Tony’s Story
I think it was the summer of 2005, on a bright sunny morning, I had gone into town to work earlier than usual. I was outside watering the all the plants we have sitting out in front of the Depot. We have always done our best to have a variety of flowers such as trailing petunias of various colors hanging over our tall planters, while the yellow marigolds and pink snap dragons fill the pots sitting on the ground. It takes time to put the right amount of water in each pot, and I was so busy checking the flowers that I didn’t notice the shadow that blocked the sun for an instant nor did I hear any flutter of wings. So you can imagine my surprise when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. As he started to clear his throat to say, “Excuse me,” I almost jumped out of my skin. When I turned around, I gasped and stepped backward, almost tripping over the granite plant stand. There in front of me was what appeared to be a big long head with a very long brown beak and two big green eyes staring at me. As I stood there staring at him with my mouth wide open in a silent scream, I was able to see that his head wasn’t really so large, but there was a long bony protrusion covered with an iridescent skin that extended out making his head appear very long. Even though he was no more than four feet from head to tail, he stood as tall and stately as he could with his short tail trailing behind him. When he moved, the mottled green skin on his whole body seemed to shimmer in the morning sun.
He realized he had frightened me and immediately said, “Oh, don’t be afraid. I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just wondering if you could tell me where I could find the BedRock Depot. We’ve all heard about this Bedrock Depot place and I was sent to find it.”
“W…w…well, this IS BedRock Depot,” I stuttered. “but just w…wh… who are you?”
“Oh, I am sooo happy to meet you,” he exclaimed. “Allow me to introduce myself,” and with a graceful bow he continued, “My name is Teron Adon, but my friends call me Terry, and I do hope you will do so also.” His dark claws seemed to hold his leathery skin as if he was wearing a regal green robe, and that bright yellow scarf around his neck reminded me of pictures I’ve seen of what airplane pilots wore a century ago.
By this time I had already realized a sense of comfort with this friendly goofy creature, and all my fear had disappeared. He was such a gentleman. “Well, hello then Terry. I’m very glad to meet you as well. My name is Leona. I am one of the owners. So tell me, what can I do for you?”
He stepped back away from the building and looked at it and then looked at me. He then exclaimed, “Wow! I can’t believe it. I’m standing right in front of BedRock Depot! THE BedRock Depot! We’ve heard so much about your store, and everyone wanted to find out if people really exist!”
At this point, I couldn’t help but laugh a little. I tried very hard to suppress the giggle in my voice as I answered him, “Yes, I do actually exist and this is THE Bedrock Depot in Dinosaur, Colorado.”
He looked at me very business-like and said, “I guess you think it’s funny, but I am quite serious when I say we didn’t know for certain if you were real since none of us had ever seen a human before. We’ve heard of humans off and on from those who venture outside our world, but most of the time the stories have been shrugged off until reports came in about you. Everyone who heard of you got excited and thought just maybe we could talk to you if people did, in fact, exist.”
I immediately got myself under control and apologized for offending him, “I’m sorry Terry, I wasn’t trying to make fun of you. I would like to be your friend.”
He once again started into his graceful bow as he said, “Madam…, “
“Excuse me.” I interrupted. “If you want me to call you Terry, then you must call me Leona and not Madam.”
This time it was his turn to apologize, “Sorry about that. Yes, Leona, I was wondering, would it be possible for me to see your whole store?”
“You know, Terry, I wouldn’t mind at all if you looked in the windows, but as you’ll see, it’s a very small place with not a lot of room. I am really afraid that if you got as excited in there as you have out here you just might break something, and …”
Terry had already figured out what I was going to say, “I wouldn’t want to do that. I’ll just look in from the outside.”
And with that he got up close to the windows and peered inside. I did open the door so he could see whatever he could from the doorway as well. “Could I try one of your famous ice cream cones?” he asked.
“Why, of course,” I said. “What flavor would you like?” “Do you have any of that Dinosaur Delight?” he asked. “You bet,” I replied. I went inside and came back out in just a minute with an ice cream cone for our new friend.
Terry ate his ice cream as we walked around the building and the grounds, and I told him all the things I hope to do someday. When we were almost finished, he stopped short and turned to me and stated very matter of factly, “You have to come to Dinosaur Land. Everyone there would love to meet you and I know of one family in particular that would just love to come here and help you at your place.”
