6 Quick Thinking

Chapter 6 QUICK THINKING Andrew lifted his head out of the quicksand. He was nose to toes—huge, clawed toes—with the Tyrannosaurus! He looked up past the enormous scaly legs. The dinosaur was holding something shiny in its little front claws. Thudd! thought Andrew. The Tyrannosaurus turned and trudged away. In a few seconds, Judy and Beeper popped to the surface for air. Judy wiped mud from her face. Beeper blew sand out of his nose. "The Tyrannosaurus has Thudd," Andrew whispered.

Andrew, Judy, and Beeper grabbed branches hanging over the edge of the quicksand and pulled themselves onto solid ground. "Uh-oh," said Andrew, looking at his bare feet. "The quicksand sucked off my slippers." "Me too," said Judy. "This is just great. We're barefoot and we've lost our poopy ferns." "I've got an idea how we can get Thudd back," said Andrew. "Run to the other side of the quicksand. Hurry!" As soon as they reached the far side, Andrew cupped his hands around his mouth and started yelling. "Come and get it, Tyrannosaurus!" "WHAT?" yelled Judy, clapping her hands over Andrew's mouth. Andrew pulled her hands away. "We've got to get the Tyrannosaurus to come back," he said. "When it tries to get us, it'll fall into the quicksand. Then it'll have to use its claws to get out, so it'll have to drop Thudd." "You've got a major case of nuts-o!" groaned Judy.

"Super idea!" said Beeper. "Hooeeey!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Hooeeey!" "Hey, Tyrannosaurus!" yelled Andrew. "Delicious kids here! Here, dino, dino, dino!" "Oh well," said Judy, rolling her eyes. "Hey, fatso!" she yelled. "Get your big, ugly tail over here!" The Tyrannosaurus stopped. It turned. RRROHHHURROHRR! it bellowed. The front of its body leaned forward. Its tail stuck out straight behind. It began racing toward them at an awful speed. Andrew was sweating with fear, but he waved his hands so the Tyrannosaurus would be sure to see him. As the Tyrannosaurus lunged toward them, one of its legs sank into the quicksand! The enormous creature teetered, twisted, and fell onto its back. It was so huge that its body stretched clear across the quicksand pond. The top half crashed to the ground right in front of Andrew.

"Run!" yelled Andrew to Judy and Beeper. "Head for the forest!" RRROHHHURROHRR! Andrew was so close that he got a stinky blast of Tyrannosaurus breath. It smelled like a garbage dump. The dinosaur's little arms were thrashing. It was still holding Thudd in its claws!

Andrew stayed out of range of the sharp hooks. But as they came by, Andrew swatted at Thudd. Thudd fell to the ground. meep… "Scared! Scared! Scared!" said Thudd. "It's okay Thudd," said Andrew, scooping Thudd up. He ran to the other side of the quicksand pond, picked up the DNA Detector where Judy had dropped it, and raced to catch up with the others. meep… "Hurry, Drewd!" yelped Thudd. "Tyrannosaurus get out soon!" "It's going to be one angry dinosaur when it does," said Andrew, running fast. He was almost out of breath when he heard a voice. "Hot doggies!" came a shout. It was Beeper. The ground got swampier as Andrew followed the voice into the forest. He sloshed through the muck in his bare feet. When he found Beeper and Judy they were waist-deep in a stream. Judy was washing

quicksand out of her hair. "Come on in!" said Beeper, slapping the water at Andrew. Andrew looked around. The trees were thick. It didn't look like the Tyrannosaurus could follow them here. Hmmmmm…, thought Andrew. It sure would feel good to get this quicksand off of me. SLUUUUURRRSHHHHHH… Andrew turned toward the slithery sound. Something as big as a giant tree trunk was sliding into the water—a tree trunk with dead- looking eyes….