It was Friday, the last lesson of the day, and the sun seemed to be calling the kids outside. As it was nearly lunchtime, most of Alex’s classmates had grown impatient and were fidgeting at their desks. Some of them even had rumbling tummies. But Alex sat perfectly still, listening attentively and not taking his eyes off the teacher. After all, the discussion was about dinosaurs, so why would he be tempted by such an unimportant thing as a lunch break?
“... and then at the end of the Cretaceous period, most of the dinosaurs gradually became extinct,” said Mr Trenton, finishing his story. Just then, the bell rang, announcing the end of class.
“Jeez, sixty-six million years ago! That’s so far back,” declared Alex, tucking his pencil case into his school bag. The others had already scuttled off, but he was still enraptured by the world of dinosaurs. “If only I had a time machine!”
“That would be awesome, wouldn’t it?” Mr Trenton said. “But thanks to paleontologists and other scientists, we can at least find-out a lot about dinosaurs here and now. Did you know that fossilised dinosaur bones were found in England a few hundred years ago? They belonged to the genus Megalosaurus, the first dinosaurs ever described in scientific literature.”
“When I grow up, I’m going to find some dinosaur bones,” Alex muttered under his breath, smiling at the teacher on his way out of the classroom.
He joined his friends for lunch, but his thoughts were elsewhere. Afterwards he hurried to the library for more books about dinosaurs. Alex was looking forward to this afternoon, as he’d promised his little sister, Tinka, that they’d go to the playground. And of course, they would play dinosaurs!
“Alex, can we go…
