Me and My T-Rex - Sample

Me and My T-rex Copyright © 2017 by Michael Romano All rights reserved. No part of this book may bereproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any informationstorage and retrieval system, without the writtenpermission of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages. ISBN-13: 978-1976214332 ISBN-10: 1976214335 MICHAEL ROMANO 3

ME AND MY T-REX4 ME AND MY T-REX

MICHAEL ROMANO 5

CHAPTER ONE SOMETIMES OUT OF BAD, COMES SOMETHING GREAT! Dad’s a Paleontologist ... a “BoneHunter.” During vacation and Summertime, I love to go fossil hunting with himto all kinds of locations over all thestates, mostly, lately Montana. He has a site some have thoughtwould be a choice spot to hunt the greatTyrannosaurus Rex … My ancient critterof choice… Oh, please excuse me, my name isOlivia, I’m nine going on twenty two,according to Dad.6 ME AND MY T-REX

MICHAEL ROMANO 7

This trip started with a bit moreexcitement than previous ones causeDad expected great finds at this sectionhaving never before been dug. The drives to these spots are prettyfun. Eating out and stopping to see thescenery, but then there’s the ride, wherethe road seems to end and ruts and rocksmake up the to the end of the thing Dadlaughingly calls a road. Me and Dad set up camp with ourall contained fifteen foot pop up trailer,Bathroom slash shower ... kitchen, twoburners and two beds at opposite endsas Dad snores just a bit ... just a bit like agrizzly bear!8 ME AND MY T-REX

At the end of the hours-long roadbanging and bumping, we look for thesmoothest spot, near water if possibleand set up. The maps we got from the StateRangers said there was water scatteredall around, here about. As Dad leveledand popped up the tent, I scouted forwater. MICHAEL ROMANO 9

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As I walked near on to thirty yards, Icould hear a splash. Turning the corneraround this tall bumpy rock, there iswas, a beautiful little waterfall streamingdown hill away from camp but easilyreachable. I ran towards Dad yelling, \"I foundwater\" as I tripped and twisted myankle. Dad saw me drop and roll like hetaught me so I wouldn't get hurt anymore, but it still hurt something serious! \"Oh, sweetie, it looks pretty swollen.It'll be several days before you can comeout fossil digging with me. Here, let meget a bandage and a cold pack.\" MICHAEL ROMANO 11

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Great! We came to find our first T-rex and I'm on the wounded list already. \"You can do my cataloguing for meuntil you're back up on your feet.\" Dadtried to make me feel useful, “Notworking.” To sleep that night and early to rise.Dad set me up with a crutch, a comfyfold out chair near a rock with a pillowto keep my foot raised, and a hand heldblast horn for any unwanted critters andto call Dad if I needed him. Half an hour into being alone and Iwas going nuts! MICHAEL ROMANO 13

It took the better part of fifteenminutes to get up and stable with thecrutch, but now I was up and about. Ahunter in my own “Domain.” (myterritory) Looking towards the waterfall, Ibegan, like Dad had always showed me,to check the rock formations and anysigns of bone. Finally, after some time hobblingand limping around, I plopped down bythe waterfall on a rock perfectly formedto my bottom. \"From here,” I will look over myterritory. Yes ... from this point I shalldiscover many new and amazingPaleontological Wonders!” (Those lastbig words are mine, I use for a superbone finder!!)14 ME AND MY T-REX

The rocks on the ground looked likewhat Dad said he was looking for. As ithad just rained, the top layer wascleaned off easily, allowing one to seemore without cleaning away dust, dirtand top \"rubble.\" I really could not see anything thatwould allow me to set Dad's field abuzz… but wait, there by the very edgeof the waterfall was a glassy blister of arock in the wall. The earlier rain had expanded thefall's width temporarily during theoutburst, than back to its normal sizeleaving this curiosity for me to discover! I hobbled back to retrieve my handpick and brush kit, and commenced totap-tap-tapping around the find just howbig this critter was. MICHAEL ROMANO 15

