The Wishing Stone #1 Page 2

  “What?” Arco asked.

  “He looked like he was trying to reach his head, but his hands were too small. And the way he scraped his head against the trees makes me think he is in pain and is trying to find a way to relieve it.”

  “How do we get close enough to find out the issue though?” Arco asked.

  Spenser looked around. There was no mountain here, but in the distance, he could see one rising. “How far is that mountain?” he asked pointing.

  “A good day’s walk,” Arco said. “What are you thinking?”

  “If we can get high enough, maybe we can see what is bothering the dinosaur’s head,” Spenser said.

  Arco’s mouth pursed as he thought. Then his dark eyes lit up. “About an hour from here is a lookout. It might be tall enough.”

  “Let’s go then,” Spenser said and he followed Arco and the other boys out of the clearing. “That dinosaur didn’t look like the ones in my book. Do all dinosaurs have feathers?”

  “Most do, or some fuzz covering them. It helps them stay warm. They do not show feathers in your books?”

  “No, but I’ll have to do more research when I get home,” Spenser said. *(research in reference section)

  When they arrived at the lookout an hour later, Spenser’s feet were sore. He wondered how Arco and the boys walked so far with such thin soles on their feet.

  “There it is,” Arco said.

  Spenser looked up. A tall tree had knots growing out of its trunk that looked like perfect handholds, and the branches were missing enough leaves that they would make good seats. He wasn’t sure it was tall enough, but it was higher than they had been before.

  Arco climbed the tree quickly and motioned for the others to follow. Spenser wasn’t sure he could climb as fast as the other boys, but he was not afraid of heights, so he knew he could make it to the top.

  He was careful to make sure his hands had a good grip before he moved his feet. Then he made sure his feet were steady before he moved his hands. He wasn’t sure what would happen to him if he got injured in this world, but he didn’t want to find out.

  Finally, he reached the top and inched out on the branch to sit next to Arco. From up here, he could see the village in the distance and many more dinosaurs. He scanned for the green dinosaur, finally spotting it to the left.

  “How do we get it to come here?” Spenser asked Arco.

  Arco smiled and pulled a hollowed-out horn from his pouch. “We call him,” Arco said, putting the horn to his lips and blowing. A low sound came out of the horn, but the green dinosaur didn’t move any closer. Arco blew the horn again, louder this time, and Spenser saw the dinosaur’s head lift and turn their direction. The ground began to shake as the dinosaur grew closer. Spenser clutched the branch tighter to keep from falling off.

  The dinosaur broke into the area where the lookout was. From this height, Spenser could see his huge teeth. “Maybe this was a bad idea,” he muttered.

  “No, look,” Arco pointed.

  Above the dinosaur’s eye was a large branch. It appeared lodged in his skin.

  “I bet he’s trying to get that out,” Arco said.

  “But how do we help him?” Spenser asked. The boys all shook their heads. None of them knew.

  When the dinosaur finally left the area, the boys climbed down and returned to the village. They were silent on the return trip, trying to think of a way to help the dinosaur.

  5

  The Plan

  Spenser joined Arco and the others around the fire. This time Spenser did try the meat, which tasted a lot like chicken. As they ate, they shared with the others what they had learned.

  “Could we build a contraption?” Spenser asked. “Something to remove the twig?”

  Arco shook his head. “We have very limited tools.”

  “I don’t suppose anyone would be strong enough to pull it out,” Spenser suggested.

  “Even if they were, how would they get high enough to reach it?” Arco asked.

  A silence fell.

  “Do we have any way to put the dinosaur to sleep?” Spenser asked. “If so, we could all pull the branch out while he’s sleeping.”

  “Hmm,” Arco said. “Perhaps the old woman can mix something together.”

  “The old woman?” Spenser asked.

  “She’s the village healer. She mixes herbs to make potions and poultices. Perhaps she can mix something together to make a sleeping potion. But she is a little crazy.”

