In mid December Stegosaurus received a letter from his friend Congressaurus Triceratops.
"I am so delighted to discover a letter from Congressaurus Triceratops," said Stegosaurus. "How nice of him to take the time to write in the middle of Christmas season."
Congresssaurus' Triceratops letter reads thus:
"Dear Stegosaurus,
I hope this letter finds you doing well.
I have, with our friend Steve Beaver, opened my retirement project, S. Beaver and Three Horned Lizard Greenery LLC. It has, so far, been a success the last two and a half months, and I'd like to ask your advice on a matter of great importance, if it does not take any time away from your holiday plans."
Steve and I would like to combine a business trip to the State of California with a vacation. Why California ? You may ask. Well there are specific trees I want to bring back to our shop native to California. Ones that will not grow in the Wyoming climate. Also, Steve would like to come along and meet our friend Dimetrodon at the Dinosaur and Mythical Creature Retirement Caves Complex in California. We would be much obliged if you'd come along to introduce him to Dimetrodon his fellow synapsids, and Nyasassaurus. We really enjoy your company, but if it will disturb Holiday plans you already have, we understand. Should you decide to visit California with us, Steve and I are traveling beginning on December 15th inst; We'll meet you in San Diego for dinner, if you'd like, and then we'll proceed to Culver City, and the Dinosaur and Mythical Creature Retirement Home.
With kind regards, I am your obedient servant,
Congresssaurus Triceratops WY ~ Ret."
"I did have plans to spend Christmas with Widow Ground Sloth and her son, Junior, but I thought if I stomped forthrightly, I could spend the Holidays with all of my friends. I love a good party." said Stegosaurus.
I arrived in San Diego California on December 17th, it was easy to find Congresssaurus Triceratops as he was eating a grove of Washingtonia filifera with Steve Beaver sitting on his back.
"Hello, Triceratops and Mr. Beaver!" Stegosaurus exclaimed. I stomped up to my friends as fast as I could go, which as we have established is still pretty slow, but we were so delighted to see each other.
"I am overjoyed that your business is doing well," said Stegosaurus to Triceratops and Steve Beaver.
"Yes, things are going very well, " replied Steve Beaver. "Last week we were visited by Corythosaurus; we invited him to look over our finances and confirmed that indeed we were in the black."
"Corythosaurus is a hard working and loyal accountant," Stegosaurus observed. "I am pleased that he has served you well, Mr. Beaver."
"Let us go now to Culver City and visit Dimetrodon," said Triceratops, "If you have had your fill of these delicious trees. Are you sure you don't want any, Mr. Beaver?"
"I am fine with the salad supply I brought from Wyoming, Thank you," replied Steve Beaver.
And with that, Steve Beaver and the dinosaurs set off for Culver City and it was not long before they met Edaphosaurus and Nyasasaurus at the entrance to the Dinosaur and Mythical Creature Screen Actor Guild Retirement Caves.
"Greetings !!" Exclaimed Nyasasaurus as he ran up to them. "Stegosaurus, what brings you to Sunny California this fine day?"
"I am here to visit you and all my friends in California; Triceratops wanted me to introduce our mammal friend Steve Beaver to Dimetrodon," said Stegosaurus.
"Welcome, Stegosaurus, Triceratops," said Edaphosaurus. "Triceratops, who is the mammal on your back?"
Triceratops replied, "This is Steve Beaver, a wise mammal who has helped me build my dream of owning a Greenery in my retirement from Congress. We are doing very well."
"Pleased to meet you, Edaphosaurus," said Steve Beaver. "Is this cave complex the home of Dimetrodon? I should very much like to meet him."
"Yes, it is, " confirmed Edaphosaurus.
"You look a lot like him," observed Steve Beaver.
"I do. We have similar characteristics and we're both synapsids. You will meet him anon; but first be introduced to our friend Moschops, who is also of the synapsid family, and the oldest dinosaur the mammals have discovered, Nyasasaurus."
"Welcome to California, Mr. Beaver. We have heard so much about you from our mutual friends Stegosaurus and Triceratops. It is so nice to finally meet you in person," said Moschops. "I'm a synapsid like Edaphosaurus and Dimetrodon; we all live at the Dinosaur and Mythical Creature Screen Actor Guild Retirement Home because of our advanced ages. Still, don't be fooled; we can be very spry when the situation warrants it!"
Very good to know, Moschops," said Steve Beaver.
"I would like you also to meet Nyasasaurus, one of the oldest Dinosaurs yet discovered," said Moschops.
"Hello, Mr. Beaver, I'm Nyasasaurus, as was advertised I am one of the oldest Dinosaurs from the early Triassic which makes me 240 ~ 260 Million years old; how old are you?"
"I am 62," said Steve Beaver.
"Well, you will catch up to me before long," said Nyasasaurus.
"So, where is Dimetrodon?" asked Steve Beaver.
"He's down by the seashore fishing," said Nyasasaurus. "We'll take you there, all of us, together," continued Nyasasaurus.
"Come climb up on my back," said Stegosaurus to Steve Beaver. "Triceratops will come with us to meet Dimetrodon."
"Let us all go together to the seashore," said Edaphosaurus.
And thus the Dinosaurs and Synapsids stomped forthrightly down to the seashore, as Steve Beaver ably jumped from Triceratops' back to Stegosaurus, and fit himself comfortably between Stegosaurus' spiff, sexy plates.
