Story time
For everyone and anyone who I'd told about the long story I was writing. Here it is, I said I'd put it up here once I gave it to him. And well, he's had it for a week, but I didn't feel like putting it up. Enjoy... even thought it kind of majorly sucks lol.
The Pirate, the Scientist, and the Dinosaur
Written by: Emily Doss
Dedicated to Nicholas Harrison Haac.
(yes it's still dedicated to him, yes I'm aware we broke up. but it's his story, I didn't write it for anyone except him. So it's his.)
Warning::: this is really really really long.
“I can’t do it! I just can’t do it!”
“Now Johnny, I think you’re being a bit unreasonable here. I mean-“
“No, I can’t do that!. Not to sell an extra, what, 20 CD’s , and one or two extra people in the concerts?”
“Johnny, it’s just that-“
“No Don! No, I won’t do it. I’m not cutting my hair. It’s part of who I am! Don’t you get it? Don’t you? I’m Pirate Johnny Gold! I’m a GOD to half those teens out there. And what kind of pirate has short blonde hair and wears a pink polo with designer jeans? That’s not who I am! That’s not who any rock star should be. Don’t you get that?!”
“I see where you’re coming from Johnny, I really do. But don’t you think that we could strike, you know, some sort of compromise? You could wear a green Polo and maybe low end designer jeans,… how does that sound?”
Johnny stares at Donald Laclover, his manager of four years, coldly. He was trying to decide the best way to put what he was about to say. “You’re an ass Don, you know that? A money hungry jerk! You’re a forty something man who women won’t even look at. You’ve stabbed every friend you’ve ever had in the back, just to make a few extra bucks. And you know what’s worse; you’d probably cheat your own god damn mother out of her money if you could. You’re scum. You’re a sleaze. And for the last four years I’ve been giving you all my time and energy. But you know what, I don’t need this anymore. You can find yourself another ‘poster boy’ for 317 records, because as for me, I’m the best damn thing you’ve ever had, and I’m gone.” Johnny stood up from the seventies inspired chair he had been sitting in, and made his way towards the door. He yanked open the door where a secretary was waiting, and nearly ran into her. “Strip my contact information from all his records, April. I’m through with this man, and his bullshit.” He paused, realizing that April really hadn’t done anything. “But as for you, have a good day, and I’m sorry you work for this jerk.”
Johnny grabbed his coat off the hook next to where the secretary was standing and made his way down the hall of the office building. He got to the elevator and waited for the doors to open. Stepping inside he hit the “L” button and made his way down to the Lobby. He exited the building and stepped outside into the brisk October air, and started walking towards Blackberry Park. He’d grown up around here, but it’d been years since he’d gone down any of the paths in the park, and he figured, now was as good a day as any, to take a walk through the park.
As he was walking he went somewhat unnoticed in the crowds. That was the great thing about how Johnny had stayed himself during his rush of fame. He could still blend in with the street crowds, like he had done five years before.
After walking for about 3 blocks he came upon the entrance of Blackberry Park. He stood in amazement at how, with everything that has changed in the world in the past ten years, this park had somehow managed to stay the same. He went in and found a path that he remembered taking as a child and started walking down it. There was no one else on this path, but Johnny was okay with that. He’d been walking for about ten minutes, when he saw something gold out of the corner of his eye. Now, Johnny would have discouraged anyone else from going off the path, but Johnny had lived in this town his entire life, and he knew this park like the back of his hand, so he decided to go off the path and find out what it was.
He wandered over towards what seemed to be a golden spike, dodging spider-webs, and fallen trees. He got to where the golden spike was, and stared in disbelief. The spike seemed to be coming out of an egg. An egg, unlike one he’d ever seen before. Johnny looked around for traces of anything that might help explain this… egg, but found nothing.
Looking around though, he did find a hole that seemed to go on for quite sometime, in the ground that he was quite certain he’d never seen before. He couldn’t really connect how the two related to each other though, so he didn’t pay it much mind. After investigating the area around the egg for about twenty minutes, Johnny decided there was nothing there that would really be of any help to him in figuring out what this egg was, and how it got that, so he took off his jacket, and put it over the egg, so that no one would notice the golden spike, and the rather large size of the egg.
After Johnny got the egg situated under his jacket, so that it was slightly less conspicuous he started making his way back towards the path, and then towards the entrance to the park. Once he was out of the park it was only another block or so to his apartment, so he felt like he was pretty safe. It was 6 o’clock anyway, at this point, most people were home with their families making dinner, or talking about the trials and tribulations of their day.
****************************************************
Once Johnny was inside his apartment, and had put the egg down on the table, he realized that this egg had something encrypted in it. ‘That’s strange’ thought Johnny,’ someone must have done that, but who would have just encrypted something and not taken the egg with them?’ He started to make his dinner, Captain Crunch, with crunchberries, toast, eggs, and bacon. Johnny was a big believer that 6 o’clock at night was the best time to eat breakfast, when all the sudden, the egg started to crack a little more. Before he knew what he was doing he had the phone in his hand, and was dialing the number of his best friend Violet Sage, a scientist who worked for a local museum.
