Chapter Four

"Are you sure this is the right direction?" Pawson asked.

"I'm sure," answered Aimes. "Either way, the river was pretty long. If we keep going in this direction, we’re bound to run into it."

"We haven't seen any other dinosaurs in a while," Pawson said. To him, that was a good sign, but Aimes had a different perspective.

"I know, isn't that a shame? I was hoping to meet some other kinds. You remember when we were at the bookstore and you said..." Aimes put on her best Pawson voice, which sounded a lot more like a slightly deeper Aimes voice. "You don't need a dinosaur book. We aren't going to run into any dinosaurs."

"I could not have seen this coming," Pawson admitted. If it was up to Aimes, she would bring an entire library, and packing light was essential when everything you owned had to fit in a backpack.

"I would like to see like one of those ones... you know, with the..." Aimes spread her hands out like fans and put them behind her ears, like a lizard’s frill. "You know, this one? But I think they're meat-asauruses, and I’d rather be a friend than a food." Aimes waved a bug out of her face and pushed through another shrub.

"I would say we're having rather good luck, considering..." Pawson struggled to keep up with Aimes even in the best of times, but the tall shrubbery of a prehistoric jungle was particularly frustrating. Finally, the both of them emerged into a small clearing of flowers and Aimes stopped to stretch.

"Wait here, okay?" Aimes said to her teddy bear. "I'm going to get changed."

"Don't go far," Pawson warned.

Aimes didn't go far. She walked around a tree and found a plush place in the grass. She wondered idly what the ramifications of leaving a dirty diaper in the past would have on the present, but the slide down Alex's tail certainly made Aimes more eager than ever to change. Plus, if Pawson wasn't concerned about it, what reason did Aimes have to worry?

Aimes had just unfolded the fresh diaper and set out her supplies when she heard Pawson shout: "AIMES! HELP!"

Aimes and Pawson had been best friends since Aimes was an actual baby; she knew the difference between a cry for help and a literal cry for help. She quickly got to her feet, grabbing the baby powder and wipes as she went, and sprinted into the clearing of flowers. Sure enough, standing only a dozen or so feet away from Pawson, was a tyrannosaurus rex!

Or, well... a small one, maybe a child. It looked a lot more like a lizard on two legs than it did a dinosaur, but it was only a foot shorter than Aimes. It took a step toward Pawson, then turned to look at Aimes.

"Just stay still," Aimes told Pawson. If her childhood books about dinosaurs were right, then T-rexes had trouble seeing things that weren’t moving. Pawson did what he was told, and Aimes stood quietly in place as the little T-rex got closer. Then she saw the little thing sniff its nose. She tilted her head. Aimes got an idea. If it was using smell to track her...

Aimes twisted open the lid on the baby powder and threw it at the T-rex. It hit the dinosaur in the side, and a huge white cloud of baby powder filled the air.

"Run!" Aimes shouted at Pawson. He turned around and ran into the woods with Aimes close behind. When she caught up to him, Aimes grabbed Pawson’s paw to help him keep up. The sounds of cracking branches echoed behind them as they were chased through the woods. Suddenly the trees fell away and Aimes and Pawson found themselves looking up at a large, rocky wall. They had nowhere else to run.

"We have to turn back," Pawson urged, but when they did, the little T-rex was waiting for them. A large splotch on its skin was white with powder and it growled softly.

"Stay still," Aimes said again, but Pawson didn't. He put himself between Aimes and the T-rex, spreading his arms out in her defense and trying not to tremble. If anyone was getting eaten by a meat-asaurus, it was going to be him, though Pawson didn’t consider that stuffing and fabric probably wasn't the T-rex's diet.

The T-rex took a step closer and looked around. It tried to sniff and then let out a sound that could only be described as a whimper. Aimes tilted her head again, touching her chin.

"If it wanted to attack us," Aimes whispered, "why didn't it?"

"Maybe the baby powder confused it?" Pawson suggested quietly, whispering to the woman standing behind him.

"But it didn't attack us even before the baby powder," Aimes argued. "And if it's from that clutch of eggs I found earlier, why was it all the way out here?"

They both came to the same conclusion at the same time: it was tracking them.

"It must be that eggshell I took!" Aimes said. "It must have a kind of smell!"

"I'm sure there are easier smells to track you with," Pawson sighed.

"Hey!" Aimes pouted. "I've tried to change twice since we got here!"

"Can we focus on the T-rex wanting to eat us, please?"

Aimes did just that. She looked at the little T-rex, who, until that moment, hadn't roared. But when it did - when it opened its huge jaw to whine - Aimes noticed something curious.

"Its teeth hasn't come in yet. See? How can it eat us with no teeth?"

"With powerful jaws?" Pawson countered. "With claws on its... finger things."

"Hm, I know what it needs," Aimes said, swinging her backpack off her shoulder. The motion drew the T-rex's attention and it took a step closer.

"Aimes, you said not to move!"

"Just one sec," Aimes said, rooting through her bag again. "Ah, here we go."

Aimes had her back to the wall - figuratively and literally - and Pawson was doing everything he could to get in the way of the little T-rex. The meat-eating dinosaur opened its mouth, only a foot from Pawson's head, and Aimes tossed something inside.

"Was that… a chicken nugget?" Pawson asked, bewildered. The T-rex chomped down on it with its toothless gums and swallowed the mashed nugget whole.

"A dinosaur chicken nugget," Aimes corrected, holding up the little plastic bag of dinosaur-shaped nuggets. "Because T-rexes eat other dinosaurs." She took another nugget out of the bag and tossed it into the dinosaur’s mouth.

"Where did you get those?" Pawson asked.

"From my backpack."

"You have to keep them cold, Aimes!"

"But they taste so much better when they’re warm," Aimes shrugged, taking a bite of one of the chicken nuggets before tossing the other half at the T-rex.

"No wonder you always have a tummy ache," Pawson muttered to himself. At just the thought of it, he felt a little queasy. Then again, since Pawson was a teddy bear, he didn’t eat all that much to begin with.

Despite Pawson’s disapproval, Aimes was very pleased with herself. She gave her last nugget to the dinosaur, but she knew it wouldn’t be enough to sate a growing T-rex.

As the dinosaur finished the final chicken nugget, Aimes started to sift through her pack once again, umming and ahhing until she found what she was looking for. This time, she pulled out a pink and yellow teething ring, the biggest one she had. Honestly, it was probably too big for Aimes anyway. The next time the T-rex opened its mouth - expecting another chicken nugget no doubt - Aimes tossed in the teething ring instead.

The dinosaur bit into the teething ring few times, pushing it around the insides of its mouth, and started chewing where its back teeth should have been. Then, after a minute of awkward chewing, the T-rex turned around and wandered back into the woods.

"Wow..." Pawson shook his head in disbelief. "How did you know that would work?"

"I get cranky when I don't have things to chew on," Aimes shrugged. "I was going to give it a binky, but I don't think it would have been able to keep it in its mouth."

Pawson wanted to correct Aimes that a binky was for sucking, not chewing, but he was too impressed with Aimes in that moment to ruin her fun. Once again, her quick thinking had saved the day.

"Come on," Aimes said, waving Pawson forward. "If we follow this cliff we should find the river."