Farther and farther out I chipped,exposing more of this very odd butsuper interesting egg shaped, almostdark yellow glass enclosure. Finally, after two hours, I found theedges of the thing. It was three feet byabout two feet and I was already a footinto the soft rock surrounding it but stillhad a bit to go. I heard Dad yell from the camp.Again, back to camp I hobbled and saw agreat smile on Dad's face. \"I have uncovered a partial jaw withthree intact teeth of a TyrannosaurusRex!\"16 ME AND MY T-REX

He was almost bouncing withexcitement. \"I need some different toolsand decided to feed them both early so Ican stay out till dinner time. Is thatalright with you Olivia, or would yourather come with me?\" \"No, Dad, I'm just fine here. Besides,I have the horn if I really need you.\" \"Oh yeah, let’s have a good lunch,then off to see how much more of mynew friend is there.\" We ate, then Dad went back to hisdig and I began to wonder, \"What maybe inside that glass egg.\" END CHAPTER ONE MICHAEL ROMANO 17

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CHAPTER TWO I WONDER WHAT SURPRISE MY EASTER EGG HOLDS FOR ME? Bringing a light but sturdy foldingchair I slung over my back with a rope, Imade my way back to MY digging site. The tools were where I hid themand I set up for some real digging. Deeper into the soft rock, I chippedand scraped till only a small pair of spotson the top and bottom held in what Icalled \"My Ancient Egg.\" How was I going to get it out allbandaged up, one footed and limping? MICHAEL ROMANO 19

\"Aha!\" Grabbing loose brush andpiling it up below my prize, I proceededto scratch away the last part of the topconnection. Thinking that the bottom wouldhold till I could assist in the lowering ofit. I was wrong! As the top snapped, right as Ineared the last piece, so went the bottomright into the bushes. \"Wow\" it worked ... till it keptrolling off the bushes, back towards meand just an inch away from my leg. It picked up speed towards therock and bounced once over a littlehump, stopping on a stone sticking upten feet out of the ground. That's when Iheard the CRACK!20 ME AND MY T-REX

Oh no! My first find, and I broke it. As I crutched over to it, I couldswear I heard a slight snarl. It wascoming from the \"Egg!\" The shell was too hard to pullapart, so like Dad always told me,\"When confronted by something thatbaffles, you take a couple of steps back,look over everything and think. I did ... and then I did ... and I liftedmy crutch up giving the egg a greatWHACK!! In half it split, allowing this thick,gooey stuff to pour all over. Then I saw it. MICHAEL ROMANO 21

There was a dark lump in thecenter of the sticky stuff, moving ever solittle, but ... YES ... it was moving! Yanking off my sweatshirt, I pulledit free and quickly began cleaning it off. As I scrubbed the balled up,whatever the heck it was, it began to uncurlfrom a ball to a long .... a long .... ... BABY DINOSAUR! One T-rex miniature, to be exact! Yes, I had somehow delivered anewborn Tyrannosaurus!22 ME AND MY T-REX

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I moved his legs and rubbed his chestto get him all running inside, like I sawin school films for new babies andcleaned out his nose ... well, nose holesof ant extra goop. And then UP he sprang to his twolegs, only to fall down, but up again hetried, with a little help from me. What a cutie, and he was rubbing allup against me, could have almostthought he smiled with his eyes lookedinto mine. He must think \"I'm his mama!\" I lifted him up and wobbled back tothe tent where I put him on my bed andstarted to mix him what I thought hemight like to eat.24 ME AND MY T-REX

Let's see, Hmmm, milk, eggs, a dashof honey, that should make a goodsmoothie, so I hand-whipped it up. Using a turkey baster, that's a longtube with a rubber ball on the end tosuck up juice in the pan to squish overthe Turkey, loaded it up with a \"OliviaSmoothie.\" Boy, did he slurp that up. Guess T-rex's like sweets too. Now...how do I tell Dad. When do Itell him, and lastly, where is he going tosleep? END CHAPTER TWO MICHAEL ROMANO 25