  “Is she here in town?” Spenser asked.

  “No, just outside of town.”

  “Let’s go then,” Spenser said, standing.

  “No, not in the dark. We’ll go first thing in the morning.”

  Spenser sighed. As much fun as he was having, he had to wonder if his family was looking for him. Had they called the police? Was Kayleigh walking around the house hollering “brudder” as she looked for him? Was Jackson scouring the room for a playmate? Was anyone crying for him to come home? The thoughts kept him up for several hours that night.

  When the sun rose the next morning, Arco again packed some food. He and Spenser set out to go visit the old woman.

  “Be sure to let me do the talking,” Arco said.

  “Of course,” Spenser agreed. “What should I be expecting?”

  “Don’t stare at her face,” Arco began. “It is hideous, but she doesn’t like it when you stare. Also, the last time I saw her, she was very filthy. Are you afraid of rats?”

  “Uh, I’m not sure. I’ve never seen one in real life,” Spenser said.

  “Well, you may today,” Arco said. “Try not to scream.”

  Spenser nodded, wondering if he would be able to stay calm when he saw the old woman.

  A dark mud hut appeared in the forest. It was surrounded by lush greenery, but that didn’t make it look any brighter.

  Spenser followed Arco into the hut. His heart was pounding in his chest.

  “Old woman?” Arco called.

  Was that her only name? Spenser wondered.

  “Who’s there?” The voice that came back was deep and throaty, like a frog.

  “It’s Arco and my friend Spenser from another time.”

  A short woman with long white hair came around the corner. She had a large nose with a wart on the end. One long silver hair grew out of the wart and three more sprouted from her chin. Both eyes were filmy and watery. She was indeed a very unattractive woman.

  “What can I do for you?” she asked. When she opened her mouth, Spenser could see that she only had about four teeth left and each pointed in a different direction.

  “We need a sleeping potion. Can you make such a thing?” Arco asked.

  “Depends on who you are trying to put to sleep,” the woman cackled.

  Spenser tore his gaze away, trying not to stare at her. A large furry rat ran across the woman’s feet and Spenser jumped back. The woman appeared not to notice.

  “We need to put a dinosaur to sleep,” Arco said. Spenser wondered how he could remain so calm.

  “That would be a lot of potion,” the woman said.

  “I brought you enough food for a week as payment,” Arco said, holding out the bag.

  The woman swiped the bag and pawed through it. Grunting in agreement, she tossed the bag onto a small brown table littered with bowls and old bits of food. More rats ran across the table as their hiding spaces were revealed.

  The old woman waddled over to a hole in the wall where a large black pot hung from a pole. A fire burned beneath the pot. “Let’s see,” she said, reaching for small vials atop a shelf near the pot. “We’ll need some Lavender and some Bane’s breath.” She poured a little of each into the large pot. “And of course, some toxic mushrooms to keep him still while he sleeps. Not too much though, we don’t want to kill him, right?” She cackled again and the hair on the back of Spenser’s neck rose on end. “And the final ingredient, that one is a secret of course.”

  As she put the last ingredient in, a puff of purp
le smoke rose in the air.

  “It just needs a few minutes to cook,” the woman said. “Go get me an empty vial from over there.” She pointed to the other side of the room where another shelf hung on the wall. Bottles of all shapes and sizes sat on the shelf, but the pathway to it was filled with more clutter. Arco gracefully stepped around the clutter and plucked a vial from the shelf. It was perhaps six inches high and fat at the bottom though it narrowed at the top. He stepped lightly back through the minefield that was her floor and handed the vial to her.

  She took a sniff of the potion and then picked up a ladle and poured some into the vial. She continued pouring until the vial was full. Then she pulled a brown cork from a pocket in her dress and capped the bottle.

  “You boy,” she said to Spenser, “Come here.”

  Spenser looked at Arco, who nodded his head to show it was okay. Then he stepped closer to the old woman, who handed the bottle to him.