“Really? Wow! So how would I do that? I mean where is Dinosaur Land?”
Terry decided to grab the upper hand with that question and with just a little sarcasm in his voice asked, “Oh, so you’ve NEVER heard of Dinosaur Land?” I realized immediately what he was up to and smiled and said, “Nope. It’s your turn to laugh at me now.” He laughed (but not at me) and said, “Guess that makes us even.” “You got it,” I agreed. “but would you still tell me how I can go to your land. I do think I’d like to do that if my friend Bill doesn’t mind.”
“Who’s Bill? What is he?” Terry asked, obviously surprised by another name.
“Bill is the other owner of the store. Another human. If I go away, he has to tend the store by himself. How long will we be gone?”
“I would like to meet this Bill. Perhaps he would like to come as well, but you must come,” Terry insisted.
Right about that time Bill did drive into the parking lot in his big white truck. (Years before we started BedRock, Bill and I would use that white truck to drive to places in Dinosaur National Monument to hiking.) As he sat there and looked in our direction, I could see him looking at us with a bit of concern, but when he saw me chatting so amiably, he decided it must be safe for him to get out of his truck, which he did. He walked casually over to where we were standing while his soft blue eyes asked me if everything was okay without actually saying the words. I understood his concern, and as he drew closer to us, I called out to him, “Hey Bill, come meet my new friend. This is Terry from Dinosaur Land.” They shook hands (well hand and claw) and did the polite “Hello” then I continued, “Terry wants me to go with him to Dinosaur Land. I told him I had to ask you if you’d mind taking charge of the store for a while.”
Bill’s first question was, “How long will you be gone?”
Terry piped up, “Not very long. It just depends on how you count time. Probably a couple of days by the way I think you keep time.”
“I thought everyone was on the same idea of time.” Bill stated.
“Apparently you humans are, but we dinosaurs just don’t worry about time,” Terry replied. “I promise I’ll take good care of her and you’ll see her right here again very soon,” he assured Bill.
“I guess it’s up to you, girl. If you want to go then go, just be careful. We need you here at BedRock Depot.”
“Trust me,” Terry interjected. “We all know she’s needed at BedRock. We’ll all take good care of her.” With that, Terry lifted up his head and, pointing his beak straight up into the air, let out a strange sounding sort of howl. He repeated it twice more as Bill and I just watched quite bewildered about what was going on. When he was through, I repeated an earlier question, “So just how do I get there?”
“My cousins and I will take you,” Terry replied. About that time we could hear the sound of wings flapping slowly and as we looked up saw a half dozen or so large winged creatures heading toward us. Bill and I were both taken aback by the sight, and I finally blurted out, “Wh… where did they come from?”
“It’s okay, Leona. They were just a few miles back. We all came over together but thought it would be best if only one of us came to meet you at the start. We were pretty sure this was the BedRock Depot, and I was just waiting for someone to come so I could ask. When I saw you arrive, I was sure you were someone we wanted to me, but I thought it best if I was alone when we first met. You probably would’ve been very scared if we all approached you at once, don’t you think?”
“You are absolutely right on that one,” I responded.
About that time they all started landing, both large and small. Some looked just like Terry. Others were a little smaller and a couple of them were absolutely huge! When they stretched out their wings it almost seemed as if they could cover the store. One of the big ones came closer to Terry. Terry put his arm on my shoulder and said, “Leona, I want you to meet Quetzi. He will be giving you a ride.” I started to put out my hand to shake his winged paw, but just as Terry had done, Quetzi made a very charming bow and said, “Madam, I am so honored to meet you.” Talk about being swept off my feet! To see a creature that big be so gallant and treat his wings as if he had a golden cloak upon his back that he pulled around as he bowed was almost breath taking. It was as if I was a queen being greeted by a prince. I immediately caught myself, though, and said, “Please, call me Leona. And it certainly is my pleasure to meet you as well.”
It really was breath taking to have these strange, but beautiful creatures walking around BedRock, admiring our store with the flowers, the trees – they just lavished us with praise for what we had created. Since both Bill and I were so impressed with these large creatures who could fly even though they had no feathers, we were certain we were more awestruck than they were. Some were green like Terry, the bigger ones were a reddish brown, while the tiny ones were black, but all of them seemed to have microscopic scales in their skin that shimmered in the sun. When they moved together it almost seemed like it was a shiny sea.
