Zurfina stepped away from the vehicle and Saba pulled away from the curb, stopping at the corner to check for oncoming traffic.  There were no other steam carriages on Bainbridge Clark Street, so he started to pull forward.  A sudden movement on his left prompted him to pull on the brake, and two massive creatures ran past, barely missing the front end of his car.  Two three ton iguanodons raced side by side north up the street, their relatively small front legs tucked in close as they relied on their large back legs to sprint at more than twenty five miles an hour.  They bumped into one another as they ran, and one huge tail smacked a small tree in a planter on the sidewalk, knocking it over.  Saba stood up from his seat.  It was only then that he saw the two dinosaurs had humans riding on their backs.

Sitting back down and releasing the break, Saba stamped his foot down on the forward accelerator and turned north, following the stampeding beasts.  The toppled tree was not the only damage left in their wake.  A lamppost had been bent.  Hopefully there was no gas leak.  A small flowerbed in the median had been trampled.  The speeding vehicle was faster than the running dinosaurs though and as the monsters reached First Avenue, he was right on their tails.  He pressed the horn producing an ah-oogah.

“Rein those animals in!” he shouted.

The dinosaurs did in fact have reins, though not bits and bridles as a horse would have had.  Never-the-less, the riders brought them to a quick halt.  Saba took the carriage out of gear and threw on the brake, then jumped down and ran forward.  He was careful to stay out of the way of the stamping feet and waving tails of the panting brutes.  On the back of the first dinosaur sat one of the Charmley twins, Saba couldn’t tell if it was Walter or Warden.  On the other dinosaur was Graham Dokkins.

“What the hell is this?” shouted Saba.

“Great, isn’t it?” said Graham, sliding down the iguanodon’s side to the ground.  “I invented the bridle myself.  Stinky is already used to it, but Molly’s still a bit testy.”

“You battered a lamppost!”

Graham looked off to the south.  “I didn’t hear an explosion.”

“Lucky
for you.”  Saba looked up at the Charmley boy.  “Get down here.”

“Come on Saba,” said Graham.

“Don’t you ‘come on’ me.  You’re under arrest.  How’s that?”

“There’s no law against riding a dinosaur in town.”

“Really?  Are you sure about that?”

“Yep.”

“How about destruction of public property?  How about contributing to the delinquency of a minor?”

“How about police brutality?” countered Graham.

“Oh, I’ll show you brutality.  Somebody could have been trampled to death.”

“We picked a quiet street,” said the boy.

“You keep your trap shut, Walter.”

“I’m Warden.”

“I don’t care which one you are.  Wait till I tell your mother.”

The boy’s face whitened.

“Your mother has long since given you up for a delinquent,” Saba told Graham.  “But I don’t think she would want to see you in jail.  It’s out of concern for her that I’m not running you in.  But you’re going to pay for any damage done.”

“Fine,” said Graham, unrepentant.

“Too right,” said Saba.  “Now walk these animals home.”

“I’m taking my animals home,” said Graham.  “But I’m going to speak to the City Council.  I’m going to get official permission to ride a dinosaur in town, and then you won’t have a thing to say.”

Graham turned around and collected the loose reins from his dinosaur and the one that Warden had been riding.  Then he led them around Saba and his steam carriage and down the street.  The two dinosaurs trotted along behind him as well-behaved as any domesticated beasts.  Warden looked at Saba for a moment, and then followed.  Saba walked forty feet up the road to the police call box that stood on its own shoulder-high post.  He pulled out his constable key and opened the red door, then began tapping the telegraph plunger inside, sending a message back to the station to inform them of the damaged street lamp.