“Violet, hey, it’s Johnny.”
“Oh, Hi Johnny! It’s been so long! How are you? How’s the career going? I feel like it must be months since we last chatted---“
“Violet, can you come over RIGHT NOW. It’s really important!”
“Well… I was making dinner, but if it’s important, I can put that on hold. I’ll be over in ten minutes”
Johnny passes this time anxiously awaiting Violet’s arrival. He watches the egg very cautiously, after all, it’d just begun to hatch! But, what could be inside? And what on earth did the markings on the outside of the shell mean? It was all becoming overwhelming when ‘knock knock’. Violet had arrived.
Johnny rushed to the door, tripping over his remote control on the way, and answered the door. “Johnny! What’s wrong? You’re all out of breath, it’s like you’ve just been 3 seconds away from death!” Johnny grabbed her arm, and started pulling her towards the kitchen, but was careful enough to make sure that she too didn’t trip over the remote control. “Johnny what are you do-“. She stopped short. She stood and stared at the mass on the kitchen table. “What is THAT?” She yelped, not sure whether she was more confused or shocked.
“That,” Johnny started “ is the reason I asked you to come over. I was walking today in the park and I saw the spike from the path and wandered over to it to see what it was. I brought it home with me, you know, to see what would come of it, and then I noticed the inscription on the shell. But what made me call you was, I think it’s starting to … hatch.”
Violet gazed intently at the egg, as if she had some hunch as to what it was already, but not sure whether or not she should say anything, because what she thought it was, well it was absurd. Violet turned towards Johnny, and hesitated slightly. “Johnny,” she paused. “Johnny, if I tell you what I think t his egg is, you’re going to think I’m absolutely mad.”
“Violet, your guess is as good to mine as to what this thing is, and how it got here. And you’re the scientist, if anyone has any idea as to what this is, it’d be you.”
Violet slowly switched her attention from Johnny, back to the egg, then finally back to Johnny again. “I think what we have here, is a dinosaur egg.”
Johnny, who had been picking at his Captain Crunch (with crunchberries) slightly choked on the handful he’d just popped in his mouth. “A what!?”
“I think it’s a dinosaur egg. In college I had to take a few classes in paleontology. They thought it’d make me better rounded, and give me a better chance of finding work in a museum. And I remember this one article they had in one of our text books that I saw one day. It was about a man who’d been working at a dig in Argentina, he thought he’d found a dinosaur egg, that’d just never hatched. There were pictures of it in the magazine, but they were too afraid to test it because they didn’t know what effect the testing would have on the egg. This was years ago, the technology wasn’t as recent, they may have tested it since then, but I haven’t seen a follow up article. This egg though, on your kitchen table, looks almost exactly the same. Though, the other egg didn’t have an encryption on it”
“But Vi, this one’s well and alive. It’s hatching before our very eyes, so it can’t be that old. And you know as well as I do that dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years.”
“I don’t know Johnny, I’m just calling it like I’m seeing it.” Just then, the egg split exactly in half, right down the middle, like it was on hinges. And out came, what looked to be, a small dinosaur. Johnny and Violet were frozen in completely astonishment, not sure what they were witnessing, or if what they were seeing was actually happening. “Johnny, do you see what I see?”
Johnny stared dumbfounded as what had just happened before him. He slowly tilted his head to the left and just blinked. “Yeah… I think… I did.” Neither one of them were quite sure what they should do. As they stood there, there were indeed face to face with a dinosaur. Violet snapped into action though. “Johnny, you said there was some sort of message on this shell didn’t you? Here, I’ll study it; you take this dinosaur, and try and go wash the gook off of him in your tub. Be careful, it shouldn’t try and hurt you, because you’re one of the first people it saw, but take precautions anyway. I took a class in cryptograms in college too, so maybe I can figure out what it means.”
Johnny paused, and looked at violet in disbelief,”You want me to take that-“ he paused and looked at the dinosaur ,”to the bathtub to, rinse it off? Are you crazy, that thing could eat me alive!”
“Oh Johnny,” teased Violet, “He looks like he would have been in the herbivore family, and he’s young! He’s practically harmless, just be careful, and watch his spikes! Hm- spikes,” Violet paused. “Spike. I think we should name him Spike. Spike the benevolent, he has kind eyes.”
Johnny again stared at her. “I can’t believe you’re worrying about giving this thing a name, when we don’t even know where he came from or how he got here!”
“He has to have a name! We all need names! Now, go give Spike a bath, while I worry about trying to figure out what this message on his shell means!”
Johnny took picked up Spike, who was relatively small for a dinosaur. He looked about thirty inches along, and about a foot high, and probably weighed about 20 pounds. He carried him to his large bathtub and turned on the water. Spike looked up with him with his big green eyes, and what looked to be a smile on his face. ‘But dinosaurs don’t smile.’ thought Johnny. ‘Then again, dinosaurs didn’t exist until today either.’ Once the tub was about half way full he turned off the water, grabbed a wash cloth, and lifted Spike over the edge. Luckily Spike wasn’t like his mammal friends who run away at the sight of water, he seemed quite at home, and remained relaxed.
