My Dinosaur Akída

Chapter 5: Happy Days

One day, Annie was taking a nap in her room when Akida saw a pretty red and white striped ball by the bookshelf. She squealed to Annie, putting a foot in the ball. But Annie was still asleep.

"Annie, hey, wake up!" Akida squealed. But Annie just rolled on her side. "Come on, Annie, get up!" Akida squealed. But Annie just slept. Pouting, Akida climbed onto Annie's bed.

She waddled over to Annie and nipped at her ear. That woke Annie up. She looked at Akida. "What?" she asked grumpily. Akida leapt off the bed and pawed at the ball.

"That's called a ball. It's used for play." Annie explained. "You want to play ball?" Annie asked. Akida squealed.

"All right, I'll play with you." Annie said. She gently kicked the ball. Akida chased after it and leapt on it, but fell to the ground. But little Akida was full of energy and pushed the ball towards Annie.

Annie pushed the ball towards her with her head. Akida repeated the process. Then, Mark entered the room. "Hey, Mark, wanna join in?" Annie asked. "Sure!" Mark said. Annie, Akida, and Mark all played their game until Annie and Mark got tired. "Whoo! Akida, you're really strong!" Annie said, panting.

Akida was a very rambunctious baby dinosaur. Sometimes she would head-butt or play chase with Smokey, much to his chagrin.

Whenever Annie and Mark were doing chores, Akida would sneak into the garden and chew on Diane's prized daffodils and carnations. Diane would sometimes scold Annie and Mark for that.

Akida would chew on a lot of stuff. Pillows, furniture, bookshelves, chairs, doors, anything she could get her beak on. Whenever Annie or Mark would leave some snack bags open, Akida would stick her head in the bags and gobble the snacks before they even realize it. On many occasions, Akida nearly got herself discovered by Diane, but she was smart enough to hide from her sight.

Whenever Akida got dirty and Annie tried to give her a bath, she would splash water on Annie, leaving her soaking wet. And sometimes during the middle of the night, Akida would fuss and cry and Annie would have to calm her down to prevent her from waking her parents. But no matter how much trouble Akida caused, Annie still loved her.

One afternoon, it was blazing hot outside. Mark was sitting underneath a tree, fanning himself and drank ice-cold lemonade to keep him cool. Nearby, Annie was reading a book on her hammock, a glass of ice-cold coke by her side.

Akida was playing in an inflatable pool nearby. When she saw Annie, she bended her tail sideways and splashed the water at Annie, soaking her. "Ahhh!" Annie shrieked when she felt water splash on her.

She looked at Akida with water dripping from her tail. "Oh, you!" Annie said. "Come here!" She got off the hammock and jumped into the pool, splashing everywhere. She grabbed Akida and rubbed her head.

Annie and Akida started to splash water on each other, soaking themselves wet. Finally, they soon got tired from their water battle. Annie laughed as she fell in the water and lay there, relaxing. Akida climbed on her stomach and lay down.

But their peaceful reverie didn't last long. "Annie!" an angry voice suddenly said. Annie quickly sat up. Akida quickly hid behind Annie's back. Diane angrily marched up to Annie.

"Y-Yeah, Mom?" Annie asked nervously. "Tell me the truth, Annie. Lately, some carrots have been disappearing from the fridge. You're not feeding Bella again, are you?" Diane asked sternly. Annie stiffened. Bella was the next-door neighbor's pony. She loved the carrots Annie and Mark would give her. Annie looked at Mark. Mark just shrugged.

Annie shook her head. "Ma, I swear I'm not feeding Bella! I swear!" Annie yelled. "Fine. If that's the truth." Diane said as she turned around and walked away.

Annie sighed. "Why didn't you tell her the truth?" Mark asked. "Because if I told her that I'm keeping a pet dinosaur, she'll think I'm nuts or something." Annie said. Akida came out from behind Annie's back. She licked Annie's nose affectionately.

Annie looked at Akida. "Akida, you are a really special dinosaur. Before you hatched out of your egg, I had a feeling that you would be a Styracosaurus. Styracosaurus is my absolute favorite dinosaur. Who would have known my thoughts are true?" Annie said. Akida looked at Annie curiously. Annie kissed Akida on the nose and hugged her.

She turned to Mark. "Mark, this is really incredible. I can't wait till Akida grows to 5.5 meters. Once I show Akida to the world, it will shock paleontologists, scientists and everyone alike. It will be the one of the most famous world records. I can picture it: Akida, the 10th wonder of the world. The world's only living dinosaur. I can even picture the headlines: Real-live dinosaur kept as pet. What do you think?" Annie said.

"Well, yeah, but if everyone discovers Akida's existence, they might, you know, take her away." Mark said. "What? What do you mean?" Annie said, looking at Mark.

"If everyone, if scientists know that a living dinosaur exists today, they would take it away and put it in a cage and display it in a zoo, or they might dissect it and study the insides." Mark said.

Annie was horrified when she heard this. "Say no more!" she said. She looked at Akida worriedly. She gently picked up Akida. "This isn't the future I want for Akida." Annie said. "I want Akida to live a happy, healthy life."

"Annie, you know you can't keep her forever." Mark said. "We're not even her parents. We can't even hide a dinosaur from everyone either. Everyone is bound to realize Akida's existence sooner or later." Annie nodded sadly. "Yeah, I know." she said. Annie looked at Akida and Akida gazed back with her charming blue eyes.

Annie hugged Akida close to her. "But I still love her." she said. "I can't give her up yet. She needs me." That night, Annie was asleep. Suddenly, she heard Akida fussing. Akida was squealing loudly.

"Shh! Quiet, Akida. You'll wake Mom and Dad up." Annie said. But Akida kept on crying. Then, Annie started to rub Akida's back and she sung a lullaby softly.

"Beautiful thoughts adrift,

Into each loving head

Beautiful moon dreams

Woven in moonbeams

Round your bed." Akida began to quiet down. Annie hummed that lullaby, until finally, Akida stopped fussing. She nuzzled against Annie and fell asleep. "Sweet dreams, Akida." Annie mumbled as she fell asleep.