The Talking T. Rex Read online

  Here’s what kids, parents,

  and teachers have to say

  to Ron Roy, author of the

  A to Z Mysteries series:

  “I’ve read all of your books and enjoyed them so much I can’t pick a favorite! When my 6-year-old sister starts reading more complicated chapter books, I’ll tell her she should read your books!”—Elizabeth P.

  “I like your books because they keep me on the edge of my chair.”—Sierra M.

  “I love your books sooooooo much! My mom can’t buy them fast enough. I always have my nose in a book now!”—Esther K.

  “Your books are the coolest. I wish there were 1,000 letters in the alphabet!”—Laura T.

  “I can’t thank you enough for opening up the world of books to my son.”—Emily W.

  “As a teacher, I want to thank you for creating material that is so age-appropriate and so engaging for the students. Your material makes teaching reading a real joy.”

  —Shirley K.

  This book is dedicated to teachers everywhere.

  —R.R.

  To my wonderful, super-cool Molly

  —J.S.G.

  CHAPTER 1

  Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose hurried toward the high school. It was July 3, so they all wore shorts and T-shirts. Josh’s dog, Pal, was leading the way on his leash. His floppy ears nearly touched the ground as he sniffed everything in his path.

  “I can’t wait to see Jud again,” Dink said. Dink’s full name was Donald David Duncan, but most people called him Dink.

  The three kids had met Jud Wheat when they visited his parents’ dude ranch in Montana. When Josh found a huge gold nugget there, he gave it to Jud to help pay for college. Now Jud was coming to Green Lawn for a visit.

  “I wonder what the big surprise is that he mentioned in his postcard,” Ruth Rose said. She liked to wear one color. Today it was dark blue, from her headband down to her sneakers. The color matched her sharp blue eyes.

  “Read it to us,” Josh said to Dink.

  Dink pulled a postcard from his pocket. He read it out loud as they stopped at Pleasant Street:

  Hi, Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose,

  I’ll be in Green Lawn on July 3 with

  a huge surprise. Meet me at the high

  school grounds at noon. Bye for now.

  Your friend,

  Jud

  “Maybe the surprise is a large pizza,” Josh said.

  “You wish,” Ruth Rose said.

  “Look, there’s Mr. Pocket,” Dink said, turning toward Center Park. Their friend Thaddeus Pocket was standing in the town rose garden. He wore work gloves and held a shovel. His dog, Randolph, was gazing at the ducks in Swan Pond.

  Josh dropped the leash, and Pal ran over to greet the fluffy little dog.

  “Hi, Mr. Pocket!” Ruth Rose said.

  “Well, hello, kiddos,” the white-haired man said. “All set for the fireworks tomorrow night? I noticed workers setting up near the swimming pool.”

  “We’re all going,” Josh said. “Will you and Randolph be there?”

  “I will,” Mr. Pocket said. “But old Randolph prefers to stay home. He doesn’t like the big booms.”

  “Pal is staying home, too,” Josh said. “He doesn’t even like birthday candles!”

  Mr. Pocket started digging up a dead-looking rosebush that had no leaves or blossoms on it. In a wheelbarrow was a healthy bush, this one covered with shiny green leaves.

  “Want to help me plant this new one?” Mr. Pocket asked the kids.

  Dink looked at his watch. “Okay but then we have to meet a friend at the high school. His name is Jud Wheat, and he’s studying to become a teacher.”

  “He brought a surprise all the way from Montana!” Ruth Rose said.

  “This won’t take long at all,” Mr. Pocket said. He assigned tasks as he removed the old rosebush.

  Ruth Rose poured a handful of fertilizer into the hole.

  Dink shoveled in some of the loose soil.

  Josh used the garden hose to fill the hole with water.

  “Mother Nature may give us some rain by tonight,” Mr. Pocket said, glancing up at the clouds. He lifted the new bush out of the wheelbarrow and placed it in the hole. He made sure the plant stood up straight.

  “That looks splendid,” Mr. Pocket said. “You three are super gardeners. Dink, if you’ll return the wheelbarrow to the shed, I’ll fill in the rest of the soil.”

  Dink handed Mr. Pocket the shovel and steered the wheelbarrow over to a garden shed. An old screwdriver held the door closed. Dink opened the door and guided the wheelbarrow inside.

