It started after his first hatchlings had left the nest. The Nesting Grounds were lush and green, a far cry from the cruel desert that lay beyond the mountains. Like Aladar and Neera, some of the herd had settled down and had hatchlings of their own, though their numbers were still thin, and mating season came and went without any new arrivals from the outside. Without a large herd to keep it in check, the vegetation had grown dense and plentiful, and reminiscent of a time before the asteroid, before the world had ended, Aladar was able to eat himself into a stupor whenever he liked. And ‘whenever he liked’ was often.

There were no predators in the Nesting Grounds, so there was little need for vigorous exercise, and when his hatchlings left to find their own way in the world, there was no need for any at all.

One day Aladar awoke from his slumber to find Neera watching him. ‘Hey,’ he said. ‘Is everything okay?’

She smiled and said, ‘I’m just admiring the view.’

‘You like what do you see?’

‘Always have, jerkosaurus! Though, you’re starting to look a bit like poor Bruton,’ she said, poking his belly with a claw.

He laughed, ‘It must be all those carnotaurs I’ve been fighting off.’

‘More likely the snacking!’ she said, not unkindly.

‘You’re probably right. Do you think I need to ease off on the ferns?’

‘No of course not,’ she said. ‘You lead the herd now and you need to look the part.’

It was true that he had put on some weight; his haunches were thicker, and he carried some heft along his middle. He was looking more like Bruton now, perhaps even heftier, but Neera’s reassurance took any worry about his appearance off his mind.

Many months past, and when the rains came the landscape exploding with greenery. Most of the other members of the herd were overwhelmed by the near-endless food supply, and paced themselves accordingly, but Aladar, spurred on by Neera’s encouragement and the thought of looking more like a leader, stuffed himself senseless.

He quickly gained weight. His neck thickened, along with his tail and haunches, but they struggling to keep up with his belly. The heft around his middle rounded out and bulged at his sides and hung low to the ground. He was a far cry now from the young Iguanodon that had crossed the great wasteland with his family of lemurs on his back.

One morning Suri woke Aladar with some urgency. ‘What’s wrong Suri?’ he asked the little lemur.

‘There’s been a collapse in the cave, Url is trapped!’

‘Is he okay? Have you told Eema?’ Eema, a kindly older styracosaur, looked after Url for the most part, but recently he had taken to wandering far from her watchful eye.

‘Zini found him and he’s in there with him now and Url isn’t hurt, but we need someone big enough to clear the rubble. Plio says we should see if we can get him out before we speak to Eema, there’s no use worrying her if we don’t need to.’

‘Plio’s Right,’ said Aladar. ‘Take me to him and maybe we can get him out without Eema knowing.’

They arrived at the cave to find that Url had wandered into one of the smaller side-passages. He had started to explore the cave by himself over the past few weeks, and normally this was not an issue as his eyesight was keen in the dark and he usually stayed out of mischief. This time though, it seemed he had loosened some of the supporting wall of the passage with his thick hide, causing the ceiling to collapse behind him.

‘Hey, is anyone there?’ Aladar called down the passage. He was hoping that he could just dig his way through, but it looked like some large boulders had fallen in amongst the rubble.

‘Just Url and the Love Monkey!’ Zini responded. His voice was muffled, but Aladar could hear the excited snorts of Url; at least he was not hurt.

‘Just hold on, I’ll try to dig you out,’ said Aladar.

It took some work, but before long most of the rubble was clear and Aladar could see Zini and Url through gaps between the larger boulders. ‘The passage is narrower on your side,’ said Aladar. ‘If I push the boulders, they’ll get stuck. Url, can you push from your end?’

The little ankylosaur nodded and Aladar backed away. ‘Come on buddy, you can do this,’ Zini said to him with encouragement, and Url took a run at the boulders. His hard head rammed the rock, there was a rumble, and some of the boulders fell away, but part of the roof came down too, leaving more rubble in its place.

Once the dust had cleared Plio and Suri ran to rubble, ‘Zini, Url, are you okay?’

