PSHHHHHH! The sound of shooting geysers woke Arlo up. Groggy, he looked around, trying to remember where he was and what had happened.
When he finally did remember, he looked down at his foot. All of the rocks had been pushed away. He was no longer stuck! Arlo looked around and was stunned when he saw human tracks in the mud. He wondered if the boy had pushed the rocks away while he was asleep. Could that critter have done something to actually help Arlo? Even if he had, it wouldn’t matter. Arlo was still angry; he pushed the thought out of his mind and pressed on, walking along the river.
Drip.
Drop.
Drip.
Drop.
Cold raindrops began to fall from the sky. At first, Arlo felt as if he could hear each drop falling against the leaves, with their soft pitter-patter. But the rain quickly picked up, and in no time the pitter-patter turned into a constant stream—soaking everything and softening the ground. Thunder rumbled in the distance and little creatures scurried about as they ran for shelter. The rain came even down harder and Arlo shivered, cold and wet.
BOOM! A loud clap of thunder startled him. The storm was getting worse. Arlo collected some sticks and tried to build a shelter.
He leaned the bundle of thick sticks against each other, and they instantly collapsed to the ground.
“Arghhh,” Alro grumbled.
Arlo tried again.
Nearby creatures were nestled in their cozy dwellings, safe and dry. A twitching nose with little whiskers peeked out from inside a hollow log. A small brown animal snored from his hole beneath a boulder. A bird sat comfortably inside her sheltered nest. It seemed all the little creatures fit neatly and comfortably into their tiny dry homes. One of them watched as Arlo struggled, trying to get his stick-shelter to work. Once Arlo managed to get the sticks balanced, he sat inside and stuck his tongue out at the creature, proudly.
Drip.
Drip.
Seconds later raindrops dripped through the shelter and right onto Arlo’s face. The creature squeaked, almost like it was laughing. Then disappeared. When it returned, it had brought friends, and they all watched. They squeaked, staring at Arlo as if he were their evening entertainment.
Too tired, wet, and hungry to care, Arlo groaned. He decided to try and rest while the rain poured down.
Then some shrubs nearby rustled and Arlo sat up, anxiously looking around for the source of the noise. He began to breathe rapidly as he became more and more nervous. The noise was coming closer and closer. The bushes stopped moving for a moment and suddenly the boy from the trap came prancing out from behind them.
“You again!” Arlo said, infuriated.
The boy held a lizard in his mouth. He dropped it on the ground in front of Arlo, offering it to him. But Arlo wasn’t interested. “Get outta here!” Arlo yelled. The boy backed up and carefully watched Arlo, as if waiting for something to happen. Arlo wondered what the boy expected him to do. Still alive, the lizard hopped up and quickly scurried away. The boy scampered off again, leaving Arlo in his shelter. As the setting sun turned the sky a dusty shade of pink, Arlo fell asleep.
The sound of the boy growling woke him from his nap. He appeared again, only this time he was dragging a huge, ugly bug toward Arlo. The boy flipped the bug on its back and signaled to Arlo. But Arlo was confused. What did the boy want him to do? Eat the bug? Arlo was disgusted. The boy sat—still and staring—as if he was trying to read Arlo’s expression.
Then the boy ripped the bug’s head off with his teeth! He spit it out and tossed it aside, then dropped the bug’s lifeless body in front of Arlo. He stepped back, waiting and watching him again.
Arlo was horrified. Repulsed by what he’d just seen, Arlo grabbed a branch and swept the bug away; he didn’t want any part of the boy’s headless bug.
The boy barked and ran off again.
Moments later, berries dropped to the ground in front of Arlo. The dinosaur was skeptical, but he was also starving. He quickly ate a few berries but said, “I told you to... STAY – AWAY – FROM – ME!”
The boy climbed up on top of a boulder and watched dutifully as Arlo devoured every last berry.
“Thank you,” Arlo said. “I’m still going to squeeze the life out of you...” But he reconsidered for a minute. Arlo was still hungry, and he’d already eaten all the berries the boy brought. So he asked the boy if he could find him more. But the boy didn’t seem to understand. “You know... um... nom nom nom.” Arlo said, then he pretended to chew on a branch.
The boy grabbed the other end of the stick with his mouth and started pulling, playing tug of war. “No... no... Stop!” Arlo scolded, letting go of the stick. The boy gnawed on the stick and then took off with it!
“Hey, wait!” yelled Arlo. Curious, he followed the boy as he rushed off with the stick. Arlo watched from a distance as the boy dug a hole and placed the stick inside, burying it. The boy spit and kicked dirt over it to fill it back up. Then the boy ran off again.
Arlo wondered what the boy was thinking. He was starting to get frustrated again. “You don’t even know what you’re doing?” he said angrily. But he continued to follow the boy.
The boy jumped onto a nearby tree and nimbly ran across a branch like a squirrel. Arlo followed as the ground beneath him got more and more narrow. Soon Arlo found himself on a cliff ledge! He started to panic, looking at the deep drop below, rocks crumbling beneath him. The boy stood for a moment and seemed like he was thinking, trying to figure something out.
“I knew it!” Arlo yelled, breaking the silence. “I’m gonna die out here because of you!”
The boy turned to Arlo and started to push his feet out. Arlo tried to keep his balance, but he was very wobbly. The boy scampered to the other side of Arlo and started pushing him toward the cliff edge!
“No, no, no. Stop! Stop! STOP!” Arlo screamed as he lost his balance and fell forward. His feet stayed on the ledge but his body fell over the ravine. He crashed onto the ledge on the other side, landing on his teeth! Arlo was now stretched out, connecting the two cliff edges over the ravine, like a giant dinosaur bridge!
Excitedly, the boy rambled across Arlo’s body, stepping on his eyes to get to the other side. “Why you little... come back here!” Arlo growled through clenched teeth.
But the boy kept going, sniffing the ground and searching. Finally the boy’s body quivered and his foot tapped repeatedly against the ground, beating it like a drum.
“Heh-heh-heh-heh,” he panted excitedly and looked back at Arlo. He seemed to be gesturing toward a bush.
Arlo followed the boy’s gaze and instantly understood. “Berries!” Arlo joyfully exclaimed, seeing thousands of juicy berries covering the bush. The glorious sight of food gave Arlo a sudden burst of energy and he was able to propel his body up to the ledge. He ran toward the bush, chuckling with delight.
The boy pounced in front of Arlo and started to growl and bark. “What’s with you?” Arlo asked. “We found them, they’re right here.” Arlo continued toward the berries, and the boy growled and barked louder and louder. “Crazy critter,” Arlo muttered, breaking off a branch of the berry bush.
Hisssss! All of a sudden, a venomous snake fell out of the bush and landed right in Arlo’s face! Arlo screamed. Then the ground beneath him crumbled and he plunged down off the cliff, crashing into trees and cracking branches along the way.
As he hit the ground, Arlo groaned in pain. He tried to get his bearings, but the snake rose right up in front of him—hissing and ready to attack! Arlo gasped.
“Ahhhhh!” He screamed. He was terrified!
In a flash, the boy appeared in front of Arlo, growling at the snake! The snake lunged at the boy, but he instinctively jumped out of the way and managed to get behind him. Then the boy grabbed the snake by surprise and started gnawing on its scaly skin! With one last strike, the boy bashed his head into the snake, causing it to fearfully slither away. Arlo quickly got up and ran to the boy, who panted excitedly. Arlo couldn’t quite believe it, but the little creature seemed to be happy to have protected him.
