It was Tom’s birthday and he and his family had visited the natural history museum, with special passes to the new dinosaur exhibition. Tom had a wonderful day out and upon leaving the museum he visited the gift shop where his parents treated him to a model of a Tyrannosaurus Rex – the fiercest of all the dinosaurs. “Just look at those teeth!” Tom’s Mum exclaimed whilst examining the new purchase. Tom replied “Yes Mum, I do like dinosaurs but I am glad that they lived so long ago.” Tom’s older brother, Rick, added “although it would be pretty cool to see one alive, don’t you think?”The family made their way to Grandma and Grandpa’s house, where a freshly baked birthday cake was waiting for Tom. Tom loved to visit his Grandma and Grandpa, they had an interesting house with a large garden and lots of hidden treasures and antiques all over the place. After the birthday treats had been eaten, the family took a stroll in the garden to enjoy what was left of the summer evening. Tom brought with him his new football that his grandparents had bought him for his birthday and his model dinosaur “Rexy” also came with him.

Tom circled around the house a few times, kicking his football and then he noticed in a quiet corner of the garden there was brick wall covered by long grasses and ivy. ‘I wonder what that brick wall may be a part of?’ thought Tom. He wandered over to the corner of the garden and discovered a deep dark hole beyond the wall. The wall was actually circular in shape with the hole in the middle.

“That’s a wishing well lad” Tom’s Grandpa said walking up behind Tom. “How does it work Grandpa?” Tom asked. “Well lad, you need to start with a bit of money in hand” and with that his Grandpa placed a pound coin into Tom’s hand, the hand that he was already using to hold ‘Rexy’ the dinosaur. “What you need to do lad is throw the coin in and make a wish at the same time” Grandpa instructed. “Okay”, Tom paused for a few seconds while he thought hard about his wish and tossed his coin into the wishing well. “Oh No!” Tom cried, “Rexy has fallen in too”, “Oh dear lad” Grandpa replied. “I’m afraid it’s even too deep for Grandpa’s fishing net in there, dinosaurs are silly creatures anyway, I don’t believe they even existed”. At that point Tom put his arms on top of the wall, leaned over and looked deep into the well, whispering his new wish under his breath.

Night soon fell and Tom was tucked into bed, “goodnight Tom” Rick called, “goodnight Rick” Tom called. Tom soon fell asleep in the stillness of the dark room, peaceful and relaxed.

‘Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud’ came a noise from outside. ‘What is that?’ Tom awoke with a start. He opened the curtain and was greeted by a large green eye on the other side of the window. Tom jumped back in surprise but continued to stare at the eye that was glaring curiously back at him. He then recognised the green bumpy skin around the creatures’ face, it was Rexy! He had been brought to life by the wishing well, but he was no longer a toy, he was a full grown life size dinosaur. Realising it was Rexy, Tom carefully tip-toed down the hall to the back door where he put on his jacket and trainers and silently opened the back door and entered the cold night air.

“Rexy” he called in a high pitched half whisper, “oh Reeexxxxy?” ‘Hmmm, he must be very shy’ thought Tom. Just then, he heard a noise coming from Grandpa’s shed. He walked over to it and shined his pocket torchlight ahead of him to see two huge scared green eyes staring back. “That’s where you’re hiding Rexy” Tom said. Shining the torch upwards he could see that the beast had only managed to fit his head inside the shed but the rest of his body was lying in a hill behind the now very flimsy shed.

Tom tried the shed door but it was locked, Rexy must have pushed his way through the back wall, so he wandered around the shed to find the bulk of the great beast laying in front of him, including a large clawed foot, the underside of which was facing towards him. ‘Perfect’ Tom thought, ‘I know what will make him move’. Tom walked up to Rexy’s great foot and started gently tickling his toes. A great shriek came from the shed, up from which Rexy’s head appeared wearing Grandpa’s shed roof as a hat. “Well nice to meet you Rexy” Tom called, “I’m the one that made a wish to bring you to life”. Rexy let out a relaxed snort and shook his head to get rid of the wooden hat.

Tom, now very worried that all of the crashing and banging of Rexy’s antics would wake the entire household, ran to the end of the garden to tempt Rexy away. “Rexy this way” he called. Rexy pulled his lumbering weight off of the ground and obediently followed Tom to the end of the driveway. “Rexy we need to get you to a safe place, follow me down this road, we can make our way to the woods, where the tall trees will cover you”.

Halfway down the road a set of bright headlights could be seen, there was nowhere for Rexy to hide, but Tom steadied him up on the side of the road and asked him to stay very, very still and then stuck a piece of paper to his neck. The car drove closer and ground to a halt for the passengers to behold the huge creature before them.

“My goodness Mr Pumpernickel have you ever seen such a realistic display”, a round lady wearing a purple outfit with a tall purple feather hat got out of the car and approached Rexy. Tom was hidden at the side of road, hoping not to be seen. In the glare of the car headlights, poor Rexy had nowhere to hide, but he did stand completely still as Tom had instructed. Mrs Pumpernickel walked up for a closer inspection and looked at the paper Tom had stuck to Rexy’s neck, “Oh Mr Pumpernickel, look it’s the grand opening of a dinosaur exhibition at the natural history museum. What a splendid advert!” However, Mrs Pumpernickel’s grand feather hat was tickling Rexy’s nose all the while she was reading the advert aloud to Mr Pumpernickel. Rexy tried not to move but the feathers were so fine and tickly he let out a roaring sneeze blowing Mrs Pumpernickel’s hat and handbag up the road. Deeply shocked, Mrs Pumpernickel slowly stepped backwards to the car, where Mr Pumpernickel had frozen with disbelief at the wheel. “DRIVE Mr Pumpernickel! Drive like you’ve never driven in your life” Mrs Pumpernickel instructed and off they went with a loud screech.

Tom came out of the shadows to calm poor Rexy down and they continued swiftly on their journey to the local woods. Once there, Tom sat down on a park swing for a rest, Rexy keen to play, tried to squeeze himself down the slide and then stood on the rotating play disc which instantly broke under his weight. “Come on Rexy before you do any more damage. You’ll be safer in the woods” said Tom. With that Rexy ran alongside Tom on the pathway into the woods and lowered his head. “Oh I see” Tom said “I’m slowing you down, you want me to get on?” Rexy nodded and puffed with joy. “Okay Rexy, I’m coming aboard” With that Tom leapt up onto Rexy’s shoulder and swung a leg either side of his neck. Rexy immediately sped up and shot straight into the woods, keeping a level head so not to bump Tom off. “What an amazing friend you are Rexy” said Tom who was enjoying his twilight ride on the back of a huge dinosaur.

After running through the woods both Tom and Rexy set down to rest until the sun rose at dawn. Tired after all the excitement, Tom quickly drifted off to sleep only to awake back in the room at his Grandparents’ house, as though his adventure had never happened. ‘How strange’ thought Tom, ‘perhaps I was dreaming?’ He jumped out of bed to look out of the window, only to see Grandpa’s shed was still in one piece. ‘It must have been a dream after all’ thought Tom, so he quickly jumped back into bed, only to hear something fall to the floor. Looking down by the side of the bed he saw his model Tyrannosaurus Rex “Rexy” lying on the carpet. ‘It did happen’ Tom smiled to himself, ‘it really did happen’.