I added some dialog to the previous chapter referencing the other Jurassic Park characters.

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The fin snooted creature squeezed betwen the harmless wires, jumping out at us.

Covered in shaggy green hair, it stood at the height of an adult golden retriever, and rather resembled a skinny version of myself. With a longer muzzle and a weird red-orange nasal crest, of course.

I waved and wagged my tail at the stranger. "Hi! I'm Albert! You want to be friends?"

The Proceratosaurus only snarled and hissed at me.

"Albert, I don't think it's going to start singing `My Yellow Blankie,'" Cassie whispered.

I stared. "You watch that show too?"

"We are not talking about Barney and Friends right now!" She hopped on my back. "Run!"

Startled, I didn't immediately respond, so she kicked my sides with her galoshes. "Go go go!"

I broke into a mad dash. The Proceratosaurus nipped at my tail. A second and third Proceratosaurus popped out of the fence, joining in the pursuit.

Although canine sized, they had very sharp looking teeth, and everybody knows that a pack of wild dogs can really mess a person up. They might even take down a Velociraptor.

We passed a large informative plaque describing our foes, but didn't have time to read it, even if it had been light enough for us to make out the letters.

That particular section had an unfortunate architectural feature: An underground tunnel connecting it to a fenced in area on my left side. Three more Proceratosauruses (Proceratosaurii?) popped out from that inactive fence, blocking our passage.

"Shit," Cassie said.

"Don't say bad words."

"Suck it, Dinosaur Mom! We're dead meat!"

I sighed and shook my head. The Proceratosauruses closed in.

Cassie took a deep breath. "We're not going down without a fight. Sic `em, Albert!"

"What!" I cried. "Like, kill them?"

"Yes! It's either them or us!"

"I understand it's self defense, but this is a type of zoo. If a tiger got out of the San Diego zoo, would you kill it?"

"If it were trying to eat me, yes! Which is a better newspaper headline, `Little girl kills tiger,' or `Tiger mauls small child to death?'"

I frowned. "Hmm."

A Proceratosaurus lunged for me, snapping its pointy teeth. I had no more time to think.

A fallen tree branch lay on the pavement near my feet. I picked it up, twirling it in my claws.

"What...are you doing?"

"Something I saw people do on TV."

Cassie sounded skeptical. "With a leafy stick."

"Um...cowabunga?"

"Oh no," she groaned.

I first received my Ninja Turtles dolls with no explanation or packaging. I don't know where they got them from. They seemed a bit battered. One turtle lacked a headband, another didn't have any weapons. Their rat sensei needed touch up paint. I think a baby chewed on Raphael.

Still, I loved them, my favorite being headband lacking Donatello, whom I mistakenly named Dinosaur Man because of the letter on the belt buckle. I thought he had a wizard staff on his back.

I asked Hammond to explain the toy, especially the wonderful Dinosaur Man wizard.

Hammond was tickled by my ignorance and creative imagining. After making me draw a picture of Dinosaur Man casting a spell to multiply peanut butter sandwiches, and what I thought the other dolls did, he explained the true concept behind the toys.

"Admittedly, my grandchildren know more about these things than I do, but I'm familiar enough to tell you that they're all martial artists."

I held up a little plastic sword. "So this is for woodcarving? That's awesome!"

Hammond snickered. "I meant Kung Fu, like Bruce Lee."

He rubbed his face, giving me the same kind of look he did when debating whether to give me a bag of Cheetos. "I...have some programs could explain a few things, but I have to check something before showing them to you."

While I looked in a dictionary for the strange terms, Hammond consulted with Mr. Wu about the Ninja Turtles. I could hear the conversation through the ventilation system.

"I don't think a dinosaur should know about karate," said Wu. "They're dangerous enough as it is."

"Yes..." Hammond cleared his throat. "But I know several half wits who imagine themselves martial artists after watching a program, only to get beaten up...Speaking of which, I don't think it such a terrible idea for Albert to know a few self defense moves if we decide to socialize her again. She...didn't fare so well last time."

"True, but I'm worried about her escaping. I've seen a few Kung Fu movies where the guy fights everybody while wearing handcuffs, or he breaks out of jail, or beats up a bunch of policemen."

"We don't use handcuffs on her anyway. Nobody's afraid of those short arms." I stared self-consciously at my upper claws. "It's mostly electrified zookeeper tools and darts."

Wu made a disagreeing `Ehhh' noise. "I just don't think it's a great idea."

"Hmm...And what about the Ninja Turtles?"

Wu laughed. "That's crap. Go ahead and show her. Nobody can learn karate from a cartoon."

I'm toilet trained (mostly), but when I first saw the program on my TV, I got so excited that I peed on the floor. After the show, I pretended to fight ninjas and robots with a broom. For awhile, I even had a pet rat, which I named Master Splinter, but one day I got hungry and ate it.