Johnny grabbed a cup from on his bathroom sink, and put it in the tub and filled it with water. He poured the water over Spike, getting his top half wet as well. He took the wash clothe and started to clean off the goop from his golden spikes. After about twenty minutes or so, Spike was properly clean, and smelled pretty good too. He fumbled around the bathroom looking for a towel, and dried spike off. Spike smiled, but Johnny was getting used to the idea of a smiling dinosaur.
The two of them walked back out to the kitchen to find Violet hunch over the shell with a magnifying glass, and about 3 sheets of notebook paper scattered across the table. Violet looked up. “God Johnny, you’re a mess!” Johnny looked down at his soaking wet shirt, and spotted trousers. “Anyway, I think I’ve got this message figured out. I think it was put on here by someone who speaks English. I think this message, as odd as this may sound, is telling us to go to the Middle East.”
Johnny looked at a map on the wall, “But, how would we get there? We can’t take any public transportation, how would we explain a dinosaur?” Johnny stopped, it appeared as though he had thought of something. “Well, we could steal a boat…”
“Johnny, you’re a rock star! You have the money to buy a boat! Wait! How would we get there! You don’t know how to drive a boat! Or have a boating license!”
“What kind of adventure starts with following the rules, come on Vi, what do you say? Let’s go, there’s a marina a few towns over, we could high-jack a boat tonight, and be half way to the Iraq by Monday!”
“Johnny, I don’t know… it sounds a little risky. I mean, what if we’re caught, what if we go to jail.”
“Oh come on Vi, I’m a God to this country, I’m Pirate Johnny Gold! As long as you’re with me, you’re safe. I know how to drive a boat well enough, my grand-pa and I used to go out on them all the time in the summers when I was a kid! Come on lets go!”
“Please?”
Violet looked at Johnny, “Did you just say please?”
“No, I was waiting for you to say something.” Both turn to look at the dinosaur, could it be that it also spoke English? There’s no way… it’d be impossible. It was an animal! “You don’t think it was…”
“Maybe…” Violet, looked at Spike for a few more moments, she knew they were missing a big part of the puzzle here. “Okay, I’ll go. But I need to go home first and get some things. I’ll meet you tonight at 9 o’clock by the old Bagel Shop on Turnover Street.”
****************************************************
“Johnny? Is that you?” Violet loudly whispered.
“Violet, who else do you know with bright orange converses”
“Good Point,” Violet paused looking around. “Where’s Spike?”
“Oh, I kept him in the back seat of my Explorer, the little feller’s fast asleep, which is probably for the best. Come on, we can take my SUV, leave your car in that parking lot over there.”
“Okay,” Violet said. “I’ll be right back.”
Johnny stepped back into his Explorer and started the engine, he searched the radio for a decent song, and looked in his rear view mirror at the sleeping Spike. “Back!” Violet informed Johnny.
“Okay, great, let’s go. Wait,… that’s all you have, your purse? What did you need to run home for if it wasn’t to pack?”
Violet turned a bright shade of magenta. “To set my VCR so that it’d record my soap operas while I was gone.”
Johnny stared at Violet in bewilderment, “You really are the biggest girl I know.” Johnny looked at the clock, “But, I’ll harass you about that later, right now, we really need to go.”
“Alright, do you know where we’re going?”
“Sure do, we’ll be there in thirty minutes, tops.”
The car ride goes like any car ride between old friends would. There were moments when they laughed and chatted like there wouldn’t be enough time to get in what they wanted to say, followed by moments where they sat in awkward silence, neither one sure really of what to say. At nine forty seven, they arrived at the Marina, it was dark.
“Johnny, where are we, I don’t recognize this place. But all the boats docked here look really, really, nice.”
“Well, you see, they are really, really nice. Because, you see, this is a government owned marina. We’re stealing a government boat.”
“WHAT?” Shrieked Violet. “Are you kidding me!? Stealing a boat from a common citizen is one thing. But stealing something that belongs to the government! We could end up federal prison. We could be sentenced to death row! They might make me wear outfits that don’t match! Cruel and unusual punishment Johnny! CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT!!!!” Johnny raised an eye brow at what Violet had just said. “Oh okay, so maybe they won’t send us to death row, and the mismatching outfits, well, that’d probably only be a punishment to me. But we really could get into some serious trouble!”
“So what, you only live once! And hey, they may never catch us!” Violet raised an eyebrow at Johnny. “Okay, so we probably will get caught. But hey, I’m a famous pirate, and you’re an amazing scientist, together we’re unstoppable. Plus, we have a dinosaur! Something is up we have to find out what!”
Violet rolled her eyes. “Finnnnnnne,” she groaned. “We can steal the government ship, but you better be one good Pirate.”
Johnny gave a devilish grin. “Don’t worry, I am!”
