life moves on (homecoming part 3)

this is making no sense people of the innerweb!

i've flown back to my old home, drumheller canada, due to someone buying me the rather generous gift of a plane ticket for my 5th hatching day. the thing that makes no sense though is that this person is no where to be found...

why would you fly little old me halfway across the world if not to see me?!?

though in my efforts to find my mystery gifter, an obvious suggestion of their identity came up... my old roommate dan!

now i'd been meaning to look up dan anyways. for old times sake if anything else. though i had plenty of other things i wanted to sort out between me and him.

dan's one of the few people i have some, shall we say, troubled history with (you can catch a sample of that in these videos).

i've always caused problems for dan sadly... all because of my small brain, and not knowing quite how to do things right. usually poor dan was the one who had to pick up the pieces when i made things go wrong (oh and my legal guardian craig)!

it would be nice to try and make a mends with him about the past...

i won't lie it would also be nice to see dan and craig's old house again. i did grew up there for my first 2 years of life. it wasn't till, well the "unpleasantness", that i got kicked out of their home and moved into the museum. there are a lot of memories in that place, and i've been kinda wanting to get back in touch with my roots for a while (basically since i started up this blog!).

when i got to the house i saw a couple of things that made my jaw drop!

first off there was a sign saying "FOR SALE" on the lawn, and secondly a moving truck parked on the street!!!

what in the name of cornelius funk was going on here?!?

why was our old house on sale?

walking around the truck i found dan. he didn't look as surprised to see me as everyone else around town... had i solved the mystery of the present buyer?

"dan!' i said in a really really happy voice. to be fair i meant it in a mostly geniune way, but due to the awkward nature of our inter-relating i played it up a bit... which might have made it sound kind of, well, not real...

"traumador, what a 'surprise'," dan said in a weird way. it must have been because he bought me the plane ride!

"oh i get it," i whispered to him, as my tiny brain caught up with what was going on. i winked at him.

"you get what?" dan asked confused.

"you said surprise! that was everyone's cue to jump out of the truck and surprise me, right?" i kept talking quiet so not to alert them all to my being in the know!

dan suddenly lite up. "shucks, you figured me out," he said really really sadly... kinda like how i'd said his name really really happily earlier. wonder why he did that? "i rented this whole moving truck so i could get 'everyone' into it, just to surprise you..." he stated pointing at the truck, but he trailed off at the end of his statement for a moment...

than suddenly demanded. "surprise you for what? you stupid theropod! you suddenly show up at my door out of the blue, after years and years of NO contact, and expect me to have a welcome organized for you?!?"

oh no. this was just like old times... but i thought that i'd thought about this... ahhhh. i managed to mumble in embarrassment. "but i thought you were the one who bought my plane ticket here back home... and i thought the surprise was a belated surprise hatching day party..."

dan was a bit taken back by that. i quickly pulled myself together by telling him the tale of my getting back here to drumheller. he stood there for a moment taking it in, and than in total disbelief asked "who in their right mind would pay for you to come back? i was only pretending i wasn't surprised to see you because its really stressful around here at moment, and the only other thing that could have gone wrong would be you showing up!"

oh man. i'd left the things between me and him shimmer too long...

i've made plenty of mistakes in my time people of the innerweb, but about a year before i started this blog i made one of the ones i regret the most.

that was being really difficult, and okay i admit it, mean to dan and craig after getting my job at the museum. i thought i was suddenly a big shot with my first job (even though they both worked at the same place, and were my superiors by like a thousand levels... er well okay three, but still). craig shrugged it off for the most part, and tried to assure dan i'd grew out of it (as a 2 year old t-rex i was still growing a lot back than... just unlike normal t-rexs i stopped about than too!). dan got fed up with it though, and kicked me out...

back to the present though. "why are things so stressful?" i wondered out loud. "can i help?"

