scene 1 〈a miracle in the museum〉
narrator: stephen, a teenager who loved painting, was standing in
front of the bones of a dinosaur.
stephen: （reading the sign on the front of the display）”tyranosaurs
rex ,from argentina, on special loan to the national museum of
natural science for one month”
（he took out his notebook and pencil.）what a strange name! but these
bones look beautiful. i just want to draw them!
（he began to draw, and he didn’t notice a woman was walking toward
him.）
woman: hi! mind if i look?
（stephen jumped in surprise and almost dropped his notebook.）
stephen: （feeling stupid）oh, sure. go ahead.
（he gave the notebook to the woman. she started thumbing past the
drawings.）
woman: wow! you draw really well! are you doing anything right now?
stephen: no. why?
（the woman didn’t answer. she tucked his notebook under her arm.）
woman: come along with me.
narrator: the woman said with such authority that stephen couldn’t
disagree. so, they went upstairs to the forbidden area that only
workers in the museum could go in.
（they walk to the right side of the stage.）
woman: what’s your name?
stephen: stephen. where are we going?
woman: nice to meet you stephen, my name is peg. i’m a student from
argentina. i study paleontology. my professor raf brought me here
because i speak english well.
stephen: （with excitement）paleontology? so do you… dig up bones?
peg: bingo! we are on loan with the bones you were drawing.（turning
left）
here we are, my professor’s office.
（a man was sitting at a desk , hunching over some books and boxes.
there were
more boxes on the either side of him. ）
peg: raf! look what i’ve found!
raf: eh? （without looking up）
peg: raf! i’ve found a boy who draws dinosaurs well!
raf: what? （he stood up suddenly. the chair he sat on fell down,
but he didn’t pay attention to it.）
peg: this is stephen, a talented drawer. stephen, this is professor
rafael de leon.
raf ＆ stephen: nice to meet you. （they shook hands.）
peg: raf, take a look at these drawings. （she handed him the
notebook.）
raf: ah, an artist. （he turned the pages.）a good artist…
（he turned a few pages and stood up, turning to stephen.） so,
my boy…what are you doing now? i have an illustration project i want
to start, but no one can help me…
stephen: （jumped with excitement）what a stroke of luck!!!
scene 2 〈an argument〉
（stephen and peg were walking .）
peg: how’s your work doing?
stephen: （smiling）great! the supplies that you gave me last week
are wonderful. they really help me a lot.
peg: it’s so nice to hear that. you do help us a lot…（she stopped
talking. instead of
her smile, she made arms crossed, looking directly to that where raf
was talking with two well-dressed men. they all looked tense.）
stephen: （with lower voice）oh-oh…
peg: (she walked to raf, standing on his right and taking a
protective stance.)
anything wrong?
man : （talking to peg with an oily voice）you must be professor
leon’s student. i’m
brian firth and this is paul taylor.（introducing his
partner）we are the owners of tibia maxima…
peg: (interrupted him and smiled coldly) ah yes, the bone
smugglers. i read about the police raid, where they found the stolen
dinosaur fossils…
brian firth: ( an embarrassed smile slowly filled his face while
paul taylor turned red with anger) eh, actually, we are running a
completely different operation, strictly legal.
peg: (smiled more coldly) legal? what a fa-a-ascinating idea! but
how?
brian firth: i’m so happy you asked. (reached into the breast
pocket of his expensive linen suit) here’s my card. we were just
trying to persuade professor de leon to supply us with a few pieces…
paul taylor: (slowly relaxing his angry face) we’re willing to pay
top dollars, of course.
raf: (sighed and shook his head) you want me to sell my country’s
national treasure
to private collectors, so they can decorate their fancy living
room . gentlemen,
as i have told you before, you and i are not on the same side
of the fence. i
only work with museums and people who seek to educate the
public.
paul taylor: a fine speech, professor, but i know you are running
out of money…
raf: money is of no concern to me. only science is my goal.
brian firth: we’ll pay you enough to cover six month’s digging.
you’ll be able to live in style and build a real research station…
peg: come on, raf. (she crumpled the business card and tossed it on
the floor.) we don’t have to listen to this.
brian firth: (smiled weirdly) then, goodbye, dear professor. you’ll
know that money is everything soon—i promise, soon. (they left.)
scene 3 〈the missing fossils〉
(ref and stephen were working. peg ran into the office breathlessly.
)
peg: （yelling）ref, i’ve got the new shipment of bones. but box 17
is lost!!!
ref: （he stood up suddenly. his face was white.）what? lost?
(peg nodded painfully, even couldn’t say a word.)
ref: oh, no!!! (he fell down on the floor horribly upset, almost in
tears.) that box
was my baby dinosaur: the complete immature patagonytus puerti!!! oh
no…
stephen: (slowly said) maybe…it was stolen!!!
peg: (shocked) you mean, those guys a few days ago…
narrator: ref and peg started to call their friends for help.
stephen found that he couldn’t draw anymore. so he left the museum.
but he didn’t really know where he was going until he found himself
standing in front of…
stephen: tibia maxima! this is the expensive store that the two
hateful men own…
but wait! (looked inspired) even an expensive store has a
delivery bay where goods load…
narrator: with heart pounding, stephen slipped into the dark
entrance and tried to find the box from argentina, but he couldn’t.
suddenly, he heard a voice from the open door leading to the main
store… (stephen crept up to the door and listened.)
woman a: oh, this one is lovely. where on earth did you get it?
brian firth: from argentina. (stephen listened more carefully.)
man a: (talking to the woman sweetly) if you like it, i’ll buy it
for you.
woman a: (happily) oh, it’s so sweet of you, darling! look what it
is named: “pa-ta-go-ny-tus puerti”! (stephen froze.) i guess i’ll
have the rest of my life learning how to say it!
narrator: after a while, the man and the woman decided to take the
fossils home a few days later. so firth and taylor held the box to
the delivery bay, laughing. (stephen hid himself behind some boxes.)
paul taylor: my, my, my. we’re going to be quite rich!
brian firth: we certainly are! this is a fine idea, my friend, a
fine idea!
(they put the box down and went out of the delivery bay.)
stephen: (he made sure that no one else was in the bay and crawled
out of those boxes, to the box from argentina. he looked at the lid
on the box.)
“professor rafael de leon. national museum of natural
science.” this is the lost box 17!
(he held the box and ran out of the bay carefully.)
narrator: when stephen came back to the museum, raf and peg were
sitting sad on the floor and didn’t say anything. stephen opened the
box and handed it to raf.
stephen: look what i found. (he said slightly.)
raf: (he unwrapped the paper on the skull dispiritedly, but soon an
amazing smile
stretched through his face. peg also looked at the bones
surprisingly.)
(he whispered.) “patagonytus puerti.”
scene 4 〈another miracle〉
narrator: time flies. it has been one month since stephen helped
raf and peg in the museum. today is the last day that raf and peg
stay in taiwan. they eat lunch in a fast-food restaurant.
raf: i spoke with our friends in argentina this morning. they are
very excited.
peg: (with happiness) why… (she turned to stephen, who was eating a
hamburger.)
hey, stephen, you’re awfully quiet. what’s wrong?
stephen: (looked sad) well, i’m just thinking about what i’m going
to do after you leave for argentina.
peg: oh, what? (slammed down her drink) raf, didn’t you ask him?
raf: (embarrassed) eh…i forgot… (peg looked angry.)
stephen: ah, excuse me. what are you talking about?
raf: sorry, stephen. i forgot to ask you: how would you like to
come to argentina
for a month to continue drawing for us?
stephen: (jumped to his feet) let’s do it!!!
the end
