Karen's Dinosaur

  David Michael filled in the answers fast. He wrote big messy numbers and he made lots of mistakes. He did not check his work.

  I looked at pictures of dinosaur foot prints. I was supposed to decide which dinosaur had made them. Then I drew a line from the footprints to a picture of the dinosaur.

  That night I dreamed about a diplodocus named Daisy.

  The Dinosaur Hall of Fame

  One day Mrs. Hoffman said, “Girls and boys, today each of you is going to make a Dinosaur Hall of Fame.”

  “A hall of fame?” said Audrey. “What is that?”

  “Who knows what a hall of fame is?” Mrs. Hoffman asked us.

  “Is it like a museum?” asked Hank.

  “It is about famous people,” said Addie.

  “And records they set,” added Hannie.

  Mrs. Hoffman smiled. “In your halls of fame, you are going to put record-setting dinosaurs. The biggest, the fastest, the longest, and any other records you can think of. You can look up dinosaurs in these books I checked out of our library. And on these sheets you can draw their pictures and fill in the records they set. When you are finished, you will each have a Dinosaur Hall of Fame. While you are working, you can keep your eyes out for a dinosaur to choose for your museum project.”

  Mrs. Hoffman handed out the sheets and we set to work. I found a book called Dinosaurs and How They Lived. I found some other good books, too. The first thing I wanted to know was which dinosaurs were the biggest. Was tyrannosaurus one of the biggest? Yes, but brachiosaurus weighed about 77 tons, which is about 154 thousand pounds. I drew a picture of brachiosaurus inside a frame on the worksheet. Under that I spelled out B-R-A-C-H-I-O-S-A-U-R-U-S. Under that I wrote: Heaviest — 77 tons.

  The longest dinosaur was diplodocus. It was about 88 feet long. Its tail was 46 feet long.

  The tallest dinosaur was barosaurus. It could reach as high as a five-story building. Its neck was more than 30 feet long.

  The dinosaur with the longest neck was mamenchisaurus. Its neck was 50 feet long, which is the longest of any animal ever. (That is as long as three giraffe necks.)

  The smallest dinosaur was saltopus. It was only two feet long, not much bigger than Boo-Boo.

  I filled in lots of dinosaurs in my hall of fame. I wondered if I should choose one of them for my project with Maxie. I sort of liked the little tiny dinosaurs. But I liked the huge ones, too. And the heavy ones. And the ones with the long necks.

  I wondered which ones Maxie liked.

  Wanted!

  Our class had been learning about dinosaurs for almost two weeks. Our halls of fame were finished. Mrs. Hoffman had spread them out on a table at the back of the room. We could look at them whenever we wanted. Guess what. We found that we did not agree on everything.

  Jannie found a book that said compsognathus was the smallest dinosaur. I had found a book that said saltopus was the smallest.

  Ian found a book that said barosaurus was the biggest dinosaur. I had found a book that said barosaurus was the tallest. But I could not even find barosaurus in some other books.

  “Dinosaurs are hard to study,” said Mrs. Hoffman. “They lived millions and millions of years ago. We have found fossils of dinosaur teeth and bones. But they are only clues about what dinosaurs were really like. We have to make some guesses. That is one reason dinosaurs are so interesting.”

  Mrs. Hoffman paused. Then she said, “Class, it is time for me to tell you about the project you will work on in the museum with your pen pals. I think you will have fun with this project and learn something, too. At the museum, you will make a wanted poster about the dinosaur you have chosen. It will look like the wanted poster for a criminal.”

  Ricky raised his hand. “I saw a cartoon once, and this cat who was the sheriff of a town put up a wanted poster in the post office. It was a poster of a dog, and the dog had robbed the bank.”

  Mrs. Hoffman smiled. “Do you remember what the poster said?”

  “It said ‘WANTED: Wild Dawg McCready. For bank robbery.’ And then it said what Wild Dawg looked like. Oh, and there was a picture of him.”

  My classmates and I giggled.

  Mrs. Hoffman said, “Exactly. That is just what you are going to do for your dinosaur. You must know a lot about your dinosaur to be able to make the poster. You must know what your dinosaur looked like, so you can draw it and describe it. You must know what its habits were, so you can write down what it is wanted for.” Mrs. Hoffman held up a piece of paper. “I made my own wanted poster last night,” she said, “so I can show you a sample. This one is for styracosaurus.”