Terry then called out to the group. “This is Leona and this is Bill, and this is THE BedRock Depot. All those stories are true. Everything does, in fact, exist. Bill and Leona worked together to create this place, and now they both own it.” All the creatures started chatting excitedly and looking around. When Bill realized they liked ice cream, he went inside and dished up ice cream cones for everyone. The other big creature like Quetzi approached Terry and wanted to know if Bill would also be needing a ride. Bill heard him ask and immediately said, “You know, someone’s got to mind the store and serve our customers, so if Leona’s gone, I have to stay here. Thanks for asking, though.”
After everyone had enjoyed their ice cream and had seen everything we could let them see, Terry announced it was time to go. I climbed on Quetzi’s back and we flew up into the sky with the rest of the group following. I waved goodbye to Bill and told him to be sure and tell my family where I was going and when I would be back. As I looked down from Quetzi’s back I could see the giant shadow that was created when all the creatures flew close together. It must have caused a bit of a stir from time to time as we flew along. They were all very nimble creatures. We flew high above the clouds so we wouldn’t be noticed as much. But every so often as we passed over a lake, we would fly down, down, down as they skimmed the water catching a fish and then soaring upward above the tree tops and the clouds once again. Quetzi and the others were very graceful even in this. They never missed a beat and always kept their pace. I never lost my balance while riding.
After a long time of flying they started flying a little lower and I could see a break in the trees. We landed on the edge of a cliff overlooking a beautiful waterfall. We stood on the edge of the cliff and just watched the water tumble over the rocks just a few feet away. It was a tall waterfall that poured through the rocks and playfully bounced off many more rocks and bushes as it flowed gracefully down to the river below. I could feel the mist on my face and it was all very peaceful. There were lots of trees and flowers and birds and other critters scampering about. Everyone stretched and walked or just laid on the grassy moss for a time. I asked questions about Dinosaur Land and some of them asked me questions about Dinosaur and BedRock Depot. It was so peaceful and nice I didn’t want it to end, but they had told me this was just a resting spot and not Dinosaur Land and all too soon it was time to go. Once again we flew high into the sky above the trees, above the clouds, but still dipping into lakes from time to time for fresh fish. At least for them.
We finally came to a place where the clouds seemed to form an open circle. As we approached the circle, my escort and his followers started to go down through the clouds. I could see it was a land with lots of big trees, with a wonderful green valley with tall lush grasses just beyond the edge of the forest. There was a large river running through the land that was joined by many smaller creeks that emptied into the river after they had run their own course through the woods and valleys. As we got closer and closer, I could see many flying creatures and on the ground I could easily make out many dinosaurs. Long necks, Triceratops, and others were all grazing and playing peacefully as we made our entrance.
Quetzi and Terry landed on a knoll with a slight cliff face that overlooked the river. As I got down on the ground I heard Terry calling some names and a number of dinosaurs came over to greet me. They had made sure I was on a high enough level above the river bank that the larger creatures could meet me at eye level so there would be less chance of me getting stepped on by someone who didn’t see me. I met Lucy longneck, a very sweet lady who told me I could slide down her neck any time I wanted. As others came to greet me, Terry introduced every one of them by name. Then suddenly the ground seemed to shake. We could all hear the thunder of huge feet as they seemed to be running in our direction. I moved away from the edge of the hill and grabbed onto Terry’s arm as the sound drew closer.
“What’s that?” I had to almost shout to be heard over the noise of the thunder. Terry put his arm around me and said, “You’ll soon see.”
He was right. All of a sudden a large face with big eyes and giant teeth loomed just above the hill from the riverbank below. I probably would’ve been scared, except that his baseball cap sitting backward on his head and his bright yellow T-shirt told me he was perfectly harmless. “Is this Leona?” he asked Terry. “Yes, it is. Tony, meet Leona. Leona, meet Tony T-Rex.” “Hello, Tony. It’s nice to meet you,” I said. “It’s wonderful to finally get to meet you,” Tony replied. “Did you bring any ice cream with you?”
“No,” I laughed. I knew I was going to like this guy.
