Month: October 2020

“Rawr!” Billy called after his friends as they left. He was a happy little dino. Not only was he friends with Vinny the Bat and Brandon the Shark, but he had met new friends too! 

Endrik the Octopus was an interesting sort. He seemed like a good guy, but was always trying to build things out of other things, like those things were Legos. Billy figured he was just some kind of artist. Sometimes what he made was really neat! Other times, they were really weird. 

Charlie the Snake he thought was just really cool. First, he was a snek! And sneks were cool! Charlie also had scales, just like he did! Only Charlie’s were black, and Billy’s were green. Then, Charlie could often be quite, but he was really awesome when it came to philosophizing! Billy liked having someone to philosophize with.

After everyone left, Billy yawned. He felt sleepy after a long night of hanging out with everyone, so he locked the doors, and turned off the lights, with the intention of going to bed. When he turned off the lights though, there was a noise! Quickly, he turned the lights back on and looked around, but he didn’t see anything, so he turned them back off, and headed upstairs. 

As he headed upstairs, he heard a funny echo, like he was being followed. Quickly, he turned around, but no one was there. He dug around in his fanny pack for his flashlight, and turned it on, looking around for the source of the noise. He couldn’t see anything – but he did hear something! It was a snicker, like someone laughing. 

“Rawr?” he called out, but no one answered. After a long time, he turned around, so he could head back to his room. When he turned around though, he saw a scary face!

“Rawr!” he cried out, feeling scared. Quickly, he ran back downstairs. Every room he went in, the scary face would pop up again, and he would run to a different room. Maybe a scary movie marathon had been a bad idea after all! Billy lost track of where he was running, he ended up getting so scared. It really looked like an episode of Scooby-Doo!

Eventually, he managed to think to run outside. When he looked over his shoulder, he didn’t see the spooky faced ghost – yet. He looked around, and ran for the only place he thought he could be safe – a tiny little greenhouse. He ran in there, and closed the door, then took a minute to catch his breath before he looked around. 

All his plants were there, and they were healthy. Near the back of the greenhouse though, at the workbench, was a funny, pale light. Cautiously, he moved closer. In a shaft of light was another ghost. But this one wasn’t scary. With a mixed cry of relief, happiness and sadness, he ran towards the ghostly Flower, his arms outstretched. To his surprise, the ghost was able to hug him.

“Rawr?” he asked in confusion. 

“My sweet Billy.” the ghost said, smiling at him, petting his head like she used to. “Don’t be scared…I asked Kyle to get you to come here so I could see you, but it looks like he had a little too much fun.”

“Rawr rawr?” he asked, still confused. 

“Silly Billy….it’s All Hallow’s eve. The veil between worlds is thinnest tonight. I taught you that, remember? It’s nearly midnight, which is why I can hug you.” she said, and hugged him tightly again, before planting a kiss on his head. 

“I am so proud of you, Little Dino.” she said.

Billy held on to his  mom, as long as he could, before she began to fade. 

“I’m proud of you, Little Dino.” she said again. “I’ll always look out for you.”

“Rawr.” he said, wanting to say it before she needed to go away again.

She smiled, and the  image and her next worlds would stick with Billy. “I love you too, my Little Dino.”

Billy waited until she had completely faded, then turned around, and caught the ghostly Kyle, waving goodbye and smiled apologetically as he faded. Billy nodded his forgiveness, and then went inside to go to bed. As he snuggled down under the covers, he thought he felt better. He’d gotten to say goodbye to his mama, but also got to know she was watching over him. It made him happy to know that she loved him, and watched over him.

“Rawr rawr.” he muttered, as he fell asleep.

Billy and Vinny got along pretty well as friends. Vinny learned that Billy was a dino of no particular type, and Billy learned that Vinny was a vampire bat. Some things they both liked was fun food, good music, and cheesy movies. Tonight they were set to watch something spooky, but before they did that, they had decided to make pizza. Vince’s pizza, a largely bacon and snausage affair, was almost done, and Billy’s was waiting to bake. Billy’s pizza was typical crust, typical sauce, but piled with all kinds of meats. Presently, however, he was putting something decidedly non-meat on top.

“That’s nor oregano, is it?” Vinny asked as he watched Billy sprinkly small bits of a green plant all over the pie before carefully placing it into the oven.

“Rawr.” Billy said.

“Though so.” Vinny replied, heading to the fridge for a Bludwiser he had placed there earlier. Billy had tried the Bludwiser before. He didn’t like any of the flavors, so he was more than happy to let Vinny not share. It was later, when they were sitting down to their spooky movie and quality homemade ‘za, that a knock sounded at the door.

“Rawr rawr!” Billy said, setting his food down and skating over to get the door. When he opened it, he was greeted by someone new – someone with many, many teeth.

_{Billy: Rawr rawr?
Narrator: I was getting to what was at the door.
Billy: Rawr?
Narrator: I promise, they’re only a little scary, and never to friends.
Billy: Rawr!}

“Good evening.” the new person said, smiling to reveal even more teeth.