  I looked at the poster. Underneath Mrs. Hoffman’s drawing of the dinosaur, she had printed “WANTED: Styracosaurus. For fierce horn attack. Appearance: 18 feet long, walks on all fours, bony nose horn, six spikes around frill.”

  It was a very cool poster.

  Omar raised his hand. “Mrs. Hoffman?” he said. “How will my pen pal and I choose a dinosaur?”

  “Good question,” said Mrs. Hoffman. “You are going to write to your pen pals. I know you have been thinking about dinosaurs for your project, and so have your pen pals. Now each of you is going to write a letter, and list three dinosaurs you like. Your pen pal will choose one dinosaur from your list and write back to you with his choice.”

  I was glad I had been looking at so many dinosaurs lately. I knew just which three dinosaurs to suggest to Maxie. At least, I thought I did. I flipped through Hannie’s book one more time. Then I began my letter to my pen pal.

  Ornitholestes

  I waited and waited for my letter from Maxie. I had to wait for a whole week. I was sort of hoping Maxie would choose pentaceratops. Guess what “penta” means. It means “five.” And guess how many horns are on pentaceratops’s head. Five. Isn’t that cool? That is what I like about pentaceratops. I liked the other dinosaurs, too, though.

  One morning, a week later, Mrs. Hoffman held up a fat brown envelope. “I have letters for you from your pen pals,” she said.

  “Oh, goody!” I exclaimed.

  “Indoor voice, Karen,” said Mrs. Hoffman.

  Mrs. Hoffman let Pamela hand out the letters.

  This is what my letter said:

  Well, ornitholestes had not been my first choice. But I liked what Maxie said about it. She made ornitholestes sound funny. So I was happy with the dinosaur for our project.

  * * *

  When I returned home from school that day, I ran into the kitchen.

  “Guess what — ” I started to say. Then I stopped. David Michael was already at home. He was talking to Nannie and Andrew. I took a good look at his face. “What is wrong?” I asked.

  David Michael scowled at me. “Our teacher told us what our special project is going to be. We get to pick any dinosaur we want and write a report on it. A report. Whoopee. Big deal.”

  “Gee,” I said. “No field trip? No museum?”

  “Nope. Just a stupid report.” David Michael scowled harder. “Don’t you think that was no fair?” he said to Nannie. “Special project. That is exactly what Ms. Fairmont said. Special project. She is so mean. Plus, she gives us way too much homework. And she gives my papers back to me with red marks all over them. They look like they have poison ivy.”

  Andrew giggled. But David Michael was not trying to be funny. He stuck his tongue out at Andrew. Then he pouted.

  I wanted to make him feel better. “Did you choose your dinosaur yet?” I asked him. “At least you could choose a really good one.”

  David Michael actually smiled. “Yup,” he said proudly. “I chose my favorite of all. Ornitholestes.”

  “Hey, cool!” I exclaimed. “That is the dinosaur I chose for my project! See, when we get to the museum, Maxie and I are supposed to make a wanted poster for our dinosaur. We have to know a lot about ornitholestes to do that. We have to know what it looked like and — ”

  “And you chose ornitholestes? Same as me?” David Michael cried. “Why did you have to go and do tha
t? I chose ornitholestes. It is my dinosaur. And I do not even get to go on a trip or anything. Why should you get a trip, and my dinosaur, too? No fair.”

  Uh-oh.

  Greedy Guts

  I left David Michael alone for awhile. I stomped upstairs to our playroom. I talked to Crystal Light and Goldfishie. (Their tank is in the playroom.) I told them David Michael was being unreasonable.

  “Do you know what that means?” I asked Crystal Light. “It means he is being silly and not thinking things through. He needs to calm down and quiet down and settle down.”

  “I do not.”

  Oops. David Michael was standing in the doorway.

  “I do not need to calm down and quiet down and settle down,” he said. “And I am not being unreasonable.”

  “Okay, okay,” I replied.

  “But you are being a greedy guts,” David Michael went on.