“Hey Tony, where are your parents?” Terry asked. “I thought they were coming over as well.” “Oh, they are, but Tess had a dance recital and you know how important dancing is to them.” He had no sooner finished speaking when a bright little creature that looked just like Tony but about my size came bouncing up in a pink dress with a ruffled skirt with eyelet lace and holding a teddy bear. Tony smiled and said, “Leona, meet my little sister Tess. She’s really the one who’s been talking non-stop about you and your place and your ice cream.” Tess smiled shyly and offered her hand. “Hi,” she giggled. “Hello there Tess” I replied. I am very glad I could meet you.”
“Tony!” we soon heard a deep female voice boom. I soon saw the face of the most beautiful T-Rex I could ever imagine. She was dressed in a dazzling evening gown and had on long dangling earrings. Her long eyelashes along with her perfectly done makeup made her so stunning I was sure she just had to have won the “Dinosaur of the Year” award. She was gorgeous. She was also reprimanding her son. I had gotten so caught up in her appearance, I didn’t realize at first that I was staring at her. When Terry poked me, I heard her tell her son that he shouldn’t go telling fibs. I’m not sure what else she said to me, but about that time, she turned to me and said, “My dear, I want you to know we have ALL been talking about meeting you, but both of my children, Tony and Tess, have been talking non-stop about it. Isn’t that right, Tony?” “Yes, Mama.” Tony hung his head in a moment of shame. All was soon cheery again though. This beautiful mother quickly forgot her son’s slight misbehavior and introduced herself. “My name is Teresa. Teresa T-Rex and I see you have already met my children.”
Just then another T-Rex, walking very stately, came up who was quite handsomely dressed in a tuxedo and top hat. As he approached my knoll, he doffed his top hat and bowed his head toward the ground in a stylish sweep and said, “Tyrone T-Rex, at your service.” “Oh my dear, you are always so debonair,” Teresa exclaimed. “Well, I must wow the ladies, you know” was his reply. He went on to say, “If they had brought a guy with them, you would be flirting with him.” She chuckled and said very sweetly, “You are absolutely right.” Terry whispered in my ear that the T-Rexes talk like this a lot. “They’re very fun loving.,” he said.
Tyrone then asked me if I liked to dance. I told him I did, and somehow the whole forest came alive with their own music and I was dancing with Tyrone. He on his level, and I was on mine. We danced and twirled and everyone was clapping till I was so tired I just fell down. It was all quite wonderful.
The dinosaurs made a feast in my honor with lots of fruits and vegetables and grasses. I skipped the grass, but the fruit and vegetables were great. We talked about their land and about BedRock Depot and lots of other things. I just felt I could stay there forever.
Terry and Quetzi though, brought me back to reality and said to everyone it was time for me to return to my own land. A groan went through all of them but Tess and Tony almost started crying. “no, she can’t go,” Tony wailed. Tess grabbed my leg and said, “I’m not letting go.” “Now children, please,” Teresa tried to gently get them to behave. I saw it could be hopeless and that’s when it happened. I said it to all of them, “You are all hereby invited to come to Dinosaur and to my place, BedRock Depot.” You would’ve thought they had just won the world series. Such a commotion! I immediately started to worry that all of them might take me up on it and couldn’t figure out how all of that might work, but the T-Rex kids knew I meant especially them when I said it.
Fortunately, everyone realized that they couldn’t all come, but they liked the idea that I had invited them. Lucy Longneck said she might come. The T-Rex family decided their whole family would come. Tyrone and Teresa had only one question, “Will we be able to dance?” “Of course,” I replied. I didn’t know at the time just what that would mean. Tess and Tony started bouncing up and down, “We’re ready. We’re ready.” “Children, you must wait for us,” Teresa cautioned them. “Just let me get another gown and Tyrone will need another hat and we’ll be ready.” They soon returned ready to go to BedRock Depot. All the dinosaurs decided to accompany them to the boundary of their hidden domain, and then they would be on their own unless someone else decided to join them. My troupe also prepared to depart the same way we had come. So as we all said farewell, I climbed on Quetzi’s back and, along with Terry and the others, we soared up and away as the others marched to the edge of time as the T-Rex family made their journey on foot. We could see them all going together as we flew out of sight.
