Dinosaurs on Earth

Chapter 3

The Zil'Marou were gathered in a circle, all wearing their cak'pres- a piece of skin or fur draped over the shoulders under the hair, and then folded over the head. Imstron cleared his throat. "Hello. This losings ceremony is a sadder one because we lost a living creature: Shimioni ankylosaurus. Now her family will tell stories of her existence. Himoson?" Sheila's father began to tell a story he had told many times: how Shimioni had run as fast as any Kosmoceratops back to camp when a Tyrannosaurus Rex had spotted them a while off. Sheila's mother told of Shimioni helping to teach Shieila and Shimal to walk. Now it was Sheila's turn.

"A long time ago- I was about 5," Shieila wiped the tears from her face and continued,"I was afraid of Brachiosaurus. I was riding along on Shimioni for fun, when we came upon a herd if brachiosaurus. I dismounted, and hid under Shimioni." All the details fluttered back to Shieila. How the sun-baked grass smelled so good, and how the sun had been 3/4 of its daily journey. "Shimioni stepped away from me, and nudged me towards the brachiosaurus. I walked up to them, and they were kind. The kindest wild dinosaurs I have ever met," Shieila finished.

As Shimal finished a story of Shimioni learning a new trick, Imstron began talking again, but Shieila didn't listen. The pictures drew in the dirt told her all she needed to know. A ha'te with a single line under it- that had been destroyed. A crop of corn with a few lines under it- some corn had been destroyed. In the middle of them was an unmistakeable picture of an ankylosaurus. Shimioni.