Copyright 1998 -- Robert Baer Jr. D J Entry --- "Bedtime Story" W A R N I N G -------------------------------------------- D I S C L A I M E R The following is PURE FICTION, it REALLY DIDN'T HAPPEN, only in my mind. It's being presented for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY, and NOT MEANT TO B TAKEN TOO SERIOUSLY... It represents a struggle of the mind. The Dinosaur Chronicles: PROLOGUE Among the various web sites and e-mail addresses in cyberspaces roams a dinosaur, but not just any old dinosaur, a Computer Dinosaur! One who thinks "LOL" means "Lettice on Limburger" sandwich. How does this throwback to a different era manage in today's world? That's a good question! Entry # 946 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ End of a busy day. Had a day off work, so Prairie Mason's "kids" were staying with me for the weekend! All four of them are delightful young dogs, Anita, Allen, Alexander and Alice. We visited the park and the tar pits, and even went on a hike with the Computer Gila Monster and Xeren Zzoom! The Gila was in a bad mood because he couldn't find one decent anthill to "plunder." Oh well, at least we were all home at the cave now, and ready to go turn in for the evening. There was some discussion among the "children" about having me read them a bedtime story before they went to bed. "I want a story, Uncle Dinosaur!" Alice pleaded. "Oh please read us a story!" Alexander begged. "Hey, we're too old for bedtime stories," Allen argued. "I love your stories, Uncle Dinosaur!" Anita stated,"Allen, I won't tell anyone if you don't." "Well, OK" Allen snickered,"at least we get to stay up later!" "Alright, y'all!" I said,"let me go get one of my storybooks, I'll be right back!" I walked into my spare room and grabbed a book off the top shelf of my bookcase. It's a good thing I have many dinosaur-sized books to read, otherwise I'd have to use binoculars to read human-sized literature! I returned to the living room with the book. "Here it is, y'all!" I proudly proclaimed,"this book is kinda new, it's a short story called 'Dinky Dinosaur', it has illustrations too!" "Oh boy!" Alexander exclaimed. "Sounds good to me!" Anita said. "No one reads a story like you, Uncle Dinosaur!" Alice shouted. "Well, that's true sis," Allen agreed. "Ok, here we go!" I said with nervous anticipation. "Once upon a time in a far away land called Jurrasia lived a community of dinosaurs. They loved to have fun and frolic every day on the seashore. Among these happy residents of the community was Dinky, a dinosaur who was very well liked among his peers. He always went out of his way to help others and faithfully served the ruler of the community, King Eugene. Dinky even had a mate, her name was Auroua and they loved each other dearly! For many years Dinky and Auroua lived happily with all of their dinosaur friends in the community. They were a "model" couple whom were well respected and admired. But one day, Dinky and Auroua's happy life soon was shattered. King Eugene called for them to appear in his royal judgement hall. Neither of the two dinosaurs was prepared for what happened next. The King angerly accused both Dinky and Auroua of high treason and violations of Jurrasian laws. Dinky protested, repeatedly proclaiming his and Auroua's innocence. "I am the law in Jurrasia!" King Eugene roared," and I say you two are guilty, and everyone here WILL agree with me!" Dinky and Auroua looked around at the crowd of dinosaurs who had gathered around them. Nearly all were their friends, but at the King's annoncement, all of them turned their backs on them both! Some in the crowd shed tears, while others had sinister looking snears on their faces. Dinky couldn't believe his eyes! Auroua couldn't take this mass rejection and ran away! "Auroua, come back!" Dinky shouted but she was long gone. "We'll deal with that traitor Auroua later," the King snarled,"but as for you, Dinky Dinosaur, I sentence you to exile! Take him to the shore, you know what to do next!" The angry mob seized Dinky and carried him to the edge of the water. King Eugene looked on with glee as he watched the crowd construct a primative log raft, and tied Dinky securely to it! Each of his four feet was strapped down with one large rope tied around his back. All poor Dinky could move was his long neck and tail as the angry mob slowly pushed the homemade raft into the ocean. "Now Dinky Dinosaur," King Eugene bellowed,"you'll float far away from