up, still shaking and covered with mud, holding onto each other as they staggered to the machine.  In a matter of seconds, everyone was strapped in and ready to go home.

          As I was about to flip the switch to turn on the machine, thunder shook the ground.  It felt like there was an earthquake.  Then I saw a huge brontosaurus walking our way.  I figured we had nothing to fear because this dinosaur was also a plant eater and wouldn't bother us.  However, this guy was almost seventy feet long and weighed about 35 tons.  I remembered reading that it was very stupid because its brain was tiny (sounded like the twins' brains).  He was walking in our direction and would flatten us for sure.            

           Without hesitating, I flipped the switch and the machine started to vibrate and slowly disappeared out of sight.  Lights flashed and alarms sounded.  The machine acted wild, and twisted and turned as we traveled through time.  At one point a cloud of smoke surrounded us.  I could only hope we would be able to make it back to the present before the time machine broke down.  But as it approached our century we slowly came to a stop.  After the smoke cleared we were right back where we started: in Pops's shed. 

          The boys looked around the room and started to cheer.  They knew they were finally home.  They unfastened their seat belt and ran from the machine out the door.  They bumped into Jimmy and Marvin on the way out, but continued to run all the way home.  Jimmy looked at me and asked what was wrong with them.