The Importance of a Good Breakfast

6. Continuing where it was left off, if not sooner

Little Jimmy was five years old, but very independent. It wasn’t unusual for him to run away from home into the fields beyond the town and hunt prairie gophers. He had yet to catch one, but he was feeling pretty good about his chances. Already he had come across a turtle slowly making its way in the direction of the town. It had looked at him with sad eyes, so he had scooped it up and ran close to home, before remembering that he was mad at his parents and not ever returning, or at least not until he was hungry. Little Jimmy was rather pragmatic when it came to matters of the stomach. So he had put the turtle on the ground, waved good-bye, and ran back to his gopher hunt.
Telltale signs of a burrow hole caught his attention. Ever so slowly he slipped around until he was upwind of the hole. It was something his father had taught him long ago, and as a fierce and mighty hunter, he had learned the lesson well. He crept to the edge of the hole and prepared himself. At any moment a gopher might stick its head up and he had to be ready to grab it. Briefly Jimmy wished that he was old enough to use weapons, but his mother was rather protective and would not allow him to handle anything that was sharp, so knives and bows were out. And he had no string to make a snare because he had left in such a hurry. But a great hunter like himself didn’t need any weapons. He was swift and strong, and catching with his hands was good enough.
What Jimmy could not see was the collection of gophers that had stationed themselves at a hole situated directly behind the young boy. Excitedly they watched. They had each laid down bets as to how long he would stick around this time. Carl was feeling rather smug, as he had won the past three times the kid had come hunting them. His bet was for Jimmy to stick around for an hour and forty-five minutes before getting hungry and leaving.
Two hours later (Carl used every curse word that was known to gopher-kind, and made up a few new ones that seemed to suit the occasion), Little Jimmy was bored. Why did nothing interesting ever happen to him? Suddenly, he noticed dirt around the gopher hole shift, a few grains of dust falling down the slope and quickly disappearing into the dark. Finally, some action! There, more dirt falling, this time accompanied by a dull thud. More dirt falling and a louder thud, one that Jimmy could feel in the ground. It was extremely unusual for gophers of any size to be making that much commotion and noise (and sub-woofers had yet to be invented), so it was obviously something besides the furry little creatures that was causing what he saw and heard. Stiffly pushing himself to his feet, Jimmy stretched his limbs out and then walked over to the nearby hill, roughly in the direction of the thudding he was hearing and feeling. Cautiously he climbed to the top of the hill, making sure to keep his profile low so as to be less noticeable. At the top he paused and noticed that the sound had ceased. Taking a deep breath, he peeked his head over the crest to see what could be making such a noise. His imagination ran wild as he thought of all the crazy ideas he could. Maybe it was a rogue elephant, or a herd of buffalo, or some kangaroos jumping in unison. As it turned out, his imagination failed to run quite wild enough.
A large, purple lizard-like creature was crouched at the base of the down-slope of Jimmy’s hill. It’s large sinewy (Jimmy didn’t know what that word meant, but it seemed to fit somehow) tail was laying heavily on the ground behind it. There were two people on it, a goofy looking young man, and a young woman who was at least half angel, at least in Jimmy’s eyes. The large creature was staring back at the two people, not looking very happy. It’s small arms waved in the air, the sharp claws making whistling sounds as they cut through the air. Huge teeth glistened wetly as it opened its mouth and leaned forward towards the two youths. Suddenly, Jimmy was feeling very, very hungry. Without a sound, he stood up and fled towards his home, praying the entire way that he was just hallucinating, and hoping that the monster would at least finish his victims quickly and quietly.