  “Be sure to use all of it or else he may not stay asleep as long as you need him to,” the woman said. “Best of luck to you.”

  “Thank you,” Spenser said and Arco echoed and performed a little bow before exiting the hut. Spenser quickly followed, still clutching the bottle for fear of breaking it.

  Once outside, he handed the bottle to Arco, who tucked it in a small leather bag he had slung over one shoulder.

  “Do you think it will work?” Spenser asked.

  “We can only hope,” Arco replied. “But we have nothing to lose.”

  They continued the short trek back to the village and then gathered a group together to discuss how best to put the potion on the dinosaur.

  “There is the tall tree,” Arco pointed out. “Someone could stand at the top and pour the potion on the dinosaur when he comes by.”

  “That sounds very dangerous,” an older man said.

  “I can do it,” Spenser said.

  “No, I can do it,” Arco said. “I appreciate your help, but you are not from here. It should be one of us who does it.”

  “Let’s do it together,” Spenser said and Arco agreed.

  6

  The Dinosaur Sleeps

  Later that afternoon, Arco and Spenser climbed the tall tree. Arco had his horn in the small pouch along with the vial. When they reached the top, they picked a strong branch to climb out on.

  “Be sure to watch which way the dinosaur leans once he is asleep,” Arco hollered down to the people below. “He might hit some of the huts depending on how he falls, so be ready to get the people out.”

  The men and women below nodded.

  “Thank you for this friend,” Arco said holding out a hand to Spenser. “You barely know us and you are willing to risk your life to help us.”

  “I think you would do the same for me if the tables were turned,” Spenser said and shook Arco’s hand.

  Arco nodded, a smile stretching across his face. “It would be my honor to. Are you ready?”

  Spenser nodded and Arco lifted the horn to his lips. The deep sound bellowed out and Spenser waited. Only the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind met Spenser’s ears. Arco blew the horn again. Suddenly the tree began to shake. The ferocious howl met their ears and Spenser clutched the branch tighter. The people below began to take cover behind large rocks and smaller trees.

  The green dinosaur broke into the village. His tiny hands clawed back and forth and his head shook left and right. His tail sent swirls of dust up into the air.

  Beside him, Arco dropped the horn into the bag and removed the vial. He uncapped it. Spenser could see the bottle shaking just slightly in Arco’s hand. For all his bravery, he must be a little nervous, Spenser thought.

  The dinosaur lumbered their direction and Spenser grabbed ahold of Arco’s tunic. It had been decided that Arco would lean out and drop the potion on the dinosaur while Spenser held onto him and the tree. His life was in Spenser’s hands.

  “Just a little closer,” Arco said as the dinosaur stepped toward them again. Spenser could now see the reptilian eye looking back and forth and the branch still lodged above the eye. As he took one more step and ended up next to the tree, Arco leaned forward and flung the potion at the dinosaur.

  It hit him directly in the nose and the dinosaur reared its head, letting out another loud roar. His hands clawed again and his eyes looked around, landing on Spenser and Arco in the tree. He took a step toward them and Spenser squeezed his eyes shut, expecting to be knocked from the tree and tumble to his death.

  Instead he heard Arco yell, “Clear the right side.”

  Spenser opened his eyes to see people below running out of the mud huts on the right side of the circle. The dinosaur’s eyes were starting to close and he was leaning to the right. He stumbled out of the village, narrowly missing a house, and into the tall grassy area that lay just beyond the village huts. With a giant thud, he collapsed. His head had landed on a boulder, and it now looked almost like a pillow under his large head. The tall grass was almost like a blanket covering part of his massive body.

  “We did it,” Spenser said, his voice full of awe.

  “Yes, we did,” Argo agreed. “But now we must see if we can get the branch out before the dinosaur awakes.”

  Spenser and Arco made their way back down the tree and joined the crowd that had gathered around the dinosaur. The branch was large and sticking out of the eye closest to the ground.

