On the forest trail, between thick tree trunks and soft moss, Pigúiça spotted something round and shiny on the ground. It was an egg. A big egg, the color of a peach, with little stars painted all over it.
She crouched down, curious, and touched her nose to the shell. It was cold. And inside, very softly, something went tok. Tok, tok.
“Fofuxo!” she called. “Someone's in here!” Fofuxo came over and listened with his ear against the egg. “You're right,” he said. “And they're cold. We need to warm it up.”
The two of them carried the egg, very slowly, to Mrs. Longneck's house. She looked, thought, and said, “It must belong to a traveling dinosaur. He left the egg in the nest on the trail and hasn't come back yet. This baby is almost ready to arrive.”
Pigúiça made a nest out of a blanket, a cushion, and a pile of soft leaves. She put the egg in the middle and lay down around it, snug and close, like a dog hugging a ball.
But she isn't very good at staying still. Five minutes later, she was already wriggling. Ten minutes later, she almost kicked the egg by accident. “Careful!” said Fofuxo. “Whoever takes care of someone little has to be slow and gentle.”
“Slow and gentle,” Pigúiça repeated. She took a deep breath, relaxed her paws, and went quiet. One cloud passed. Then another. She was learning to wait without hurrying.
Fofuxo took turns with her. Every hour, one of them stayed with the egg while the other napped a little. Night came, and the singing stone in the garden began to hum to the egg, hmmm, hmmm.
That was when the tok grew stronger. Tok, tok, TOK. And a tiny crack appeared in the shell, with a minuscule beak poking out.
“He's coming!” whispered Pigúiça, her eyes wide. Fofuxo came very close. The two of them held their breath.
Crack. The shell opened like a flower, and out came a baby dinosaur the color of a peach, so small it could fit in her paw. It had big, wet eyes and a tail that wagged out of control.
“Peep,” said the baby, very softly. Pigúiça felt her heart melt. “Hello, Pip,” she said. It was the first name that came to her, and it fit just right.
Pip was trembling. Pigúiça gently pulled him close to her tummy, where it was warm, and Fofuxo covered them both with the blanket. Pip let out a minuscule yawn, more beak than mouth.
“Tomorrow, Mrs. Longneck will help us find his family,” whispered Fofuxo. “But tonight he's with us.”
Pigúiça looked at that tiny little being, breathing in rhythm with her own breath. For the first time, she understood that taking care of someone sometimes means being very, very still. And that's how, nice and still, she fell asleep.