Jussaria and never be seen again! We tied you to your raft so you couldn't jump off and swim back here, because WE DON"T WANT YOU ANYMORE! GOODBYE, YOU REBEL!" The ocean current carried Dinky's raft farther and farther out to sea. All Dinky could do was glance sadly back at Jurrisia and weep. He'd lost his friends, his mate and everything he had in a matter of hours! The raft continued on it's lonely journey, Dinky had no idea when or even if he'd ever see land again. Hours passed slowly, the ropes that held his feet and body on the raft drew tighter as the seawater splashed on them. The ropes began to cut him, but that pain didn't compare to the pain he felt in his heart! Betrayal! How could all of those dinosaur friends of his and even King Eugene do this to him? He knew that he and Auroua were not guilty, why wouldn't anyone listen to him? Now he was alone in the middle of the ocean on a ramshackle raft with no food, no water and no way to control his destiny. Suddenly, a storm began to rock the raft as huge waves continuously crashed into the small vessel. Dinky was terrified, he had no idea what would happen next. He thought about screaming for help, but knew that no one would hear him. He did the only thing he could, prayed to God for a miracle as the raft swayed back and forth on the water. The storm grew worse, Dinky was so exhausted that he passed out. When Dinky awakened the next morning, he couldn't believe what he saw! The raft had landed safely on the beach in a strange new land. Barely able to hold his head up, Dinky glanced up and saw many odd looking creatures running towards him. He wanted to run away, but all of his feet were still bound to the raft! To Dinky's complete surprise, the odd creatures began to loosen his ropes! One said "you poor thing, it's alright, we've come to help you!" Another called for a first aid kit and bandaged all of Dinky's rope burns. They creatures were much smaller than he was, but they truly seemed genuinely concerned about him. "This poor dinosaur is starved, someone bring him some food," one shouted as many of these creatures carried many baskets of fruits and vegetables to him. Another muttered "how could anyone have done such a thing to another living creature like that?" Dinky just couldn't believe how warmly these strangers had received him! Dinky tried to explain to them that he was an "exile" and that he was being punished but the odd beings wouldn't listen to him, they just kept helping him recover from his terrible ordeal. In a matter of days when Dinky could walk on his own four legs again, the odd creatures brought him to stand before their leader, who asked Dinky how he had arrived on their shore. Dinky described in detail the entire story, this prompted the leader to speak: 'Young Dinosaur, I am the Mayor of this town. We are called humans, and live in this city much like your kind live in Jussaria. I nor any of my advisers know where this Jussaria is, so it is impossible for us to return you there. However, you, Dinky Dinosaur, are free to stay with us, we would be thrilled to have you join our small community. We do not care about your past, we only know that we have come to love you and want you to become a citizen of the town, will you join us?' Dinky could hardly believe his good fortune! He was so overwhelmed with gratitide, he began to cry! "It would be an honor to join your group," he muttered through his tears. The people cheered,"HOORAY FOR DINKY DINOSAUR!" as they followed him into the street. The kindness, warmth and generousity of these people made Dinky forget all about his painful past. Dinky Dinosaur lived happily ever after among his new human friends! The end." "Wow, that was some story!" Alice said sleepily. "I'm glad it had a happy ending!" Allen added, his eyes beginning to close. "Good story, Uncle Dinosaur!" Anita shouted with a yawn. "I really liked it," Alexander said,"but who wrote it?" "The author has a funny sounding name," I said,"I can see that y'all had better climb into your sleeping bags and get some rest, I'll fix you a big breakfast in the morning." "Ok, good night Uncle Dinosaur!" all four said in unison as they crawled into their sleeping bags. As I placed the book back on the shelf, I glanced one last time at the cover. "Hmmmmm," I wondered outloud,"I wonder how this R Baer fellow came up with such a weird idea for a children's storybook?" End of Entry --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------