Johnny parked the car, in an abandoned parking lot, behind a thicket of Rowan trees, and told Violet to come on. He picked up Spike out of the back seat, and covered him in a big blanket, trying not to waking the snoring dinosaur. They hurried over to the closest boat in the marina and boarded quietly. Johnny made his way to the front of the boat where the wheel was, and starting working his magic. In a matter of fifteen minutes, the boat had quietly started and they were on their way out of the harbor. “I can’t believe you actually got this thing started,” Violet said grinning. “I’ve got to say, I’m pretty impressed Pirate Johnny.”
“That’s good Vi, you should be. There’s a reason all those teens think I’m a god.” He said with a smirk. “I mean, aside from my dazzling good looks, I’m a genius, and I can do anything. Really, anything.”
“And your modesty… that must be part of it too.” Violet teased while rolling her eyes.
“But of course!”
All of the sudden they heard a rustling of the blanket where Spike had been sleeping. He was yawned largely, and opened his big green eyes, and stared up at Violet and Johnny. “Where am I?” Spike said. Johnny and Violet both stared. They had decided that the ‘please’ they’d both heard earlier had been a figment of both their imaginations, but there was no denying what they’d just heard. This dinosaur was talking, in clear English.
“You can… t-t-t-talk?” sputtered Johnny.
“Of course I can talk, what’s so surprising about that. You’re talking!”
“But you’re a dinosaur…”
“And you’re a human… what’s your point?”
Johnny paused, not sure what to do. Violet stepped in. “We’re on our way to Baghdad, where I think the rest of your family is. For years we thought dinosaurs didn’t exist, and that they were gone billions of years ago… but you’re here, so that can’t be so. So hopefully when we get there, we’ll get some answers.”
Spike looked at Violet with his emerald eyes. “Oh,” he gave a dinosaur smile. “Okay! So, can we play games right now then?”
Violet looked around for something, anything, she could use as a ball or a Frisbee, or even a stick, that they could maybe play fetch with. She saw the decorative life-saver on the side of the boat, and ran to get it. “Here,” she said. “Let’s play fetch. I’ll throw this to you, and you bring it back, okay?”
“Sounds easy enough!” giggled Spike.
Johnny was still staring in complete disbelief. First, he found out that dinosaurs still existed, and now they were still talking. What could possibly happen next? Was he going to sprout wings and fly? Was Johnny even awake? Could this all be a dream?
*********************************************************************
The journey took a little under five days on the boat. Once they hit land again, they had to start traveling by car. Being that they’d already stolen a boat, they decided they’d rent cars, and take them until they could get to Baghdad. The US government never made contact with them, probably due to the fact that Johnny had slyly disconnected the radar devise on the ship, which would have tracked where they went. During their journey Violet attempted to teach Spike how to count, in eight different languages, and the names of all the elements on the periodic table. They fed him fish which they got from the ocean, and they themselves also indulged in fish. They had water to drink, which Violet filtered due to a method, she’d been taught once in a basic survival class.
Finally, after about a week and a half of travel, and a lot of bonding, they reached their destination. But, there was something they forgot to consider, where to go once they got there and how to explain Spike. And something even bigger than all of that, how were they supposed to talk to these people. They spoke English.
Lucky for them though, the egg had, had a spell cast on it when it was first laid. When the egg was hatched, the dinosaur civilization in Baghdad would be alerted. What was even luckier though was that, the dinosaurs all served as translators. Every dinosaur was born completely fluent in every language known to man, including Latin, a language that had died many years before.
The moment Johnny, Violet, and Spike piled out of their rented car, they were surrounded by a group of foreign men in long white gowns. “Uh, Johnny, maybe this was a bad idea,” started Violet. But she stopped. All of the sudden out of the corner of her eye she saw something, some magnificent, it was a civilization of dinosaurs. Some were green like spike, but others were red, orange, and even, could it be? Purple. A red dinosaur stepped into the circle, and began walking towards them. He stopped three feet in front of Johnny. “I am Rouge.” The dinosaur stated. “I take it that you two are the people who found the egg.”
“Well, err… yes. But I mean, I didn’t want to leave it there, to let some fame hungry citizen to find.”
“Don’t worry; you did exactly what we’d wanted. We wanted someone to find the egg, and to bring the baby dinosaur back to us. You see for years your government has been lying to you.”
“What do you mean?” Violet inquired, still slightly in shock that she was talking to a dinosaur.
“What do you think I mean? Until two weeks ago you didn’t even think dinosaurs existed did you? You thought we were extinct. You thought that, we couldn’t talk! Well obviously, we’re still alive and doing well. And as you can see we can certainly speak. In fact, we’re fluent in every language. That’s how we can speak to you, and them,” Rouge said motioning towards the men in white gowns. “Isn’t it clear your government has been lying to you?”
“Well, I guess, but… why would they do that? I mean there were fossils.”
“Why would they do that? Because they’re angry with us! We’re on strike. They’ve been overworking us for years. Those ‘fossils’ you’re talking about are nothing more than a good art project!”