They only showed me a total of eight episodes, plus the live action movie. I guess their TV station used VHS tapes and they hadn't been able to acquire any more. I'd end up seeing ones I already watched, and H. .

A little later, I got exposed to real Kung Fu movies. I guess they screened them all to make sure the characters didn't do any jail breaking. Hammond couldn't explain why people would want to carry water in cone shaped buckets, but I guess that's what serious martial artists do.

Although I found nunchucks pretty cool, I found it most interesting when people used canes and sticks against their enemy. I imitated what I saw, striking my fake tree and tire swing with a broom.

So...back to the unfriendly Proceratosauruses ganging up on us in the rain...

"You're seriously going to Ninja Turtle them to death?" Cassie scoffed.

"It's called Kung Fu."

I twirled the stick like a steering wheel on a pirate ship, which drove a few of the creatures back, though more from the spectacle than anything else. I got stubby arms.

I jabbed, bopped one over the head, swung the stick around so they all got a faceful of leaves. A couple of the dinosaurs fell to the pavement, apparently unconscious.

Did I mention leaves? The branch was very leafy. Worse than using a broom. Those little side branches - not very convenient either.

I gave one Proceratosaurus a very un-karate-like baseball swing, and the stick snapped apart. The creatures, noting how I'd become disarmed, shook off their bewildered hesitancy and growled at me.

Two more Proceratosaurus wiggled through the fence, into the open.

"Bite them!" Cassie cried.

"Bite? They're not even cooked! I'll get sick!" Yes, I ate Master Splinter, but, well, I got the poopies afterwards.

"Fine! Disembowel them!"

"Okay, but I'm not cleaning up."

Cassie clutched my neck tightly.

"You're not making this disemboweling thing very easy, kid."

"You want me to climb off and get killed?"

A Proceratosaurus slunk behind my back. Cassie screamed as it snapped at her hand. Just hearing that made me see red.

Especially after the one next to it made off with her dolly, growling and shaking the stuffing out of it.

Cassie's grip tightened around my shoulders. "Suzie! No!"

With the girl on my back, I sprang into the air with a shriek, deadly toe claws extended.

I didn't quite hit the intestines. Instead, I kinda...gouged my foe in the face. Don't want to go into icky graphic detail, but Ms. Proceratosaurus would probably have to wear an eyepatch like Long John Silver after that.

My victim, obviously unhappy, tried to bite me, but I had already jumped over one of its companions, so it took a bite out of them instead. The two got in a nasty fight with each other.

In the meantime, Cassie distracted a couple Proceratosauruses with a laser pointer. It seemed, like cats, they didn't understand the `magic light.'

I slipped on a piece of rebar, bowling over another Proceratosaurus. Cassie must have lost her grip along the way, for she dropped her laser toy and ended up riding on the enemy's back instead.

Um, have you ever tried sitting on a dog? They don't appreciate the weight too much. The Proceratosaurus slipped out from under her, turned and snapped its teeth.

Cassie shrieked as its teeth sunk into her forearm.

"Cassie!"

I lunged forward, jaws clamping down on her attacker.

I yanked back, serrated teeth removing all sorts of uncooked dinosaur parts out in a shower of blood. "Ugh! I think I'm going to be sick!"

Cassie wrested her arm free. I quickly shoved her away from the creature and snatched up the rebar.

They gathered around us in a circle, each maintaining a careful distance, like they do in a Kung Fu movie.

In a fashion similar to a Kung Fu guy, I tossed the rebar from claw to claw, brought it up like part of a nunchuck. I balled my other claw into a fist.

I beckoned with my free claw, the Chinese way of saying `Come here, doggie.'

Vroom! Some pedal to the metal action relatively close by. I and the group of Proceratosaurus turned our heads at the sound.

"Dad?" Cassie cried.

I shivered as the T-Rex roared, its vocal volume blasting louder than a semi horn, if the semi were a foot away. A couple of our foes retreated. Others stood frozen.

Boom boom boom.

A puddle of water rippled like it had been struck by earthquakes.

Boom boom boom. Big heavy feet pounding on pavement.

"Please keep chasing the car," I whispered. "Please keep chasing the car."

The vrooming got fainter.

And fainter.

Boom boom boom!

Lightning flashed. A massive scaly head appeared at the far end of the road, back at the fork.

It sniffed.

Thoom thoom thoom! The rest of its huge body made an appearance.

More Proceratosauruses cleared out, fleeing further down the road, wiggling back through the fencing.

Cassie whimpered. I dropped the rebar and peed.

When lightning flashed again, the monster spotted us.

I crossed myself, backing away.

It stomped closer.

And closer.

The T-Rex roared.