It was hard to believe so much time had passed. I didn’t remember getting tired, but when we landed at the waterfall where we had stopped the first time, Quetzi asked me if I had slept okay. I told him I must have had a good sleep since this time I couldn’t even remember the ride. We stayed at the peaceful waterfall quite a while and just let the mist hit our faces as the gentle breeze kept us dry. The birds chirped and the river sang along. It was all quite wonderful. I had much to tell everyone on my side of the world when I got back. Terry said it was time to leave again. This time I didn’t fall asleep as we went up high above the clouds to fly home, sweeping down over lakes so they could grab a bite to eat and occasionally skimming the tops of trees just for the fun of it. I finally recognized the landscape around Dinosaur and knew we were almost home.
Terry had really timed it right. We landed just about the same time Bill pulled up to open the store. He was very glad to see I had made it back safely. I told him I had a lot to tell everyone, but first we needed to get ready for the special visitors we would soon have. Terry figured we’d have a couple more days before the others arrived since they were coming on foot. The question was, how do you prepare for a visit from some rather large dinosaurs? Do we tell people or just let them be surprised? We got so busy we ended up not telling anyone.
Sure enough a couple days later I was at the store early in the morning and I could hear the same thunder that seemed to shake the ground that I heard in Dinosaur Land. I went outside to wait for them to get there. Pretty soon I saw them come over the hill in the back. When Tess and Tony saw me, they came running and almost ran me over, barely stopping just before they reached me. Teresa and Tyrone being much more dignified just kept up their steady walking pace and finally reached me as well. Bill drove up just about then so I could introduce all of them to him also.
Teresa and Tyrone dropped their bags and exclaimed, “Oh, we must dance!” To see two huge creatures twisting and twirling together is really a sight to behold. I was thoroughly enjoying watching them, but Tess and Tony had tugged on Bill’s shirt and begged for ice cream cones. Tony also wanted a latte. Tess wanted to know if she could have one of our teddy bears. Bill took care of the kids while I was being entertained by their parents. It didn’t take long, though until the picture changed and my delight was turned to horror. I didn’t see until it was too late how close they were getting to the store. We have a lot of windows at BedRock Depot and a twirling tail from a giant creature just doesn’t mix well with glass. Crash! Boom! Glass all over the place. Teresa and Tyrone felt horrible about making such a mess wanted to help pick it up, but every time they bent over and turned around, their tails hit something else and broke it. They were just mortified about the damage they had done, but I told them we could fix it. I did ask them to go out by the street for a while until I could get everything cleaned up, but that was another mistake.
They went into the street to get away from the store before they did more damage. Of course, that meant their tails and feet were in the way of cars. Not that it mattered. When the people in the cars saw the T-Rexes, they all got scared and it wasn’t long before we heard a terrible crash and then another and then another. Cars were running off the road trying to get away from Teresa and Tyrone. They only wanted to help. Teresa leaned over one car and tried to ask the people if they were okay. The people started screeching and once out of their car took off running.
I quit trying to pick up glass and went down to the street to try to help. Everyone was so hysterical I couldn’t talk to them either. I finally said to Teresa and Tyrone, “I’m really sorry. I know you’re only trying to help, but it’s not working. Why don’t you go to the hills in the back and I’ll let you know when I have a job you can do. Maybe eventually I’ll find some people who would be willing to dance with you.” Tyrone was most apologetic. “My dear, we are the ones who are sorry we caused you so much trouble.” “It’s okay,” I replied. “We’ll work it out.” Teresa was almost in tears, “Will we have to leave this wonderful place for good? What about the children? I know they want to stay.” “Don’t worry,” I assured her. “If you two stay out of sight until I need you, I think I can get people used to Tony and Tess. Although, maybe you should keep Tess with you for a little while and we’ll let people get to know Tony. Then eventually they’ll accept your whole family.” Just about then the kids came bouncing up with their ice cream – Tony with his triple scoop in a waffle cone in one hand and a latte in the other. Tess had a new teddy bear and a milkshake. Both were excited and happy until Tony finally noticed the broken glass. “What happened?” he asked. Even though I was surprised they hadn’t noticed as soon as it had happened, I simply said, “We had an accident.”