"I'm originally from South Africa," said Nyasasaurus. "As is Moschops; Dimetrodon came here from Texas while Edaphosaurus originally hails from the United States although he's also been discovered in parts of Europe. "
"None of us come originally from California," said Edaphosaurus though I have adopted the Texas mannerisms because Professor Cope discovered me in the same fossil bed as Dimetrodon only a few years apart."
"When I heard you wanted to meet Dimetrodon I told him you enjoyed fishing," said Triceratops. "Thus, Dimetrodon decided to do something today he knew you would enjoy... fishing," said Triceratops.
"It's nice to have common interests," observed Steve Beaver.
"Dimetrodon tries really hard to find common ground with mammals since he has mammalian characteristics himself."
Dimetrodon was soon in sight catching the sun as he sat on a rock overlooking the ocean tide.
"Hail, Dimetrodon !!" exclaimed Triceratops. "We have brought Steve Beaver to meet you."
"Oh! I am so pleased!" exclaimed Dimetrodon.
"Hi, there !!" waved Steve Beaver from the back of Stegosaurus.
"Don't worry, I won't eat youOR Stegosaurus. I know my teeth look scary, but I'm really a soft - hearted apex predator of the Early Permian Age."
"Um, okay ..." said Steve Beaver, a little uneasily.
"Look, I heard how much you like fishing so I went to the seashore today and caught you something."
"How did you know I like fishing?" asked Steve Beaver.
"I asked Triceratops .... I hope that was okay." said Dimetrodon.
"So why did you want to meet me, out of all the other prehistoric animals around today?"
"Sure, it's all right," said Steve responding to Dimetrodon's first question.
To the second, he said, "I've met a few dinosaurs by now, but I haven't met a synapsid before plus I wanted to go out to see California."
"Well, we are very distant relations, given my mammalian characteristics," said Dimetrodon. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Beaver."
"Likewise," said Steve.
"Come look at what I caught for you, I hope you like them," said Dimetrodon.
"I am sure I will, I enjoy fishing a lot," said Steve Beaver.
"I got you something special," said Dimetrodon. "A real Texas sized gift."
"I'll take you down to the seashore," said Stegosaurus to Steve. "I'd like to get a drink of water."
So, Stegosaurus, Steve Beaver and Dimetrodon went down to the seashore, while Triceratops, Nyasasaurus and the other synapsids followed behind.
Dimetrodon went down to the rock ledge he'd been on just before Steve arrived, and pulled out a large burlap sack which had something moving in it; Dimetrodon quickly opened it with his teeth. Everyone was surprised by the contents as they were expecting fish. Only Stegosaurus missed the reveal, as he was at the seashore drinking water.
To the surprise of everyone, especially Steve Beaver, out of the sack came not fish, but two living surfers.
"Hey man, this monster I am sure, is going to eat us!" the first one exclaimed loudly.
"Help!" said the second, though they were both less alarmed once they saw Steve there, realizing that they were most likely to be saved, even with the arrival of the other dinosaurs and synapsids. A wide eyed Stegosaurus returned from the seashore, too stunned to say anything, but ready to use his cool spiky tail if the surfers were going to be harmed.
"I caught you a special treat," said Dimetrodon to Steve Beaver.
"Please don't let the dinosaurs eat us!" pleaded the second man to Steve.
"I'm not a dinosaur, but I play one on TV, occasionally," said Dimetrodon.
The surfers started screaming in fear.
"Calm down," Steve spoke to them. "No one is going to harm you."
Then, Steve spoke to Dimetrodon, "Thank you Dimetrodon, but please let these surfers go, I am a mammal, I don't eat other mammals. I appreciate your gift, your heart is in the right place, it's just that mammals, well, most mammals anyway, are not cannibals."
"Oh, really?" said Dimetrodon, genuinely surprised.
The surfers were still breathing heavy with fear, but trying to crawl away quietly.
"Please let the surfers go." asked Steve.
"I was thinking maybe I'll keep them, even though I have mammalian characteristics I still like to eat an occasional surfer from time to time even if they get stuck in my teeth."
The surfers lay down in the sand, stopped crawling and lay there, screaming. "We're going to die !!"
Steve went quickly to their side, and spoke to the surfers quietly. None of the prehistoric animals could hear the conversation, but at the end of it, the surfers got up and without looking back, ran as far away from the beach as they could get.
Then, Steve Beaver turned to Dimetrodon and said, "I know you meant well, Dimetrodon; let's spend the afternoon together fishing, I'll teach you about the kinds of fish that mammals eat."
"It's a deal," said Dimetrodon.
So it was that day that Steve Beaver made a new prehistoric friend, and Nyasassaurus turned to Triceratops and asked, "How is it that Steve Beaver is not afraid like the surfers were?"
Triceratops rejoined, "Steve has a great deal of experience in being around dinosaurs. He's also been in the Marine Corps and served in a war. He's not afraid of much, not even Dimetrodon who is very scary looking to other mammals. "
The Dinosaurs, the Synapsids, and Steve Beaver remained there socializing well after sundown.
Stegosaurus bid his farewell then, at sunset as he had to stomp back home before going to West Virginia to visit Widow Ground Sloth and her son Junior for the Christmas Season.
