Highlight the events of the Story: Exposition, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution. The Untiming of Ben and Ruby

Episode 3: Don't Count Your Dinosaur Eggs After They Hatch

When we last saw Ben and Ruby, they escaped a dinosaur attack in prehistory and gathered information about the Halszkaraptor escuilliei for Alexa. They also found a plastic water bottle near a bush.

When we were back in Ben's room, we realized that we'd been gone for only 20 minutes, but it felt like days. Ben and I were totally speechless. And our T-shirts were wet with prehistoric sweat. When we finally opened our mouths, only three words came out: plastic water bottle.

"Maybe a time traveler from the future left it, Ben," I said. "Maybe in the future, people go on dinosaur safaris. And the bottle was a piece of futuristic trash."

"Nice try, Ruby. But I doubt they still use plastic in the future. No, I'm thinking this has something to do with you-know-who."

"Dinner's almost ready," Ben's mom called from downstairs. I figured now was the time to come clean.

"There's…uh…something I have to tell you before I go," I said.

"What is it, Ruby?"

"I…uh…brought some stuff back with me…from prehistory."

"You WHAT?"

"Just some duck-dino teeth," I said, pulling them out of my pocket, "and some eggshells—"

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" Ben crazy-whispered. "You know what Alexa said. No souvenirs, NOT EVER. So why did you do it, Ruby? WHY?"

"Because they'll make one fabulous science fair project, that's why.

"We can't, Ruby—"

"C'mon, Ben," I said. "I mean, you did blow up our other science fair project—"

"Well, it isn't easy turning chicken poop into fuel—"

"Or pleasant. But the point is, we need a really great science fair project. Or we'll never beat out Eureka and Arno!"

Eureka Dalrymple and Arno Sevaris are the snootiest teacher's pets in the history of middle school. These two always get perfect grades in everything. And I've always wanted to bring them down a notch or two.

"But what if Alexa finds out?

"Who cares if she does? I mean, what's the worst she can do? Make us return the stuff?

"I dunno about this, Ruby…"

"One other thing. I want to use the video of the dinosaur hatching."

"What video? I didn't film it, Ruby. I just aimed the phone at it and those green lights—"

"I filmed it, Ben," I said, wagging my cell phone.

"You WHAT?"

"And I see two big blue science fair ribbons in our future!"

The next morning, I told everyone in school that me and Ben found a duck-dinosaur egg down by Hellman Cove and filmed it hatching. I said that it was going to be our new science project and wait 'til Mr. Ensidine, our science teacher, saw it!

Everybody looked at me like I was nuts. Ben kept hiding in the boys' bathroom. And Eureka and Arno had a look of horror on their faces.

"Good!" I thought. "Pure jealousy!"

"But, Ruby," Mr. Ensidine asked me in science class, "how can a dinosaur egg survive millions of years?"

"How should I know, Mr. Ensidine?" I answered. "You're the scientist around here. All I know is what I saw—and filmed."

"C'mon, Ruby," he said, after he watched the video. "You and Ben cooked this up with video-editing software. Nice job, too!"

"Yeah," Eureka snarled, and Arno said, "It's a fake."

"Then how do you explain these?" I said. I pulled out the teeth and the eggshell pieces from my knapsack.

In a matter of hours, a Harvard paleontologist was on his way to look at them. Everybody in town was out looking for the hatched duck-dino. And Alexa sent us back to prehistory to return everything.

"OUTRAGEOUS!" she thundered as the pale blue light and orange shimmers turned to blackness.

"I'm never talking to you again," Ben muttered as we placed the teeth and the eggshells outside the cave. And that's when I found the Snickers wrapper stuck in a bush.