Tiny-Tricera Troubles

by Dustin Hansen

  I was picturing Pizza and Cornelia climbing around on the merry-go-round animals as I ran after the charging triceratops. But even the images in my mind couldn’t hold up to what I saw next. Bruno had climbed inside the bumper car ride. The polished cement floor was slippery so that the cars could glide around with ease. It made driving the bumper cars a lot of fun, and it also made it pretty entertaining to watch Bruno. His wide, flat feet weren’t built for slippery conditions, and he kept falling down, doing the splits, rolling around, then fumbling back up on his feet as he tried to attack the cars.

  Each car had a red light on its hood, and each time Bruno made contact with one of the cars, the light would blink on and a siren would wind up. The large puppy-saurus was having the time of his life as he skidded around on the slick floor, banging into lit-up cars. He was having so much fun that I wished he could stay there smashing cars until he was all pooped out. But that wasn’t going to happen. In fact, the way I saw it, we probably only had another thirty minutes or so before the concert was over and the whole place would be flooded with people.

  I had to think fast. There was no way I was going to convince Bruno to leave the bumper cars with their flashing red lights. It would be like trying to get a kitten out of a yarn-and-feathers factory. So I needed to do something about those red lights first.

  I ran around to the back side of the bumper car attraction. I didn’t know what I was looking for until I saw it. Just above my head there was a black box with a large lever on the side of it. Recognizing the power box, I jumped up, grabbed the handle, and yanked it down. The sirens stopped, though I could still hear Bruno crashing around inside the bumper car ride. I ran back to the front and saw Bruno bumping his head lightly against a car, looking a little sad that it wasn’t flashing red anymore.

  “Sorry, buddy. But trust me, it’s for your own good,” I said. I walked up to him on the slippery, polished cement floor and put my arm around his back.

  Bruno sighed and let out a big breath. He’d had quite a day already.

  “Okay, Bruno. It’s time to go home,” I said, and the big puppy-saurus licked my face with a tongue the size of a pillow.

  I tapped on my Invisible Communicator. “Hey, Lin. I think he’s ready to go back. He looks exhausted,” I said.

  “Shhh! Whisper. The security guard saw us and chased us into the carnival games area. We’re trapped. We need a distraction. NOW!” she shout-whispered.

  “On second thought, how would you like to rescue Lin first?” I asked the not-so-tiny-triceratops, and he gave me a little chuff. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  CHAPTER 6

  FUN AND GAMES

  I was so terrified that Bruno was going to run away at the first red cup, straw, or fleck of dust he saw that I walked backward right in front of his face. I didn’t actually cover his eyes with my hands, but I did hold them out, spread my fingers, and wiggle them a lot to distract him. It seemed to be working, but it wasn’t the fastest way to travel.

  I led Bruno between a long line of empty carnival games, but the farther I got down the aisle, the more excited he got. It was impossible to keep him from seeing red in a place like this. Impossible.

  I was thinking about how I was ever going to get out of this place without being discovered when I heard something behind the Plinko game tent.

  “Pssst! Danny. Over here,” Lin said. I looked and saw her and the twins peeking out from behind the tent. She motioned for us to come.

  “Come on, Bruno. Go right in there,” I said as I turned Bruno’s head toward the little alleyway between the tents. He wasn’t so sure he wanted to go into the cramped space, but I pushed him from behind and he inched in. He got about halfway down the alley, then stopped.

  “Lin,” I said in my Invisible Communicator. “Grab his horn and pull. He’s stuck.”

  I could hear Lin grunting as she yanked on Bruno’s horn, and I gave him another big push with my shoulder. From my position behind the wedged-in triceratops, I had a good view down the carnival games aisle. However, what I viewed was not good. The security guard and Mark, the Tomato-Mobile driver, were heading our way. In a panic, I pushed with everything I had, and Bruno popped through the alley just before they saw me and his wide rump.

  “That was close,” Lin said. The twins were staring at Bruno like he had just done something amazing. They were studying the scraps and nicks on his crest and horns, and I swear I saw Pizza nod as if he was pretty impressed.

