CHAPTER 10

AT BIG POND

It took the Dinosaur Train about a half an hour to get to the Big Pond train station.

As soon as Kark got off the train, he caught some movement on his right. It was Laura Giganotosaurus waving at him to get his attention. "Senor Kark! Senor Kark!" she called to him.

"Yes?" Kark asked as he walked up to her.

"Before I forget, I wanted to give you this..." Laura said as she handed down a page torn from her sketch pad to him. "It's the copy of your drawing you asked for..."

Since Laura's sketch pad was just her size, and she was a big dino, it was as big as your average carry on bag; but for a ten foot tall weredragon, it was not all that big.

"Wow! This is BEAUTIFUL!" Kark commented as he admired the drawing. Everything in it was absolutely perfect, from the colour tone of his skin right down to the background shades. "Great job, Laura! Thank you very much..." He smiled at her.

Laura seemed to blush as she giggled. "You're quite welcome, Senor Kark... I do hope we get a chance to speak to each other again sometime soon..."

Kark smiled and nodded. "I'd like that..."

Mr. Conductor's cry of "ALL ABOARD!" in the background brought him out of his reverie.

"Gotta go! See you around, Laura... It's nice to have formerly met you..." he waved to her as he left to rejoin his friends.

"Goodbye, Senor Kark!" Laura called as she waved back.

As the train left, the whole gang headed down towards Big Pond. Kark showed them the drawing Laura made, and everyone was quite impressed by it. They all commented that Laura was really a quite talented artist.

A few minutes later, they all arrived on the shores of the lake known as Big Pond. As soon as they arrived, Mr. Pteranodon started to organize everything.

"Okay, team! We have a lot of fish to catch for dinner, so I'm going to need everybody's help. Kark, how good is your eyesight?"

"Pretty good..." Kark said.

"Okay... Can you be our spotter for a bit?"

"Sure... uhhh... What's a spotter supposed to do?"

"Simple... You just fly up to that cliff, keep an eye out for fish, and just point us the direction..."

Kark nodded. "Sounds simple enough... Okay..." He then took flight to take his place on the cliff.

"Well, since I'm a vegetarian, I'll go gather up some fine greens..." Jake said as he started to walk towards the nearby forest.

Mrs. Pteranodon squawked. "I'll help you..." Then she went to join Jake.

"I'm gonna go do my own brand of fishing..." Sharkie said as he stripped down to just his camouflage shorts and waded into the water.

"A whole bunch of fish straight ahead, guys!" Kark called down as he pointed.

"Thanks, Kark!" Mr. Pteranodon called our as he waved. "Okay, team! Let's get at it... The sooner we start, the sooner we'll be done..."

The fishing was great, thanks to Kark's keen eye and his brilliant job as a spotter. Since they already knew the concept of time, all Kark had to do was point and say: "Four o'clock, Don!" "Three o'clock, Shiny!" "Twelve o'clock straight ahead, Mr. Pteranodon!" and they instantly knew where to go.

Kark wondered if Mr and Mrs Pteranodon had a first name. He figured they must, since all of the Pteranodon kids went by their own first name; as well as other dino people he met during his stay in Dinosaur Land. He figured those who only went by "Mister" "Miss" or "Missus" preferred to be referred to in that way, like the Pteranodon parents. He thought if ever they'd want someone to know what their first names were, they'd surely let them know.

While he was on the cliff, he noticed that Tiny and Buddy were in a shallow area of Big Pond. Buddy was in the water up to his chest, and Tiny was flying around a little ways off shore. She would then let out a cry that was amazingly similar to that of the Dinosaur Train's whistle, and this would scare the fish towards where Buddy was standing, and he would snatch them up with his teeth. They were able to catch a few fish like this. Kark figured that Tiny wasn't as adept at catching fish like her siblings and father were, so she teams up with Buddy to catch their own fish like this. Ingenious! Kark thought to himself.

Jake and Mrs. Pteranodon soon returned with their arms full of greens. They both set it down in a pile next to the small mound of fish that were already caught. Mrs. Pteranodon then wanted to take over as spotter, thus freeing up Kark to help with the fishing in his own way.

He decided to catch some fish like he did the last time by honing a branch into a harpoon with the help of his sharp index talon, and then wading into the water to spear whatever fish came close to him. He was able to catch a few like this that he will later eat.

At one point, he noticed that Don had caught a particularly large fish. It was more than twice his size, and probably twice as heavy; but he was still able to keep it in his beak and carry it to shore. I guess collecting things is not all Don is good at! Kark thought to himself with some amusement.

While all this was going on, Jake had taken out his sketch pad again, sat down on the beach near the two piles of food, and busied himself drawing several scenes of everyone fishing.

"Hey, look!" Shiny cried at one point as she pointed from shore.

"Say... Isn't that Sharkie?" Don asked as he saw what his sister saw off shore.

"Why, yes it is, kids!" their father admitted.

"I can see his fin!" Shiny commented as she saw that he was swimming just under the surface with his dorsal fin sticking up out of the water, like an ordinary shark would.

"What's he doing?" Don asked in some confusion.

"I think I know..." Kark said as he joined them and observed the spectacle.

They all heard a splash as he suddenly dove under the water. He resurfaced moments later holding a flailing fish in each of his hands and one in his mouth. He held them up for all to see.

"Way to go, Sharkie! WOO HOOOO..." Don cried as he raised his winged arms in the air, quite impressed by what he saw.

"Show off!" Jake muttered as he rolled his eyes.

At one point, Mr. Pteranodon called a halt to the fishing when he saw that they had caught enough. Everyone then decided to have dinner right on the shore of Big Pond. Everyone cheered at the decision to have the improvised picnic.

Since Kark and Sharkie didn't like to eat their fish raw, they went and found a lava fissure nearby that was hot enough to cook the fish they caught. Though Sharkie's kind traditionally ate fish raw, he had gotten used to cooked food(like hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken wings, French fries and popcorn) since he became mascot for the San Jose Sharks.

They skewered the fish on sharp sticks, like shish kebabs, and would later eat them like that once they were cooked. By the time they came back to join the group with their cooked fish, the gang had already gone through half the mound of raw fish they caught, and Jake had already gone through half his pile of leafy greens.

There was pleasant conversation all around as the improvised picnic continued on. They lingered at Big Pond until the sun got low in the sky. That's when Mr Pteranodon let out his trill whistle to get everyone's attention and announce that they had to leave for home. All of the Pteranodon kids moaned as they had to break away from their improvised games in the shallow waters of Big Pond where Kark, Sharkie and Jake joined in.

"Don't I wish I could whistle like that..." Jake commented as they gathered up to head back to the train station, leaving whatever fish bones and uneaten fish left over to the scavengers.

They arrived at the train station just in time to catch the Dinosaur Train to head back to Pteranodon Terrace. Mrs. Pteranodon invited Kark, Sharkie and Jake there to see the place they called "home", seeing as there was still some time before the Dinosaur Train made its final run back to Troodon Town to then shut down for the night.