Dinosaur Hideout Read Online Free Page B

My dad wouldn’t give up the farm. It means everything to him. And we don’t have enough land to do both. You must have heard wrong.”
    “No, they’re definitely coming over to my place to listen to the spiel.”
    “Geez, that’s awful.”
    Wade whirled around in his seat and confronted them. “What are you so worried about? It means big bucks for us all. My old man says he’s going to be able to retire, if they lease. Then we can go south every winter.” He crossed his arms smugly.
    Jed guffawed. “Is that all you think about, Wade? Money? You’re disgusting.” He pushed Wade’s arm off the back of the seat. “Besides, this is a private conversation, if you hadn’t noticed.”
    “Fine, you little morons. Starve then, with that kind of attitude!” Wade bent his head over to Brett and they whispered something and laughed. A few moments later, they moved up the aisle to plague the McCaw twins.
    Daniel lowered his voice, “This is terrible news. Especially with what I just found.”
    “What?” Jed asked.
    Furtively, Daniel drew the rock from his pocket and showed him.
    Jed fingered the relic. “What is it?”
    “A receptaculites,” Daniel answered.
    “A what?” Jed asked.
    “I just call it a taculite,” said Daniel. “It’s kind of like a coral or sponge, only really ancient.”
    “Wow,” Jed shook his head in amazement, turning the rock over. “Do you know what this means? You’ve found the proof!”
    “Yep. But I need more time to search.” He took the rock back and slipped it in his pocket when he noticed Craig Nelwin trying to listen.
    Jed kept his voice low. “Yeah, I heard my parents say that it would be more beneficial if they leased the land with your parents – you know the two west quarters beside each other.”
    “That means the quarter where my secret hideout is! I won’t be able to go there anymore!”
    “Yikes. That’s bad for you!” Jed stared at Daniel.
    “I have to do something. They’ll ruin everything!” Daniel exclaimed in horror. “I know there have to be some dinosaurs on our land that no one has found yet. I can feel it! And I think this taculite proves it.”
    Jed responded. “But there may be one bright side. I heard they want Pederson’s place, too. Could mean we’ll be rid of that weird old guy. He gives me the creeps.”
    “Yeah, I’m going to stay clear of him.” Daniel shuddered. Then he told Jed about the confrontation with Pederson the previous morning.
    “Geez, I’d have been totally freaked out!”
    “I was,” Daniel admitted. “But now I’m curious to know what he’s up to out there.”
    “Danny, you wouldn’t go snooping around his place, would you?” Jed searched his face to see if he was serious.
    “Nah, not worth the effort.” He wasn’t going to admit he was too scared to go.
    “Whew. You’d better not. No telling what he could do.”
    Daniel could tell Jed was relieved, but he pretended to be fearless. “Don’t tell me you believed Brett and Wade’s story?”
    “Not really, but there must be something to it.” Jed peered at him.
    “Yeah.” Daniel said thoughtfully. “Sure wish I knew what!”
    Daniel saw Jed jerk, alarmed, so he busied himself digging a dinosaur book out of his backpack. Jed seemed to relax, as they dropped the subject.
    ~

    E arly the next morning Daniel and Dad were doing chores together in the barn. The smell of dusty hay wafted into Daniel’s nostrils as he swung a pitchfork full of straw into the calves’ stall. He could hear the squirsh, squirsh of milk hitting the metal pail as Dad milked Lily, their prize Holstein.
    “Jeez, why do I always have to help feed these stupid animals every day? There’s never even one day’s break. I never have time to do anything I want to do,” Daniel grumbled as he struggled to lift a large bucket of oats into the feed trough. Dactyl ignored him. He poked in the straw looking for mice. The cattle ignored him, too, shuffling over to the feed trough.
    This