  “A greedy guts?!” I exclaimed. “Me?”

  “Yes, you.” David Michael put his hands on his hips.

  “Am not!”

  “Are too. You always get everything you want. You got a pony — ”

  “An old, falling-apart pony I could not ride. And I do not even have it anymore. We gave it away.”

  “And you got to be the Pizza Queen — ”

  “I won a contest. I won it fair and square.”

  “And you got a new bike — ”

  “I had to pay for part of it with my own money.”

  “And you always get A’s in school.”

  “I cannot help it. I am very — ” I paused. I had started to say, “I am very smart.” Instead I said, “I mean, I like school.”

  “And you have two of almost everything.”

  “I cannot help that, either. I live at two different places.”

  “And now,” David Michael went on. (He was ignoring everything I said.) “And now you get to go on a trip to New York City. And you get to see the dinosaur skeletons. And you chose my dinosaur.”

  Well, for heaven’s sake. How was I supposed to know David Michael would choose ornitholestes for his report? I did not even know he was going to have to write a report.

  “Maybe you could choose a different dinosaur,” I suggested. “We do not have to have the same one. How about pentaceratops? That is one of my favorites. It has five horns. Or dimetrodon. Or — ”

  “I do not want another dinosaur!” cried David Michael. “I already told Ms. Fairmont I chose ornitholestes. I do not want to talk to her again and tell her I changed my mind.” (I had a feeling David Michael might be in trouble with Ms. Fairmont.) “Besides, I like ornitholestes. It is my favorite dinosaur. Why don’t you change your dinosaur?”

  “Me?!” I exclaimed. “No way. Maxie and I agreed on ornitholestes. I had to write a letter to her, and she had to write one back to me. It would take forever to choose another one. Besides, we like ornitholestes, too.”

  “See what I mean, you greedy guts?” said David Michael. “You get everything you want.” He paused. “And you do everything you want.”

  “I do not!” I shouted. “I cannot help that Mrs. Hoffman decided to take us to the museum. And I cannot help that Maxie and I like ornitholestes, too.”

  “I don’t care. You are still a greedy guts.”

  “You are a stupey-dupe!”

  “Barf-face!”

  “Baby!”

  David Michael ran to his room. He slammed his door.

  So I ran to my room and slammed my door.

  Butterflies

  My classmates and I had been learning about dinosaurs for a long time. We knew which ones were plant-eaters and which ones were meat-eaters. We knew that at the museum there are two dinosaur halls. The dinosaurs in one hall are saurischians. The dinosaurs in the other hall are ornithischians. The saurischians had grasping hands and were “lizard-hipped.” Their hip bones were shaped like lizards’. The ornithischians were “bird-hipped.” Their hip bones were shaped like birds’.

  I was ready for our trip to New York. I was ready to see the skeletons and fossils and displays. I was ready to make a wanted poster for my dinosaur. So I was very happy that it was now the night before our field trip. The very next day I would go to the American Museum of Natural History. And I would see Maxie again.

  I was so excited I had butterflies in my stomach.

  I was excited even though David Michael was still mad at me.

  Guess what. David Michael was so mad that he would hardly speak to me. He spoke to me only when he really needed something. Otherwise, he ignored me. Sometimes he even turned his head away.

  On the night before our trip, I had to do lots of things. I packed my lunch for our picnic in Central Park.

  “Be sure you pack things that will keep until lunchtime,” said Elizabeth. “No mayonnaise or eggs.”

  This is what I packed: a peanut butter and jam sandwich, an apple, some carrot sticks, and for a treat, two chocolate lollipops. (One was for Maxie.) Elizabeth said she would give me a cold pack from the freezer the next day, to be sure everything stayed fresh and cool.

  “Is this a healthy lunch?” I asked Elizabeth.

  “Pretty healthy,” she replied. “The jam and the chocolate are sugary. But the other things are good. You even chose whole wheat bread.” (I try to eat healthy foods, but I do like sugar. I cannot help it.)

  When my lunch was ready, I put the bag in the refrigerator. Then I thought about what I was going to wear the next day. I wanted to wear fancy party clothes. I wanted to look nice at Maxie’s school and in the museum. But I did not think a dress and my shiny Mary Jane shoes would be the best clothes for a picnic in the park. I looked in my closet for a long time. Then I looked in my dresser drawers. Finally I chose a pair of blue jeans. Then I chose my underwear and my sneakers.