Teresa immediately spoke up, “It was our fault. We’re just not used to dancing around obstacles.” “Oh no,” Tony cried. “Does that mean we all have to leave?” Tyrone answered his son, “No, Leona’s been very good about it. She asked us to stay in the hill country for now along with Tess, but said you could stay out here.” When Tess heard that she started sobbing. I tried to comfort her by saying, “Don’t worry dear, you’ll be able to come out soon. I just want to give the people around here a chance to get to meet you one at a time.” “You promise?” she tried to control her tears. Bill spoke up then and said, “WE promise. Don’t worry little Tess, you’ll be out here in no time.” Then he turned to me and asked, “But what about Teresa and Tyrone?” “Oh we agreed they would more or less “hide out” until we need them,” I replied. “They’ll stay here, but just out of sight. That way they won’t be as apt to break anything and no one will get scared of them. I told them perhaps someone might like to dance with them from time to time – in a controlled setting of course.”
Just when we thought we had figured out a good plan, Buddy,a friend of ours, who had seen them come and all the excitement that ensued, came up and offered another idea. He just happens to own a car museum in Rangley and made an incredible offer. “Why don’t you let me teach them to drive, and they can go sightseeing around the country? I can give them a cool car to drive. There’s a 1953 Corvette just sitting in my yard.” I wasn’t so sure, but Teresa immediately spoke up and said, “Oh that just sounds wonderful!” “Are you sure you want to do this?” asked Tyrone. “I’m sure,” he said. Bill & Leona are my friends, and I’d love to help you all out. So it’s a deal! Just follow me, and I’ll get you set up to drive.”
Tyrone had another concern. “You know, some of the others may follow us and come here as well,” he said. “What will you do if that happens?” Since I remembered Lucy Longneck saying she might come, I wasn’t all that surprised, but I agreed it was something to think about. Bill was more positive, “I’m sure everything will work out fine. There’s no reason to worry about it. One of my teachers always said ‘worry is interest paid on trouble not yet borrowed.’ Let’s just hope that if they come, it will be after people are already used to having you around.”
The rest of us agreed that was very good advice. So with that issue settled, the T-Rex family was ready to embark on their newest adventure. Tony stayed with us while the rest of his family followed Bud to get a car.
Chapter 2
Bud led the T-Rexes to his place and showed them the car he had in mind for them, a ’53 Corvette convertible (that way the T-Rexes could fit in the car.) Tyrone and Teresa were very excited about it, but Buddy didn’t let them get in it until he could show them what they needed to know about the car. “Now hold on,” he said, “let me explain how this whole driving thing works and then I’ll teach you how to drive this car.” He then proceeded to give them a quick lesson on the principles of driving, road etiquette, and the basic rules to remember, such as following the speed limit. He then showed them how the steering wheel, brake and accelerator work, as well the other important gadgets such as the lights, horn, windshield wipers, turn signal, etc.
Bud got in the driver’s seat so he could show them how to actually drive it. Tyrone sat in the passenger seat and Teresa sat on the back of the car with Tess while Bud drove them around. People who saw that sight were a little frightened at first, but since everyone in town knows Bud, and since he was doing the driving, people decided the T-Rexes couldn’t be all that bad. Some even thought it was just people wearing T-Rex costumes!
After demonstrating to Tyrone how to drive, Bud was ready to let him do the driving, so he pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store so he could help Tyrone get used to the car before actually going out on the street. People who were there came over to that bright yellow Corvette just to see the car, but also to check out these strange creatures. Some asked Bud what kind of party they were going to dressed up as T-Rexes. When he explained that these creatures were actually T-Rexes wearing clothes, the townspeople didn’t know whether to run or to introduce themselves to this strange family. While some held back, when they saw how Bud laughed and talked with the T-Rex family, most were willing to come up and introduce themselves. Eventually even the more timid finally came around.
Once Tyrone got behind the wheel of that Corvette, he decided he liked driving a car almost as much as he liked dancing. Teresa thought it was pretty cool to squeeze into that cute little sports car. Tess climbed into the tiny back seat. They thanked Buddy and started driving around Rangely, waving to everyone they saw. As people saw them driving around, the T-Rex couple didn’t seem so scary, and they were able to make other friends.
They drove back to Dinosaur to say goodbye to everyone at BedRock. When they pulled into our parking lot, I thought they looked very adorable in that bright yellow Corvette. “You two look so classy, how would you like to help me out at the Conoco station?” I asked. “Would you mind if I used your picture for my logo and made you my official mascot?”
Tyrone immediately went into his debonair mode and doffed his top hat to me as he said, “I would be honored, my dear.” Then he went on to ask his own favor of me, “If I do that for you, do you suppose you could help me with some gas money so we can drive all over this wonderful country of yours?” he asked.
