Crinkly crisp packets and the spoon clinking against the bowl echoed through the quiet kitchen. Troy, a mop of brown hair sticking up at odd angles, shoveled another spoonful of Dino Crunch cereal into his mouth.
Normally, Saturday mornings were for cartoons and toast soldiers dipped in ketchup, but today, Aunt Matilda had surprised him with a new box.
"Dino Crunch?" Troy had peered at the box, a cartoon T-Rex flexing its plastic muscles across the front. "Sounds a bit... crunchy."
Aunt Matilda, her hair a whirlwind of silver curls, had winked. "Best cereal this side of the Mesozoic Era, my dear."
Troy, ever the adventurer (or at least, a kid who liked climbing trees and pretending they were pirate ships), dug in. The cereal wasn't bad, actually. Fruity and kind of tangy, with bits that actually looked like miniature dinosaur bones. Maybe dinosaurs weren't just giant lizards after all, maybe they were... fruity lizards?
Suddenly, the kitchen started to shimmer. The walls rippled like jelly, the floor lurched, and the spoon flew out of Troy's hand. He yelped, then squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for what felt like a rollercoaster gone haywire.
When he peeked open one eye, then the other, his jaw dropped. Gone were the mismatched cupboards and flowery wallpaper. Instead, giant ferns brushed against the window, and sunlight slanted through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground. A booming call echoed in the distance – it sounded vaguely like his aunt snoring after a particularly large Sunday roast, but definitely much, much louder.
Troy scrambled out of his chair, which, he realised with a jolt, was now made of what looked like petrified wood. He was in a forest, a proper prehistoric one, just like in the museum! Lush green leaves stretched as high as houses, and the air vibrated with strange chirps and screeches.
Then, lumbering through the undergrowth, came a sight that made Troy's eyes widen even more. A Stegosaurus. It was enormous, its bony plates glinting in the sunlight, its tail swishing from side to side like a giant pendulum.
Troy knew exactly what to do. He scrambled around, found a handful of Dino Crunch, and held it out towards the Stegosaurus. "Here you go, mister! Breakfast of champions!"
The Stegosaurus blinked, its small brain processing this strange sight. A tiny human, waving what looked suspiciously like a handful of pebbles? Then, something clicked. Food! The Stegosaurus lumbered closer, carefully lowered its head, and with a giant slurp, inhaled the entire handful of cereal.
Troy grinned. "See? I knew you'd like it!"
The Stegosaurus rumbled, a sound that shook the leaves overhead. Then, to Troy's delight, it nudged his hand with its snout, its tiny brain clearly registering this as a good thing.
The rest of the day was a whirlwind. Troy, armed with his Dino Crunch diplomacy, made friends with a grumpy Triceratops who couldn't quite reach the juiciest leaves on the highest branches (a strategically placed box soon sorted that out), and even managed to distract a rather toothy Velociraptor with a particularly crunchy dinosaur bone cereal piece.
By the time the sky began to glow orange and purple, Troy knew it was time to go. He sat down on a large, flat rock and munched on the last few pieces of cereal, a strange pang of longing for his kitchen chair and cartoons flickering on the telly filling him.
As he finished the last bite, the shimmering started again. The forest dissolved, replaced by the familiar sight of his kitchen. Aunt Matilda was staring at him, a worried frown on her face.
"There you are! I was beginning to think you'd fallen into the crisps packet machine!"
Troy scrambled to his feet, a goofy grin plastered on his face. "Aunt Matilda, guess what? Dinosaurs love Dino Crunch!"
Aunt Matilda blinked. "They do, do they?"
Troy launched into a whirlwind tale of giant lizards, grumpy herbivores, and even a close encounter with a rather toothy carnivore (glossing over the part about distracting it with cereal). Aunt Matilda listened, a slow smile spreading over her face.
Later that night, tucked up in bed, Troy looked out his window at the star-filled sky. Maybe dinosaurs weren't real anymore, but Troy knew one thing for sure – kindness, even the crunchy kind, could take you on the most tremendous adventures.