  “Now, which top?” I asked myself.

  I pulled out three. One was the Stoneybrook High School sweatshirt Charlie had given me. One had a picture of New York City on the front. Another had a picture of a cat’s face on the front and a cat’s tail on the back. I liked all of the tops very much. At last I decided to wear the New York shirt. What better place to wear it than in New York?

  After I laid out my clothes, I pulled a box out of my desk drawer. The box was full of beads, and it was a present for Maxie. I thought my pen pal would have fun making necklaces and bracelets. Mrs. Hoffman had not told us to bring presents for our pen pals, but I wanted to do something nice for Maxie.

  I laid the bead box on my bed. I wrapped it in dinosaur paper.

  David Michael walked by my room. He saw the present. He saw the dinosaur paper. But he did not say anything. He just stuck out his tongue.

  I stuck mine out at him. “Baby!” I called.

  “Dinosaur stealer!” he shouted back.

  “Choose another dinosaur!” I said.

  “Why don’t you?”

  I sighed. I told myself to forget about David Michael and think about the trip.

  The Best Bus

  The next morning, my alarm clock rang at six o’clock.

  “Six o’clock!” I cried. “What is wrong with this clock? It is not supposed to ring until — ” I stopped. I remembered something.

  “The trip!” I exclaimed. “Today is New York! Today is the museum! Today is Maxie! Today is ornitholestes!”

  I leaped out of bed. I flicked on the light. Then I put on the outfit I had chosen the night before. I looked at myself in the mirror. I was ready for a trip to New York City all right.

  I hurried downstairs. I was up very early, but Nannie and Daddy were up, too. Daddy was going to drive Hannie and me to school. Our bus was going to leave at 7:45. That is before our school is even open.

  “Good morning,” I said as I sat down at the kitchen table.

  “Good morning,” replied Daddy.

  “Ready for your trip?” asked Nannie.

  “Yup.” I pointed to my shirt.

  “Ah. New York. Good choice,” said Daddy.

  After breakfast, I put Ma
xie’s present in my backpack. Then I slipped my backpack on. I took my lunch out of the fridge. Then I took the cold pack out of the freezer and put it in my lunch bag to keep the food cool.

  “Do you have everything you need?” Elizabeth asked. She yawned.

  “I think so. Lunch, jacket, games to play on the bus, my spending money, present for Maxie.”

  “Good girl,” said Elizabeth.

  “Daddy, can we go now? Puh-lease?” I asked. “I cannot wait a moment longer.” I was hopping from one foot to the other.

  Daddy looked at his watch. “It is a little early, but I guess so. Do you think Hannie is ready?”

  I peeked out the front door. “She is standing on her porch!” I cried.

  “Okay,” said Daddy. “Wagons ho.”

  Daddy drove Hannie and me to school. In the parking lot was a huge bus. It was not a yellow school bus. It said Charter Tours on the side. Mrs. Hoffman was standing next to it, talking to the driver. Nearby were Addie and her mom, Sara and her dad, and Nancy and her dad. Mrs. Sidney, Mr. Ford, and Mr. Dawes were coming along on the trip. They were going to be our room parents.

  “Ooh, look at the bus! This is so exciting!” I said to Hannie.

  Daddy parked the car, and Hannie and I hopped out. We ran to join our friends. “Hi! Here we are!” called Hannie.

  Daddy stayed to talk to Mr. Dawes.

  By seven-thirty, all of my classmates had arrived. The driver opened the door of the wonderful bus.

  “You can go now,” I whispered to Daddy.

  Daddy nodded. “Pay attention to Mrs. Hoffman,” he told me. “And to the parents. Do everything they tell you to do. Follow Mrs. Hoffman’s trip rules. And be very, very careful crossing the streets in New York. Promise?”

  “Promise,” I said. Then I added, “Daddy? Please don’t kiss me good-bye, okay? Everyone would see.”

  “Okay,” said Daddy. “Have fun, Karen!” He climbed into his car and drove away.