Aviatrix looked at her large husband with a mixture of amusement and pride. He may be silly, she thought, but he is a good flier. Not as good as me, of course, but faster, I have to admit. With that enormous wingspan of his and his great strength, I reckon he could beat any pterodactyl on earth in a race. I bet Nosy would be surprised. Shall I get old Clawed to show off his speed? Why not!
“Let’s get airborne, Clawed,” she said to her
husband, “and then you’ll be able to see how well Nosy is doing. Anyway, you need some exercise. You’re always hanging about.”
Clawed looked doubtful.
“Come on, Daddy,” said Nosy. “I’d love to fly with you. Mom is a bit too fast for me.” But you won’t be, he thought. You’re too big and heavy and lazy.
Clawed yawned.
“Oh, all right,” he said. “If I must, I must,” and he unclasped his huge claws and dropped down till he was clear of all the branches of the tree. Then he glided out into the open, where the others joined him, and the three of them set off in line, Nosy in the middle, one parent on either side of him.
“Mom! Daddy! Where are we going?” he asked.
“Let’s go to the lake,” said Clawed. “I’m thirsty.”
“All right,” said Aviatrix, “and then we can go on to the Great Plain. Now then, Nosy, we’ll give you a start. Show Daddy how fast you can fly.”
Nosy beat his little wings as hard as he could and pulled away ahead of his parents.
“Good boy!” he heard them shout, and then came the flap of much, much larger wings as Aviatrix caught up to him and passed him. A moment later Clawed came thundering by. His wings, Nosy could see, were even bigger, much, much bigger, and although he beat them more slowly, they carried him along at such a rate that he in turn caught up with Aviatrix and swept past her.
Gosh! He’s fast! He must be the fastest pterodactyl in the world, thought Nosy.
In front of and below him now, he could see a great sheet of water. His parents were gliding down toward it. First his father and then his
mother skimmed the surface of the lake, wings splayed wide, mouths wide open. They drank as they flew, and Nosy copied as best he could.
At the far side of the lake were trees that hung out over the water. The family settled there, to hang upside down on a convenient branch.
Nosy shook himself.
“I’m wet, Mom,” he said.
“You have to learn the trick of it,” said Aviatrix, “but you did well.”
“And you flew well, my boy,” said Clawed.
“Gosh! You’re fast, Daddy!” said Nosy.
Clawed looked pleased.
“You must be the fastest pterodactyl in the world,” said Nosy.
Clawed looked very pleased.
“He is,” said Aviatrix.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Clawed.
“Yes, you are,” said Aviatrix. “Don’t argue. Now then, let’s go on to the Great Plain.”
“But, Mom,” said Nosy, “I’m tired. Can’t we rest for a bit?”
“Good idea,” said Clawed.
“No,” said Aviatrix. “But I’ll tell you what. You can have a piggyback.”
“What does that mean, Mom?” asked Nosy.
“You can have a ride on Daddy’s back. That’ll give you a good rest.”
“Can I really?”
“Of course you can.”
“But, Avy,” said Clawed, “I wouldn’t mind a rest too.”
“Nonsense,” said Aviatrix. “Jump on now, Nosy. Oops-a-daisy!”
Nosy never forgot the thrill he felt when, clinging tightly to his father’s back, he looked down and
saw the Great Plain for the first time.
In the land where the pterodactyls lived, there were three different kinds of country.
First, there was the dry, stony desert, where Nosy had hatched. Here, each female would lay her solitary egg among the hot rocks.
Second, there were the woods, full of convenient trees for pterodactyls to hang upon.
And third, there was the Great Plain: miles and miles of grassland, where all the great planteating dinosaurs lived.
Now, as Nosy looked down in wonder, he saw herds of huge creatures such as diplodocuses and ankylosauruses and stegosauruses.
Nosy’s parents dropped lower and hovered above a single enormous dinosaur that was moving very slowly, grazing on the coarse grasses.
“Gosh! What’s that, Daddy?” he cried.
“Apatosaurus,” said Clawed.
“It’s so big!” cried Nosy. “They’re all so big, all these beasts below us!”
“Second-class creatures, the lot of them,” said his mother scornfully.
“Not a patch on us,” said his father proudly.
“Why not?”
“Because,” said his parents with one voice, “they can’t fly!”
At that moment something came out from beneath the giant dinosaur. Something which had been sheltering there and had been alarmed by the flying creatures overhead.
It was a baby apatosaurus.
