Time …

slooooooows

then stops

then spins backward through millennia

until Davey tumbles down through a prehistoric sky and lands with a

THWOP!

in

a muddy waterhole   a watery mudhole

where

a posse of stegosaurus glares at him.

Hmm.

Davey Dobbs is definitely NOT SUPPOSED TO ride a stegosaur. But guess what?

He slops over to the closest one, says hello, and climbs on its back. “Hi-YAH!”

The startled stegosaur shudder-shakes and suddenly sprints off with Davey gripping the great plates of its spine.

Now the other startled stegosaurus also shudder-shake and also sprint away.

Davey Dobbs is NOT SUPPOSED TO start a stegosaur stampede.

But he does!

Davey whoops and hollers as the harried herd hurriedly hurtles.

Dinosaurs everywhere!

Brontosaurus!

Allosaurus!

Dogasaurus!

Frogasaurus!

Some-other-saurus!

Iguanadon!

lguanadonna!

Iguana-lama-ding-dong!

Triceratops!

Tricerabottoms!

A pileup of tyrannosaurus wrecks!

And in the sky, pterodactyls pturning and ptumbling and ptwisting.

Plus, a pflock of pbugosaurs.

Wait a second … that’s no pflock of pbugosaurs!

Those are soccer coaches

and soccer players

and soccer parents

(but not Davey’s parents)

paratrooping down into the story, Davey’s story, carrying giant banners that flutter out behind them and say

NOT SUPPOSED TO

They are falling fast.

Davey is racing fast.

The soccer-troopers are going to intercept him!

Davey grips the plates of his stegosaur, urging it left. The stegosaur snorts once and ignores him. Davey tries to steer right. The stegosaur snorts twice and ignores him. Davey gives one last leftward tug. The stegosaur finally veers away from the stegopack

and thunders toward the edge of a cliff.

“Whoa!” says Davey. “Whoa, whoa!” But the stegosaur speeds on. “Whoa!”

Here comes the cliff!

The stegosaurus finally whoas, digging her feet into the soft earth and skidding to a stop at the cliff-edge.

Davey doesn’t whoa.

He flies off the back of the stegosaur clutching only air and his meander and he falls through space

space

space

Davey clutches the meander. “I have the right to meander,” he yells.