~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once upon a time long before the advent of time-keeping devices or the creatures that deemed them necessary, there lived a dinosaur. This dinosaur was the kind that only consumed greens and things that grew out of the ground rather than the kind that ate other dinosaurs. This dinosaur's name was Gilbert, and he liked to think that he was a kindly sort, never starting arguments with other dinosaurs and never eating more than his daily allotment of grasses and berries. (Though this was a timeless land, it was not a land without government.)
Gilbert was happy enough, he wandered the land, visiting with his friends when he stumbled upon them and sidling past the carnivores in the neighborhood when they looked a little peckish.
On a day that dawned like any other, Gilbert woke up in his dinosaur bed and scratched his dinosaur head, stretching and yawning before pulling himself out of bed and heading out in search of breakfast. There was a patch of grass that he had in mind for the morning's meal, and he had gone to bed thinking about it.
Though Gilbert's dreams had been filled with the emerald hues of this particular patch of grass, when he arrived at the patch, he found three elderly dinosaurs munching on it and gossiping.
"Oh, and I heard that her scales are actually surgically shined every season," one of them said through a mouthful of grass.
Another gasped and exclaimed, "No! It couldn't be!" before squinting at the patch of grass and picking a particularly succulent bite.
"Oh yes, I heard it all from Gertrude. You told me all about it, didn't you, Gertrude?" the first one said, nudging the third in the shoulder. The third dinosaur either hadn't been listening or was hard of hearing so she squinted up her dinosaur face and said, "Whaaaat?"
Gilbert shook his dinosaur head and turned dinosaur tail to trudge in the opposite direction in search of breakfast. He didn't go very far when he stumbled upon a beautiful bright yellow creature growing out of the ground. She possessed the same brightness of the sun anchored to the ground by a green and leafy stem. Needless to say, Gilbert was smitten the moment he saw her.
"I think I'm in love," he whispered to himself, checking in either direction to see if some other dinosaur was listening in to what he considered a soliloquy. "She's so beautiful..."
The flower swayed in the wind, making little circles with her leaves, but said nothing. Mostly because flowers aren't very talkative in the first place, but also because she hoped that if she stayed very still...the dinosaur that was looking at her so intently would lose interest and wouldn't eat her after all.
Gilbert sidled up to the flower, so close that his dinosaur breath set her to swaying again.
"Hello. I don't mean to sound forward or anything, but I think you're beautiful, and I might be in love with you," Gilbert said, his dinosaur nerve managing to take him all the way through the proclamation without stuttering.
The flower said nothing.
"Heh, I mean...I'm sorry if this is awkward, but it'd be great if you could say something."
The flower remained silent.
Without encouragement, Gilbert shuffled his dinosaur feet and pursed his dinosaur lips. "I...I mean, this doesn't really change anything. I do think you're beautiful. I do love you. I'm just sorry you don't feel the same way. I'm...just gonna go then..." So Gilbert walked off, a little bit of his dinosaur pride chipped away, and feeling a little bit hungrier than before.
And the flower wept for what might have been. A terribly Shakespearean love affair that she could never give voice to.
0 comments:
Post a Comment