“Wait,” Violet began,” over working you? How are they over working you? You’re a bunch of dinosaurs. What could you possibly have that they want?”
“I’ll tell you what we have. We have the ability to produce the gas that they use to run everything from lawn-mowers, to gas hungry SUVs. Haven’t you ever wondered why they refer to them as ‘fossil’ fuels?”
Johnny and Violet looked at each other, and then down at Spike. “But, how have they been able to keep us from seeing you?”
“They don’t have to try hard. No one has been looking. When your soldiers come over here to ‘fight’ our ‘bad government’, they are forced to stay in their tents, while their commanders try and work out the negotiations for your ‘great leader’. They aren’t allowed to talk about this of course, so while they sit in their tents, and memorize fake stories to tell when they get home. What about those who don’t come home? You ask. Those are the ones who don’t comply with the request of not speaking of what is really going on here. “
“Show us the fossil fuels then,” declared Violet. “If you can prove to us that you are producing fossil fuels then we’ll believe that our government is truly corrupt.”
Rouge walked over to the men in the white robes, and told them of this request. Rouge began walking back towards Violet, Johnny, and Spike. “They say that, that is fine. But only, if you help exploit this lie to your country when you get home.”
“Deal,” All three of them said, including Spike.
*************************************************************************
They had walked about a quarter of a mile, so a place where there were about 30 huge basins filled to the top with water. All around there were dinosaurs standing in lines, waiting. One by one, they’d fall into the basins, and roll around. “Okay,” Rouge started, getting their attention. “What happens here is, every dinosaur is assigned a line when they show up. Once they are assigned their basin, they are arranged in order. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Violet. That is the order. If ONE dinosaur is out of order, the entire batch will be ruined. Once they are in order they dive into the water. Once they are in the water, they roll onto their back, and turn their spikes toward the ground. That’s where our magic comes in, in their spikes. After 3 sets of dinosaurs go through, the process is complete. The men in white robes will come over, and pump the fuel into tanks, which are sold to various countries through out the world. The men here are very nice, and try and give us as much rest as possible, and loads of benefits. But your over demanding leader is just asking for too much. And we’ve been forced to go on strike, and refuse to sell our fuel to your country. “
Johnny and Violet looked at what was going on around them, and it couldn’t be denied, their process was producing the exact fuels that America was famous for wasting. “But, how do we get the mean Americans to stop,” said Spike with big sad eyes.
“Oh, don’t worry little one. People are generally good. Once they hear about the tyrannical nature of their leader, they’ll stop using so much of our fuel, and we’ll be able to supply it to them again. They just don’t know what’s going on. But with the help of you, and these two nice people here, this is all about to end.”
Spike turned to Violet and Johnny,” Let’s go! We have to stop this!”
“Well, you heard the boy,” Johnny started. “We’ve got to go. We’ll get to the United States and tell the press. I’m famous, they’ll listen to me. And once they know, they’ll probably sent some reporters over to get pictures of dinosaurs, existed, A few of them, may even request some sort of interview with a dinosaur. I recommend that you do the interviews Rouge, you know what you’re doing. The people will stop the overuse… but I don’t know how the president will handle us exploiting him. It’s a risk that I am willing to take though. You should start seeing results in about three weeks. I hope we do your cause justice!”
“Oh, hah-hah-hah, I’m sure you will! I have faith in you. Now on your way! The faster you get back to the States, the faster we can see results!”
The three of them start making their way towards where they originally stopped. “Wait, where are you going?” Rouge inquired.
“Back to the car,” Violet began, “we drove out here.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! Our men have planes. We’re sending you back on a nonstop flight to the States. You’ll be there by tomorrow morning! Come on!”
Violet and Johnny shrugged, they weren’t about to object a free plane ride back to the States.
*****************************************************************
It was a Saturday morning when they made it back into the States. They wrapped Spike up in a bundle of blankets, and carried him up to the news room in New York City. They went into the lobby and told the receptionist that they had a very important story to tell the editor about, that would change life as they knew it. Normally, a receptionist would roll her eyes, and tell the person to write it down, and she’d hand it to the editor later, but she was curious about the bundle in Violet’s arms, so she told them to take a seat, and the editor would be with them shortly.
Violet, Spike, and Johnny took a seat on a rather large couch facing the clock on the wall. They sat, and watched about twenty minutes pass on the clock, when all the sudden. “Mr. Johnny Gold and Violet Sage, yes, can you come on back to the office with me?” They stood up, Violet with Spike still wrapped in her arms, and followed the editor down a long hallway towards an office at the end of the hallway. “Step right in here, and make yourself at home. I just have to grab a copy of today’s paper, and I’ll be right with you.”
They sat down and made themselves comfortable, anticipating the response of the editor when she heard what they had to say.
“Okay,” said the editor walking in with a copy of that day’s paper, and a steaming cup of coffee. “I’m Blair Summers, what can I help you two with?”
