5 WATCH YOUR TAIL, MARY ANNING

WATCH YOUR TAIL MARY, ANNING It was cold outside. The two girls squished into Bean's tiny playhouse. "How long do we have to stay out here?" asked Ivy. "I don't know. He said until dinner, but I don't think he meant it." Bean sighed. She knew he meant it. "Is your mom home?" "Not yet, I don't think." "Bummer." "He'll let us in if it starts raining, won't he?" "Yeah, but I don't think it's going to rain," said Bean, peering out the bitty window at the sky. "Mary Anning used to go out hunting for fossils in storms. She didn't mind" said,

Ivy. "She built her own wooden tower next to the cliff where she saw the skeleton, and she lay down on it and chipped the ichthyosaur out of the cliff even though the tower was shaking and the rain was pouring down on her." "Why didn't she just wait until it stopped raining?" asked Bean. "She was afraid that the bones would get washed away in the storm," explained Ivy. "Wow." Bean pictured herself lying bravely on top of a shaking wooden tower with rain falling in her eyes. "It took her a year to get the whole body out," Ivy added. "Chip, chip, chip, a tiny bit at a time." "A year!" yelped Bean. "Didn't she get bored out of her mind?"

"No," said Ivy. "It takes a lot of patience to dig up fossils." She sat up and peered out the other bitty window of the playhouse. "Dinosaurs lived all over, you know." "I know." "There were dinosaurs around here, too. Not ichthyosaurs, but other kinds." "Maybe just little ones," said Bean. "Maybe just little ones," said Ivy. "But still dinosaurs",. "I've always liked those little ones with the deadly claws," said Bean. "Mary Anning found fossils right on the

top of the ground, but sometimes they're buried deep in the dirt. We might have to dig for a long time before we find one." "That's okay. We're patient," said Bean. She was beginning to get it. "Where do you keep your shovels?" said Ivy. Bean loved to dig. Her shovel flashed, and dirt flew through the air. Soon, there was a nice, wide hole next to the trampoline. Ivy knelt beside it and ran her fingers through the dirt.

"We have to inspect every bit of it," Ivy said. "Even slivers of bone are important to paleontologists." "What's that?" "That's us," said Ivy. "The people who dig up dinosaurs are called paleontologists." "Cool." Bean felt cheerful. She loved the crunch of her shovel as it went into the earth. She loved hurling the dirt behind her without looking. Whee! "Hey, watch out! You got dirt in my hair!" cried Ivy. "We're paleontologists! We can't be afraid of a little dirt!" yelled Bean. The hole was almost 2 feet deep, and the dirt was getting darker and wetter. She flung a big hunk of it over her shoulder. "Ouch!" Something bounced off of Ivy's head and landed next to her knee. She picked it up, brushing away the mud that

was stuck to it. What was it? It was about as long as her hand. It was narrow at one end and flared out at the other. It was grayish brown. It was a bone. "Bean!" Ivy gasped. "Lookit! I got one." Bean's shovel crashed to the ground, and she rushed to Ivy's side. Ivy handed her the gray brown bone. Bean stared at it and then gave a long whistle. "Watch your tail, Mary Anning!" she said. "Here we come."