Ozzie and Strut
The sun rose gently over the distant mountains, and the forests and plains came alive with the morning chorus of many different dinosaurs. It was three days now, and the cave now seemed very empty. She wasn't coming back. Their mother had gone out to get them breakfast, and she had not yet returned. Maybe she was injured. Maybe she had met a sharptooth when out on her travels. One thing was for sure, she wasn't in the cave. Her two children, a pair of young Struthomimius brothers awaited her return. They were hungry. "I'm hungry Ozzie" said one of them in a whiny voice. There was a long silence as the two of them stared out of the mouth of the cave into the world beyond. "Mother has abandoned us" said the one called Ozzie, in a matter of fact kind of way. "But Ozzie, Mother would never-"but his speech was interrupted by his own stomach rumbling. Ozzie gave his brother a penetrating glare. "Go look for something to eat, Strut" he instructed, and cautiously his brother got up to leave the safety of the cave. "Oh Ozzie it's getting dark out there, I saw some nice moss on the rocks near the back of the cave, I'll just get us-"
But Ozzie interjected, "Oh no you don't, you gotta have eggs! That green stuff's only fit for long necks, three horns and such. Prey."
"But Ozzie we don't eat long necks and-"
With the look Ozzie gave him, Strut knew better than to challenge him. Strut gulped in fear of the outside world, and with trembling hands and feet, took his first cautious steps outside of the cave. Ozzie meanwhile was comfortable in the cave, and had no concerns at all for the safety of his brother. He was removing some straw from a hole in the cave wall. "Oh come to me my treasures" he said as he revealed a secret stash of eggs, hidden beneath the straw. He eyed one egg up as he held it in his clawed fingers, and uttered "And to think we could've been brothers, but now you're just dinner." Ozzie then broke the egg on a rock and drank the succulent, delicious yolk within. His eyes then fell on the six or seven other eggs that lay at his feet. He licked his lips with pleasure. Ozzie simply loved eggs.
Strut was bewildered. The dark had fallen all around him. The wind rustled the leaves of the trees menacingly. For all Strut knew, a sharptooth could be hiding round the next corner. Strut feared the sharptooth more than other creature. It was far bigger than him, and it had an insatiable desire and taste for flesh blood, and the innards of smaller dinosaurs. Creeping slowly forward, with his heart racing, Strut approached a nest. There was no one in sight. Maybe he was in luck. However all he found was broken shell, the eggs had hatched or been eaten by another Struthomimius. He sighed; Ozzie would be very mean to him if he returned empty handed. The branches shook nearby. Was it just the wind maybe? Strut wasn't staying to find out. He fled as fast as his legs could carry him, bound for the safety of the cave.
Ozzie was having a good time, as he finished the last egg. Shell lay on the cave floor all around him. Ozzie's belly was now big and round, as he lay on the ground, breathing heavily. Yolk was dripping from his mouth. "Those eggs were delicious" he thought. Ozzie burped loudly, and sighed peacefully. He was glad he hadn't shared the eggs with Strut. His brother wouldn't have appreciated them.
Just then Strut returned. "Well?" Ozzie asked, perching himself up with his hands.
"Well? Oh-I-ah-I-" said Strut, stuttering as he tried to think of an excuse for not having any eggs.
"Did you get eggs?" Ozzie asked sternly.
"Well, ah (Strut droops his head)….no, but I got these!" Strut finished enthusiastically, holding up a great pile of leaves, and looking Ozzie in the eye.
"Now tell me what exactly is wrong with eggs, dear brother? Ozzie asked, again in a stern voice.
"Well, am…I've been thinking Ozzie…"
"You've been thinking! I've told you I DO the THINKING round here!
"But Ozzie, don't we come from eggs? I mean it don't feel right…"
"Just taste an egg, Strut. How can you deny the pleasure of that sweet yolk on your tongue? How can you?"
"I do eat eggs Ozzie! I just don't like them all that much…"
This statement would normally have Ozzie deeply shocked and angry, but he was too tired to even listen to his brother any more.
Ozzie burped again, and lay back down. He was still full with eating all the unformed remains of his brothers and sisters.
Strut was putting handfuls of the soft little leaves into his mouth as he sat at the entrance of the cave, looking out at the stars. Now he could sit peacefully and enjoy the view, as he was now back in the safety of the cave he knew so well.
"Ozzie, do you think-"Strut asked as he looked at all the little lights in the inky black sky, but he was interrupted by flatulence from his brother. Strut now noticed the broken egg shell on the cave floor. They weren't there earlier. "Ozzie, there's egg shell all around you, where'd you get-"
Ozzie burped again and rolled over onto his side, groaning as he did so. Ozzie's brothers and sisters had the last word. They were going to repeat on him.