“Well,” Johnny said with apprehension, “I’m Johnny Gold, and this is my best friend Violet Sage.” He paused looking around, as if debating whether or not to go through with what he was about to tell her, “And, you see, we have a very life altering story to tell you about.”
“Oh?” the editor inquired, raising an eye brow. “Well, do tell.”
Violet took control. “About two weeks ago, Johnny was walking in Blackberry Park just before dinner-time, and he saw something gold just off the trail. When he wandered off he realized that it was none other than some sort of egg with a spike coming out. Well, instead of leaving it there for some mindless person to find and go crazy with, he took it home with him, and called me over to help. He realized that the egg had some sort of message encrypted in it, and wanted to know what exactly this egg was. I told him, the only possible thing I could imagine it being was a dinosaur egg… and then it started to hatch. And what came out was most certainly a dinosaur. I told him to take the dinosaur and wash it off, while I worked on deciphering the message on the shell. I quickly decoded it and realized that it was telling us to go to the Middle East. I, naturally, was a bit apprehensive, but when the baby dinosaur actually asked “please?” we had to go. Yes, that’s right, the dinosaur was talking.” Violet paused, letting Blair consume what she’d just told her for a second. “And actually, why don’t I let Spike tell you the rest,” she said, unwrapping Spike.
Spike waddled out of the blanket that had been covering him, and stared up at Blair with his big green eyes. “Hi, I’m Spike,” he started timidly. “Well, you see, once we got to Baghdad, we were met by another dinosaur. His name was Rouge. He was real nice. So, it turns out, that we can speak to anyone in any language, we know them all! And, the ‘war in the Middle East’, that’s over us, the dinosaurs. You see, we’re magical. We produce the fuel, that Americans use so much of, we’re where Mr. Bush gets all the fuel from.” Spike paused, he was a little out of breath, he’d never talked that much, with so much excitement. “And you see, Mr. Bush, he wants them to work more than what’s healthy for ‘em. And they’re tired of it. And, the other dinosaurs think, that if American’s know what is going on, they’ll stop, and they’ll get rid of their leader.”
Blair Summers stared at the scene in front of her. A scientist, a rock star, and a dinosaur. Blair sighed. “I wouldn’t normally believe a story as far fetched as this, but obviously there is a dinosaur right in front of me, and well, you see.” Blair was silent for a moment. “I’d heard a rumor about this, years ago, but I had no proof, and no one knew for sure, it was more of an urban legend. If I could get a picture, of you two, and Spike here… I could make this the front page story in tomorrow’s paper. Sunday, is the papers biggest day, it’d get the most readers.”
Violet and Johnny both agreed, and Blair ran down the hall to get a camera. She figured she’d take the picture herself, and save the explaining ‘til later when she had more time to. Once the picture was taken, she asked a few more questions, got a few quotes, and got them a hotel room to stay in for a few nights.
******************************************************************
The next morning, the thud at 6:32am woke the three of them with a start. Violet ran to the door, she knew what this meant. The hotel they were staying at had complimentary newspapers each morning, and, the thud they’d just all awoken too, was the sound of Sunday Mornings Delivery.
Dinosaurs and a Foul Leader
Sunday’s paper told the story of how President George W Bush, and his predecessors had been hiding the secret that dinosaurs still existed from the world. And not only did they exist, but they spoke English, and were responsible for all the fuels that America depended. It discussed how President Bush was forcing the dinosaurs to work long hours because he had to get his precious fuels. It corrected the misconception that the war in the Middle East was over a bad government, but rather, the war was completely based on the dinosaurs’ rights. In the upper hand right corner was the picture of Johnny, Violet, and Spike, with a captain saying, “Thank God for these Brave Souls!”
“I can’t believe it,” shrieked Violet! “We got the story to the front page of the news paper, this is great! Now everyone is going to cut back on their fuel usage, and it’ll be just perfect. Bush will lose his spot in office, and they’ll elect someone who will watch out for the rights of the dinosaurs. It’s great Johnny! Oh and Spike! I’m sure you can go home with your family and friends now! If you want I mean.”
Johnny looked at Spike, and back to Violet. “I don’t know Vi, somehow I don’t think that we’re done with this quite yet. Do you really think Bush is going to let his reputation be totally bashed and not say a thing? He’s going to try and retaliate, but I haven’t figured out how. “ With that being said, Spike let out a depressed sigh.
“I just want them to leave my family alone. We’re working! We’re trying to put the magic to good use, and supply the world with energy, it’s just, one corrupt man had to go and take it too far.” Violet and Johnny both smiled at Spike with comforting eyes, and reassured him that in no time at all, things would be good, they just had to weather the storm first.
Just then, the telephone rang. Johnny picked it up, “Hello?” he paused listening to the voice on the other end. “A press conference? Today? When and where?” He paused again waiting for some sort of reply. “You mean, Spike and I would go to one, and Violet would go to another?” He stopped again writing down the details on a pad of sticky notes that the hotel had left by the bed “Okay, okay, okay, I’ve got it all. Okay, well, I’ll see you then I guess.” Johnny hung up the phone.
