Yippee and Dino Series – Part 7

 A PET FOR A PET!

That night Mamma Giant and Papa Giant had a long discussion. “What should we do about Dino?, asked Mamma, worriedly.

“Don’t worry, we will find some solution”, said Papa.

“But you know Yippee does go to the school for very long hours and it is very natural for Dino to feel lonely and unhappy. In a matter of only few days she has become very attached to Yippee and follows him all around the house,” said Mamma

“We need to keep Dino occupied with something that she enjoys when Yippee is away at school”, she said.

“It is getting late”, said Papa. “Let us go to sleep. I am sure we will have a solution for this once we sleep over it. Good Night”, he said and went off to sleep promptly

It took Mamma longer to go to sleep. She was worried that Dino may end up in Yippee’s school yet again!

Next morning, Mamma woke up early than usual. She anyways had not been able to sleep well. However, instead of looking grumpy she was looking very chirpy and happy.

Lalalaaaa…, humming to herself , she was making breakfast for everyone.

Papa was a bit puzzled at this change of mood but was happy that everything was back to normal again.

And the breakfast that Mamma had prepared was seriously delicious. There were pancakes with yummy maple syrup. Apart from chicken burgers, this was Yippee and Dino’s other favourite breakfast.

When everyone had settled down at the table. Mamma stood up and in a very serious voice said, “I want to discuss something very important with the family today”.

“I have an idea but I want to understand from each one of you whether it works for you or not. Especially, I want Yippee you to tell me whether you think that it is the right thing for Dino”.

“Now everyone knows what happened yesterday”, Mamma said looking at Yippee and Dino.

Dino blushed a bright red and looked totally uncomfortable.

Yippee got a bit worried. Is Mamma still angry with Dino for what happened yesterday? He thought to himself.

But there was really no need for Yippee to get worried. What Mamma wanted to share was a plan to make sure that Dino does not feel the need to go to Yippee’s school again.

“I have a plan”, said Mamma

“And the plan is really very simple. Now the reason why Dino went to Yippee’s school was because she did not have company at home”, said Mamma

“So, what if we get her company?,” asked Mamma

“Another Dinosaur?”, asked Yippee excitedly almost spilling the bottle of maple syrup

“Well, no not exactly”, said Mamma a bit hastily

“The idea is that if we get a pet for Dino, she would have someone to spend her time with when Yippee is away at school. And when Yippee is back, they can all play together”, said Mamma.

Mamma Giant and Papa Giant discussing
Illustration by Gauri Ghosal

Papa looked at Mamma a bit puzzled. “So, you don’t mind another pet in the house?”, he asked her

“Why should I mind? I love having Dino here and if she can select a pet for herself. I think it would be nice”, said Mamma with a smile

Everyone turned and looked at Dino. Dino was a bit taken aback with the idea. She thought through in her mind. She is Yippee’s pet and now Mamma is saying that she (who is Yippee’s pet) can get a pet for herself! It sounded strange to her. She was not sure whether she could take care of a pet. After all she was still a baby herself!

She looked at Yippee hoping for some help on this one. Yippee of course, was completely for the idea. He felt that finally he would have loads of company at home.

Yippee asked Dino, “So what do you think?”

Dino looked at the excitement in Yippee’s eyes and knew that it was the right thing to do. After all, she was also a pet and how much looking after did Yippee have to do for her. Not much. And then Mamma pitched in big time and so did Papa. They would do the same for her pet too, she thought.

“Yes”, she said to Yippee. “Let us go to the pet store from where you got me and get a pet for me”, said Dino with a huge smile.

“Mamma, Papa Dino is in. When do we go to the store? Let us go right away”, said Yippee

Papa said, “Nice try son. But today is school day. We will have to wait till weekend to go to the pet store.

That week was the slowest week for both Yippee and Dino.

But finally it was weekend. They woke up excitedly and got ready before 9 in the morning that Saturday.

