Toob & Rooney

The Dinosaur

Ruby might have been a little girl, but she was a great adventurer. Every morning in the summer she put on her lucky baseball cap, strapped on her backpack and went straight to the woods behind her house.

Her favorite thing to do was look for hidden treasure. Sometimes she found things in the ground, but other times she found beautiful spots next to the lake where she dreamed about places beyond the forest.

One day, after a long and tiresome trip through the jungle, she noticed her mothers belly was gigantic.

“Mommy! Did you eat the dinner all by yourself?” she asked.

Her mother smiled. “Of course not Ruby. I’ve been this way for a while. I told you, you’re going to have a baby brother!”

Ruby shook her head. “No I don’t think so,” she said. “I think I would remember. That’s what my cap is for.”

She remembered everything from the jungle today. She remembered touching the clouds with her fingertips when flying with the birds. She remembered finding a castle at the top of a tree, and having long conversation about toads with a white raccoon.

She didn’t remember anything about a baby brother.

Before she knew it, her baby brother Rooney was going home with her family in the car. Ruby stared at him more than anything.

“Say hello Ruby!” He father said.

She shook her head. “He smells, he’s squishy and he cries. I don’t want too.”

Her parents laughed; but she didn’t know why it was funny to be smelly and squishy.

Rooney got bigger. He started crawling. He drooled everywhere. Ruby tried to hide her treasures, but he always found them. He followed her around, leaving a trail of drool wherever they went. No matter how many times she told him that he couldn’t wear her cap, he didn’t listen.

And then one day, he spoke.

With a smile half-filled with teeth, he pointed to his sister and said “Toob!”

“My name is Ruby!” his sister replied.

“Toob!” he said again.

She leaned down and said slowly, “Roo-bee,”

“Too-b,” her little brother laughed.

Ruby’s parents thought it was so cute, even they started calling her Toob. At first it bothered her, but with all her adventuring she soon forgot to care about a silly old name.

On a cool, autumn day, Toob’s mother stopped her before she walked out the door to go explore.

“Hold on Toob, I packed you some lunch.” She said handing her a couple paper bags.

“Two lunches?” Toob said, confused. “If I eat two lunches, I’ll get huge. I don’t want any more brothers.”

“No Toob, this is for Rooney. He wants to go with you.”

“No mom,” Toob said stamping her foot. “He’s drooled on my cap, ate my homework, ruined my treasure collection—,”

Rooney came into the room just then with his backpack on. He walked quietly over to his sister and held up a notebook. “I don’t do those things anymore, Toob. It’s actually almost been a hundred years since I ate any paper.” He looked up at her with a small smile. “I’ll do whatever you say Toob, promise! I even brought a notebook to write down how to be a good adventurer!”

“You don’t even know how to read!” Toob said, throwing up her hands.

“Alright you two, that’s enough,” their mother said. Toob and Rooney walked outside and turned to look at their mother. “Be back in time for dinner. Toob, be nice to your brother. Rooney, listen to what Toob says.”

They walked for an hour to get to Toob’s favorite thinking place. Rooney scribbled in his notebook while his sister took off her backpack to sit down.

“Alright Rooney, go gather as many rocks as you can find.” She said as she laid on the ground.

“Why?” he asked.

“We’re gonna play a game.”

His notebook forgotten, Rooney quickly gathered rocks from the nearby path. He came back with several dirty rocks in his shirt and a smile on his face. “Is this enough?”

Toob shook her head. “Mom’s not gonna be happy you got your shirt dirty.”

Rooney dropped the rocks. “Ahhh man!” his efforts to dust the dirt off his shirt were unsuccessful. He shrugged and then sat on the ground next to Toob.

Toob pointed to the rocks. “Now I need you to build a tower out of these. As tall as me.”

Rooney stared at her for a moment and then at the rocks. “What are you going to do?”

“After you build the tower I’ll tell you.” She replied.

Rooney went to work.

He tried and tried and tried, but the rocks didn’t want to stay on top of each other. While Toob was looking out over a field, he crept back to the path and gathered some twigs. Using the small sticks to support the rocks, the tower began to grow.

It was almost lunch when Rooney cried out, “Almost done!”

Toob blinked a few times and looked back to the tower, which was now almost as tall as she was. “Good work Rooney!” she wished she’d been watching him to see how he built it.

After he put the last rock on the top with his sister’s help he put his hands on his hips. “Now that’s a good tower. Probably the best tower ever built!”