“Rawr…” Billy said, sounding a little afraid. After all, the guest at the door was a Great White Shark!

“I don’t mean to startle you, but I smelled Vinny in the area. Do you know him? Vampire bat, tall, lazy?”

Billy blinked once or twice, then turned his head to call into the house. “Rawr…?”

After a moment, Vinny appeared. When he saw who was at the door, he sighed. “It’s okay Billy, he doesn’t bite unless you ask.”

“Rawr.” Billy said, sounding relieved. He invited the shark inside, and closed the door.

“What smells so delightful?” the shark asked.

“Manners, man.” Vince said, mocking his aristocratic tone.

“Oh, quite right.” he said, and held out a fin. “The name’s Brandon. And you are?”

Billy looked at Vinny, then looked at the fin, and shook it vigorously. “Rawr!” he said, proudly declaring who he was.

“Billy.” Vinny translated, after taking a big swig of Blud.

“Oh. Pleasure.” he said to the little dino.

“Rawr?” Billy asked, and pointed to the living room.

“Oh, well if you insist…” Brandon said. Vinny, remembering the shark’s earlier request, retrieved a juicy bit of steak from the fridge for him, as well as some Blud.

“Thank you.” Brandon said, and settled in with them to watch a movie.

Billy didn’t know how the bat and the shark knew each other, but the shark seemed okay, and he trusted Vinny. Besides, Brandon seemed to enjoy the relaxed, no-expectations atmosphere. Maybe he would be a new friend?

_{Billy: Rawr?
Narrator: We’ll have to wait and see.}

Once upon a time, there was a little dino named Billy.

_{Billy: rawr!
Yes Billy, it’s you – now be quiet and listen to the story.
rawr.}

Billy was a lonely dino. One day, he decided to go out and make some friends. He packed a few things, put on his skates, and went outside. The city was too big to go look for friends, and he might make people mad, or even scare them, so he decided to start by looking in his backyard.

It was a very big backyard. He went all the way from the back door, to where he thought he remembered a fence being, only there was no fence. He shrugged, and skated onward, past the neatly kept lawn and into a more wooded area. It was tricky to not trip on all the fallen debris, but Billy was very good with his skates.

Eventually, Billy discovered a small cave. Could a new friend be waiting inside? Cautiously, he poked his head in, but it was very dark, and he wasn’t sure how he would see. Pouting, he plopped down on the ground nearby and thought and thought about how he might be able to see. After a few minutes, he held up a finger, then rummaged around in his fanny pack (a backpack was too difficult for him to shrug on and off, you see).

After a moment’s rummaging, Billy proudly held aloft a flashlight. “Rawr!” he declared triumphantly. Clicking it off and on three times to make sure the batteries were okay, he slowly rolled his way in. He didn’t see anything at first, but as he went deeper, he began to hear some light snoring coming from ahead. Oh, what was he going to discover?

_{Narrator: What do you think is in the cave?
Billy: rawr?
Narrator: No, not a bear.
Billy: Rawr rawr?
Narrator: You’ll see….}

Billy shined his flashlight all around, and eventually came across a bat hanging from the ceiling. The bat was making the snoring noises, and didn’t notice Billy, who stared in awe at the wings wrapped around it’s body, with the head tucked in. Billy wanted to say hi to the bat, but wasn’t sure how to wake him. So he looked around, and he thought. The bat’s head was tucked into it’s wings, so he couldn’t shine the light in his eyes. Anyway, that would be mean! He couldn’t find anything nearby to poke him with either, so Billy did the only thing he could think of.

“Rawr!” he called loudly, his voice echoing throughout the cave.

The bat began to slowly blink, and then yawn before noticing Billy, looking at him as if to say ‘What the hell, man’. After a moment, the bat unfurled its wings and let go of the cave ceiling, propelling himself downward to land in front of Billy (incidentally letting out a massive fart as he did so).

There they stood, Billy trying not to vibrate with excitement at the potential of having a new friend, and the bat looking him over as it scratched its belly, before tilting its head slightly to the side in a questioning manner, not unlike a dog.

“Rawr!” declared Billy, happily announcing who he was.

The bat blinked in confusion for a moment as its still sleepy mind processed what Billy said. “Uh…mrow?” it finally responded, sounding more like a cat than a bat.

Billy excitedly shook the bat’s claw. “Rawr rawr?” he asked, wondering if they could be friends.

The bat looked at him a moment before speaking again. “Uhhh…no speakenzie dino.”

“Rawr.” Billy said, looking sad.

“I can understand…just not speak it. Sure…we can try being friends.”

“Rawr!” Billy exclaimed, jumping with excitement for a moment. After calming down, he asked “Rawr?”

“You can call me Vinny.” the bat said.

After that, Vinny and Billy went back to Billy’s house, where they had snacks and played video games – and had lots of fun!