Bill was reaching for his wallet to help them when I had a different idea. “I know, let’s buy you a lottery ticket over at the station. Maybe you’ll be lucky and win enough to take you wherever you want to go. There’s a drawing tonight for a game called, Lucky for Life.”
“Oh, that sounds just perfect!” Teresa exclaimed. She was quite ecstatic about it. Everyone else thought it was worth a shot, so I bought them a ticket. Bill assured them that if it wasn’t a winning ticket, he was willing to help them out at least a little. While we were all hopeful, we also thought we should be practical and come up with other plans as well.
Bill also suggested that maybe they could get a job at the Dinosaur National Monument. “I know,” I said, “maybe they’d hire you to be their living fossil tour guides.” “Or maybe they could go on tour at various natural history museums,” Bill added.
“I like that last idea, Bill,” Teresa chimed in. “If we could get enough money for gas to drive to those museums, that sounds like it would be fun. We can dream at least.”
Early the next morning, I went in to check their ticket at the station, and what do you know – they won the lottery! I couldn’t wait to tell them, but I didn’t have to wait long, pretty soon they came driving up to fill their car with gas. “This one’s on me,” I told them. We have to make a trip to Grand Junction to see Zane so he can set you up to get your money. You won the $1000 a day for LIFE!”
Tyrone filled his tank, while I went back into the station to call Bill to tell him I would be late to work at BedRock since I wanted to make sure they would be able to get their money so they could travel. Bill said that was fine, then I squeezed into the car with the T-Rexes to go the Grand Junction.
When we got there, it dawned on me that the people there had no clue about these friendly T-Rexes, and I was a bit worried about them getting hurt. Teresa, always the cheery one, told me not to worry, “My dear, how can they be afraid when they see you sitting in the car with us?” She did have a point, so as we drove to the lottery office, we just waved to everyone we saw. Some people looked a little concerned, others seemed to laugh a little, while others smiled and waved back. I realized that some of them didn’t realize these were actually real T-Rexes.
Once we parked, I got out and told Teresa and Tyrone I thought it best if they stayed in the car, and I took Tess’s hand and walked into the lottery office to get Zane. Since I hadn’t told him I was coming, he was surprised to see me, especially with a little T-Rex wearing a cute pink in tow. He looked at me then at Tess then looked back at me with a look in his eyes that asked, “Is she real?” I assured him Tess was in fact real as I handed him the winning ticket and said, “And this is also real.”
Zane took the ticket and checked and came back and said, “You’re right, you just won $1000 a day for life. Congratulations!”
“Don’t congratulate me,” I told him, “that money needs to go to Tess’s parents. They’re outside waiting to meet you. I didn’t think they could come in here without breaking something, so they agreed to wait outside. You need to send all the checks to them.”
“Well, that’s a bit unusual,” he said. “I’ve never heard of a T-Rex winning the lottery,” he smiled, “but there’s always a first for everything. So let’s go outside so I can meet these guys. Do you think they’ll want publicity?”
“Oh, I think they will,” I assured him. “They want to meet people and they want people to know they’re friendly,” I said as we walked down the hall to go outside. Zane wanted to know how I had met the T-Rexes, so I told him the story as we walked outside. He was quite impressed by it all.
“That didn’t take you long at all,” Tyrone boomed when he saw us coming. They both got out of the car to meet Zane, who chuckled a little as he saw them struggle just a bit to get their tails out from between the seat. It had been a very tight fit for them in that little car. Tyrone started to bow until he caught the look in my eyes that told me he didn’t need to do that. Taking the hint, he held out his claw to shake hands with Zane, “Pleased to meet you sir.” Teresa came up and said, “Hello, I’m Teresa.”
As he shook hands with both of them, Zane said, “It’s very nice to meet you! And congratulations on your win! I just need you to sign a few papers.”
“Oh dear,” moaned Teresa, “we don’t’ know how to write yet.” “That’s okay,” Zane replied. “You can just make a mark and Leona can sign a paper that says she saw you sign it. We’ll have you on your way with your first check in no time.”
