The Secret of Bigfoot Valley by Thomas Girard

Author:Thomas Girard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Published: 2021-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Benny bounced in his seat. “Are we going to see real dinosaurs?” he asked. “Really real ones?”

Dr. Iris smiled. “As real as they get.”

CHAPTER 6

THE REAL THING

The campers finished their lunches quickly. Once everyone was on the bus, Michelle began to count to make sure everyone was there.

Jessie looked around. “Where’s Tara?” she asked. Jessie had gotten used to looking for her tentmate. Tara seemed to be good at going missing. “Has anyone seen her?”

Toby shook his head.

“She finished lunch before we did,” said Violet. “We thought she had gone ahead of us.”

“There she is,” Henry said, pointing out the window.

Tara came out from the back of the dining hall and ran to the bus. She was out of breathe when she climbed aboard. “Sorry. I saw Len and wanted to help Chef Pepper unload the supplies.”

“That was thoughtful of you,” Dr. Iris said. “But we were worried. Remember our buddy system? Let one of your tentmates know where you’re going, and try to keep track of the schedule.”

“Okay,” Tara mumbled as she sat down in front of Violet and Jessie.

Once everyone was seated, the bus began to pull out of the parking lot. Then it screeched to a halt. The delivery van shot in front of them. Len didn’t even look their way as he sped off.

“That kid!” the bus driver said. “I wonder where he’s off to in such a hurry. He’s usually a careful driver.”

“Did he say why he was in a rush?” Jessie asked Tara.

“He said he had a lot to do today,” Tara said. “I’m going to take a nap. Wake me up when we get there.”

As Tara leaned her head against the window, Jessie and Violet shared a worried look. They had spent more than a day with Tara. She barely seemed interested in talking to them at all. Did she just like time to herself? Or was there another explanation?

After a long ride into town, the bus pulled in to the natural history museum. Inside, the museum was full of dinosaur skeletons, big and small. Right in the middle of the main hall stood a stegosaurus.

“It’s even bigger than I thought!” Benny yelled.

As the campers walked around the skeleton, Jessie asked, “Why are some of the bones a different color?”

Their counselor Jared started to answer, but one of the museum staff interrupted him.

“This skeleton is almost complete, but there were a few bones missing,” the staffer said. “We made replacement bones out of a special kind of clay. We kept them a different color so you know they aren’t part of the original.”

“Why would some be missing?” Violet asked.

Again, Jared looked as if he wanted to respond, but the staffer spoke first.

“The soil and temperature conditions have to be just right for bones to fossilize. If a bone doesn’t fossilize, it breaks down. That’s why you don’t find animal bones all over the forest.”

“That would be weird to go on a hike and find bones everywhere,” Henry said.

“I bet Watch would like that a lot!” said Benny.

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