Tommy wheezed after escaping the dinosaur, stopping to calm his heartbeat.
"Oh man, that was a close one..."
“Yeah, I’ll say,” Antonio added.
“Dang, we won’t be able to go back out there for a while...” Maggie said, in a disappointed tone. “Oh well, might as well keep walking...”
“I hope we can find some goodies soon,” Tommy sighed as he looked around. “I don't know how much more of this I can take.” He bent down to take a short breather before continuing.
After walking a couple more minutes, Antonio looked up and pointed at something.
“Hey, look over there.”
The other two glanced over as a tall tree caught their eye. Colorful berries dangled on the large branches prominently.
“Oh, excellent eye,” Maggie said, impressed by his skills of observation.
“Thanks.”
“All right, now, let’s go get them!” Tommy declared, rubbing his hands together as he ran towards the tree.
“No, wait!” Maggie called out. “How are you even going to—?”
“Not to worry, I’ve done something like this before. That one time I slipped and fall, which hurt my—”
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
“I don’t want you messing anything up again.”
“I won’t,”
Maggie shook her head. Not wanting to take the risk, she brushed him aside and walked up to the tree.
“I’ll go get the berries; you stay here.” She strapped the red backpack on her back and climbed the tree.
Tommy got miffed by that response. He wanted to help too and make up for what he did wrong, but she won’t let him? He ignored her remark and climb the tree. Maggie rolled her eyes and kept going, but moved over to the other branch while Antonio waited for them down below.
“Uh, guys, hold on. We don’t know if the berries are ripe or not.” Antonio pointed out, twiddling his fingers.
“Now, you say something?” Tommy asked, halfway up the tree.
“Don’t worry; I’ll go find out from my uncle right away. I hope this still works.”
Antonio took out the laptop from his yellow backpack and opened it, clicking on the icon and getting into contact with his uncle. When it came through, the screen showed Sam and Mandy working to the bone, sweating up a storm with tired, baggy eyes and messy hair.
“Ah, hi Antonio...” Sam said as he yawned.
“Hey, what’s wrong, you guys?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. We’re just tired, that’s all. So, what is it you need from us?"
“Well, I’d like for you and Mandy to analyze something...”
“All right, just give us a minute or two...”
Antonio moved the laptop over until it pointed toward the berries and an aqua-colored light formed out of the device, as it scanned each of the fruits before examining and making a diagnosis.
Maggie and Tommy got up on the branches where the berries hung just below them. Antonio shouted from below and told them the results of the analysis.
“Some are riper than others, get pink and orange berries. The rest of them you can ignore.” Sam concluded.
“Ok, that should be easy to do.” Maggie sat comfortably on the thicker branch and kicked her legs back and forth.
“Be careful, you two,” Mandy whispered, clasping her hands together.
“Hey, Maggie, how about we have a contest to see who can get more berries?” Tommy playfully suggested, resting his arm on the tree.
“No, thank you.” Maggie rolled her eyes and took out her backpack.
“Oh well, suit yourself.”