Dinosaur Hideout Read Online Free

near the place now. But Pederson knew where his hideout was!
    “What’s the matter?” Jed asked in a low voice beside him.
    “I’ll tell you later,” Daniel whispered back.
    But he didn’t have the chance to talk to Jed all day. Not only had he forgotten his lunch, he’d also forgotten to do his math. He had to stay in at both recesses to catch up on the work. And during lunchtime, Jed and his sisters went to visit their grandmother in town, and Daniel sat alone in the lunchroom, paging through a dinosaur book he’d borrowed from the library. Whenever he glanced out the window, he could see it was snowing again.
    By the time they were back on the school bus headed for home, all the other nosy kids sat around them and nothing could be told in private. Besides, Daniel was too hungry and miserable, and too worried about facing Dad with the undone chores from the morning. He still had all the stalls to clean, and that meant forking out the old straw and manure, and laying fresh straw bedding down on the floors in each of them.
    “I’ll call you later,” he said as he shrugged into his parka and gathered his backpack and mitts.
    “Sure, Danny,” Jed nodded, as Daniel got up.
    “Probably after supper,” he called back over his shoulder, remembering all the chores he still had to catch up on.
    From the side of the road, he saw Jed give him the thumbs-up signal as the bus continued on.
    When he arrived home, Daniel stood listening outside the barn door for a moment, but couldn’t hear anything except the rustling of the cattle. He breathed a sigh of relief and stepped inside. He hoped he had time to do some cleaning before Dad spotted him.
    He hurried about, forking out the stalls, and throwing the old straw bedding onto the stone boat in the middle of the barn. He heard the wind howling outside the barn walls while he worked, and as usual the kittens scampered about play-fighting. He was feeding Gypsy when Dad strode in, dressed in his old barn parka over his denim coveralls and thick winter boots. He nodded curtly to Daniel as he grabbed a galvanized pail and the milking stool, then gave a customary slap to a cow to move her over to the side of the stall, so he could sit down next to her to start milking.
    Whoa, he’s really angry, thought Daniel, deciding it might be better to work in the stalls away from him as soon as he was finished in this adjacent one. He brushed Gypsy’s side with a grooming brush for a few minutes, then grabbed a pitchfork and quickly cleaned the manure out of a stall down at the end of the barn.
    “So where were you this morning, Danny? Suppose you had your head stuck in one of those scientific books again?” Dad asked sarcastically.
    “No, I was out for a walk with Dactyl,” he answered, gritting his teeth. He’d never told his parents about his hideout and he didn’t want to mention it now. He moved a couple of kittens out of his way and grabbed a square bale of hay. He broke it open and spread the straw on the floor of the stall, then stole a look at his father.
    “Don’t tell me it was those darn rocks again?” Dad didn’t even look up, just kept his head pressed into the side of the cow he was milking. “You know Danny, you’re responsible for doing your share of the chores before you go to school?”
    “I know, I just forgot the time,” Daniel replied quietly, setting the fork against the railing and bending down to pet Marble, who circled his legs.
    Dad brushed off the excuse, turned, and stared at him. His eyes had become large and a deeper brown, so intense that Daniel took a step back. A strand of dark hair fell across Dad’s forehead as it always did when he was agitated about something.
    “You seem to be sidetracked these days. You need to focus your attention back on the work here on the farm. Someday this will be yours.” Then under his breath he added, “If the bank doesn’t get it first.” He waved his arm across the span of the barn. “Books and