Raising Rufus Part 13

He plopped down on his usual thinking rock. How could this happen? How does a seven-foot-tall dinosaur just vanish? I should have known that latch wouldn't hold him. Where would he go? Doesn't he miss us? What if somebody else finds him? Or a hunter shoots him or something?!

Not liking where this train of thought was going, Martin stood up and drew a deep breath for one big call across the lake.

"Ruuuuuuu-"

Hearing a rustling sound behind him, he cut off in midcall. His heart leaped as he spun around to see...

The absolute last person in the world he wanted to run into at this or any other moment: Donald Grimes.

"Heeeyy! Small world, huh, Tinky?"

By pure bad luck, Donald had chosen this time and this spot to do a bit of after-school fis.h.i.+ng. He stood there, pole in one fist and tackle box in the other, grinning at Martin like an evil Ches.h.i.+re cat.

Martin's face went blank, and their gazes locked for a long moment. Then-voom! He took off at maximum speed. Donald dropped his gear and streaked after him.

"Ohhhh, no. You're not getting away this time, you little slug!"

They flew through the woods, blasting through brush, vaulting over rocks and logs, skipping across a stream. Martin pumped his legs as fast as they would move, and actually managed to stay a comfortable distance ahead of Donald.

But his run of bad luck was not over. Just when he thought he might actually get away, he tripped on an exposed root and went sprawling to the ground. It was a muddy spot, and he couldn't get up fast enough to stop Donald from cras.h.i.+ng on top of him like a TV wrestler.

"So, Tinkerbell. Try to make me look bad in front of everybody, huh?" He sat heavily on Martin's back, twisting his arm behind him.

"Ow! Grimes!"

"You know what happens to little guys with big yaps? They get their mouths washed out with mud. How would you like that, huh?"

"Leave me alone!" Martin rasped.

Donald scooped up a big handful of mud and got set to deliver it. "Snitchety s.n.a.t.c.h, down the hatch!"

Then, just as he was about to shove it in Martin's face...

ROWWWRRR!.

Donald twisted around to see a twelve-foot-long, seven-foot-high tyrannosaur with rows of razor-sharp teeth and a look in its eye that was-well, not the look you want to see when you meet up with a seven-foot-tall tyrannosaur.

Donald, of course, had never seen anything quite like it before, and did exactly what his instincts dictated: he screamed like a banshee.

"AAAAAAAAAAGGHHHH!"

"Rufus!" Martin shouted.

ROWWWWRRR! Rufus replied, and immediately charged. Donald sprang off Martin and tried to scamper away, but Rufus cut him off and snapped at him angrily, barely missing his left foot.

"Rufus! No!" Martin hollered.

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHH!" Donald screamed over and over as Rufus kept lunging and snapping at him. It was only by sheer luck that he didn't lose an arm-or worse.

Martin wrapped himself around Rufus's leg, trying to stop the onslaught. "No, don't hurt him! We were just playing. Stop! Rufus, no biting people!"

The extra weight slowed Rufus down just enough to give Donald a fighting chance.

"You're crazy, Tinker!" Donald gasped as he ducked and dodged more nimbly than he thought he knew how. "I quit! I promise I'll never bug you again!"

Rufus let out one more giant ROWWWWRRR! and took another snap at Donald, who finally spotted an escape route and rocketed off into the forest.

"Help! It's gonna eat me! I'm dying! Help, somebody, please! He-e-e-e-e-elp..."

His screams gradually faded as he disappeared into the woods. Martin knew this would lead to trouble, but for now he was glad the worst seemed to be over.

With his prey out of sight and, it would seem, out of mind, Rufus gradually calmed down, and Martin let go of his leg.

"Where have you been?" he scolded. "I was worried sick."

Rufus nuzzled him in the small of his back.

"Well, I found you, I guess that's the main thing. C'mon, we've got stuff to do."

He started on his way, but soon realized there were no footsteps behind him. He turned and saw Rufus standing there, sniffing at a low-hanging branch. He didn't seem in any particular hurry to go anywhere.

"Come on," Martin insisted.

Rufus slowly, lazily fell into step behind him.

- There was a big round rock, a good eight feet high and noticeably whiter than the other rocks nearby, that people used as a landmark to orient themselves in the woods. As Martin spotted it up ahead, he could see that Audrey and Mr. Eckhart were there waiting. It had been a half hour since he had split up with them, and they were both looking pretty nervous.

"Can't believe I'm letting a couple of seventh graders take me on some lame-brained unicorn hunt," Mr. Eckhart groused, pacing impatiently.

He wasn't paying attention as Martin appeared out of the brush, with Rufus trailing close behind. As the teacher bent over to tie a loose shoelace, his gla.s.ses fell off and he had to feel around on the ground for them.

"You found him!" Audrey shouted.

"This is Rufus, Mr. Eckhart," said Martin.

"Hmm, what?" he replied as he returned his gla.s.ses to their rightful place on his nose. Then, as the world came back into focus, he suddenly jumped a good three feet in the air. "What in the holy-"

With surprising athletic skill, he clambered on top of the white rock in about two seconds flat. "You weren't kidding!"

Alarmed by the sight of yet another strange human, Rufus growled and crouched down like a startled jungle cat.

"Relax, Rufus," Martin said. "He's a friend."

"You've got a b.l.o.o.d.y dinosaur!" Mr. Eckhart croaked from atop the rock.

"I told you we did," said Martin.

"Audrey, look out! Martin, watch your-get the-put the-"

"He's not dangerous, Mr. Eckhart," Audrey said calmly. "You don't have to stay up there."

"What?"

"Please, we need your help," said Martin. "Donald Grimes saw him and now everybody's gonna know."

Audrey's eyes widened. "Donald saw him?"

