Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 The man turned and waved. "Hi. You must be Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. I'm Scoop Raker. I work with Jud and his friend Dean. They should be here any minute." Scoop raised the hood of his car, and more steam billowed out. He took a jug of water from the front seat, then unscrewed the radiator cap. Suddenly he yelled and stuck his finger in his mouth.

"You'd think I'd learn by now," Scoop said, shaking his head. He pulled a Band-Aid from his pocket, removed the covering, and wrapped the green Band-Aid around his finger. Just then a long flatbed truck pulled up alongside Scoop's car. A brown tarp covered the truck bed, concealing something big and lumpy. The whole thing was tied down with ropes. The driver's door opened and a tall, lanky guy hopped to the ground. He was wearing jeans, a short-sleeve shirt, and a cowboy hat. "Howdy," the man said, beaming at Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. "Hi, Jud!" they all said at once. A man stepped out of the passenger's side of the truck. He was short and wiry and had black hair

tied in a ponytail. He wore work boots, baggy shorts, and a flannel shirt with the sleeves ripped off. "Guys, I'd like you to meet my roommate and best friend, Dean Whitefeather," Jud said. "Dean, this is Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose." Dean walked around the truck toward the kids. He had a friendly smile and dark eyes. His shirt pocket was filled with pens. A ring of keys on his belt jangled when he walked. The kids shook hands with Dean. Then Jud and Dean made a fuss over Pal, who gave them both big, wet kisses. "Well, what say we get busy?" Dean said, glancing at the sky. "Rain by midnight, I'll bet." He started untying the ropes. Scoop climbed back into his car. "I passed the hotel on the way in," he said. "I'll go check on our room." He drove away, with only a little steam escaping from under the hood. "Can we help?" Ruth Rose asked. Dean smiled at her. "My three favorite words," he said. "You guys can coil these ropes as we untie them," Jud said. "Just lay 'em on the ground."

Josh told Pal to stay, and the kids pitched in. After a few minutes, the ropes had all been removed. Dean and Jud yanked the tarp to the ground. When Dink saw what had made all those lumps, he jumped back. He was staring right at the head of a Tyrannosaurus rex! "Meet Tyrone the Tyrannosaurus," laughed Jud. "He looks even better when he's not in pieces." Dink gulped. "Where did you get it?" he asked. "We bought him," Jud said. Josh grinned. "From a dinosaur store?" he joked. "No, from the man who built Tyrone," Dean said. "He planned to start a dinosaur theme park, but he lost interest. He put an ad in the paper, and we saw it and bought Tyrone and the truck." "Um, why do you need a dinosaur?" Ruth Rose asked.

"To raise money," Jud said. "Dean and I want to teach kids about the dinosaurs that used to live in Montana. We've decided to build a little museum on a piece of land behind the dude ranch." "And Tyrone will be the star attraction," Dean added. "When we first saw Tyrone, he was in the guy's barn all in pieces like you see him now. I developed a computer program to make him move and talk. We make money by taking him around the country and collecting donations." "Is Scoop a teacher, too?" asked Dink. "No, we met Scoop in Wyoming. He was looking for work, so we hired him," Jud said. "He's in charge of hotel rooms, getting permission for us to set up outside schools, making the flyers, stuff like that. Scoop wants to work at the museum once it's built." Dean climbed up onto the truck bed. "Let's put this guy back together, Jud," he said.

"How do you put him together?" Dink asked. "Easy, like building a model with an Erector set," Dean said. He pointed to a box of large nuts, bolts, and cables on the truck bed. "What's Tyrone made of?" Ruth Rose asked. "Is he heavy?" "Not really," Jud said. He took the Tyrannosaurus's tail from Dean and laid it gently on the ground. "Tyrone's mostly fiberglass and rubber. His bones are aluminum. The teeth, toenails, and eyes are plastic." The kids gently touched one of the six-inchlong teeth. "It looks so real!" Josh said. "Careful, some of those edges are sharp," Dean said. He grinned and wiggled a finger that was wrapped in a green Band-Aid. They all looked over when Scoop's red car zoomed up. Scoop parked the car and climbed out with a stack of papers in his hand. "How'd you kids like to help out?" he asked. "Can you take these flyers around town?" Scoop handed the flyers to Ruth Rose. She looked at the top one. Beneath a picture of a Tyrannosaurus were the words: