Swimming Dinosaurs

Marina loved the water more than anything in the whole wide world.

While other dinosaurs spent their days stomping through dusty valleys and crunching on leaves in the hot sun, Marina the Spinosaurus would wade into the cool, shimmering river and let out the happiest sigh you ever heard.

"Ahhhhhhhh."

The water came up to her big, strong legs, and the sail on her back — tall and magnificent, like a colorful fan — would catch the breeze coming off the river. She'd dip her long snout under the surface and — SNAP — catch a gleaming silver fish for lunch.

"Delicious," Marina would say, water dripping from her chin. "Absolutely, wonderfully delicious."

Now, Marina had three good friends who lived nearby.

There was Brutus, a Triceratops with three proud horns and a frill that he polished every morning against a smooth rock. There was Della, an Ankylosaurus covered in bumpy armor from head to tail, who thought she was basically a walking fortress. And there was Chester, a tall Parasaurolophus with a long curved crest on his head that made a sound like a trombone when he tooted it.

They were wonderful friends. They ate together, they explored together, and they laughed together — especially when Chester accidentally tooted his crest during a sneeze.

BWAAAAMP!

"Excuse me," Chester would say, turning pink under his scales.

But there was one thing Marina's friends did not understand about her.

The water thing.

"Marina, come stomp around the Fern Meadow with us!" Brutus called one bright morning. "The ferns are perfect for trampling today!"

"Maybe later!" Marina called back, already ankle-deep in the river. "The water is SO nice right now. You should come in!"

Brutus looked at the river. He looked at his big, sturdy feet. He shrugged. "Water's fine, I guess. But ferns don't splash in your eyes."

"Come on, Marina!" Della said, her armored tail swishing. "We're going to find the biggest boulder on Rockpile Hill and I'm going to sit on it."

"That sounds fun," Marina said. "But have you ever just... floated? Just let the river hold you up? It's like the world is giving you a hug."

Della blinked. "I have armor, Marina. I don't need hugs from a river."

Chester leaned down and took a small sip from the river's edge. "Good water," he said politely. "Very wet. But I don't see what the big deal is."

Marina watched her three friends tromp away toward Fern Meadow, their tails swinging, their big feet thudding. She sank a little deeper into the river and blew bubbles with her nose.

Bloop, bloop, bloop.

"That's okay," she whispered. "They'll see someday."

Someday came sooner than anyone expected.

It started with the heat.

Not regular heat. Not "oh, it's a warm day" heat. This was the kind of heat that made the air wobble and shimmer. The kind of heat that made rocks too hot to touch. The sun blazed and blazed and would not stop blazing.

The Fern Meadow? The ferns curled up like sad little scrolls.

Rockpile Hill? The boulders were so hot that Della sat on one and jumped right back up. "OW! My bottom!"

Even Chester's trombone-crest made a wheezy, tired sound instead of its usual proud BWAAAMP. More like... bweeee.

"I can't take it," Brutus groaned, lying flat on the ground with his tongue hanging out. "Everything is terrible. The ferns are crunchy. The shade isn't shady enough. I think my horns are melting."

"Your horns aren't melting," Della said. Then she touched one of her own. "Actually... maybe don't let me check."

They lay there — three miserable, overheated dinosaurs in a pile — when they heard a sound.

Splash! Splish! Splash!

And then a voice, bright and cheerful:

"Hey, everybody!"

Marina came trotting over from the river, water still streaming off her sail, cool droplets flying everywhere. She looked comfortable. She looked refreshed. She looked like she was having the best day of her entire life.

"How are you all doing?" she asked.

Three pairs of eyes stared at her.

"Marina," Brutus said slowly. "You look... not terrible."

"I feel wonderful!" Marina said. "The river is amazing today. Cool and deep and full of fish. I found a little waterfall too — it's like a shower! Oh, and there's a sandy spot where you can just lie down and let the water rush over you and it feels like—"

"TAKE US THERE," all three said at once.

Marina grinned the biggest Spinosaurus grin. "Follow me."

The walk to the river felt like it took forever in the boiling heat, but when they finally reached the bank and saw the cool blue-green water sparkling in the sun, all three dinosaurs stopped and stared.

"Okay," Chester said quietly. "That does look pretty great."

"Just try it," Marina said. "One step at a time."

Brutus went first. He put one big foot in. Then the other. The water rose up around his sturdy legs, and his eyes went wide.

"Oh," he said.

"Oh?" Marina asked.

"OH," he said again, louder, wading in deeper. "Oh, this is... this is MAGNIFICENT. Why did nobody TELL me about this?"

"I did tell you," Marina said, laughing. "Like, a hundred times."

"Well, you should have told me a hundred and ONE times!"

Della went next, stepping carefully, her heavy armor pulling her low in the water until she was almost completely submerged, only her eyes and nostrils poking above the surface like a bumpy, happy little island.

"The river IS giving me a hug," she murmured. "Marina. The river is hugging me and I love it."

Chester was last. He waded in up to his chest, stretched his long neck out, and let out the most glorious trombone blast his crest had ever made:

BWAAAAAAAAAMP!

It echoed off the canyon walls and came back to them three times.

"THAT'S the sound I've been trying to make my whole life!" Chester cried. "The water fixed me! I'm a water dinosaur now!"

Marina paddled over to her friends, her great sail cutting through the water like a boat. They were all together in the river — splashing, floating, laughing. Brutus discovered he could blow bubbles with his nose just like Marina. Della found that if she tucked her legs in, she could spin in slow circles like a very heavily armored lily pad. Chester kept tooting his crest and listening to the echoes, giggling every time.

Marina floated on her back and looked up at the sky, and her heart felt so full it could burst.

"Hey, Marina?" Brutus said, drifting beside her.

"Yeah?"

"I think I get it now. About the water."

"Me too," said Della, spinning past them.

"Me three," said Chester, blasting another happy BWAAAMP!

Marina smiled. "Want to see the waterfall?"

"YES!" they all shouted.

And off they went — four dinosaurs swimming, splashing, and laughing their way down the river, the hot sun above them not mattering one bit, because they had found the coolest, most wonderful place in the whole prehistoric world.

Together.

From that day on, things were a little different. Brutus still loved his Fern Meadow. Della still loved her boulders. Chester still loved making trombone sounds on hilltops. But every afternoon, no matter what, all four friends met at the river.

And if you listened very carefully, you could hear them:

Splash, splash, splash.

BWAAAMP!

Bloop, bloop, bloop.

And the happiest sigh you ever heard:

"Ahhhhhhhh."