Oogo was a small cave boy. He was seven summers old. He had long tangled dark brown hair and hazel green eyes. He wore a tiger skin and walked barefoot everywhere he went.
Oogo lived with his father and mother in a large cave up on the side of a big mountain. Four other people lived in the cave with them. Oogo was the only child. Everyone helped find food and fight the big animals that came to eat them. They never let Oogo help. Everyone thought that he was too young.
One sunny afternoon, Oogo sat on the ledge outside his cave and waited for his father. Oogo's father and the other two men had left early that morning to go hunting. They had taken their spears and knives with them.
Oogo's mother and the other two women were inside the cave painting pictures on the walls. They'd sent him outside to play. He was in the way.
Oogo didn't care. Instead of being upset he sat on the ledge making spearheads for his father, and dreamed of the day he could go hunting with the men. He watched for his father as he worked.
Oogo had just chipped out three good spearheads. As he set the last one down in the dirt next to him, he looked up and saw his father and the other men walking over a far hill.
Oogo ran inside the cave to tell his mother and the other women. Everyone hurried out to the ledge and cheered as the hunting party drew closer.
Oogo suddenly felt the earth shake underneath his feet. He slipped and tumbled off the ledge. He rolled down the mountain a few feet before grabbing onto some brush to stop himself. That's when he heard his mother scream, and he looked up at the cave.
A huge dinosaur with a great big head, a mouth stuffed full of sharp jagged teeth, and a long tail. It was after the women, and they ran back into the cave to hide.
The dinosaur was so big that everytime it took a step the earth would shake. Oogo watched as beast tried to stick his head into the cave, but it was way too big to fit. Then it tried to stick its arm into the cave, but it was way too short to reach the women. The dinosaur roared in anger and beat at the cave opening with its tail.
Oogo knew his mother needed help fast, but he was the only one there. He had to go get his father and the other men, and he had to hurry!
He quickly climbed down the mountain to a path, and ran as fast as he could. He heard the dinosaur making horrible sounds behind him as he ran, and when he looked back over his shoulder he saw that the dinosaur was no longer up at the cave. It chasing him!
Oogo's heart beat wildly. He knew he was too little to out run the beast. He needed a place to hide. But where?
Oogo followed different paths. He ran back and forth, here and there trying to stay out of its reach. He ran past a stream, through the bushes and up over a hill, but the dinosaur was still chasing him.
Oogo darted underneath some trees. He jumped over a log and ran down through a ditch, then he followed a small narrow path between two large pits of black-smelly-sticky stuff. And when he reached the other side, he accidently twisted his ankle. Dropping to the ground, he turned back around to see where the dinosaur was.
The huge beast was racing toward the narrow path, and heading straight for him! Oogo crawled behind a big rock, his heart beating so hard he thought it would burst. He peered around one side of the giant boulder and watched as the dinosaur came closer and closer and closer. Oogo couldn't close his eyes. He couldn't turn away, and there was no way out!
The dinosaur charged across the path wildly, stumbling into the black-smelly-sticky stuff as it went. With each step it sank deeper and deeper until it sank so deep the whole entire dinosaur was gone.
It disappeared, right in front of Oogo's eyes!
Oogo's father and the other men ran up the path with their spears and knives in their hands, ready for combat. They found Oogo hiding behind a large rock, but no matter how hard they tried, they could not find the dinosaur.
"Ughh?" Oogo's father grunted at him. He wanted to know what happened to the dinosaur.
Oogo shrugged and pointed to the black-smelly-sticky stuff where the dinosaur had been a few moments earlier. Only a large bubble remained atop the tarpit now.
"Ughhh?" Oogo's father grunted and pointed at the pit.
Oogo nodded.
Oogo's father scratched his head and smiled. The men sat and waited for the dinosaur to come back. But it never did.
Oogo's father gave him a big hug. He picked Oogo up on his shoulders, and carried him back up the mountain to the cave, and to his mother. He was very proud of his son. Now they knew one more way to protect themselves from the dinosaurs.
Enchanta (50,000 words) is an imaginative young adult fantasy novel for children eight to thirteen that adults could also enjoy. The story has lots of magic, adventure and surprises.
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