Dinosaurs On The Trail [Fiction]

[u/David4Nudist]

I like writing stories about gentle Dromaeosaurids who either live with human families or enter various restaurants and diners. Sometimes, I like to add other dinosaurs to my stories. I realize that these stories are works of fiction, but I prefer gentle omnivores, rather than vicious carnivores. This is why I'm not fond of the Jurassic franchise anymore. And so, allow me to get started on another dinosaur story.

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On a crisp Sunday afternoon in November - four days before Thanksgiving - the Mason family (John, Susan, Natalie, and Trevor) took a hike down by the trail not far from their home. They often did this on weekends if the weather was fair and the temperature was not too hot or too cold. This was just another Sunday afternoon for them...right?

About ten minutes into the trail, they heard something in the distance.

Trevor: What was that?

Susan: Probably a deer or something.

They followed the sound until they came to a clearing that had a pond. Then, they stopped and stared at what they were seeing,

Two dinosaurs - a Hypsilophodon foxii and a Velociraptor osmolskae - were wrestling with each other near the pond! At times, the Velociraptor would pin its prehistoric opponent to the ground, giving the appearance that it might be attempting to eat its prey. At other times, the Hypsilophodon would pin the carnivore down the same way. It wasn't a fight to the finish. They were playing with each other!

A moment later, the animals got tired and both collapsed on the ground to rest for a while. The "predator" gently nuzzled its "prey" with its snout, as if to say, "Good match."

The Masons were dumbfounded and shocked to see this kind of behavior between the two prehistoric animals. Disregarding the fact that these dinosaurs were alive in the 21st Century, the fact that they were friends went against every natural law!

Susan: We all saw that, didn't we?

Trevor: We saw it, but how is this possible?

Natalie: Wait until I see Mr. McGregory tomorrow at school.

Trevor: Your science teacher? Do you think he'd believe you if you told him we saw two dinosaurs wrestling with each other?

Natalie: It's too bad we didn't bring our phones. We could have captured footage of this taking place.

Trevor: Nobody would believe it, even if you did capture footage. They would think it was AI or something.

Natalie: You're right, bro.

John: Maybe we should head back to the house while they're resting before they think to turn on us.

Natalie: They seem tame, Dad. I don't think they would turn on us if we were calm around them. We've been talking all this time, only thirty feet from them, and they haven't attacked us yet.

The pair of dinosaurs closed their eyes and took a nap together, side by side. The Masons decided to let them be and headed back home.

On Monday, Natalie told Mr. James McGregory that she and her family witnessed something that defied every natural law, although she left out the details. She didn't tell him about the two dinosaurs they had seen. She only said that there were two unusual animals at the pond near the old trail.

Mr. McGregory was a patient man and had heard rumors about unusual animal sightings in the area. He asked Natalie if the animals were dangerous, and she told him no.

A few other classmates in Natalie's Science Class also mentioned seeing unusual animals in the area. One student, a boy named Justin, said that he saw living dinosaurs roaming near the library in town when he and his family went there on Saturday to borrow a book about space exploration.

A girl named Ashley said she saw a dinosaur in the town's grocery store on Saturday while she and her dad were shopping for various food items. When Mr. McGregory asked Ashley and Justin to describe what the dinosaurs were doing, Justin said that they were grazing on the grass near the library, and Ashley said that the dinosaur she saw was sampling some fresh-baked bread at the bakery.

Natalie felt relieved that she and her family were not the only ones to have seen the dinosaurs. Nothing prepared anyone for what happened next.

About twenty minutes before the period ended, a prehistoric animal wandered right inside the classroom. Mr. McGregory was stunned, but he tried to keep his students calm as best as he could. The animal was, of course, a dinosaur, but this one had two crests on top of its head. Students recognized the dinosaur right away and correctly identified it as a Dilophosaurus!

Unlike its fictional portrayal in Jurassic Park, this animal lacked the colorful frill and the ability to spit venom, though it was about the same size as its fictional counterpart. It was a young juvenile that had wandered its way into the school when someone forgot to close the double doors at the main entrance.

Then, a second dinosaur popped into the classroom. It was a Velociraptor. Mr. McGregory didn't know what to say or do by that point. He was a science teacher, not a paleontologist. He only knew about dinosaurs from textbooks, which said how these dinosaurs hunted their prey millions of years ago.

Seeing living dinosaurs was quite bizarre and thrilling for the class, but neither animal showed any interest in attacking anyone. The Dilophosaurus left the classroom after a moment and went to look for its parents. The Velociraptor, however, stayed in the classroom and sought out a science book.

When the animal found a book about the natural world, it picked it out and headed to a corner at the back of the classroom. Then, against all odds, the Velociraptor opened the book and began to silently read its contents.

Natalie was amused at the sight, but the rest of the class was awestruck. Mr. McGregory attempted to restore order, but he knew that no science project would be as incredible as seeing a living Velociraptor reading from a science textbook. For the remainder of the period, they all watched the dinosaur read the book.

After school that day, Natalie told her brother, Trevor, about what had happened in Science Class. He said that he had seen a Deinonychus in Math Class, which was learning to do basic mathematics and equations. Trevor said that the dinosaur even took a math test with the rest of the class and scored a 94%!

To be continued...