David's dinosaur.

David wanted to be a paleontologist and dig for dinosaur bones.

One afternoon he poked his spade deep into the sandbox in his backyard. He dug and dug and dug. He reached into the hole. He touched something smooth and hard. It was a ... bone!

David brushed sand from the bone. He placed the bone gently in his bucket, as his dinosaur book said to. do. He carried it into the kitchen, where his mother was putting a chicken into the oven to roast.

"Look, Mom, a dinosaur bone!" David said. "It might be a collarbone from an Oviraptor." David turned to page 97 in his book. "See?"

"You could be right," said Mom.

David showed the bone to his father. "It might even be a finger bone from a Tyrannosaurus rex." David turned to page 68 in his book. "See? Right there, Dad."

"Say, you might be right, David," said Dad.

David showed the bone to his brother, Allen.

"It looks like an old chicken bone," said Allen.

"It could be a leg bone from a Compsognathus ... the chicken-sized dinosaur." David shoved page 45 of his book under his brother's nose.

"Maybe, but it still looks like a chicken bone to me," said Allen.

After dinner David asked his mother, "May I pick through the bones of the chicken we had for dinner?"

"Yes, but wash your hands after you're done," said Mom.

The next day, David carried a shoebox to school.

"Do you have something to show us, David?" asked Mrs. Thomas.

"Yes," said David. He set the box on the science table. "I dug up a bone in my backyard."

The kids gathered around to see David's box. He held up the bone he had found.

"There are many different things this bone could be," said David. "First I thought it was a collarbone from an Oviraptor. He showed them page 97. "Or maybe a finger bone from a Tyrannosauarus rex." He flipped to page 68. "Then I thought this was a leg bone from a Compsognathus." He pointed to page 45. "It's not."

David reached into his box and pulled out another bone. He laid the bones on the science table. They looked almost exactly alike.

"I figured out it's just a chicken-leg bone," said David. "I guess I'm not going to be a paleontologist. I didn't find a dinosaur bone."

"David, a paleontologist finds lots of bones," said Mrs. Thomas. "Not all of them are dinosaur bones. The only way to find out what they are is to find out what they are not. That's exactly what you did."

David grinned. Mrs. Thomas was right. "Then I'm not going to be a paleontologist," he said. "I already am one!"