To be continued…

Yippee and Dino Series - Part 6

Dino meets Yippee's class

The teacher decided to take Yippee and Dino into another room. She called in another teacher to look after her class.

“Okay, Yippee, tell me what is going on?” she asked. Yippee looked at his Rosy Ma’am rather sheepishly. “Oh, Ma’am, Dino must have followed me to school”, he said

A surprised Rosy Ma'am
Illustration by Gauri Ghosal 

“But why?” she asked. “Oh she wants to come to the school too and when I told her that she can’t she must have thought of this naughty plan of following me to school”, said Yippee.

Dino, in the meanwhile was cowering behind Yippee looking every bit scared. She felt that Rosy Ma’am had a loud voice and that scared her.

“Hmm, so you are saying that you had nothing to do with bringing Dino to the school?”, she asked.

“Nothing at all, Ma’am, believe me”, said Yippee.

“Ma’am, Dino is a baby right now and she is the most gentle and friendly dinosaur that ever lived. She did not come with the intention of scaring or hurting anyone. It is just that she does not like to stay away from me”, said Yippee

Hearing this, Dino stepped from behind Yippee and said “Hello” to Rosy Ma’am. Her hello came across as a soft growl.

Rosy Ma’am looked at Dino closely and saw Dino’s gentle eyes. She realized that Dino was a perfectly harmless Dinosaur. 

“All the kids in the classroom are frightened because of Dino. Yippee, we would need to take Dino back and get them to understand that your pet is a Dinosaur but a friendly one”, said Rosy Ma’am

Yippee felt that that was a great idea. He would get a chance to show-off his awesome pet in front of the entire class.

“I have a plan”, Yippee said to Rosy Ma’am

Rosy Ma’am liked the plan. The three went back to the class.

By now the other teacher had managed to calm down the kids and she had got them busy drawing.

Rosy Ma’am asked Yippee and Dino to wait outside the class while she got the class ready for Dino.

She said to the class. Today we are going to do something new. We are going to bring our pet to the school and introduce him to the class.

Today is Yippee’s turn and he has got his pet Dinosaur along with him. Please don’t be scared. His dinosaur is just a chicken eating dinosaur and she is very sweet and gentle. She will not hurt anybody.

“So are you all ready to meet her”, she asked the class looked a bit stunned at this announcement.

 Dino meets Yippee's friends
Illustration by Gauri Ghosal

But at the same time they were a curious bunch and very soon they all asked for Dino.

Yippee and Dino walked into the class. There was an awe-struck silence in the class. The kids sat without moving as if they were playing statue!

Yippee introduced Dino to everyone. “Hi friends, meet my pet dinosaur, Dino. She is still a baby.  Dino waved shyly at the class.

Then Rosy ma’am asked Yippee to talk to the class about Dino.

Yippee talked about Dino’s hunger for chicken burgers, how she played hide and seek with him and how she follows him everywhere in the house.

“When I am taking a bath, Dino waits just outside the door”, he told the class

By this time the children were not feeling as scared of Dino as they had when they first saw her.

In fact, all the stuff they heard about Dino made them feel that Dino was a regular fun pet.

Yippee’s friend, Tippee, decided to walk up to Yippee and Dino and asked Yippee, “Can I touch her”, asked Tippee

“Of course, you can. Go ahead”, said Yippee smiling

Tippee offered his hand to Dino and Dino promptly shook his hands.

Tippee beamed with excitement. “Oh! This is so cool. Wait till I tell all my friends about it!” he said

At this moment, the Tiffin gong went off. Rosy Ma’am decided to call Yippee’s Mamma to take Dino back home.

When Mamma heard that Dino was actually in school there was mixed feelings of relief and anger.

Rosy Ma’am with the help of Yippee took Dino into the school waiting area. Yippee’s Mamma came and thanked Rosy Ma’am for all the help.

Mamma said to Dino, “Wait till we reach home!”

Dino looked at Mamma smiling and said,” So are there more chicken burgers at home?”

All that Mamma heard, of course, was just a soft growl.