"your about a month and a few hundred of thousand dollars too late," dan stated in muted anger... this time not directly at me. he head motioned towards the house. "i'm having to sell the house, and head somewhere new."
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"what? NO! not now..." i stammered a whole waterfall of thoughts and emotions rushed through my head. how could this be happening right after i'd finally made it back into town?!? "can't i at least go through the place once more?" i pleaded.
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"traumador," dan turned away, clearly upset by my causing him to dwell on the situation. "not now. there's just been so much going on around here lately... i don't have time for this. could you please just let me wrap up and get on with what needs to be done..."
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"i'm not leaving till i make things right between us!" i declared my thoughts out loud as they entered my head, i was upset too. i rushed for the truck's door. if dan wanted to leave he was going to have to deal with me first!
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i just really wish i'd been paying more attention to my surroundings. in particular what was in the door's threshold...

slamming the door down firmly. "there, you're not going anywhere till..." i trailed off. dan had the most horrified face, but he wasn't looking at me...

"OH NO!!!" i cried when i caught sight of the tiny dinosaur i'd just crushed. dan's new dinosaur roommate richardo! dan was going to flip, this totally looked worse than it was. given what i'd done the first time i met the little long neck...

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we both stood starring in disbelief for a moment. dan in absolute shock, and me in guilt.

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i really hadn't meant to do anything bad to richardo, i swear! i just wanted to tell dan how sorry i was about years ago, and that i'd changed! now i was screwing up just like back in those days!!!

dan after a few seconds sprang into action getting richardo out of his predicament. "richardo, are you okay?!?" dan gently asked as the door eased off the tiny sauropod's neck.

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thankfully richardo made a noise... phew... he was alright!

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but i wasn't going to be! "TRRRRAAAAUUUUMMMMAAAAADDDDDOOOORRRR!!!" oh man i hadn't heard dan shout at me that loud since he kicked me out of the house 3 years ago...

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he was so angry and into his scream of rage that dan started to crush poor richardo himself!

"AH, i'm sorry!" a startled dan pleaded when he realized the damage he himself was now inflicting.
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richardo gave a forgiving bleat, and the two had a tender friend moment.

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awww it was just so nice. i mean look at them. as i stood there i could feel the love in the air... it was just the sort of scene i was hoping me and dan were going to have today...

only i was brought back to reality as the two buddies exited their bonding to both glare at me!

"you better go traumador!" dan stated while richardo stared at me with his tiny but piercing little eyes.

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"you wore out your welcome here a long time ago," he said coldly as he reclosed the truck door. "now it seems i have too," he added solemnly.

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"but, but..." i started stammering, AGAIN! man i wasn't prepared for this part of coming home. i'd forgotten about all the not nice things that would be waiting with the nice for me from my past. "where are you going to go?"

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"i'm not sure," he said contemplatively.

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i was all over the place, my brain wasn't coping with all of this well, and it probably make me seem like the old me all the more. "why haven't you checked in with craig? can't he help you save the house?"

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dan turned a glared at me. "that good for nothing, he pulled out on the house a month ago. that's why i've had to sell it!"

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"what?" i thought aloud. "why would he do that?"

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"i don't know," dan grumbled as he secured the truck to leave. "he claimed it was a liability, and that it linked him back to drumheller. whatever that means. i personally just think he needed the money, because of some bonehead move he made. he came back into town a few months ago, and seemed set on settling back in. than suddenly a month ago he just suddenly had to skip town for no reason."

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"now i'm sorry, traumador," dan turned to me. "whatever you had planned for the house and me. it won't happen today. not ever really. you're too late. it's over," he trailed off really sad. "it's all over."

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"i'm leaving it all behind," he said. "i seriously suggest you do the same. just turn around and get back on that plane back to new zealand. get out of town, before you find out just how easily this place can forget us so easily."

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than his voice lightened up from this harsh note, and for the first time i got to see a slight piece of the cool nice dude dan had been most of the time i'd lived with him. "take care of yourself traumador," dan smirked. "whatever you've been doing to make it so far on your own, keep it up. i honestly thought you were done for when they booted from town. clearly you've changed since the last time i last saw you. so yeah, keep it up i guess."

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with that he got into the truck, closed the door as he went, started the engine, and drove away...

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leaving me to swallow it all.

so craig hadn't just had a falling out with me, but now dan too... that made no sense. they'd been best friends since before i hatched...

more to the point my last main tie to my past still in town, had just left town... how was i going to find out more about where i'd come from now?

was my return a bad idea as dan had implied. was nothing but more bad memories and experiences going to come my way while here?

i sure hoped not.

one thing was clear though. i was bummed out by this, and i had nothing more in mind to do to get my mind off it. i'd been kinda thinking hanging out with and catching up with dan would have killed at least one day...

now what was i going to do?