"He needs a real home. You're the only one we trust."

Mr. Eckhart was still too thunderstruck to register much of what Martin was saying. He squeezed his eyes shut and mumbled to himself. "Okay, this is not happening. It's three a.m., I'm sound asleep in my bed..."

"We need to get him back to the barn," said Audrey. "Please come back with us, Mr. Eckhart."

"I believe I'll stay right here, Audrey, if it's all the same to you."

Martin and Audrey looked at each other nervously. Maybe this whole thing hadn't been such a hot idea.

"Okay," Martin said, "stay here, and when he's in the barn we'll come back. Okay?"

"Uhhhhhhhh..."

Taking that as a yes, they headed off, with Rufus following.

Mr. Eckhart stayed put on the rock as they moved briskly down the footpath. Martin hoped that Mr. Eckhart would come down and follow once they got a safe distance ahead, and when he turned around to look, that was exactly what happened.

When Martin and Audrey arrived back at the barn, the big doors were still wide open, just as they had left them.

"C'mon, boy. Inside," Martin said as he stepped aside to let Rufus pa.s.s.

Rufus, though, had other ideas. He huffed and paced back and forth, ready to take off back into the woods.

"He doesn't want to go in," Audrey said ominously.

Martin tried to sound firm as he faced Rufus. "You can't stay out here. You have to go in now."

"Oh, wow...he's not gonna go in..."

Determined to prove her wrong, Martin snapped loudly, "Rufus! In! Now!"

His sudden burst of authority was enough to get Rufus's attention, and he slowly trudged through the opening into his unhappy cage. As Audrey closed the doors behind him, Martin went over and grabbed some cinder blocks from a nearby pile and stacked them in front of the doors so (he hoped) Rufus couldn't push them open again from inside.

Audrey pitched in. When they had laid down about a dozen blocks, Martin tugged hard on the doors; they didn't budge. "This should do it."

"You can come out now," Audrey called, and Mr. Eckhart, who had been hiding behind a tree at the edge of the woods, stepped forward.

"Okay, Peter," he said to himself as he approached stiffly. "You can wake up any old time now. Any...old...time."

"What should we do?" Audrey asked.

"Do?...Oh. Do. Um...okay. First, everybody just stay calm, and don't panic. What am I talking about? I'm panicking." He tried to peek through the crack between the barn doors. "Lord almighty! This is the...the greatest find in the history of-"

"Please, we have to get him out of here!" Martin almost shouted. "People are gonna come!"

"Okay. All right. Just give me a second here." Mr. Eckhart paced around, one hand on his hip, the other rubbing the back of his neck, repeatedly blowing out big gusts of air. Finally, he stepped up to Audrey. "Okay! Here's the deal. Give me the pictures."

She pulled the folded-up photos from her back pocket and handed them to him.

"Okay," he said, still a bit breathlessly. "Now, uh...what?" Martin and Audrey resisted the urge to roll their eyes, and Mr. Eckhart seemed to pick up on their impatience. "Okay!" he said, decisively. "I'll run these over to the U and talk to some people. a.s.suming they don't lock me up in a rubber room, maybe I can arrange something. Think you can hold out here for a while?"

"I guess so," said Martin.

"Super. Super-duper."

Mr. Eckhart started on his way, then turned back to shake each of their hands. He seemed to want to say something, but no words came out. He looked like a little kid at Christmas.

Finally, he turned and hustled off across the yard, emitting an exhilarated little whoop! along the way.

Martin and Audrey just stood there, wondering what to do next. He was feeling a bit uneasy, but it was a relief that at least they'd taken a first step.

"I've gotta get home," Audrey said. "Jade's gonna have a fit."

"I'll walk you."

They barely said a word to each other on the way to her house. But Martin knew she was thinking the same thing he was: one way or the other, their world was about to change.

Martin took his time on the way back to his house. He was afraid of what might be going on there now, or would be soon, and he didn't want to face it just yet. So he walked really slowly, took a detour on Craig Street, and stopped in Hauser Park to watch a line of ants snaking their way up a tree trunk.

Then he saw a police car drive by. He wasn't sure, but the driver looked a lot like Sheriff Grimes-and sitting next to him was a kid who looked a whole heck of a lot like Donald. And they were heading straight toward the Tinkers' house.

As though hurled out of a giant slingshot, Martin took off after them. He knew there wasn't much chance of catching up to them, and he had no idea what he would do if he did anyway, but he somehow knew he had to get home fast.

It was a good four blocks of running, and by the time he got near his house he was plenty winded. He could see the squad car parked on the street in front, and Sheriff Grimes was headed up the walk to the front door.

Martin felt like maybe he should yell or something to distract him, but right then his mom's car appeared from the other direction and pulled into the driveway. He stood and watched from a neighbor's yard, panting like an overheated St. Bernard, as she got out and headed toward the front steps. Sheriff Grimes greeted her there, and they exchanged a few words. Martin couldn't hear what they were saying, but even though the sheriff looked calm and friendly, Mrs. Tinker definitely seemed concerned by what he was telling her. Finally, she opened the door, and they went in the house.

Martin stood there for a few seconds, wondering what to do next. Then he noticed that the squad car seemed to be empty. He stepped over and peeked in the back window, then the front. Suddenly, Donald's head popped up from below.

"Agh!" they both shouted at the same time.

"What are you doing here?" Martin snapped. "What did you tell him?"

"What do you think? You're a crazy freak with a giant tricycle tops!"

"He's a tyrann- Never mind..."

His heart sinking fast, Martin looked over at the house. Through the window, he could see Sheriff Grimes trying to explain something to his mom, who was looking back at him as though he had just stepped out of a Martian landing craft. She gestured for him to wait there, and went out into the kitchen.

Martin knew where she was going: out to the barn to look for him.