“What was all that about?” Violet asked while shining some of Spike’s golden spikes.
“Blair says there are a few people who want press conferences. She said that you’ll have to go to one by yourself though, and Spike and I to another. Something about it not being safe for all three of us to be together. I’m not really sure, but she said there’d be a car sent for you at 11, and for Spike and I to meet her at the office around 10:30. Is that okay with you?”
Violet grinned. “Perfectly fine,” she said. “I wonder if anywhere’s open yet for me to go look for a new dress!”
Johnny and Spike looked at each other, with that typical boy understanding. “Women,” they both joked. “They’ll never change.”
“Oh please, will you two hush. Now Johnny, I want you to go take a shower, you may be a Pirate, but I want you looking nice and clean for this press conference! Oh, and Spike come here; let me polish off your spikes. I want you both to look spick and span for this!” Both of them just sighed and gave in to Violet’s orders, and before long it was 10:00.
“And you’re sure you don’t mind going alone Violet?”
“Johnnyyyy, it’s fine! I’m perfectly able. It’s not like I haven’t talked to huge crowds before. I was valedictorian of both my high school and college class, and I took a few classes in public speaking in college.”
Johnny gave Violet a boyish grin, “Is there anything you didn’t do in college?”
“Rugby! But that’s another story, for another time. Off you go, I expect to hear great things about this press conference of yours Pirate!”
With that Johnny was off to the office to meet Blair, and Violet changed into the dress she’d had delivered to the room with a little VIP help from Blair. She put on some make up, and met the car that she thought was taking her to a press conference outside of the lobby.
“Good Morning Ms. Sage, How are you this fine morning?”
“A bit chilly, this autumn air came a lot faster than I was expecting, but other than that, I’m just fantastic.”
“Well that’s great Ma’am, it really is. Now, if you don’t mind, you can get in the back, and I’ll have you on your way,” said the chauffer while opening the door.
“Thank you,” Violet said while stepping into the limo, and breathing in one last breath of autumn air.
*****************************************************************************
Across town in Blair’s office, Johnny and Spike were being prepped for any questions they may be asked during the press conference. All the sudden, the phone rang. “Hello,” Blair answered. “Um, hold on, Let me talk to Johnny.”
Blair looked towards Johnny ,”Violet was going to the press conference right?”
“Yeah, she even had a dress delivered to the hotel room this morning. Why, is something wrong?”
“It’s just that, its 11:30, and she hasn’t arrived, and the driver said that when he got there, she never came down. He went in and tried to have the front desk call her room and there was no answer.”
Johnny stood up, and Spike ran towards the door. “What? I can’t do this press conference is my best friend is missing! I’ve got to go find her, something must be horribly wrong.”
“Okay, Mr. Gold, I understand, Go find her! I hope everything is okay. Let me know when you’re up to doing an interview!!!”
“Bye Blair!” Johnny yelled, while running down the hall towards the door.
“Bye Blair!” Squealed Spike, following Johnny closely down the hall.
Johnny and Spike ran down the streets of New York towards their hotel room. Maybe Violet had just been in the shower, or she’d decided not to go and wasn’t taking calls. There had to be a reasonable explanation. Johnny busted through the doors into the lobby of the hotel, with Spike just behind them “Johnny, lets take the stairs,” Spike said. “Its quicker than trying to wait for the elevator.”
“Good idea Spike.” The two of them bolted up the three levels of stairs, and ran down the third floor hallway towards their room. They unlocked the door quickly and walked into a very empty room. “Look around, see if there is anything here to help us figure out where she is!” The two of them had been looking around for about five minutes when Spike spoke up.
“Johnny, I found a note over here by the door. I think it’s from the president.” Johnny ran towards Spike and picked up the note.
This is the official office of the President of the United States of American
You are being warned:
We have your friend Violet Sage, and we are holding her hostage.
She is being watched by some of the countries best guards.
And will be kept here until you take back your statement,
about the dinosaurs, and the troubles in the Middle East.
You have 24 hours.
George W. Bush
“Spike! Did you hear that? They have Violet, the government does! They say they’ll only give her back if we retract our statements. Deny everything. Say it’s all a lie. We can’t do that! We have to go and get Violet!”
“We can do that Johnny, we just have to think like George Bush. If you were the president of the United States, where would you hold someone hostage? It has to be somewhere around here, he wouldn’t take her all the way back to DC. She’s in this city somewhere. We just have to figure out where.”
“You’ve got a point. Okay, okay, okay. Let’s see. Where’s the best place in this city to hold someone hostage, somewhere where they won’t be seen. Hmm- but where?”
“Oh!” Jumped spike! “I know where he’d take her, I know where he’d take her!”
“Where?” Johnny said, slightly offended that a dinosaur who’d only been in this city twenty four hours could think of where someone would be held hostage, and he who’d been here multiple times had no idea.
“She’s in the basement of the Met!” Spike announced. “Of course they’d take her there, with all the security that the museum already has, and the added governmental security, there’d be no way for her to escape!”
