Just Another Trip to the Museum

By Sachi Shinguretonu

     It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon as little Cindy happily trotted up the stairs of the large, old museum.  Ah, how filled with joy she was to come to such a magnificent place.  No matter how many times she'd been to the museum, little Cindy always marvelled at each visit.  It seemed to her as if each time she'd see something new or experience something different.  There was something magical about museums that always made her feel like she was leaving behind the present and stepping into times long past.

     Little Cindy entered through the revolving doors and took a moment to once again admire the ancient marble walls and take in the odd yet intriguing scent.  "Slow Down," urged Little Cindy's mommy who tried to keep up as her excitedly enthusiastic daughter immediately rushed on to her favorite exhibit.  Despite losing her mommy, Little Cindy continued on until she made her way to the fourth floor and entered the large room marked as the dinosaur exhibit.  "Wow...." gasped Little Cindy as she gazed up at the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus-Rex.  Strong and proud, it had always been her favorite thunder lizard.  Little Cindy sat on a bench and closed her eyes.  Oh, how she wished that she could have seen one of these extraordinary creatures.  If only they still existed....  

     As she sat there imagining visions of dinosaurs, the noisy hum of scattered talking around her began to die down, and in it's place now were other strange noises.  Little Cindy opened her eyes to find quite a surprise.  No longer was she in a climate controlled room filled with people and huge skeletons.  Little Cindy surveyed the new and strange area, which seemed to be a small clearing surrounded by a thick jungle of large trees and plants.  The sun above shinned down on her pale face as she stood up on the rock that she found had replaced the bench she previously sat upon.  It was quite obvious to her that she wasn't in the museum any more, though her childhood innocence and sense of wonder stopped her from being scared or at the least worried.

     There was a strange rustling sound now coming from the nearby brush, and slowly a small cat-like creature emerged.  It seemed to only be a cub, and had stripes on it's fur and two large teeth protruding from the sides of it's mouth.  Both Little Cindy and the cub studied each other curiously.  Slowly she approached the cub and carefully placed her hand on it's head and gently petted it.  Nervous, the cub cautiously sniffed her cookie-scented hand, and soon began to lick her with it's large, wet tongue.  Little Cindy giggled and  picked up the heavy little kitty-cat, which meowed and purred happily in her hands.  "You look just like a baby tiger, except you have such big teeth.  Ah, you must be a baby saber-tooth tiger.  I think I'll call you Dinah."

     Little Cindy and her new friend Dinah decided to take a walk so that she could observe more of this strange new place she was now in.  As they wandered on, they found a pool of water where a small dinosaur hunched over to drink.  Hiding carefully behind a tree, Little Cindy smiled as she secretly watched the cute little dinosaur.  She couldn't believe that she was finally looking at a real live dinosaur!  Suddenly the little dinosaur looked up and sniffed the air, and then quickly retreated into the jungle.  A moment later, was a sudden thud as a small boy holding a spear came crashing down from the treetops above, landing flat on his face.   "Darn, he got away..." mumbled the boy as he picked up his spear and stood up.  His hair was a bit disheveled, his face  pretty dirty, and his tattered clothes were made from hides.

     "Wow, a cave-boy, and he looks about the same age as me." whispered Little Cindy to Dinah.  She slowly came from behind the tree and gave the boy quite a start.  He stepped back and studied her curiously for a few moments, then quickly dropped to one knee and bowed.  It was then that Little Cindy noticed that this little cave-boy wasn't exactly like the boys from her time, for he had a long, monkey-like tail.  "Hm, I guess humans really did come from monkeys." she thought out loud to herself.  Well anyway, little Cindy didn't quite understand the purpose of his gesture, and told the silly boy to stand up for she was noone special.  She introduced herself, and the cave-boy stood up and told her his name was Rock.  Promptly, he then took her hand and quickly urged her to follow him. Together they hurriedly made their way through the humid jungle, with little Dinah the sabertooth-tiger cub trotting happily behind.

     Soon they emerged from the canopy of trees to find a small, prehistoric-type village bustling with activity.  Here and there similar monkey-tailed cave people went about their chores, though they all came to a halt as Rock yelled out to them.  As soon as they noticed little Cindy they hurriedly gathered around her and immediately dropped to their knees and began bowing repeatedly.  "Oh no, not again." sighed little Cindy as she looked around in confusion.  It was then that she was totally amazed at the sight of two large statues...of her!  Crudely carved from stone, but there was no doubt that it was her image all right.  How they built statues of her, though she'd never been there before in her life, she had no idea.