  “Yeah, but we’re not out of danger yet. They are coming this way,” I said.

  “Oh man. We should just show them the Microsaurs and give ourselves up. Maybe if we only tell a few people they will help us keep the secret,” Lin said.

  “Actually, that’s not a half-bad idea,” I said.

  “Really? Which half is good, then?” Lin asked.

  “The show them the Microsaurs part,” I said.

  “You’re crazy. I was kidding. Let’s make a run for it,” Lin said.

  “It’s too late. But I have a plan. There is about a one percent chance that it will work, but it’s our best bet,” I said. “Follow me. All of you.”

  I sprinted as fast as I could behind the carnival game tents in the opposite direction of Mark and the security guard. I passed the dart game, the baseball throw, the dunking booth. I even passed the milk-can toss and the basketball hoop.

  “Are we going to hide?” Lin asked.

  “Yup,” I said.

  “Where?” Lin asked.

  I found the booth I was looking for and stopped. “Right here, in plain sight,” I said.

  “Um, I think you’ve lost your marbles, Danny,” Lin said. “They’ll see us for sure.”

  “That’s the plan. I hope it works,” I said. “Help me lift this up, will ya?”

  Lin and I lifted the back flap of the tent up as high as we could, and then we encouraged the Microsaurs to enter the ring toss carnival game. I peeked around the edge and saw our visitors heading our way. We only had a minute, maybe a minute and a half, so we had to act fast.

  I looked the twins right in the eyes and used my most commanding voice. “Sit!” I said, and to my surprise, they both sat. I looked at Lin and she gave me a thumbs-up. “Bruno, you sit over here,” I said, pointing toward the front of the booth.

  “Okay, now you three Microsaurs, listen up. If you have ever sat still in your entire life, this is the time. I need you to act like statues. If you wiggle, we’re done. Caught. Kaput. Ruined! Do you understand?” I asked.

  “I don’t think they understand, Danny,” Lin said.

  “It’s our only hope,” I said. “Now, Lin, quick, pull down those stuffed animals and pile them up around the twins.” I took another look at the driver and security guard heading toward us. We had thirty seconds max.

  I grabbed a few rings from a small table, then jumped over the little barrier that separated the carnival games from the festival crowd.

  “Step right up, step right up. Take your chance at landing a ring on the super-fake, absolutely not real one little bit dinosaur horn and win a prize,” I said.

  The driver and the security guard were surprised to see me. I was pretty sure they thought they were alone. Well, except for the runaway rhino they were probably still searching for.

  “What are you doing here?” the guard asked with her hands on her hips. “And where’s your little friend?”

  “Oh. Me. I’m right here, just making sure the prizes are looking good,” Lin said as she tucked a big pink teddy bear between Pizza’s and Cornelia’s heads. “There. That’s perfect.”

  “Okay. There you are, but now the question is double. What are you two doing here?”

  “Oh, we’re doing a research paper on how it would be to work in a carnival. Larry, the normal ring toss operator guy, said we could help out while the concert was going,” Lin said.

  “A research paper?” Mark asked. “In the summer?”

  I looked at Lin. She looked as confused as the driver and as
worried as me. She was out of answers, so shrugged it off to me. I thought quick and spit out the first thing that came to mind.

  “Um, yeah. It’s not for school. It’s for, uh, um … a contest. Yeah. That’s it,” I said.

  “All right. I’ll try it,” the driver said. “How much is the prize?”

  “One hundred thousand dollars,” Lin said.

  “One hundred thousand dollars?” the driver asked. “Are you out of your mind? Give me those rings.”

  “Wait, that’s not really the prize,” I said.

  “I know, kid. I know how this gig works. Stand back.”

  The squatty little driver in his puffy tomato hat ripped the rings out of my hands and tossed one over my head. It landed perfectly on Bruno’s top left horn. I’ll admit, it was a pretty good shot.

  “Not bad,” the security guard said.

