The Dinosaur Four by Geoff Jones

Author:Geoff Jones
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2014-05-25T00:00:00+00:00

[ 32 ]

A herd of four dozen seismosaurs grazed offshore in knee-deep water. They munched on seaweed, slowly reeling long strands into their mouths like children slurping spaghetti. Their necks stretched eighty feet out. As they lumbered along, they kicked up small waves which rolled back and forth between them.

Tim looked in awe at the ocean spread out before him. All that water. He had never seen the ocean before. It looked like dull slate, not the brilliant blue-green he expected.

“They aren’t real,” Callie said. “They can’t be. Someone put something in my drink and I’m hallucinating.” Hank put his arm around her.

Morgan snapped his fingers. “I know those. Those are Brontosauruses.”

William shook his head. “I don’t think so. They’re in the sauropod family, but these are bigger. And besides, they don’t use the name ‘brontosaurus’ any more. It’s ‘Apatosaurus’ now.”

“Pat o’saurus?” Morgan snickered. “What are they, fucking Irish?”

William squinted at the offshore giants. “These look more like diplodocus. See how long their tails are?”

Morgan clapped William on the back. “I am so glad I got stuck in the land of the lost with the world’s only black dinosaur nerd.”

William smiled. “Someday, Morgan, you will have children of your own and you will become an expert on dinosaurs, or insects, or Japanese fighting robots, or something.”

“I’m already an expert on Japanese fighting robots, bro.”

Callie looked over. “Maybe he’ll have a little girl and become an expert on princesses.”

William chuckled and studied the great beasts in the distance. “Diplodocus wasn’t so big though. Those look enormous.”

“Hey!” Callie pointed. “Forget about the damn dinosaurs. Look what I see!” Off to the left, about a quarter mile out from the surf, an orange light blinked, like a buoy marking the mouth of the river. “That’s got to be it!”

They all gazed at the object bobbing in the water.

“Fuckin’ A,” Morgan said. “I’m going to get so wasted when we get home.” He lit his second-to-last cigarette.

Tim focused on the device. It glinted in the sunlight. I have got to take swimming lessons. He had a few thousand dollars saved up in the bank. Maybe I could take Julie on a vacation to Hawaii. He wondered if it was too early to invite her on a vacation. “How far out do you think that is?” he asked.

“Less than two thousand feet,” Hank said. "You all stay here. Build a sandcastle or something. I’ll go get it.”

“We gotta be careful now,” Al cautioned. “So far, the plant eaters have been just as bad as the meat eaters. Maybe we should wait until they clear out.”

Hank looked across the water at the wading giants. “Those things are so big, how can they even notice us? We’re like ants.” Most of the herd grazed beyond the time machine and nearly a hundred feet separated the device from the closest dinosaur. They moved slowly to the right, following the coast southward. “Besides, it doesn’t look very deep.” The water appeared to be three or four feet high where it met the dinosaurs’ legs, even the ones farthest out.

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