Some muffled coughing broke through, ‘Yeah, we’re fine but we probably shouldn’t do that again!’

Aladar sighed and worked at clearing the rubble from the floor again. As he cleared the last of it, one of the larger boulders shifted. He grabbed it and pulled, and it came free along with several others, leaving a large gap. ‘Yes!’ said Aladar. The little ankylosaur was only a short distance away now, and he could see them clearly. ‘See if you can fit through!’

Url ran excitedly into the gap, but his disc-shaped bony hide got stuck between the rocks. He panicked and forced himself backwards, nearly stepping on Zini who hopped out of the way. ‘Still need more room,’ Zini said.

‘It’s okay, let me come through and I’ll clear it from the other side,’ said Aladar.

‘Urm, I don’t know what to tell you, but you’re a bit heftier than the last time we were in here,’ said Zini.

‘I’ll be fine, I can do it.’

‘Maybe we should get someone a bit smaller…,’ Suri said.

Zini hopped up to Aladar. ‘Or you know, some one who goes easier on the snacks,’ he said, puffing out his cheeks for emphasis.

Plio hopped up onto his shoulders and rested a paw on his neck, ‘Aladar… Maybe we should get someone else. I love you, but you have gotten quite fat.’

Aladar snorted at the trio of lemurs, ‘What do you all know. I can do this!’

Plio sighed and jumped from his shoulders, and with that, he took a run at the gap. At first his momentum carried him, but his sides quickly brushed the rock, and then he was stuck. ‘Oh,’ he said.

Zini burst out laughing, ‘Told you!’

‘Aladar! Can you move?’ said Plio.

‘I think maybe, hummph,’ Aladar said as he tried back out.

‘No don’t,’ said Suri from behind, her voice muffled for Aladar and Zini. ‘You’re making more rocks fall down.’

‘Maybe I should go get Neera,’ said Plio from behind.

‘No!’ Aladar said, blushing. ‘Please don’t tell her. I think I can get through to Zini and Url.’

He tried to push himself forward with his legs, but the fat around his middle clumped up as he pushed forward, he was stuck fast. He reached out with his front paws and tried to find purchase on the passage wall and managed to get a firm grip in a crevasse on either side and pulled himself forward as best he could.

Slowly, he began to slip forward. Suddenly there was a rumble and the rocks shifted. For a moment the gap widened, and he fell forward, but as quickly as that happened the gap narrowed again, and the rocky wall of the passage squashed his middle tightly.

For a moment he didn’t dare breathe. Zini hopped towards him gingerly. ‘Easy now, you’re almost through but you don’t wanna bring the whole place down on top of us.’

Aladar carefully tried to push himself forward again but struggled to gain traction on the slippery ground. From behind he looked comical, his thick legs stretched out, trying to find purchase on the floor, his fat tail waving around and his belly stuck fast in the gap.

‘Aladar…’ said Plio. ‘Perhaps we should wait for Neera.’

But Aladar’s feet found grip and with a heave, he popped out of gap and landed face (or rather belly) first on the passage floor.

‘I knew you could do it buddy, never doubted you for a second!’ Zini laughed.

Aladar pushed himself to his feet, his legs felt like jelly. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘Let’s clear those rocks.’

From the other side of the passage moving the boulders was easy, and with a few passes it was all clear. Url looked up happily at Aladar and waddled his way out of the cave. On his way out of the cave they ran into Neera, who had Suri on her shoulder. ‘I heard there was trouble, is everyone okay?’ said Neera.

‘Oh, no trouble here, just clearing some rocks with old lover boy here,’ said Zini.

Aladar grinned sheepishly. ‘Yeah, no trouble here.’

Later, as the sun was setting, Neera lay with Aladar in the grass, her head resting on his paunch. ‘You know,’ she said. ‘Maybe you should ease of on the snacking, Aladar.’

Aladar blushed, ‘did Suri tell you what happened? Maybe I should ease off.’

Neera pulled Aladar closer and hugged his middle tightly, ‘Then again, we could just keep Url out of the caves. After all, maybe I like you like this.’

The end.