  “You haven’t seen anything yet,” the driver said. “My mom was a carny. I grew up on these games.” He tossed the second ring without even looking. This one landed on the other horn with ease.

  “This guy is too good,” Lin whispered in my ear. “We might be in trouble here.”

  “We’ve been in trouble all day. What’s new?” I said.

  The driver tossed an underhand throw and the third ring spun perfectly in the air before it landed on Bruno’s nose horn. Mark smirked, then took a bow.

  “Thank you, thank you,” he said, then spun around and looked right at me. “And now, for my prize.”

  “Um, yeah. About that,” I said.

  “I’d like the realistic-looking stuffed dinosaur. It’d look great in my man cave,” he said with a smile.

  “Sorry. Those are part of the decorations. If we even thought about giving those away, we’d lose our jobs,” Lin said.

  “I thought you were volunteering for some project or something,” the driver said. “I think something fishy is going on here.”

  “All right. That’s enough, Mark. Let’s keep moving. We have to find your runaway rhinoceros, remember,” the security guard said. “Good luck with your project, you two. And stay out of trouble.”

  “We always do,” Lin said, telling the biggest lie she’s ever told in her entire life.

  We waited until they were out of sight, and then we both breathed a huge sigh of relief.

  “I can’t believe that worked,” Lin said.

  “Me neither.” I looked over at Bruno. He had a ring around each of his horns and a big smile on his face. Pizza and Cornelia were starting to lose patience, and as they stood up, all the stuffed animal prizes fell to the ground.

  “You know, I’ve seen the Microsaurs do some amazing things, but sitting still for this long has to be the most incredible thing yet,” Lin said.

  “I completely agree,” I said.

  “Come on. Let’s go,” Lin said. “I’ve had enough of this festival for the day.”

  I was about to agree when I looked down the aisle again. A small crowd of people had gathered at the end. I looked in the other direction only to see even more people walking our way from that side. And to make matters worse, most of them were dressed in red from head to toe.

  “Oh man. We’re doomed,” I said. “Bruno is going to go nuts with all these red tomato festival T-shirts and hats.”

  Lin noticed the people, too. “What? The concert isn’t over. I can still hear the music thumping inside the stadium.”

  “It must be the carnival games workers. They are setting up early. Getting ready for the crowds,” I said.

  “We need another distraction,” Lin said.

  “We need a Vicky Van-Varbles,” I said.

  CHAPTER 7

  LEADING THE BLIND

  “There’s no way she’s going to hear us. She’s probably onstage waving a tomato flag or something at this very moment,” Lin said as I tapped my Invisible Communicator on.

  “It’s worth a try,” I said. “Maybe she can make the concert last longer or something.”

  “What? Who? I can barely hear you,” Vicky said in my ear. Of course, there was also a rock concert in my ear now as well.

  “I can’t believe you heard us! Vicky, we need your help,” Lin said.

  “Hang on. One sec,” Vicky said, then the concert got quieter in our earpieces. She said “excuse me” five times in the next six seconds, and then I heard a door slam shut and the concert was only a small thud in my ears again. “Is that better?”

  “Much. Thanks, Vicky. It’s so good to hear your voice,” I said.

  “It really is,” Lin agreed.

  “Really? Well, that’s nice. It’s good to hear you guys as well. Are you enjoying the show? Aren’t the Ruby Girls just the BEST?!” she said, and I could almost see her smile in my mind.

  “Um, well, that’s a long story, but let’s just say we’ve been up to our eyeballs in emergencies and we haven’t really had a chance to hear the Ruby Girls much,” I explained.

  “Oh no. I hope everything is okay. I can’t think of anything that would make me miss this concert,” Vicky said.

  “We’re glad you’re having fun. And that’s why we are calling actually,” Lin said. “How much longer is the concert?”

  “Oh. They are on their last song now. Sorry, Lin. I’m guessing you’re too late,” Vicky said.

  “Do you think you could stretch it out a little? Maybe talk them into one last encore or something?” I asked.