To be continued...

Yippee and Dino Series - Part 5

Where is Yippee?

The school break-in
Illustration by Gauri Ghosal 

Meanwhile, at home, Mamma searched and called out for Dino . But there was no Dino to be seen. She searched under the bed, in the cupboard, on the upper bunk of the bunk bed, in the toilet, in the lawn and on the terrace. There was no trace of Dino.

Mamma called Papa at work and told him about the missing pet. “Yippee is going to be very upset, if we don’t find Dino”, she said to Papa. “Where could a tiny dinosaur go, just keep looking in the house, maybe she is playing hide and seek with you like she plays with Yippee”, said Papa

“But I have looked everywhere and I can’t find her. You have to come home and help, please”, Mamma said.

Very soon, both Papa and Mamma were looking for Dino. But there was really no trace of her anywhere. They were getting very worried.

In the school, Dino had figured out that she would have to peep into every single room one by one till she spotted Yippee.

The red door room that she saw first seemed like a good place to start, she thought.

She quietly walked up to the door and peeped in through a small crack in the door. There were many giant boys and girls in the class but she could not see her dear Yippee.

I should not lose heart so quickly, thought Dino. After all this the first class that I have checked. Let me look at some of the other classes as well.

Next she went to the yellow door but just as she was about to open it a little to peep in, the door opened and out strode a giant teacher. Lucky for Dino, there were some bushes handy close by and she quickly ducked behind them.

Once the teacher had left, Dino looked inside the room but again there was no sign of Yippee.

Dino realized that this class -  to -  class search was after all, not such a good idea. She must try and remember whatever Yippee had talked her about his class, maybe there would be a clue there.

Dino remembered one thing that Yippee had talked about rather proudly,“My class is right in front of this beautiful fountain. That makes my class the best”, he had said

Dino felt that with this clue, it would not be difficult to find Yippee’s class. And just as she turned a corner, right in front of her was the fountain!

Dino jumped with joy. She saw that there was no one around and quickly walked across the courtyard to the classroom. The door of this classroom for some reason was wide open.

 Dino slid to one side of the door and peered in with very hopeful eyes. And then she saw Yippee , he was sitting in the last row. Dino could not control her excitement and yelled out to Yippee. “Hey Yippee, see I am in your school! Tell your teacher that I only eat chicken. I want to sit in the seat next to you”, she said

Yippee, could not believe what he saw. There was Dino standing at the door of his classroom. By this time , the teacher and the other giant boys and girls also realized that there was some one at the door. To many it looked like a dinosaur. But they knew that dinosuars could not just walk into their school. But the kids closer by could very well see that it was a dinosaur and in fright and panic they started running away screaming. “Oh my God!, I don’t believe it but it is a dinosaur, said one kid running and hiding behind the teacher. The other kids too panicked and many hide under their desks!

By this time, Yippee had reached Dino. He quickly took hold of her hand and led her out of the classroom. “What are you doing here?”, he asked Dino surprised. “How did you get here ?” Did no one stop you”?

Dino was feeling rather proud of herself. After all she had done something difficult. But she was puzzled, why was Yippee sounding angry, shouldn’t he be happy to see her and be proud of her?

In the meantime, the teacher looking brave rather than feeling brave, walked upto Yippee and asked for an explanation. "What is going on Yippee?" she asked

To be continued...

Yippee and Dino Series -Part 4

Dino has a naughty plan !

It was way past Dino’s bedtime but she just could not sleep. She wanted to go to school with Yippee. The question really was how could she manage that.

Suddenly, Dino smiled and her eyes had a very naughty glean. She had figured out what to do.

It was morning in Giant Land and as usual  Mamma woke up Yippee for school. 

Morning in Giant Land
Illustration by Gauri Ghosal 

Yippee played for a while with Dino and then got ready to go to school. Yippee felt sad that he would have to leave Dino behind. But he felt that Dino was taking it pretty well. She seemed to be quite cheerful unlike most other days when she would  get really grumpy about Yippee going to school. Maybe she was getting used to the school idea, thought Yippee.

