My dear Little friend Emily is no longer here to ask me questions about the UK Royal Family, if all Scottish animals are hairy, are people too and how do I pronounce  Edinburgh and why? All these things and many more have appeared on my mobile phone at odd hours of the night, and I will miss their visitations and the laughter they produced.  I have written a short story for her that is about her, and tells of the most adorable, talented and childlike person I have ever known, and yet never had the pleasure to meet in person.  Rawrrrrrr!

This is Emily, she is a Little Dinosaur.

Emily is a kind, thoughtful and pretty Dinosaur. She is also different from others.

Emily does not always understand what people mean when they say things, and sometimes she doesn’t know how some things work. Emily asks lots of questions becasue she is very clever.  One day she asked so many questions she couldn’t remember all the answers in the right order. Life as a Little Dinosaur was sometimes was very confusing.

Having friends was important to Emily but sometimes it was hard to find the right ones. She didn’t always know if the people wanted to be her friend because of her or because  she just looked like a cute Dinosaur.  When Emily really liked someone she would say, “Rawrrrrrrrrr,” to them. This was often very confusing because people didn’t know what ‘Rawrrrrrrr’ meant and they got scared.  This also confused Emily.

Emily had a best friend, Jasper. He was tall, strong and was always watching over her. Being a Giraffe made that job easier for Jasper.  They had been friends for ever and he knew what Emily was saying when even she didn’t!  Emily would play tricks on Jasper to get his attention and jump around, because that what Little Dinosaurs do.

One day Emily was very sad. She spoke to Jasper and told him that when ever she made made friends with someone new and really like them, they seem to run away.
“Why do they run away Emily?” Jasper asked.
“I don’t know. We talk, and laugh, and watch films, and share toys, and do all sorts of fun things,” she said.
Jasper wasn’t sure why people ran away from her, she was the cutiest Dinosaur he had ever known.

One day Jasper was watching Emily playing with a new friend.  She made Emily laugh a lot and understood all the things that Emily was trying work out.  All of a sudden the Little Dinosaur let out a massive ‘Rawrrrrrrrrrr!’  Jasper immeditely bent down his long neck and asked why she had just Rawrrrrrrrred at her new friend.  Emily was confused.
“What do you mean, I always Rawrrrrrrrrrrr at people I really like?”
Now it was Japer’s turn to be confused.
“But why  ‘Rawrrrrrrrrrr!’ in such a loud voice?”
Emily looked up at Jasper and with a big smile said, “Rawrrrrrrrrrr! means ‘I love you’ in Dinosaur language.”

From that day forward Emily would explain that ‘Rawrrrrrrrrrrr!’ was really ‘I love You’ in Dinosaur.  She told people why she Rawrrrrrr’d and had lots of friends who Rawrrrrrrrrrr’d back at her. This made Emily a very happy Little Dinosaur indeed.

Rawrrrrrrr means I love you, and always will.