A Tyrannosaurus on my Doorstep, Chapter 23

By me, with art by Sam Messerly.

Click here to read from the beginning.

Everyone at the park was pretty surprised when Warbell showed off his new, sleeker, more aerodynamic teeth. As usual there was a crowd. A number of people just wanted to take pictures or record the spectacle of a dinosaur eating an enormous beef lunch. Many in that crowd, when they saw Warbell’s killer bananas, shrieked and ran. However, I also heard a chorus of oohs, ahhs, and someone whispered “that’s so cool.”

I didn’t stick around long to chat with the locals or to listen to the barrage of questions (I heard somebody ask, “What is it like to eat a triceratops with THOSE teeth?”). I had more pressing issues at hand. For one, I realized in the hubbub of the day I had ripped my jeans something good. Thus very discreetly I drove home and left the gawkers and the rubberneckers behind.

I didn’t see Warbell for the rest of the day. Though I was supposed to meet him for supper (Warbell wanted to try to eat like a human, even though he said dinosaurs generally do not have three meals a day), I conveniently forgot and instead actively worked on the library wiring and passively worked on my tan. If roofers and construction workers can sometimes work shirtless, I have always figured that I could, too—especially as I had been so consumed with taking care of Warbell that I had forgotten to do the laundry all week.

When Warbell came back to the house, I was sitting on the roof watching movies on my cell phone. It was already past dark. We looked at each other, and I scooched a few more feet away from the edge.

“What are you doing on the roof?” asked Warbell.

I was relieved to see that his teeth had returned to abnormal and he no longer appeared to have a set of murder-tools in his mouth.

“Since when do dinosaurs have dentists?” I asked. “I want you to explain what you are.”

“Everyone was asking questions about my teeth today,” Warbell sighed. “I don’t understand. Wasn’t it obvious that I had had some work done on my teeth from the start?”

“Yes, but nothing made sense about you from the start!” I said. “Why can you just change your teeth like that? Why can you talk? Did you really sleep for millions of years?”

“I told you, I don’t know how long I slept,” Warbell said. “Time doesn’t have the same meaning for me. And I am wearing pants. Was that not a clue for you that there was a greater dinosaur civilization? Of course dinosaurs also have dentists. But I left that place. I am living here now, because Final Pumpkin is my home and my land.”

“That place?” I about yelled. I was standing on the roof now, holding my cell phone as if I was going to throw it at the big beast standing before me. “Where did you come from? Are the dinosaurs going to invade?”

“No, they are not going to invade,” Warbell said. “But they visit and have visited many times.”

Read the next chapter.