  “Get some rope,” Arco yelled to the crowd. A few scattered off to find a long piece of rope. When they returned, Arco climbed up on a nearby rock and tied the rope around the branch. He made sure to secure it behind a small piece that jutted out and would hold the rope in place.

  “Grab ahold of the rope and let’s pull,” Arco said as he climbed down from the rock. He flung the rope out to the crowd, and men and women stepped forward to grab a portion. Spenser wrapped his hands around a bit of rope near Arco. The rope was slick, and he couldn’t get the best hold, but he held on as tight as he could. On Arco’s count, they began to pull.

  At first, Spenser felt nothing, but little by little, he felt the branch shift. A few more tugs and the branch came free, sending people sprawling across the ground as they lost their footing. Those still holding on carried the branch away from the crowd and laid it down gently.

  “Did it work?” one woman asked.

  “We will have to wait and see if that was the problem,” Arco said. “Be sure to keep an eye on the dinosaur. We may need to run quickly if that was not the issue.”

  The crowd murmured in agreement, and Spenser and Arco sat down together on a nearby boulder to wait.

  “Why do they listen to you?” Spenser asked. “You seem young like me.”

  “I am twelve years old,” Arco said. “My father was the chief of this village, but he was killed on a hunt.”

  “I’m sorry,” Spenser said. He couldn’t imagine how he would feel if he didn’t have his dad.

  “I had to take over in his place,” Arco continued. “They listen to me because I am now the chief.”

  “Isn’t that a lot of work for someone so young?” Spenser asked.

  Arco nodded. “It is, but we do not always get to choose our path. Sometimes fate chooses it for us.”

  Spenser thought about that. Had fate sent him the mysterious stranger? Was he on a path other than the one he would have chosen? His family flashed into his mind and he found he missed them. He hoped the stone would take him back when the quest was complete because he had no other way of getting home. He should have asked the stranger more questions. He shouldn’t have tried the stone without knowing he had a way to get home.

  7

  A New Friend

  It was hours later when the dinosaur finally began to move. Spenser and Arco were eating a dinner of meat and bread again when the cry sounded.

  “It’s waking up,” a man yelled.

  All around them, the men, women, and children got to their feet. Mothers grabbed their children and held them tight about the shoulders, ready to
bolt if the dinosaur appeared to still be determined to destroy their village. Men held spears at the ready in a loose circle around the dinosaur in case defense was needed. Spenser and Arco stepped through the circle and close to the beast lying on the ground. The tall grass came up to Spenser’s waist.

  The dinosaur’s skin was leathery looking like the elephants Spenser had seen at the zoo last year, only it was a dark green. His large belly, slightly lighter in color, rose and fell as he breathed. All along his back were rows of bright red feathers. Spenser wanted to touch the dinosaur, to see what he felt like, but he was afraid the beast might bite him.

  As the dinosaur struggled to stand, Arco and Spenser stopped and watched. Though they wanted to help, they didn’t really have a way to, and they were afraid to get too close.

  When the dinosaur finally got to its feet, it shook its head left and right. It tilted its head up and down. The tiny hands pawed the air, but their movement was different this time. There was less anger behind the movement. The dinosaur looked down at the crowd around it. Spenser was pretty sure dinosaurs couldn’t smile, but that’s what his mouth looked like.

  The dinosaur leaned its head down into the crowd and waited. Arco took a step toward the creature and then another. He held out his hand and the dinosaur sniffed at it. Spenser waited for the massive jaws to open, but the mouth stayed close. Instead, the dinosaur leaned his head toward Arco, like a dog wanting to be petted. Arco touched a hand on the dinosaur and smiled. Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Spenser took the few steps needed to put him next to Arco and he too reached out a hand.The dinosaur’s skin was cool like a snake, but not scaly.

  “I think we have done it,” Arco whispered to Spenser and Spenser nodded, still amazed that he was touching a dinosaur.