  There was barely room for the wheelbarrow in the packed little shed. The shelves were a jumble of pots, jars, bags of fertilizer, pails, books about gardening, and tools like the ones Dink’s parents owned. On the clean brick floor were rakes, shovels, gardening stakes, and coiled hoses.

  Dink left the wheelbarrow leaning against a stack of empty burlap bags at the rear of the shed. He replaced the screwdriver and left.

  Just as Dink reached the others, a red car turned off Main Street and drove toward the high school. Steam escaped from under the car’s hood.

  “Is that your friend?” Mr. Pocket asked. “I hope he didn’t drive all the way from Montana in that thing!”

  “We’d better go,” Dink said. “Want to meet Jud, Mr. Pocket?”

  “Not right now,” Mr. Pocket said. “Randolph and I need our lunch and a nap. Thanks for your help.”

  The kids took Pal and ran toward the red car. It stopped and a tall young man got out. He had dark, curly hair and broad shoulders. He was wearing a T-shirt, cutoff jeans, and red high-top sneakers.

  “That’s not Jud,” Dink said as they approached the man.

  CHAPTER 2

  The man turned and waved. “Hi. You must be Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. I’m Scoop Raker. I work with Jud and his friend Dean. They should be here any minute.”

  Scoop raised the hood of his car, and more steam billowed out. He took a jug of water from the front seat, then unscrewed the radiator cap. Suddenly he yelled and stuck his finger in his mouth.

  “You’d think I’d learn by now,” Scoop said, shaking his head. He pulled a Band-Aid from his pocket, removed the covering, and wrapped the green Band-Aid around his finger.

  Just then a long flatbed truck pulled up alongside Scoop’s car. A brown tarp covered the truck bed, concealing something big and lumpy. The whole thing was tied down with ropes.

  The driver’s door opened and a tall, lanky guy hopped to the ground. He was wearing jeans, a short-sleeve shirt, and a cowboy hat. “Howdy,” the man said, beaming at Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose.

  “Hi, Jud!” they all said at once.

  A man stepped out of the passenger’s side of the truck. He was short and wiry and had black hair tied in a ponytail. He wore work boots, baggy shorts, and a flannel shirt with the sleeves ripped off.

  “Guys, I’d like you to meet my roommate and best friend, Dean Whitefeather,” Jud said. “Dean, this is Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose.”

  Dean walked around the truck toward the kids. He had a friendly smile and dark eyes. His shirt pocket was filled with pens. A ring of keys on his belt jangled when he walked.

  The kids shook hands with Dean. Then Jud and Dean made a fuss over Pal, who gave them both big, wet kisses.

  “Well, what say we get busy?” Dean said, glancing at the sky. “Rain by midnight, I’ll bet.” He started untying the ropes.

  Scoop climbed back into his car. “I passed the hotel on the way in,” he said. “I’ll go check on our room.” He drove away, with only a little steam escaping from under the hood.

  “Can we help?” Ruth Rose asked.

  Dean smiled at her. “My three favorite words,” he
said.

  “You guys can coil these ropes as we untie them,” Jud said. “Just lay ‘em on the ground.”

  Josh told Pal to stay, and the kids pitched in. After a few minutes, the ropes had all been removed. Dean and Jud yanked the tarp to the ground.

  When Dink saw what had made all those lumps, he jumped back. He was staring right at the head of a Tyrannosaurus rex!

  “Meet Tyrone the Tyrannosaurus,” laughed Jud. “He looks even better when he’s not in pieces.”

  Dink gulped. “Where did you get it?” he asked.

  “We bought him,” Jud said.

  Josh grinned. “From a dinosaur store?” he joked.

  “No, from the man who built Tyrone,” Dean said. “He planned to start a dinosaur theme park, but he lost interest. He put an ad in the paper, and we saw it and bought Tyrone and the truck.”

  “Um, why do you need a dinosaur?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “To raise money,” Jud said. “Dean and I want to teach kids about the dinosaurs that used to live in Montana. We’ve decided to build a little museum on a piece of land behind the dude ranch.”

  “And Tyrone will be the star attraction,” Dean added.

