Chapter Six
A Monster!
30 Million Years Ago
The sun, which looked just as the sun should look, was sitting right where the water met the pink tinged sky. It looked flattened, as if it really was floating on the ocean. Zack and Alice were too tired and hungry by this point in their trip to really appreciate the sunset.
They headed away from the cold sea into the shadowy woods, but the trees opened up quickly and before long the children found themselves walking across a very large open plain. It was warmer here. Tall grasses rippled in the wind and colourful little wildflowers tossed their heads. It occurred to Alice that she hadn't seen either flowers or grass in the time of the dinosaurs. It was kind of interesting to think that dinosaurs were older than grass, but she was too tired to point it out to Zack. They walked in silence past herds of long necked animals that looked like some strange cross between a giraffe and a camel. Once they ran away from a gigantic flightless bird who looked at them with what they thought was a hungry expression on its face, and another time they startled a tiny spotted horse that dashed out of the bushes right under their feet. It was no bigger than a cat.
Alice couldn't help making a comment then, "Oh, how cute!"
"It's a baby horse!" said Zack, hoping that meant they were close to home. Or at least close to people. He was getting very hungry.
"No, it's not. It's a grown up Eohippus, a Dawn Horse."
"The great great grand-daddy of horses?" asked Zack without much enthusiasm.
"Yep," agreed his sister. Exhaustion was making her uncharacteristically brief.
The grass got taller, and for a while, Zack and Alice could see very little. Zack still seemed to know where he was going, however, so Alice tried not to worry.
Once, as they were pushing through the plains, they stumbled into an open place. Alice saw a number of ape-like creatures relaxing inside the circle of tall grasses. A small one was digging in the ground with a stick and a mother was nursing her baby. They froze at the sight of Zack and Alice and for a moment there was silence on both sides, then all the small brown furry people leapt up with cries of fright and vanished into the grass. Alice and Zack stared after them, astonished.
"Zack..." said Alice after a long moment.
"Yes?"
"I think those were OUR great great grand-daddies. Grand-mommies, I mean."
"They were not! They were monkeys."
"Yes, but we evolved from apes, you know. At least, that's what my book said. Apes changed and changed until they became people."
Zack giggled, "Monkeys turned into PEOPLE?"
"Well, it took a long time..."
"You used to be a monkey," teased Zack.
"No, I didn't!"
"Monkey girl, monkey girl..."
"Stop it!"
This conversation degenerated into shouting match that lasted several million years, and they barely noticed the rhinoceros-looking thing with all the bumps on its face, or the giant bats that suddenly flapped out of a grove of trees, or even the large furry pig-like thing that snorted at them as they stomped past. Eventually however, hunger and exhaustion caught up with them and the children fell silent again.
They kept going. It became colder and darker. They were now walking in a sparsely treed forest, with many firs and pines and other familiar plants. It looked pretty much like any forest might look in their own time, but they still weren't home. By the time the sun disappeared behind a bumpy line of hills, it had started to snow. Zack stopped walking.
"C'mon Zack. We've come forward millions of years, we can't be far from home now!" Alice gave him a little push forward.
Zack took two steps and stopped again. He started to cry. "I can't see the road anymore!"
This was bad. Alice looked around. All she could see were the dark shapes of the pine trees. There was no sign of any path and she couldn't guess which way they should go. She heard the sounds of small creatures moving in the brush, and she began to wonder what larger creatures might be hiding out there in the shadows. If Zack couldn't see the road, how could they get away from the animals that might want to eat them? She remembered the many toothed dinosaur that had chased them and the long legged bird with the big sharp beak and she shuddered.
Zack sat down on the ground.
"No, Zack! Don't sit down!" Alice tried to pull him back up onto his feet. "It's snowing. You can't sit down in the snow, or you might fall asleep and freeze to death!"
"I'm TIRED!" sobbed Zack, resisting her attempts to make him stand up.
"Please, Zack!" Alice was frightened. She started to cry, as well.
At that moment, both children heard a rustling in the bushes. Alice imagined huge teeth and grasping claws and as a dark shape lunged out from the shadows she screamed, grabbed Zack, and closed her eyes.
There was silence.
When nothing grabbed her after all, Alice cautiously opened one eye. What she saw made both her eyes fly open wide, and she gasped. There WAS a big hairy monster standing just a few feet away! She held Zack tighter, but the monster didn't move. It just stood there looking at them.
When, after several minutes, the monster didn't attack, Zack finally swallowed his sobs and managed a cautious, "Hello...?"
Almost at the same time, Alice asked, "Are you a nice monster?"
"Whose children are you?" asked a puzzled voice. "I don't know you, and you aren't dressed like children from our tribe. Are your people camped nearby?" And with that the monster stepped forward out of the trees, and they could see that it was after all just a man in a thick brown fur coat. He was carrying a pointed stick and a large shapeless bag. He laughed, "You know, until you spoke, I thought you might be ghost children!"