I LOOKED out my window, across the green, lush lawn and the border of flowering shrubs to the woods beyond, dark and mysterious.
Tonight, the distant howl of a coyote came riding on the wind. I like to think of the woods as that daunting island in Costa Rica of the Jurassic Dynasty, where many mysteries unfold and close encounters with the fascinating creatures that walked the earth over 70 million years ago happened.

I flicked through the pages of the Encyclopaedia of Dinosaurs that I was reading, and my eye caught on the magnanimous Tyrannosaurus Rex, a species that truly fascinates me. It’s a powerful killer, 40 feet long, and charges at a speed of 20 miles per hour.
My obsession with dinosaurs is so great that I have followed written facts about their existence to their extinction fervently. I often wonder: will they ever return? Will there be a world again where dinosaurs rule? Is there, perhaps, a fossil somewhere from which scientists can extract DNA and recreate them?

I went to bed embracing that thought, saying goodnight to the miniature T-Rex beside my bed. It was late; the quarter moon had slipped behind some clouds, and the twinkling stars were like bejewelled sentries in the dark sky. Within the woods, a stifled crash grew in crescendo as it came nearer, and then from nowhere, as though part of the sky had fallen, a loud growl shook the very foundation of the house. I stumbled out of bed and looked around wildly.

“What is happening? Mum, Dad!” I screamed, rushing into their room.
They were sleeping peacefully as ever. I ran across to my sister’s room, and she too was in slumber, nestled among her Barbie Dolls. I crept down the stairs cautiously, wondering,
“Why did I alone hear this? What is it, an alien ship maybe?”
I dared myself to look out the kitchen window, and what I saw made my blood freeze. Standing in my backyard was a T-Rex, as massive, alive, and real as you could imagine.

“Oh my God,” I muttered, “It’s not Christmas yet. I didn’t ask Santa for a live T-Rex.”
It lowered its head towards me, lunging a little, and before I knew what was happening, I was sliding down its back, holding on for dear life. As it strode through the woods in gigantic strides, trees and saplings fell like rag dolls. The wind whistled shrilly in my ears, and I thought I heard it say, “Where are you going, little boy?”

I wasn’t sure if it was talking to me, and a great feeling of fear entered my racing heart. Suppose I cannot return and may never see my family again? Then, magically, I found myself in a strange land, a land of huge mountains, expansive rugged landscapes, and stands of conifer, maple, and beech trees – a land I had seen many times in documentaries, a land of the Mesozoic Period.

It took my breath away, and fear took a nosedive as I marvelled at the sight of these amazing creatures. All my imaginings had come to life. The Sauropods, those giant plant eaters, the largest dinosaurs ever to live on land, were there. The Brachiosaurus, one of the “Giraffes” of the dinosaur world, its neck reaching up to fifty-two feet, was there too.

It was awesome. And the Diplodocus, the ten-ton beast, stood there with its tail stretching out for up to forty-six feet. They were all in their own habitats. The T-Rex finally stopped by a narrow lake. On the other side was a small flock of Pterosaurs, which had stopped on their lifelong journey to drink the precious water.

Suddenly, from nowhere, three raptors, swift, vicious, and deadly, attacked the flock as they tried to take flight. The T-Rex roared in aggressive defence, and I fell hard on the rugged ground. The raptors crossed the lake in leaps and bounds, and a battle ensued between predators and prey. I scrambled into a clump of conifer trees and came face to face with a young raptor.

It nudged me onto the ground and opened its deadly jaws. I screamed, knowing any second I would be eaten, but the T-Rex crushed it in its mighty jaws, and the other raptors wisely retreated, not chancing a further battle with this colossal creature.
The journey continued, and I was starting to get tired. I must have dozed off, for when I opened my eyes, I was in bed, and everything around me was normal again. I ran to the window, but what did I expect to see? Not a T-Rex in my backyard. It was all a dream, but what a dream! I patted my mini T-Rex on its head and whispered, “Thank you.”
As I closed the door, I thought I heard a soft growl.