  “When we first saw Tyrone, he was in the guy’s barn all in pieces like you see him now. I developed a computer program to make him move and talk. We make money by taking him around the country and collecting donations.”

  “Is Scoop a teacher, too?” asked Dink.

  “No, we met Scoop in Wyoming. He was looking for work, so we hired him,” Jud said. “He’s in charge of hotel rooms, getting permission for us to set up outside schools, making the flyers, stuff like that. Scoop wants to work at the museum once it’s built.”

  Dean climbed up onto the truck bed. “Let’s put this guy back together, Jud,” he said.

  “How do you put him together?” Dink asked.

  “Easy, like building a model with an Erector set,” Dean said. He pointed to a box of large nuts, bolts, and cables on the truck bed.

  “What’s Tyrone made of?” Ruth Rose asked. “Is he heavy?”

  “Not really,” Jud said. He took the Tyrannosaurus’s tail from Dean and laid it gently on the ground.

  “Tyrone’s mostly fiberglass and rubber. His bones are aluminum. The teeth, toenails, and eyes are plastic.”

  The kids gently touched one of the six-inch-long teeth. “It looks so real!” Josh said.

  “Careful, some of those edges are sharp,” Dean said. He grinned and wiggled a finger that was wrapped in a green Band-Aid.

  They all looked over when Scoop’s red car zoomed up. Scoop parked the car and climbed out with a stack of papers in his hand.

  “How’d you kids like to help out?” he asked. “Can you take these flyers around town?”

  Scoop handed the flyers to Ruth Rose. She looked at the top one. Beneath a picture of a Tyrannosaurus were the words:

  COME MEET TYRONE THE TALKING

  TYRANNOSAURUS!

  BEHIND THE HIGH SCHOOL, JULY 4,

  AT NOON. ONE-DOLLAR DONATION

  PER CUSTOMER REQUESTED!

  “You three will get in free, of course,” Jud said, looking over Ruth Rose’s shoulder.

  “Cool!” Josh said.

  “Who should we give them to?” Dink asked.

  “Anyone and everyone,” Scoop said. “Stores, friends, anyone who likes dinosaurs.”

  Ruth Rose divided the stack of flyers into three smaller piles. They each took a pile.

  “Will you guys watch Pal?” Josh asked.

  “No problem,” Scoop said.

  The kids headed toward Main Street with their flyers.

  An hour later, the kids were back. “The whole town is coming to see Tyrone tomorrow!” Dink said.

  “Excellent! So what do you think of him now?” Jud asked, pointing to Tyrone.

  Tyrone stood balanced on his thick rear legs and tail. His body and tail stretched out longer than a school bus, and he was nearly as tall as Dink’s house. His back feet were as long as Pal, who was sniffing a giant plastic toenail.

  “It’s … it’s …” Dink couldn’t find the right words.

  Jud and Dean laughed.

  “Tyrone isn’t full-sized,” Dean said. “An adult T. rex would be even bigger. Come on, I’ll show you what’s inside this guy’s belly.”

  He unclipped his keys and inserted one of them into a little hole in Tyrone’s side. When Dean turned the key, a small metal ring popped out. Dean pulled on the ring and a door swung open on hinges.

  “Awesome!” Josh said. “It was totally hidden!”

  Dean picked up a rubber wedge from inside and used it to hold the door open. Then he reached through the doorway and pulled down a set of folded, hinged steps. “Have a look,” he said.

  The kids kneeled on the stairs and peered inside the dinosaur’s belly. Aluminum bars supported the walls. A row of hooks held tools and coils of rope and wire. There were no windows, and it was hot inside.

  The floor was partly covered by a piece of carpet. A laptop computer sat on a small table in the middle of the carpet. A bunch of gray computer cables snaked across the floor. A few of the cables climbed up the dinosaur’s chest and disappeared inside its neck and head.

  “The computer does everything,” Dean said. “I can move Tyrone’s tail, mouth, and front feet just by clicking the mouse.”

  He squeezed by the kids and stepped inside Tyrone’s belly. “I’ve put a loudspeaker up in Tyrone’s head,” Dean explained. He showed them a small microphone. “I speak into this, and it sounds like the voice is coming from Tyrone’s mouth.”

  “Can you make him talk now?” Josh asked.

