Over the Rainbow by Brian Rowe

Author:Brian Rowe [Rowe, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brian Rowe
Published: 2013-12-01T23:00:00+00:00

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In the next hour, only one car passed us—we tried to wave it down but the man swerved to the left and almost ran Frankie over. We found the bottom of the hill, but we were still surrounded by trees. After awhile I wondered if we’d ever escape the massive forest.

“Hold on,” Frankie said, breathing hard. “I need to stop for a second.”

Mr. Balm didn’t even turn around. “Not yet. We need to get to Portland. It’s going to be dark any minute!”

“I need a break, too,” I said. “Just five minutes? Please?”

“You’ve had plenty of breaks! Come on, guys.”

I gave the man a cold stare. He sighed and marched back to us. He opened up his backpack and gave us bottled waters and a handful of almonds to share. “Two minutes.”

I inhaled the dry, tasteless almonds and took a swig of the lukewarm water. They weren’t potato chips and rum, but they would do.

I walked up to Judy and gave her the rest of my water. I kneeled down, let her lick the remaining drops. I looked past her. A large dirt trail veered off from the paved road.

I pointed to it. “What’s that?”

“What?” Mr. Balm asked.

“This trail. Do you think it goes anywhere? A house maybe?”

“I don’t know,” he said. He took a sip from his own water bottle, then zipped up his backpack. “We need to stay on the main road. It’s safer.”

“Yeah? It didn’t seem very safe a few miles back.” I pulled on my sweaty white dress. It stuck to my skin like glue. “I want to get out of this dress. I hate this dress!”

Frankie burped, then sipped more of his water. “But it makes you look so adorable.”

“Don’t make fun of me,” I said, crossing my arms. “I’m not in the mood.”

“You guys ready?” Mr. Balm asked, already continuing on his steady walk.

“Yeah,” Frankie said. “I guess.” He followed.

But I stayed put. I was the first to hear it. “Wait a second.”

Frankie and Mr. Balm noticed it, too. The ground rumbled.

“Oh no,” Frankie said. “You don’t think it’s a…”

“A what?” I asked.

“You know? A T. rex?”

A tree tipped and crashed into the road fifty yards ahead of us. And another dinosaur appeared. Not the one Frankie suggested.

“Oh, whoa,” he said.

“I second that,” I added.

The triceratops had been big, but the stegosaurus was enormous. At least thirty feet tall and fifteen feet wide, it stepped out onto the road in a calm, nonchalant manner.

“Get back,” Mr. Balm said, and he put his arms out to block us, like if the stegosaurus decided to stomp in our direction he’d be able to stop it.

But it didn’t head toward us; the dinosaur walked across the pavement, past the barking Judy, and onto the dirt road. I focused on its massive green plates, while Frankie pointed out its brown-spiked tail. It disappeared back into the trees.

Mr. Balm sighed. “I guess it didn’t want to hurt us.”

“No,” I said. “The stegosaurus never would. It’s a herbivore.”

“Thanks for the history lesson, Zippy.

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