Suzie walked along the beachside. “I wonder what it’s like to live in the ocean.” She looked around. “I wish I wasn’t always alone. Surely the dinosaurs under the water are more friendly than the ones on land.”
“You’re not alone,” said a voice from the ocean.
Suzie jumped at the voice, making a cloud of sand. They both coughed.
“I’m sorry to have scared you,” continued the water creature.
“Who are you? What… are you?” Suzie said, her head tilting at the tiny head on a long, thin neck standing out of the water. “You look like me, but” – Suzie saw the flat flaps where her acquaintance’s feet should have been – “a little… different.”
“I’m a plesiosaur. And my name is Bobbi.” She added enthusiastically, “What are you? What’s your name?”
“A brachiosaur named Suzie. Do you live in the ocean?”
“I do, but I wish I could live on the land like you.”
“Why? It’s so lonely up here.”
“I can’t say it’s any different down here.”
Suzie sat down. Her tail and legs lay straight, and her huge arms hung forward as she sighed. “That’s not what I wanted to hear.”
Bobbie nodded, “Me neither.”
They both sat quietly staring at the horizon.
Bobbi glanced at Suzie and smiled. “I guess if the two of us are sitting here, together, enjoying the sunset, does that mean we’re not alone anymore?”
Suzie looked at the Plesiosaur and returned the smile. “I guess it does.”
“Friends?” she asked.
“Friends,” Suzie reached out a foot, and Bobbie tapped it with her fin. They turned to the sunset again, a warm feeling growing deep within each of them.
Beth Freemont 