  “That’ll have to wait till tomorrow,” Dean said. “We’ve been on the road since about five this morning, and I’m pretty whipped. I need about ten hours of sleep!”

  Dean and the kids climbed out of Tyrone’s belly, and he closed the door.

  “Are you all staying at the Shangri-la?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “Jud and Scoop are,” Dean said. “I’m going to bed down out here.” He pulled a sleeping bag from inside the truck and dropped it on the ground.

  “Why do you sleep outside?” Dink asked.

  Dean grinned. “Those two snore,” he said, gesturing toward Scoop and Jud. “Besides, I like sleeping under the stars. Plus, I guard Tyrone. In the morning I’ll go to the hotel and use their shower.”

  “Where can we get some good burgers?” Scoop asked the kids. “And breakfast tomorrow?”

  “Ellie’s Diner!” all three kids said.

  Ruth Rose pointed toward Main Street. “It’s between the pet shop and the fitness center,” she said.

  “Thanks for your help. We’ll see you tomorrow,” Jud said.

  The three men climbed into the red car and Scoop drove off toward Main Street. A rumble of thunder over their heads sent the kids running for home.

  CHAPTER 3

  Thunder woke Dink during the night. He lay snugly in bed, watching the storm through his window. As lightning flashed, he thought about Tyrone, standing out there in the dark and rain.

  The next day Dink got to the high school around eleven-thirty He gazed up at Tyrone. The dinosaur was tall and silent under a blue sky. His mouth was closed and his eyes stared into the distance. The grass was still wet from the storm, and mist rose as it dried in the sun.

  Jud, Dean, and Scoop were nowhere in sight. Dink walked over to the truck and looked in the window. Dean’s sleeping bag was spread across the seats.

  A few minutes later, Ruth Rose showed up with her little brother, Nate. She was dressed in orange, from her headband down to her socks and sneakers.

  When Nate saw Tyrone, his mouth fell open. He walked up to one of the rear legs and touched it. “It feels like a rubber dinosaur toy,” he said.

  Josh and his brothers, Brian and Bradley, came loping across the playing field. Pal was tugging on his leash.

  The twins stopped in their tracks. “It’s a Tankosaurus!” Brian
yelled.

  “No it’s not!” Bradley argued. “It’s a Trainosaurus!”

  Josh laughed. “Guys, it’s a Ty-ran-no-saur-us.”

  “It’s not real, is it, Josh?” asked Bradley.

  Josh let Pal off his leash. “No,” he said. “It’s just a big action figure.”

  Scoop pulled up in his red car and parked next to Tyrone. He hopped out and walked over to the kids.

  “Morning,” he said. “Some storm last night, huh? The thunder nearly knocked us out of our beds.”

  Scoop sat on the ground and pulled on a pair of sandals. His wet sneakers were tied together, hanging from the car’s antenna.

  Dean and Jud came walking through Center Park.

  “Hi, kids,” Jud said. “Scoop, you missed a great breakfast. That Ellie makes amazing waffles!”

  Scoop nodded. “I couldn’t seem to wake up,” he said.

  Jud looked at Nate, Brian, and Bradley. “Do you guys like dinosaurs?”

  The three little kids beamed and nodded.

  “T. rex is my favorite!” Nate said.

  People from town began arriving and stood around gaping up at Tyrone. Dink waved to Mr. Paskey from the Book Nook. He saw Mr. and Mrs. Spivets, who owned the Shangri-la Hotel.

  Dink saw his mom show up with Josh’s and Ruth Rose’s mothers. Josh’s mom carried a picnic basket.

  “Guys, go sit with Mom, okay?” Josh asked the twins.

  “Can we take Pal?” Brian asked.

  Josh handed the leash over to Brian. “Okay, but don’t let him off. And take him home when Mom leaves, okay?”

  “Why does Brian get to do everything?” Bradley whined.

  Josh sighed. “You two can share the leash, okay?”

  Nate, Brian, and Bradley led Pal toward their mothers.

  “This is great,” Jud said, watching the crowd increase. “Dean, why don’t you get Tyrone ready while Scoop and I collect money?”

  While the kids were picking a place to sit, Dink saw more people he knew from town. A bunch of the O’Leary kids showed up, and Dink waved at them. Some people brought chairs or blankets to sit on. The high school playing field was filling up.