  “Funny you should ask, Danny. And I guess the secret is safe now, and I really wish you two were here to see it, but there is one last number and it is super special. I’m sure my dad will record it. Which reminds me. I gotta run,” Vicky said.

  “Wait. Before you go. We need more than just help stretching out the concert. We need a place to hide three Microsaurs before the crowd sees them,” I said.

  “What? That’s not a big deal. Put them in your pocket,” Vicky said, which totally made sense given that she had no idea Bruno, Pizza, and Cornelia were giant-sized.

  “That’s not gonna work. There was an accident at the Microterium and now Bruno is the size of a truck,” Lin said.

  “What? Oh my gosh. I want to see him!” Vicky said.

  I could hear someone calling Vicky’s name in the background. It must have been pretty loud because it was coming through my Invisible Communicator pretty clear.

  “I’ll have to see him later. I gotta run.”

  “Not yet! We have the twins, too, and they are massive. They look pretty scary to someone who doesn’t know them,” I said.

  “Okay. I have an idea. Behind the stadium there are three tour trucks. One is a bus, and the other two are big semitrucks. Run there, ask for a guy named Gino. Tell him Vicky sent you. He’ll help you hide away the Microsaurs. I’ll meet you there after the concert,” Vicky said.

  “But there’s another problem,” Lin said. “This whole place is covered in red. Even the people in the concert are wearing red shirts. Bruno is going to act like a wild bowling ball in a field of pins.”

  “Gotta go. You’ll have to science your way out of this one, guys,” Vicky said, then started warming up her voice, singing scales and doing funny breathing exercises.

  “She sounds pretty good,” I said, and Lin nodded.

  “Not bad at all,” Lin said.

  “All right. We need to make a run for it,” I said. “But first, I’m going to need that sign.” I pointed to the top of the tent we were hiding behind. There was a blue banner, definitely not red, with the words Ring Toss written on it in white paint.

  “I’m on it,” Lin said. “Corney, I’m going to need your help.”

  Lin pushed Cornelia right up tight against the back of the tent, climbed on her back, and stepped carefully onto the Microsaurus rex’s square head. Lin reached up as high as she could, but she was still a few inches from the banner.

  “All right, girl. Give me a nudge,” Lin said. Cornelia stretched up to her highest height and tilted her head up for that last little bit. Lin grabbed a handful of the banner and th
en jumped. The string that was holding the banner in place ripped, and down came Lin with the sign in her hands. “Easy peasy,” she said as she offered me the sign.

  “For you,” I said with a grin.

  “What are you going to do with it?” Lin asked.

  “What are we going to do with it, you mean,” I said. “Take your end and follow me.”

  I was a little worried about what I was going to do next, but I knew it was the only way we were going to get Bruno out of here without him going into full-tilt-boogie-red-is-my-mortal-enemy-charge mode again. I explained to Lin that I needed her on one side of the big puppy-saurus while I took the other end of the banner around to Bruno’s other side. I talked to him nice and slow as we carefully lowered the banner over his crest, then down over his eyes. Using the strings that once held the banner in place, I tied the makeshift blindfold snuggly behind Bruno’s head. He wasn’t so great with it at first, but after I told him it was a game and that he’d get a big peanut-buttery surprise when this was all over, he seemed to trust me enough to give it a shot.

  Leading Bruno by holding on to his nose horn, Lin, Pizza, Cornelia, and I made our way toward the back of the stadium.

  “This is pretty great, ya know?” Lin said.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yes, I’m serious. I think it’s exciting. We’re sneaking around, trying not to be seen,” Lin said.

  “It isn’t us I’m worried about being spotted. It’s the two T. rexes and a blindfolded triceratops that worry me. One big blast of wind and this could turn into a disaster.”

  “Always the optimist,” Lin said with a grin.

  Walking behind the booths and any cover we could find, we worked our way out of the carnival games area. Pizza and Cornelia were starting to look bored, which wasn’t a good sign at all, as we weaved our way behind a booth filled with T-shirts covered in tomato designs. Lin popped out from behind the booth first, and she took a step back, holding her hands up to stop us all at once.