* * * * * *

Gordon leaned very close to James and Mel, opened his mouth wide, and said, clearly and with conviction: “Get off of my tail, or I shall be forced to dine on your innards.”
Even without much experience in this particular scenario, James was pretty sure that it was best not to anger a dinosaur, especially one with as many teeth as Gordon. Wordlessly he slid off the tail and onto the ground, followed closely by Mel. They watched as the large purple dinosaur continued to wave his arms in frustration and obvious angst. Obviously they should have asked if they could ride his tail rather than just hopping on. How were they to know that his tail was so sensitive?
After a moment, the thunder lizard managed to calm himself down enough to talk without bellowing. “All right, we are near the town. It is only a single mile hence. Remember, find the artefact and bring it back to me.”
James and Mel simply nodded and climbed the hill that was facing them. They had just reached the top when James turned to ask Gordon a question. Much to his surprise, the dinosaur was already gone, and he was left facing a startled looking cow. It mooed at him in a rather offended manner and trotted away. How in the world, thought James, does something that big disappear so quickly? Something tugged at the edge of his mind, but before his brain could pull a brilliant answer from mid-air, he was distracted by Mel’s voice.
“James,” she said, tugging at his sleeve. “It looks like we may have been spotted.” She was pointing towards the small collection of houses that was only a short distance away. Or more correctly, she was pointing at the receding figure of a young child racing at full speed towards the town. “It looks like he came from here, or at least he would have assuming he ran a straight line.”
“Well,” began James. That was all he had to say about that particular subject. With a shrug he started walking down the hill.
Mel watched for a few moments, and then hurried to catch him. He certainly was a strange one.
They walked in silence for some time. The sun was warm on their backs, but a slight breeze was blowing the kept them comfortable. Long grass swayed in the breeze, looking like the waves of a green sea. As they approached the town, they intersected a beaten path. It seemed to lead directly into the middle of town, so they decided to follow it. Perhaps this would also lead them directly to the mysterious artefact that they were supposed to be finding.
Carl the gopher sighed. This just wasn’t his day. He had bet that at least one of them would turn an ankle in one of their holes, and he had even gone ahead and dug fresh holes to increase his chances of winning, but they had avoided them all. What rotten luck.
As the reached the first house, they noticed something on the road. It seemed like an ordinary rock, except for its green colour, and the fact that it was moving towards them at a fairly steady pace. It neared, accompanied by a sound. “OhmygoshhavetotellwhatamIgoing-tohowcanIletwhatcanIdo…” Ruds’ familiar voice cut through the morning air (actually, it was evening, but since James had no real concept of east or west, he thought the sun was just rising, making it morning. He was wrong), but it seemed even more hurried and disjointed than usual. His pace was also elevated from his normal slow crawl. It was really quite odd to see a turtle hurrying, but there he was, doing everything in his power to run.
James hurried forward and scooped him up, giving him a quick hug. “Ruds, there you are. We were worried about you, we thought you had left us.”
The turtle seemed to barely notice that he was no longer on the ground. With legs still churning he continued to babble incomprehensibly. Suddenly, he stopped and his head snapped around to look James square in the face. “Jamesyou’reherethat’swonderfulIwas-worriedthatIwastoolate.” He paused there, the first time anyone had actually heard him take a breath, and he panted, obviously winded from his speedy pace.
Mel came up and held Ruds for a moment. “It’s okay, just calm down.” She stroked his shell, which seemed to help somehow. Finally he spoke again. “Ijustcamebackfromtownandyoutwoareinserious-troubleGordonhasliedtoyouyouarereallygoingto-grabsomethingthatwillgivehimpowerovereveryone.”
“What are you talking about?” James looked the turtle in the eye again, and was surprised to recognise a hint of panic there. “Take it slow and tell me exactly what happened.” The turtle explained himself, interrupted often by questions from the two travellers. As near as James could figure, Ruds had gone into town, aided by a small child, and found the artefact, which just happens to be another time machine. Somehow, though, this time machine was, or will be, or already will be was (this is why verbs have tenses…you’d be tense too if you had to try and figure out the past present future cases at the same time) special in some way. It was more powerful than the one Gordon had, and able to defeat his schemes, whatever those were. James was still trying to figure out what those plans were when he was interrupted by a loud scream from down the street.
“Those are the people,” came the voice. “They were riding the monster’s tail.” Mel and James looked at each other with panic in their eyes. Mel said a very unladylike word before turning to the gathering crowd and smiling.
“Good day kind sirs and ladies. We have travelled from yonder town and do be tired. Perhaps we may findeth ourselves some lodging?”
James leaned over to her and under the ruse of a large yawn he covered his microphone. “Just talk normal, the headset will translate, remember. You sound foolish.” He enjoyed watching her redden slightly.
Little Jimmy ran up to them and looked at them suspiciously. “Are you ghosts?” he asked them. “Because that monster was going to eat you.”
Thinking quickly, James laughed heartily. “What an amazing imagination you have.” He crouched down and looked him in the eye. “We were certainly not eaten by any monster. As you can tell, we are perfectly fine.”
Jimmy eyed him suspiciously, but was smart enough to know when he was defeated. Two strangers from another town would be believed before a five year old ranting about monsters. Oh well, he knew the truth, and he was sure that it would come out eventually. Until then, he would watch them like hawks. He could hunt people as easily as gophers.
Mel shivered slightly under the gaze of the five year old. He had obviously seen them with Gordon, and though no one would believe his story, he seemed determined to make people believe somehow.
The cow sneezed. Darn these allergies.

So there you have it, the dinosaur is evil after all. But then who is good? When will we ever find out? Can this new time machine really usher in victory? But victory for who? There are many questions, and probably at least a few answers in the next instalment of:
The Importance of a Good Breakfast.
Same Schlakenheisermandervorsonovichenburger time, same Schlakenheisermandervorsonovichenburger place!