For Aurora Sage and Naomi Never ever give up on making your world a better place And in loving memory of Renato Dulbecco D Z
1 HEROES DON’T GET SCARED LUG yelled a screechy voice outside our family cave Lug come see this It was another freezing dawn the time when old Crazy Crag usually had his big ideas Last week it had been moving pictures on cave walls The week before something about an ice eye for seeing far away As Crag ran around our snow-covered village’s central clearing shouting about his latest discovery I yawned and snuggled deeper into my macrauchenia blanket Whatever it was it could 1
wait until a more decent hour Besides I had just had another one of my bad nights Ever since I’d helped rid our clan’s territory of saber-toothed tigers last month I’d been having terrible nightmares Animals of every kind would chase me and try to eat me alive Crag’s shouts had woken me from a dream of being pursued by some very angry squirrels Last night it had been crazed dodo birds I would usually wake up in a cold sweat and my parents would ask what was wrong But I was always too embarrassed to admit it I wanted them to keep thinking of me as a hero and I was pretty sure heroes weren’t afraid of anything Especially death by dodo Lug repeated Crazy Crag as he entered our cave I closed my eyes and kept perfectly still Crag would usually shout for a while before giving up and heading home Asleep huh he muttered Okay what about your father Big Lug you up I peeked out from under my blanket as he walked right up to my snoring dad who was also the Big Man of our clan the Macrauchenia Riders 2
Hey Big Lug bellowed Crag stomping the snow off his hide boots Come see this Whaaaaaat Dad yawned rubbing his eyes and big bald head Out there said Crag pointing outside with an antelope horn His bright blue eyes gleamed in the dawn light and I watched his big bushy mustache twitch like a nervous squirrel’s tail Bonehead’s gang come to steal another macrauchenia asked Dad sitting up and starting to warm his hands over the fire pit Bonehead was a huge nasty bully who along with his sidekick Bugeyes had been known to swipe a jungle llama or two from the already dwindling herd in our clan’s stable cave Just before the final saber-toothed-tiger attack Bonehead Bugeyes and their parents left our clan and became outlaws It’s not Bonehead screeched Crag Come up the mountain and see for yourself Dad glanced at my mother and sister now looking up grumpily from their sleeping slabs Sorry Crag he murmured placing a few thin slices of llama meat on a fire-pit stone I once forgot 3