     An old man appeared from one of the small huts and hobbled over to Little Cindy. Smiling a toothless grin, he took her hand and bowed, and then led her, Rock, and Dinah past the crowd to a nearby cave lit with torches.  The elder explained to Little Cindy how long it had been that him and his people had waited for her arrival, and how happy he was that she'd finally come to fulfill the prophecy.  Illuminating the cave walls with a torch, he showed her various cave paintings depicting a young girl facing a huge monster.  

     "Wow, is that me?" little Cindy wondered.  But before the elder could explain any more, the ground began to vibrate as if there was an earthquake.  They hurried outside to find all the other cave people screaming and running to their homes in terror.  The elder and Rock quickly lead Little Cindy to the center of the village, and then they too disappeared into one of the huts.  Alone stood Little Cindy and Dinah as the ground shook more and the rumbling sound got louder and closer.  With a deafening roar that made her cover her ears, the huge, monstrous figure of a Tyrannosaurus-Rex came crashing out of the jungle and into view!

     Dinah hissed angrily, though little Cindy simply stared in awe as her dream of coming face-to-face with a T-Rex came true.  The cave people watched in horror as the little girl simply stood there smiling happily.   The T-Rex bent it's massive head down to study the tiny creature that stood before it.  Little Cindy's hair blew back as if caught in an intense wind as the T-Rex sniffed her repeatedly, finding her scent of cookies odd and unknown.  It opened it's mouth to roar again, and the cave- people closed their eyes, sure that it was the end for the brave yet doomed little heroine.  Unafraid, little Cindy figured that the T-Rex was just hungry, so she reached into her dress pocket to produce a handful of lollipops, bubblegum, and other candies.  "Here ya go." little Cindy exclaimed with a friendly tone as she tossed the sweets into the T-Rex's huge jaws.

     Surprised, the T-Rex stood up.  Never had his tongue ever tasted anything so delightful as what was now tickeling his tastebuds.  He immediately bent back down hoping to receive more, but little Cindy apologized as she pulled out her pockets to reveal that they were empty.  The T- Rex almost seemed to show a saddened expression on it's lizard face.  After tasting the wondrous candy, the T-Rex no longer had a taste for the dull and common flavor of humans, and quickly tromped off into the jungle, hoping to somewhere find more of the little multi-colored treats that still made his mouth dance.

     The cave-people came pouring from their huts, cheering and yelling as the T-Rex retreated, never to be seen again.   he prophecy had come true, the young girl from another time had appeared and tamed the beast that had been terrorizing them for ages! Rock pushed past the crowds to hug little Cindy fondly, and presented her with an odd, shiny stone attached to some vine which he hung around her neck.  Little Cindy thanked him for such a preciously nice gift, and in return gave him the large red bow that sat atop her long, flowing, golden hair.  Little Cindy closed her eyes and laughed as she was then lifted up by the greatfull villagers who chanted her name loudly.  However, within a brief second, all she felt was one pair of hands on her, and she opened her eyes to find her mommy shaking her and calling her name.  Little Cindy rubbed her eyes and looked around to find herself back in the museum, sitting on the bench in the dinosaur exhibit.

     "Oh Little Cindy, you always get so excited that you tire yourself out."

     "But mommy, I'm not tired!" protested Little Cindy.  "You'll never believe we're I've been, there was a saber-tooth kitten, and a cave-boy with a monkey tail, a village, and a T-Rex and--"

     "That's nice Little Cindy," interrupted her mother as she observed her daughter, "buy, wherever did you get that stone around your neck?  Is it a souvenir?  I hope you didn't spend too much on it.  Oh no, your bow is gone, don't tell me you've lost it?  Oh well, maybe we'll see it as we walk around."

     Little Cindy's mommy straitened out her daughter's dress, fixed her hair, and took her hand and began walking.  Little Cindy waved goodbye to the T-Rex skeleton as they exited the dinosaur exhibit and went down the corridor.  As she walked along, Little Cindy studied in her hand the shiny stone that hung from her neck.  It was then that she decided not to bother telling her mommy of her adventure after all, for it seemed that adults never believed what children said.  But as they continued trekking through the museum, little Cindy was able to slip away from her mommy once again, and wandered into the ancient Asia exhibit.  She stood by a rail and admired the samurai swords and armor, and closed her eyes to imagine what it would have been like to live in feudal Japan during that time.  Suddenly everything went silent except for the  peculiar sound of galloping horses, and when Little Cindy opened her eyes, unsurprisingly she found once again that she was no longer in the museum....

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