“You’ve got a fairly good point. But,, with all that security how do we get her out of there? Spike, you’re a dinosaur; it’d be pretty obvious if you walked into The Met with me. And even if I went in alone, chances are they’d keep me too, and tell the world there was some tragic death, and that we were psychotic fame seekers, and invalidate everything we said.”
“I could dig a hole in the ground, I mean look at these feet! I could dig it deep enough to get you down to where the vents for the basement are, you could crawl in, and find the room she’s in, and take her out that way. If she’s in the basement, chances are she’s alone anyway. The guards are probably stationed outside the door though, so we’d have to make it quiet.”
“That’s a great idea, okay, let’s hope that’s where she is, let’s go!”
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Spike and Johnny ran across down quickly, and made their way to the back of The Met. They snuck around back, and Spike looked around and found the right place to start digging. He dug about three feet in the ground when he found the vent, Johnny crawled down, and told Spike to be careful, and that If anyone were to come, act tough and scary, because that’s what most people thought dinosaurs were.
Johnny crawled through the venting system for about three minutes when he saw a room, there was someone in there, he looked through the vent, and there she was. Violet. And, even better, she was alone.
“Pssstt, Violet. It’s Johnny, I’m gonna get you out of here, “
“Oh Johnny! Thank you for coming to find me!” Violet said through sobs.
“Alright Violet, back up, there might be some dirt that falls when I remove this vent,” Violet backed away waiting for Johnny to remove the vent. “Alright, it’s out, now on the count of three, I need you to jump with all of your might, okay?”
“Okay,” Violet replied.
“One, Two, Three.” And with that, Violet jumped up and Johnny grabbed her wrists. He slowly pulled her through the vent, once she was in he placed the vent back into place, and they started crawling towards Spike. When they got a little closer, they heard someone was talking to Spike.
“No Sir, I will not move! In fact you’re lucky that I’m not chasing you, and letting you run for your life right now!” When Johnny and Violet got a little closer, they realized that it was none other than George W, talking to Spike.
Johnny whispered to Violet, “Let’s get this guy. Okay? We’ll get out, and tell Spike to start chasing him down the street towards the supermarket. Once he gets through the doors, we’ll chase him to the back, and lock him into the meet freezer.”
“Sounds like a plan!” Violet said with a bit of a giggle. “He won’t know what’s hit him”
Johnny crawled out first, and Bush saw him right away. “You,” he said! “You’re responsible for this!” Johnny smirked.
“Eh, Go get ‘im Spike. Chase down to the Marker, Violet and I can handle him from there!”
“Excuse me? What, do you thi--- AHHHHHHHHHHHH!” With Johnny’s approval Spike started chasing George down the street, Violet and Johnny had hopped onto his back before he got too far, so they’d be able to jump off when they reached the market. The chase was about two minutes to the store, Bush ran in, and started heading for the back.
“Perfect!” Violet smiled. “He’s doing exactly what we want him to! But hey, let me run up ahead of him alright? I’ll get the freezer door open, and you can just chase him in okay?”
“Can you run that fast?” Johnny said between breathes.
“Sure can, I was a track star in college!” With that Violet took off. Johnny followed Bush and chased him until they reached the back. Violet was standing there with the door wide open, and Bush didn’t even realize what had happened until Johnny pushed him down, stepped out, and Violet locked the door.
They both heard a loud yelp from the inside of the freezer, but figured it was just the fall on to the cement floor that had caused him such pain. They called the authorities, who took Bush into their hands, promising that he wouldn’t be a president any longer, after all the news that they’d just heard.
After the hustle and bustle around the store died down, and Johnny and Violet were walking up front to find Spike, Johnny looked at Violet, “You really are amazing, I mean, is there anything you can’t do?”
“Rugby,” she said with a smile.
“Oh, and how come?” Johnny asked with a grin.
“They’re aren’t enough rules! Drives me crazy!”
Johnny laughed, and at this point they were up where Spike had been waiting for the last hour. “Well, looks like we’ve got a little hero on our hands,” Johnny said grinning at Spike.
“Aw, I’m not hero!”
“But you are Spike! If you hadn’t thought of The Met, we wouldn’t have found Violet, and if you hadn’t chased Bush here, he might have gotten away with everything he’s been doing! You’re a hero Spike, and you’ve just saved your family from the evil Mr. Bush! You’re a hero to human and dinosaur alike!”
Spike smiled. He really felt like a hero, and was glad he had been able to help.
In the next couple of months, Johnny and Violet began to see more and more of each other, and eventually started dating. Spike decided to stay with Johnny at his new home off in the country. Johnny went solo, and started recording songs on his own, under his new record label “Spike Records”. His new album came out in the Christmas of the following year, and reflected his journeys with Spike, and his new romance with Violet. Violet got a job at The Met, and commuted there everyday from Johnny’s home in the country.
The United States had a new Dinosaur Friendly leader, and Americans everywhere cut down on their energy use. The dinosaurs in the Middle East were happy, and sent Spike post cards all the time.
And for once, everyone in the world was at peace.
The End