“I don’t think they want to be found,” said Russell Tusks, who had just returned to the hotel after giving up his search for the co-pilot and the stewardess in the exotic garden. “I heard whispering and rustling, but I couldn’t find them.”
“I’m sure they’ll come out when they’re ready!” said Miss Wu.
Just then there was a terrific CRASH!! from above.
“What was that!” Wu cried out.
“Sounds like something big and heavy hit the roof!” said Tusks. “I hope it wasn’t the airship!”
“It can’t be!” said Miss Wu. “Captain Cookie is such a gentle pilot!”
They went upstairs, reassuring guests who had been woken-up and who were standing on the landing or anxiously peering into the corridor from their rooms. Wu and Tusks went up to the top floor of the hotel, and then, nervously opened the door to the flat rooftop, not knowing what they would find there. They certainly weren’t expecting to see a dinosaur!
“Hello!” said the dinosaur, wincing and rubbing its dark, purply-green head. “My name is Chops, nice to meet you!”
“Oh!” said Wu.
“Chopposaurus!” said Tusks, who was a zoologist.
“That’s right! Don’t worry, I’m a herbivore!” said Chops. “And I’m very hungry! Do you have anything to eat? Some giant ferns, perhaps?”
“Err.. there’s some cress in the refrigerator..” said Wu, still a bit shocked to be conversing with a prehistoric beast.
“But how did you get here?”
“Refrigerator?” said Chops. “What is that?”
“In the kitchen.. it’s a sort of... er... ice cabinet for keeping things cool and fresh,” said Wu.
“I’ll help myself if that’s all right. I really am very hungry!” said Chops. And with that it rushed off, scraping its scaly reptilian skin along the bannisters as it squeezed down the staircase.
“Monster!” cried Temples, the co-pilot, and Singsong the flight attendant as they came running into the hotel lobby a few minutes later.
Miss Wu and Russell Tusks had followed the dinosaur down the staircase and into the kitchen, finding the refrigerator open and empty with the remaining non-vegetable contents strewn about the floor. Obviously, the vegetables and salad in the kitchen had not been enough to satisfy the dinosaur’s hunger and it had gone into the exotic garden, inadvertently forcing Temples and Singsong to flee.
“Monster!” they cried again, hugging each other.
“No need to panic!” said Miss Wu. “It’s a herbivore. It won’t eat us!”
“But it might scoff all the precious exotic plants in the garden!” said Tusks. “We must stop it!”
© David Severn 2013
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