Finally, it was time for Yippee to go to school. “Bye ”, said Yippee as he waved goodbye to Mamma but he could not find Dino.

Yippee leaving for school
Illustration by Gauri Ghosal

Now was the time to start work on my go- to -school plan, thought  Dino, looking at Yippee leaving from the upstairs window.

She  went back to the room and opened the cupboard. In the cupboard she found a Halloween costume of a dog. She quickly wore it and then slipped out quietly from the back door.

She was in a matter of minutes on the same road that Yippee took for school and soon enough she could see Yippee walking ahead of her. She followed at a distance making sure that Yippee did not see her.

Yippee’s school was a mere ten minutes walk from home and very soon he reached the school and went in.

However, when Dino reached the school gate , she saw a closed gate, something that she had not planned for. "How am I going to get in?",she  said to herself.

She circled the school building and saw that the wall at one end was not as tall. She decided to try and climb it . But it was a tough. The dog costume did not give her much scope to do do. She decided to take the costume out and then try and climb.

With some effort she managed to climb over the wall. Wow! I am inside Yipee’s school, isn’t that so cool, she thought

But the next question in her mind was how to find Yippee.

Yippee and Dino Series - Part 3

Dino learns about school

Dino was nowhere to be seen. Yippee called out again. But again no sign of Dino.

Yippee got really worried but suddenly he heard a giggle from behind the bushes. He quickly looked there and saw Dino crouching and hiding there. “Oh! you found me, now it is your turn to hide”, said Dino

Yippee could not believe what was happening. Not only did Dino talk but she also loved to play and she actually knew how to play hide and seek! Yippee could not wait to show off his new pet to his friends. Nobody he knew had a pet that could talk and play like this! Of course, Tippee , his school friend, had a Cockatoo bird which talks but then she only repeated words that she heard at home. But Dino talked like other Giants that Yippee knew.

Dino again asked Yippee to hide. But it was not easy for a Giant to hide! Yippee decided to hide inside the house rather than in the garden. He quickly ran into the house and hid behind one of the long door curtains in the sitting area. Yippee said to himself, Dino won’t be able to find me here.

But as soon as he said that  Dino had already found him. Yippee in a surprised voice asked Dino, “How did you find me so quickly”. "Simple", said Dino giggling all the time, “I saw where you were going”

“But that is not fair, you are not supposed to see where I am hiding. What is the fun of playing hide and seek if you see where I am hiding”, said Yippee

Dino, looked a bit hurt, “But that is the way that I played hide and seek with my brothers”, she said.

“Oh! ok. but we play it differently”, said Yippee. “I will teach you. Please don’t worry about that. Ok?”

Dino looked up at Yippee and smiled happily. “You are nice Yippee”, she said

At that very moment, Mamma called out for breakfast, “Come on Yippee and Dino, breakfast is ready for you”

Papa  had put a special chair for Dino. Dino quickly settled in it and started gobbling up the burgers on her plate. “Oh, they are so delicious” , she said.

Illustration by Gauri Ghosal

Yippee could not believe his eyes. That day Dino ate ten burgers! A bit much for a tiny dinosaur like Dino, he thought.

Illustration by Gauri Ghosal

 The two day holiday for Yippee was fast over and on Monday morning he had to leave for school.

 The night before, Yippee tried to explain to Dino that he would have to be out of the house the next day. “We kids have to go to school, you know." said Yippee.

“I will also come with you", said Dino. Yippee started laughing and said,"Pets are not allowed in the school. My teacher won’t allow you in.”

Dino felt very sad. "But what will I do while you are away. Who will I play with? Please don’t go to this place called school which does not allow pets. Lets instead go to a place that allows pets. Ya , lets do that". said Dino, excited that she had figured out a solution.

Yippee tried to explain to Dino, why school was not an optional place. All kids in Giant Land had to go the school.

"But why?", asked Dino.

