My Dinosaur Akída

Chapter 4: Raising a Dinosaur

"What should you feed her?" Mark asked. "Plants, what else?" Annie said. "Where would you find them?" Mark asked. "You're going to help me." Annie said.

"What, me? Oh, no! No, no, no! Not me! Forget it!" Mark said. "Why not?" Annie asked. "Because I'm not taking care of a dinosaur! So count me out!" Mark said, waving his arms.

"Oh, please, Mark." Annie said. "No way, Annie! I'm not playing dino-sitter! You feed her! You hatched her, you take care of her yourself." Mark said. Annie then bent down on her knees and clasped her hands together. "Oh, Markie-warkie! Please help." Annie asked, her voice turning babyish. "Nope! I won't do it." Mark said. "Pretty please?" she said, hugging Mark's arm.

"Uh-uh." Mark said. "Pretty, pretty please?" Annie said, looking up at Mark with her pleading look. Mark groaned. He was always a sucker for her puppy-eye pleading look. "Ugh! Okay, okay, I'll help you." he said, annoyed.

"Thanks, Mark!" Annie said happily, hugging him. "Jeez, you always seem to have me wrapped around your finger. But don't say I didn't warn you." Mark said. "What do you mean?" Annie asked. "Well, if she grows to 5.5 meters, where would we hide her?" Mark asked.

Annie scratched her head. "Good question." she said. Then she felt a tug at her pant leg. She looked down and saw Akida looking up at her with her irresistible blue eyes. Annie sighed and picked her up.

Akida licked her cheek passionately. "Well, if I'm gonna raise her, then I'm gonna have to take good care of her." Annie said. A few hours later, Annie was digging in her backyard. She dug and dug until she saw something in the dirt. She reached in and pulled out a tuber root. "Bingo!" she said. She kept on digging. "Hey, Dino Girl! Whatcha doing? Digging for lame fossils?" an unfamiliar voice taunted.

Annie gritted her teeth and groaned. "Oh, please, not her again!" she muttered under her breath. "Or are you digging for rocks?" Jessica asked.

Annie whirled around angrily. "Jessica, would you please leave me alone?" Annie asked. "Why should I?" Jessica sneered. "Because I don't like it when you bully me. So please stop." Annie begged. "Oh, sure, as if I would." Jessica taunted, flipping her pink-streaked hair. "But teasing you is a lot less boring than doing homework!" She laughed haughtily.

"Have fun getting dirty, Dino Girl!" she teased as she rode away on her bike. Growling, Annie dug at the dirt angrily. "I'll show her! I show her something that'll make her quake in her shoes!" she said through gritted teeth.

A few minutes later, Annie got back home and set the bucket down beside Akida. She plucked a tuber root from the bucket and held it out in front of Akida. "Here, Akida. I got you food." Annie said. Akida looked at the tuber in front of her.

She tried to eat it, but the tuber root was too thick for her to chew on. "I don't think she likes roots." Mark said. "Well, I don't want to starve her." Annie said.

As night fell, Annie and Mark's father, Luke came back home from work. "All right! I'm starving! What's for dinner tonight?" he asked. "We have chicken and spinach tonight!" Diane said. Everybody gathered at the table and sat down, ready to eat their dinner.

But Annie was quiet. "Are you okay, Annie? You didn't touch your food." Diane said. "I think I'll have my food in my room." Annie said, picking up the plate. She walked to her room and closed the door behind her. "Akida, why don't you try this? It's fresh spinach." Annie said, placing her plate on the floor.

She separated the chicken from the spinach, picked up a piece and held it out towards Akida. Akida sniffed the vegetable in front of her. "Here. Try it. You'll like it." Annie said. Akida sniffed the spinach, and then took a small nibble.

Annie happily gasped. Akida took the spinach and gobbled it down in one gulp, and then she licked Annie's hand. "Hey, that tickles." Annie giggled.

"You want some more?" Annie asked. Akida squealed. Annie took another piece of spinach and held it out to her. Akida ate it up. "Eat up well, Akida, so that you will...grow up big and strong." Annie yawned. Akida licked her hand. "Here." Annie said as she gave Akida another piece of spinach.

As Annie climbed into bed in her pajamas, Akida leapt onto her bed. She crawled under Annie's arm and snuggled close to her. "I love you, Annie." Akida cooed as she peacefully drifted off to sleep. Mark had to smile when he saw this. "Aww. How cute." he said to himself. He turned off the light in Annie's room and went to bed.

The next day, Annie was practicing guitar. Akida heard the music coming from the living room and went to inspect. Akida was curious of what the strange sound was.

Annie looked at Akida. "This is called a guitar. It makes music. Wanna hear?" Annie said. Akida nodded and squealed. Annie played a few notes. Then Akida noticed her foot was tapping. "What's happening? Why's my foot tapping?" she thought. "I don't know what it is, but I really like it!" Before she even knew it, she was dancing to the music and loving it!

When Annie was done playing and left, Akida looked at the piano. "What is this thing? Does it make a strange sound like the one she held?" she thought. Akida leapt on the piano seat. She saw strange white pegs with black objects on them.

Curious, she hit the piano keys with her front foot. The keys produced a very loud noise. Startled, she jumped and fell from the piano seat. "What's that?" Diane asked, who was putting the laundry away.

"Nothing, Mom. Just the piano." Mark said as he grabbed Akida and ran upstairs to Annie's room. As he shut the door behind him, he turned towards Akida and pointed his finger at her.

Akida squealed. Mark put his hand on her snout. "Be quiet. You nearly got me busted." Mark hissed.

As soon as he released Akida, Akida leapt up and licked him on the nose. Mark wiped his nose in disgust. "Yuck!" he said. Akida giggled.

Akida couldn't be more happier than spending time with Annie.