A/N: This was a project I did for a class (I got an A on it!) where we had to take one of Bradbury's stories and either make a picture book out of it, or make it more appealing to kids, I chose the later. So here it is, enjoy!
TIME SAFARI INC.
SAFARIS TO ANY YEAR IN THE PAST.
YOU NAME THE ANIMAL.
WE TAKE YOU THERE.
YOU HELP IT TAKE A NAP.
Eckels grabbed the check from his pocket and put it on the desk. The man behind the desk picked it up and slipped it into his sleeve.
"Do you guarantee I come back in one piece?" Eckels asked.
"Nope."
"Count me in!" He turned and looked at the Time Machine. "It's unbelievable… A real Time Machine…"
"Yep, it's the real deal. All you have to worry about is-."
"Helping that dino catch some Zs." Eckels finished for him.
"A T-Rex will be what you will be seeing today. The King of the Dinosaurs. Sign these papers, please. Anything happens to you, we're not responsible. Those dinosaurs are cranky and really need some sleep." The man behind the desk handed Eckels a stack of papers, which Eckels signed without reading a single word.
"Are you trying to scare me?!" He snapped.
"Yes, no, maybe so? We can't let people go back in time if they chicken out when the dinosaur simply blinks at them." The man behind the desk explained.
"Do you let in people who play opossum instead…?"
"Hmmm, let's see…" The man flipped through a small book, "No chickens, scaredy cats, and mouse hearts…. You're in luck, opossums are allowed."
"Phew, thank goodness!"
"Good luck." The man gestured to the room with the Time Machine. "The Safari Leader for today is Mr. Travis."
Eckels walked into the room and four other men were waiting for him.
"I am Travis and this is my assistant, Leslie. The two others are Billings and Kramer." Travis introduced himself.
"Actually, it's Lesperance." The assistant corrected him.
"My bad. My assistants name is Leprechaun." Travis corrected himself. Lesperance gave a defeated sigh. "Put on your oxygen helmets."
They all followed his instructions and piled into the Machine. Eckels watched in amazement as the years sped past him in a whirl of colors. Golds, and reds, and silvers, and every bright color imaginable. The Time Machine whirred to a stop. The door opened with a Hiss!
"Uh, what kind of guns are these?" Eckels pulled the trigger and a plunger with a string attached to the end latched onto Lesperance's face.
"They trip up the dinosaur, a long enough method of keeping the dino down so we can help it go to bed."
"They seem to work well." Lesperance grappled with plunger and finally managed to pull it off of his face. Travis stepped out of the Machine.
"This is the prehistoric jungle that we will meet our T-Rex. And that," Travis pointed to a metal path that floated 6 inches off the ground, " is the path that we will be walking on. It defies gravity and is indestructible, it was created by-."
"Can you say that in a way that I can understand?" Eckels scratched the back of his neck.
"It's really strong, floaty floaty metal that was made by really smart people."
"Why didn't you say that the first time?" Eckels lazily pointed his gun at a mouse that was scurrying on the ground near the path.
"Don't do that! If you were to disrupt that mouse from doing mouse things you could disrupt the entire future! Don't even step off the Path!" Travis scolded him.
"Just one mouse? How could that affect anything?"
" Well, say you scare that one mouse. So he and his offspring develop an extreme phobia to humans. This means that mice would never come near human homes, and since they never do, housecats never catch them because there are no mice to catch. And since there are no mice to catch, the hilarious show that is Tom & Jerry would never exist! Do you see how that could ruin humanity?!"
"I never thought of it like that…" Eckels put his gun down. The forest was alive with noise. Birds and insects and flying reptiles soared overhead. Small mammals scurried across the ground. "How do we know which animal to help put to bed?"
"They're marked with red paint." Lesperance piped in. "Earlier today, I was sent back here with the Machine. I track them through their entire lives, keeping track of which ones sleep a full eight hours. Very few. How many catnaps they take in a week. Not often. Their reflexes and senses weakened by exhaustion, I follow them until they collapse and fall asleep on the spot. Then I blast them with red paintball."
"Shush, he's here…" Travis signaled them to stop. All the noise in the forest came to a stop, leaving them in silence.
A sound of thunder.
They felt the ground shake before it even came into view. The T-Rex moved through the forest gracefully, its legs muscular but surprisingly nimble. The bumpy skin was a dingy green, the color of rusted copper. It opened its mouth wide and yawned, blasting the group with its foul breath.