Yippee thought for a while. He had never really thought about why he had to go the school. One day Mamma and Papa had taken him to the school and then from that day he had been going.

Suddenly, there was a smile on his face. "I know why we go the school. We learn a lot of new and interesting things in school. We make new friends and we also play there".

"Then I should also be allowed to go to the school. I also want to do all those things that you just said", said Dino

"But Dino you can’t ", said Yippee sadly.

That night both Yippee and Dino could not sleep. Yippee had got so attached to Dino in the two days that she had been with him that the idea of leaving her to even go to school made him feel sad.

Dino did not like the idea of this thing called a school which seemed such a fun place but did not allow Dino.

"What am I going to do when Yippee is in school?", Dino wondered

Yippee and Dino Series- Part 2

Dino  can talk !

Yippee was extremely impatient to reach home now. Dino kept peering out of the open container and there was a look of complete adoration in her eyes when she looked up at Yippee.

Illustration by Gauri Ghosal

As soon as they reached home, Yippee took hold of the container and rushed into his room.

“Mamma, where will Dino sleep? We need to get her something soft and comfortable. Oh! why did we not think about it in the pet store,we could have bought something then", said Yippee a little upset.

Illustration by Gauri Ghosal

Mamma looked at Yippee very fondly and said in her calm voice, “Yippee, don’t worry about that. I was thinking of bringing in your baby cot back into the room, it would make a very comfortable bed for Dino.What do you think?”

"Oh! that is a great idea Mamma”, said Yippee and hugged her tightly.

That night, Dino slept in her very own baby cot which Yippee had pushed close to his own bed just in case Dino felt scared in her first day out of the container.

Next two days were holidays for Yippee. Yippee was very happy about that. Now, he did not need to leave Dino alone.

Yippee got up earlier than most days and he went to check on Dino. Dino was still sleeping and she looked really cute all cuddled up and asleep.

Yippee decided to wait for Dino to wake up but five minutes went by and Dino was still fast asleep. Yippee could no longer control himself. He crept close to Dino and gently touched her forehead. The touch woke up Dino. She looked up with half sleepy eyes at Yippee and said “Hi Yippee”

Yippee was completely taken aback, he had not expected Dino to talk! But here was Dino totally talking to him.

He rushed out screaming excitedly, "Mamma Papa, guess what?"

Mamma and Papa rushed fearing the worst. But were relieved to see a huge smile on Yippee’s face. "Mamma,Papa Dino actually talks!" he told them excitedly

Mamma and Papa exchanged puzzled looks. “Oh !, does she now?” asked Mamma. “Come look for yourself”, said Yippee

They went in to check and sure enough when Dino saw them entering , she did make some growling  kind of noise. “Oh, she is saying Hi Mamma! Hi Papa!” said Yippee

But what Papa and Mamma could hear was just a soft growling kind of sound . But just to be polite they both responded with a Hi! 

“So Dino, what do you want for breakfast?”, asked Mamma.

And when Dino growled again, Mamma asked Yippee’s help to translate.

 “Whatever, Yippee has I will also have. But I must tell you something, I simply love chicken”, said Dino to Yippee

“Oh! Mamma, she loves chicken!”, said Yippee

"Oh , so does Yippee", said Mamma

“I will make chicken burgers for everybody”, said Mamma and she left for the kitchen. Papa decided to help Mamma with the breakfast.

Yippee gently took out Dino from the cot and put her on the floor. “So do you want to explore your new house?”, he asked Dino

But before he could complete his sentence, Dino was already scurrying around every where. She checked out Yippee’s toy train which was laid out on the floor. Then she went under Yippee’s bed and came out with a red ball the same size as herself. Yippee saw the ball and said, “Oh! so that is where the ball was...great we found it.”

Then Dino just ran out of Yippee’s room and went through the open door into the garden. Yippee rushed after her, scared that he might lose her in the garden.

When Yippee reached outside, he could not find Dino.” Oh Dino! where are you?” he asked