24.9.07

waking a sleeping dragon (the visitor part 4)

so my cousin larry has shown up uninvited to visit me here in dunedin... the last thing i ever wanted to happen!

larry has caused some serious friction between me and my landlord. more to the point he has majorly jeopardized my being allowed to stay in this country through the department of conservation... this was all just during the first day of his visit!

i have at least 13 more days to go... then... or at least as larry claims... he is off to go audition for some new peter jackson movie (larry being the big hollywood star was in jackson's king kong), and will be out of my feathers as of that point.

larry hasn't told me why he wants to visit. typical really, what with larry being one of the biggest JERKS! i know...

i do seriously need to know more about his trip though. i've come up with a cunning plan to get information...

you see yesterday after all the "fun" with ben and agent hamilton, larry wanted to check out dunedin. rather than have even more "fun" i opted to goto bed. so showed larry to a nice spot a little ways away from the dell i live in.

it's now nice and early in the morning, and my plan is this... wake larry up, and in his sleepy state try and get him to tell me more about his intentions...

as i approached larry i realized this wasn't as easy a plan as it sounds. larry as a fully grown bull tyrannosaur isn't exactly the lightest of sleepers. i mean that in two ways. the first is that obviously he weighs a LOT! second as the top carnivore of the cretaceous (and easily here in new zealand!) he's not exactly conditioned to being weary in his sleep. only a fool would want to wake him up...

and i guess that's my cue... oh boy...

getting closer i try the safe route first. "psssst larry... larry are you awake?" i whisper some distance away. nothing.

"larry?" i try at normal volume. "LARRY!" i scream. he doesn't stir a muscle...

oh fun... this was what i was afraid of. no matter what volume i yell at him i don't think i could get wake him up.

i picked up a stick and threw it at him. i hit his nostril pretty much dead on. i'm reward with a slight sniffle from larry's nose.

it seems now to wake him my only choice is to get within the death zone, as it were. i'm going to have to hit him in the face...

he could easily gobble me up in his waking reflexes if i'm not careful.

creeping forward i pay close attention to whether my life is flashing before my eyes or not... the movies say that's a good way to see if you're dead meat or not. though i don't experience the flashback effect, i'm still not convinced of my not being dead meat...

as i get beside larry's great skull, and am penetrated by each laboured breath his massive lungs take, i brace myself for what could be my last action on this earth...

the moment of truth comes as i head butt larry beneath his eye (i'd have hit him, but we t-rexs have such short arms it'd have been like hitting larry with a pen...). his entire body suddenly surges to life as he awakes...

opening my eyes moments later i'm amazed that i'm still alive! larry simply raised his head to see what interrupted his sleep... rather then instinctively chomp down on the disturber... things have changed in 65 million years it seems!

"what do you want?" larry demands to know.

"it's time to get up," i tell him.

"very well," larry sleepily grumbles.

"larry there's some things i need to know," i spring on him.

he yawns with his colossal jaws, exposing the rows of rail spike sized teeth a reminder of the danger larry still poses to me and everyone else in dunedin. i'm rattled by the great clap of muscle and bone slamming back together he concludes the yawn. i start to regret my tact in this plan...

larry sensing my fear, and seeming to be aware of what i'm trying. "it can wait," he says groggily.

"why are you here?" i try one last time.

"to spend some quality time with a member of my family," replied larry.

i've never heard larry EVER refer to me as a member of his family. larry typically used to equate my small size, and preference to hang-out with humans as my being a sub-standard tyrannosaur. i know this because he told me several times in the past!

"many back home have grown concerned about you traumador. especially since your dismissal from the tyrrell," larry added.

"who?" i asked sceptically.

"your mother namely," larry replies sharply.

man larry has always been good at ruffling my feathers (even now after i've lost them all growing up). i haven't thought of my mom since my ill fated return to drumheller...

i forget my whole purpose of the wake up call with the reminder of my mother. larry senses he is gaining the initiative.

"not just her mind you," he carries on. "my mother black beauty, the daspletosaur triplets, and even lillian have asked about you."

larry has me dumbfounded. drowning me in my small brain with a sudden flood of homesickness. though i'd turned my back on dinosaur kind like it'd turned its back on me last year they are still part of many of my fondest memories...

"when were you in drumheller?" i asked longingly.

"just before i came here," larry responds lifting his immense weight into the air on his two pillar like legs. "i was visiting my mother at the tyrrell, when both her and her sister {my mother} wondered if i'd heard anything of you."

larry reminds me of my need for information. "how did you know i was here in new zealand?" i inquiry.

"many miss you at the tyrrell," larry dodged my question by straying back into nostalgia. he starts to walk around the clearing "i thought the most striking example was how the mosasaurs and pliosaurs in the bear paw gallery still howl every night expecting you to feed them."

"how did you know i was in new zealand?" i angrily repeat. there's no way larry would know about my feeding the marine reptiles in their exhibit unless he had been to the tyrrell. due to his movie stardom larry hadn't lived at the tyrrell very long, and that was well before my time...

larry holds his ground in not answering my question. instead letting loose his greatest weapon. "lillian sends her regards," i forget my questioning... again! lillian. there's a name i have thought of a few times as of late.

larry continues. "your mother hopes you will someday muster up the proper courage to mate with her," he starts to walk towards the path. "now come cousin. show me this new land of zea you have chosen to migrate to."

as we set off down the path i get furious with myself... not only did i not have any more answers than when i started, but now larry had gained the upper hand, and raised more questions.

was he telling the truth?

does everyone (that is the dinosaur everyones) back in drumheller miss me?

did lillian really want to say hi to me?

why did my mom talk to larry more than she ever has to me... her own son?!?

another thing suddenly dawned on me as we walked... we were walking!!! as in me and larry were about to walk out into dunedin... dunedin a city that had never ever seen a full grown tyrannosaur wander its streets...

well there was one up to this recent development... it was probably going to make yesterday seem like a much better day in comparison!

to be continued...

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