"This... This is unbelievable… We can't take down that thing…" Eckels trembled.
"Be quiet!" Travis hissed. "Lemon-lime, make sure you this is the right one."
"Yes, it's definitely him. He has the same tired droopy eyes." Lesperance said.
"There's the red paint!" Eckels choked. "I shouldn't have come…"
"Then go back to the Machine, and walk slowly." Travis instructed.
"Yeah, sure…." Eckels tried to lift his feet, but he was frozen to the spot. "I can't move…!" He forcefully moved his feet dangerously close to the edge of the Path.
"Eckels, not that way!" Travis shouted. The T-Rex lifted its head, gave a mighty roar, and charged. "It's seen us!" Travis fired his weapon. The plunger landed on the T-Rex's nose. The other men fired wildly, getting the dinosaur on the thighs and chest.
"Get out of the way! Timber!" Lesperance jumped back as the dinosaur tripped and crashed through the metal path. The dinosaur gave a groan and closed its eyes. Its large nostrils fluttered, filling the forest with snoring. Billings and Kramer collapsed, their knees buckling. Travis and Lesperance muttered and glared at the broken Path. Travis watched in horror from the corner of his eye as Eckels climbed back on the Path and scurried to the Time Machine. He had gone off the Path! Travis went to the Machine, opened a compartment and grabbed four bottles of water. He looked down at Eckels and gave a disapproving snort. Travis tossed the bottles of water to the others and drank his own.
"3, 2, 1…" Lesperance checked his watch and looked at the sky. A large leaf broke off from an even larger tree and landed on the sleeping T-Rex, covering it like a blanket. "Right on time. Not the exact place, but it'll work. Do you two want a trophy picture?"
Billings and Kramer looked at the dinosaur and its snaggletooth smile, and quickly shook their heads. Travis stomped back to the Time Machine and tossed Eckels out.
"Go out there alone! You can't come back with us." Travis snarled.
"Now wait a sec-." Lesperance grabbed Travis' arm.
"Stay out of this, Leopard-ants!" He shook his assistant's hand away. "Look at his shoes! They're covered in mud. He stepped off the Path, who knows what he's done to the future!"
"It can't be that bad, right? All he did was step in some dirt."
"We can only tell when we get back. Get out of here, Eckels. Go on, get!"
"I'll pay anything!" Eckels pleaded. "A hundred thousand dollars!"
"Go out there and take these." Travis gave him a glass of warm milk. "I will let you back on if you pour this down the beast's mouth. And get those plungers back too!" He kicked Eckels down the Path next to the dinosaur. The dino opened its mouth and yawned. Eckels gagged at the stench, and poured the milk down its throat. The T-Rex licked its chops and snored even louder than before. Eckels tugged on each plunger until it came off, terrified that the monster would awaken. He dropped them at Travis' feet and staggered back to the Machine.
"I swear Eckels, if anything is different…!" Travis threatened him. They all sat in the Time Machine, none of them speaking. When the Machine stopped they all shakily stepped out. It looked the same. Everything.
"How'd it go?" The man behind the desk asked them.
"It… It was fine… Okay, you're off the hook for now but if I notice something different-!" Travis stopped as he looked at the sign. The other men came to see what had gotten his attention so quickly, and their jaws dropped.
"What is it? What do you see?! Oh…" Eckels looked up at the sign.
TYME SEFARI INC.
SEFARIS TU ANY YEER EN THE PAST.
YU NAIM THE ANIMALL.
WEE TAEK YU THAIR.
YU HELLP ET TAEK A NAP.
Eckels fell into a chair behind him and lifted his mud covered boot. On the bottom was a beautiful butterfly. He plucked it off and it fell to the ground. It popped back up, blew a raspberry at Eckels, and flew out the door.
"No, not something like that! Not a simple butterfly!" Eckels pressed his hand to his head. He felt cold and his mouth trembled. "Hey, you! Are opossums allowed on the safari?!"
"Hmmm, let's see." The man behind the desk pulled out a small book. "No chickens, scaredy cats, mouse hearts… And no opossums. Sorry buddy."
"What?!" Eckels gasped. He didn't move, he just clenched his eyes shut and waited. He heard Travis give a loud breath and heard him shift his plunger gun. Travis raised the weapon.
A sound of thunder.