His sister shrugged. “It’s an okay tower. It kind of looks like the one I saw in the mountains.”

“You went to the mountains?” he asked. “When? How?”

“Last summer when you were still crawling. Used to go there every day.” She said with a sigh.

Rooney looked down at his feet. “I wish I could go to the tower. It sounds pretty great.”

Before Toob could reply, the ground underneath them shook.

The two looked up at each other and then to the trees.

The ground shook again. Rooney stepped next to his sister. “W-w-what’s that Toob?”

Toob looked at her younger brother. “You felt that? How can you feel that?”

“Course I felt it! Shook the whole ground!” tremors erupted underneath them again, enough to knock over their tower. Before Rooney could say another word, a dinosaur—a tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur—appeared behind the trees.

Rooney’s eyes almost popped out of his head. He turned to his sister. “What—did—you—do?”

Toob blinked. “You can see him?”

Rooney pulled on her arm. “Toob he’s huge! Let’s go! He’s gonna eat us!!”

“Wait,” Toob said calmly. “Rooney, this is Ford. Ford,” Toob said to the dinosaur. “This is Rooney, my younger brother. He can see you. You may as well come out.”

The dinosaur peeked his head out and then stepped quietly into the open.

Toob smiled at Rooney. “It’s okay, he won’t hurt you. He’s usually better at hiding than this. You’re the only other person that’s seen him besides me.”

The dinosaur leaned down and let Rooney touch his nose. He smiled, showing lots of big teeth.

“Are you sure he won’t eat us?” Rooney asked.

“I’m sure.” She said picking him up. “Now get on, we need to leave now if we’re going to make it back before dinner.”

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“You’ll see.” Toob climbed onto the dinosaur’s back behind Rooney. When she was sure they wouldn’t fall off, Ford stood up and walked back into the forest.

Toob and Rooney ate their lunch a few minutes later, offering Ford some of their chips as he moved through the tall trees. They fed the crumbs of their sandwiches to the birds that landed on top of Ford’s head.

When they reached the lake, Toob thought they would have to go around to reach the other side. (She usually flew in the sky when she came this way). Instead Ford just kept going, the top of his head the only thing sticking out when he got to the middle.

Fish stared at the three of them as they passed by. It wasn’t every day they saw children riding a dinosaur across a lake!

They reached a desert shortly after Ford dried off, but the heat didn’t seem to affect the dinosaur. Toob took out a beach towel and held it up for her and Rooney to be shielded from the hot sun.

When they reached the mountains, the air became cooler the closer they got to the top. Toob and Rooney wrapped themselves in the beach towel and held on tight to Ford. The dinosaur climbed the mountain, ignoring the cold winds that tried to blow him off the side.

“You can do it Ford!” Rooney yelled into the air. The dinosaur smiled his toothy grin and continued on.

Just as the sun was setting, they reached the top and looked down into a valley covered in green grass and brightly colored flowers. In the middle was a tall stone tower, similar to the one Rooney had built but life-size. Multi-colored lights flickered in the window, with golden smoke curling out the chimney.

“Who lives there Toob?” Rooney asked.

“Not sure. We’ll have to come back tomorrow when we have more time.” She said.

Rooney’s mouth dropped open. “But we just got here!”

“Such is the way of the adventurer, little Rooney.” She said very seriously. “Really though, I’ve been late before and mom really doesn’t like it.”

Rooney nodded his head. “Tomorrow then?”

“Tomorrow.” Toob smiled. Then she leaned down and patted Ford on the side. “C’mon Ford. We gotta get home.”

Ford sighed, and turned around. He went down the mountain much faster than he went up it, and ran across the desert instead of walking. Toob and Rooney had to hold on tight as they passed through the tree-tops of the forest.

They waved goodbye to Ford as he disappeared back into the woods. When the dinosaur could no longer be seen, they began walking home.

“That was pretty amazing Toob. Like, the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. I think you are the bestest friend I’ve ever had.” Rooney said.

“You know what Rooney? You’re my best friend too.” Toob took off her cap and put it on her brother’s head. After a few steps, she stopped.

“What is it Toob?”

Toob looked back to the trees. “Don’t tell mom and dad about Ford. I don’t think they’d understand.”

Rooney saluted her. “It’s our secret, sis.”

Hand in hand they continued their march home, while planning what they would do tomorrow.

TO BE CONTINUED…….