a good push and down it comesâstraight onto T. rex.â
âI see,â said Banty. âThis decoy isnât one of you, is it? He knows you could just fly away.â
âThatâs right.â
âAnd it isnât going to be Pa, whoâll be waiting behind the tree. Ma too, probably.â
âThatâs right.â
âSo,â said Banty, âI am to be the decoy, am I, Nosy?â
âThatâs right.â
âJust suppose I canât go fast enough. Just suppose he catches me.â
âHe wonât. Mom and Daddy and I will fly in his face so he canât see where heâs going. Youâll be all right, Banty.â
âThanks,â said Banty. âGlad to know that.â
Â
Â
When they got back, they found their parents chatting, the pterodactyls hanging from a branch of a large lakeside tree, the apatosauruses standing below, long necks up-stretched.
Nosy hung, Banty stood.
âNosy has a plan,â she said to them all.
âA plan?â said Aviatrix. âWhat about?â
âT. rex.â
âWhat are you going to do to him?â asked Gargantua.
âFrighten him,â said Nosy. âScare him away.â
âDonât be silly, Nosy,â said his mother. âRun away and play. Scare T. rex, indeed!â
âHang on a minute, Avy,â said Clawed.
âI am hanging on!â
âYes, but letâs hear what the boyâs got to say. I
could do with a good laugh.â
So Nosy outlined his scheme, as he had to Banty.
âSheâll have to be the decoy, of course,â he finished up.
âItâs so simple, isnât it?â said Aviatrix sarcastically to the three adults. âTitanic just drops a tree on the brute. A tree, which is in the woods, which are on the other side of the lake, which means that T. rex will be chasing Banty for a long way, which means heâll catch her. I never heard of anything more injudicious.â
âWhatâs that mean, Mom?â asked Nosy.
âUnwise.â
âI quite agree, Aviatrix,â said Gargantua. âHow perspicacious you are!â
Aviatrix looked very pleased. I only taught her that word quite recently, she thought. Thereâs hope for her yet.
Titanic, standing looking up at the three pterodactyls on their branch, looked farther up still.
âI quite agree with your good lady, sir,â he said to Clawed. âTo go all the way to your wood might not be wise. But this tree here is a very large one, which I make bold to say I could, I think, push over, especially with the assistance of my good lady. As close to the lake as we are, it seems to me that Banty could easily escape into the water.â
âNo!â cried Gargantua. âForget about T. rex. We must not put our daughterâs life at risk.â
âIf we forget about T. rex, Gargy,â said Titanic, âour daughter may pay for it with her life.â
There was silence for a while as they all thought about Nosyâs plan, a silence broken only
by a small snore as Clawed, tired by all the talk, dozed off.
âWell, Mom,â said Nosy at last, âwhat do you think?â
Aviatrix looked at her son. She suddenly felt very proud of him. Fancy him thinking up such a scheme all by himself. And this was the right spot, no doubt of it; this was where T. rex came to drink in the shade of this great tree. But wouldnât he see Titanic and Gargantua waiting behind the tree? No, because she and Clawed would pester him all the time. She would use her aerobatic skills to scratch his beastly snout, and Clawed would spread his great wings before him, to confuse him, and Nosyâcould Nosy do anything when T. rex came?
âI think it is a fine plan, my son. But tell me, what will you do?â she asked.
Nosy had a sudden brainwave.
âI,â he said, âwill be the first decoy. When T. rex comes down for a drink, Iâm