Reply To: The Land Before Time XVIII: Journey Under the Great Valley
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Littlefoot had a hard time staying awake during Mr. Thicknose’s lecture, which was about nesting. Though real nesting for the teens was still about a decade away, the grownups had felt that it couldn’t hurt to learn early. Littlefoot poked himself with the sticks he was supposed to be using to build a nest. He fell asleep.
“Now Littlefoot, I said that nests are used to store eggs, not your head!” scolded Mr. Thicknose.
“Sorry Mr. Thicknose.” said Littlefoot, waking up and feeling embarrassed.
Littlefoot built a nest, albeit a poor one due to being sleep deprived. “That nest needs improvement. It won’t be able to keep a Longneck egg very safe.” Mr. Thicknose remarked.
“What would you know about building a Longneck nest? You’re not a Longneck.” Littlefoot smarted off.
The class laughed but soon stopped when Mr. Thicknose glared at them. He then turned to face Littlefoot, scowling at him. “I shall be taking to your grandparents after the lesson young man! I suggest you lose the mouth!” said Mr. Thicknose. Littlefoot whimpered.
“You should not have done that. Oh, no, no, no.” said Ducky to Littlefoot, shaking her head.
Halfway through the lesson, Liam whispered to Littlefoot “Come on.”
“But aren’t we still in the middle of a lesson?” Littlefoot asked.
“Lessons are for squares. Come on, let’s be cool and skip it. You do want to be cool, right?” Liam asked him.
“Yeah, I guess.” Littlefoot replied. The two snuck out of class, unnoticed by Thicknose, who kept droning on.
Cera caught Littlefoot’s eye. “On your head be it.” she whispered. Littlefoot ignored her and left.
Ducky tried to sneak after Littlefoot. “Come back Littlefoot, you should not leave, oh no no no!” she whispered after him. Unfortunately, Mr. Thicknose happened to spot her.
“Ducky, where are you going?” he inquired.
“Mr. Thicknose, I, um, I was….” Ducky muttered nervously.
“What were you doing?” he asked again.
“Well, you see….” Ducky said hesitantly.
“Out with it Ducky!” Mr. Thicknose demanded.
“Littlefoot lefted class and I was trying to stop him.” Ducky reluctantly replied, not wanting to tattle on her friend.
“Oh he did, did he?” said Mr. Thicknose in annoyance. “Well I’ll go after him. The rest of you stay here.” He left.
“Littlefoot is going to be in so much trouble!” Cera said to Petrie.
“Me no get it. Littlefoot never do this before.” Petrie said to Cera.
“It’s that Liam character. Littlefoot would rather hang out with him than us!” Cera grumbled.
“Yes, we’ve got to do something about Liam. Yep, yep, yep.” Ducky agreed.
“But what we do?” Petrie asked.
“We could feed him to a Sharptooth.” Cera suggested.
“His parents would not like that. Oh, no, no, no.” Ducky objected.
“We could always tell his parents that he is a bad influence on Littlefoot.” Ducky suggested.
“His parents don’t care. They think he can do no wrong.” Cera replied.
“We could tell Littlefoot’s grandparents. Me think they could put stop to this.” suggested Petrie.
“Hmmm, that might work. But that would probably get Littlefoot really mad at us. I’m not so sure about that.” Cera said uneasily.
Meanwhile, Littlefoot and Liam wandered toward the Tree Sweet tree that had special Tree Sweets. “What are we doing here?” Littlefoot asked.
“Getting some Tree Sweets. Duh!” Liam replied.
“But we’re not supposed to have those till Nibbling Day.” Littlefoot argued.
“What, are you a Scaredy Egg? Come on!” Liam said.
The two of them moved toward the tree. Littlefoot grabbed some Tree Sweets. Liam did as well. They suddenly heard someone coming. Liam ran behind the tree, and hence out of sight, and took off. Littlefoot wasn’t quite as alert but soon heard approaching footsteps too. He quickly tried to eat the evidence, but unfortunately, before he could finish all the Tree Sweets, Mr. Thicknose came into view.
“So, sneaking out of class to steal Tree Sweets, are you? I would have thought you’d learned your lesson not to eat those outside of Nibbling Day after the Tinysaurus incident.” Mr. Thicknose said.
Littlefoot tried to think of some excuse, but the best that he could come up with was “I, er, was hungry. Sorry about that.”
“Hungry indeed. You could have waited till after class. And you could have eaten something other than the Tree Sweets.” Mr. Thicknose scolded. Littlefoot, feeling guilty at being caught, said nothing. “You used to be my star pupil. I expected better of you!” Littlefoot felt even more ashamed.
“Well you see I was….” Littlefoot said, starting to tell the truth that he and Liam had snuck out. However, he paused. If he ratted out Liam, Liam might kick him out of the group and then he wouldn’t be cool anymore. He couldn’t let that happen.
“What were you really doing?” Mr. Thicknose asked.
“I got bored and decided to have a snack.” Littlefoot lied.
“I see. Let’s see what your grandparents have to say about the matter.” Mr. Thicknose said.
Sometime later, Mr. Thicknose informed Grandpa and Grandma Longneck of what Littlefoot had done. He then left.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” Grandma Longneck asked Littlefoot sternly.
“Sorry.” said Littlefoot nervously, hoping he wouldn’t get into trouble.
“This time you won’t be able to go be with your friends for three days. And you aren’t allowed to stay out of our sight. Your grandma and I don’t want you to keep getting into trouble.” Grandpa Longneck said.
Littlefoot groaned. He was grounded again. However, rather than learn his lesson and realize that Liam was leading him astray, he falsely believed that it was just because he was too careless and got caught.