He had already told his staff to call the news outlets, so while we were filling out those papers, we saw the news people coming towards us with cameras running to interview the T-Rexes, who were more than happy to talk with the reporters. I was quite pleased that none of them seemed to be afraid of my friends. It was also a bit comical to hear them ask several times, “So what are you going to do with your money?” only to hear the T-Rexes state over and over again, “we want to drive around this great country of yours.” I finally decided they needed some help to end this interview and told the reporters that we had to go. They took a few more pictures then shook hand (and claw) with the T-Rexes. We thanked Zane for all his help before piling back into that cute little car to head back to Dinosaur so I could get back to work at BedRock.
Bill was glad to see us pull into the BedRock parking lot. I jumped out of the back seat as soon as the car was stopped. The T-Rexes got out to say goodbye to all of us before heading out into the unknown. They had a big group hug with Tony before a last hug with us. They squeezed back into their car and waved goodbye as they drove away. I knew they would do well and make lots of friends. Tony took his position outside of BedRock advertising our ice cream and coffee, and I got busy getting the pictures of Tyrone on the Conoco station to let people know we are the Classy T-Rex C-Store, serving people with a smile.
Chapter 3
Our friendly T-Rex family did a lot of driving around before getting involved with museum tours. Thanks to some publicity, people found out they didn’t need to be afraid of them, and they were able to make lots of friends. They even joined a car club and started going on road rallies to a lot of places all over the country.
From time to time they stop in at the Depot to visit us. One day when Bill noticed several classic sports cars pull up, I looked out the window and saw Tyrone over at the Conoco station filling his car with gas. Teresa and Tyrone were still driving that 1953 Corvette that Bud had given to them. Pretty soon they pulled up in the BedRock parking lot as well. When Tyrone got out of his car, he was as debonair as ever as he doffed his hat and bowed to Bill and me as he said, “Greetings my friends!” I ran over and gave him as big a hug as I could, even though all I could hug was a leg. Teresa got out and walked over to Bill who took her outstretched claw and kissed it as ever a gentleman would with such a refined lady.
All their friends soon gathered around the four of us, and Tyrone introduced each of their friends to the two of us, telling them, “These guys make the best ice cream you’ll ever have!” Just about that time Tony came over and added, “and the best coffee”. We were happy to meet all of them and let them know we would do our best to make good on what they had just been told about us. As Bill & I headed back inside the store to tend to the people, Teresa called out, “Now don’t you go telling Bill and Leona about our adventures until you come back outside. We want to able to add in our part as well.”
We enjoyed getting to know their friends; Ken from Wisconsin had a souped up classic Mustang, Scott from Arizona had a classic brown Thunderbird, Bruce from NY had a bright red Mazda and all the others were all excited about getting to know Tyrone and Teresa. They couldn’t believe they were driving around the country with a couple of T-Rexes. After we got ice cream for everyone, included our beloved T-Rex family, we all stepped back outside to visit.
“I think we could just keep driving and driving and never run out of new things to see,” exclaimed Teresa. “We saw this big statue of a woman wearing a crown and holding a lamp…”
“It’s called a torch.” Bruce corrected. He turned to us and said, “I was able to take them to see the Statue of Liberty..”
“Yes, we saw it – from a distance,” added Tyrone. “We didn’t get to go close enough to touch it.” He said with some disappointment in his voice.
Bruce explained, “None of the ferries would let us board. They all thought their boats would sink if we got in.”
“But we still enjoyed it,” Teresa was more upbeat. “We have seen a lot of beauty as we traveled, structures that were built by people and the awesome diversity in the landscape created by God. That huge canyon in Arizona that Scott took us to see was absolutely incredible!”
Scott chuckled, “That huge canyon, my dear, is called the Grand Canyon…”
“Oh, yes, of course it is,” Teresa interjected.
Scott wanted to tell us what they did there, “We didn’t try to go into the canyon, we just drove around as much of the rim as we could. They seemed to enjoy that.”
“Seemed to enjoy?” Tyrone sounded a little frustrated. “Of course we enjoyed it! We just can’t remember all the details. You need to remember we’ve never heard of any of these places before.”
“You’re right, I apologize.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” said Bill. The others all agreed. And that’s why you can see Tony at our store, and the others are waiting to be accepted before they make their appearance again.
Sometimes when we hear what sounds like thunder, and see no lightning, we’re pretty sure it’s Teresa and Tyrone dancing back in the canyons, completely hidden from view from most human eyes. Since they are dinosaurs, they are a little too big to hide out completely, so if you’re back there, and hear that sound, and keep your eyes peeled, you just might see them yourself.