Monthly Vignette: Dragon's Egg

By Charles Cartwright.

What's the Vignette this month?

Children see the world differently to adults. That’s what makes writing for children hard. In this vignette, Charles Cartwright takes us into the mind of a nine-year-old child. This vignette appeared in the 38th Challenge, which had as its theme “Dinosaurs”.

The current (76th) vignette challenge, which can be found HERE, is on the subject of The Last Labour Government.

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Dragon’s Egg.

Once upon a time there was a boy called Duncan and this is the story of his best ever birthday present. For his birthday, his mum baked him a big cake with a picture of a spaceship on the icing – with a big number 9 on the spaceship. That’s because it was his 9th birthday, of course. He liked spaceships. The year before, on his 8th birthday, his cake had had a castle on it. He liked castles too. And dinosaurs. And football. And aeroplanes.

Duncan wanted to be a policeman when he grew up. And a fireman. And a footballer. A policeman for some of the time and a fireman for some of the time and a footballer for some of the time too. And maybe a fighter pilot sometimes too.

But Duncan’s best ever birthday present had nothing to do with spaceships, or castles, or aeroplanes, or policemen, or firemen, or football.

Duncan’s best ever birthday present was from his Uncle Michiel and Auntie Anita. Uncle Michiel was an explorer like in Duncan’s adventure books. He went to jungles and mountains and deserts to search for ruins and other old things. Auntie Anita always went with him. She was a geologist. Duncan knew that a geologist is someone who knows all about rocks and stones and diamonds and rubies and quartz. When Duncan was little, he thought quartz should be spelled “kworts” but now that he was big, he knew how to spell it.

Sometimes Duncan wanted to be an explorer and a geologist too – at the same time as being a policeman and a fireman and a footballer.

Every time Uncle M and Auntie A – that’s what Duncan called them, except when he was talking to mum – every time they went exploring, they would send something special to Duncan for his next birthday or Christmas. Not postcards or toys but things like a map of an ancient city, or a carved stone from an old castle, or a piece of rock with bits of what looked like gold in it, or things like that. They sent things to his sisters too, and to his cousins, but that’s not important for this story.

Last year at Christmas they send Duncan a piece of rock like a ball cut in half with lots amd lots of tiny crystals inside it – blue and white and green. When he shone a torch at it in the dark, the light reflected all around his bedroom. Sometimes he did this at night when he was supposed to be asleep. He would pretend to be in a hidden cavern deep under the ground, searching for buried treasure.

Duncan always saved the presents from Uncle M and Auntie A to open last, after all his other presents. This time it was wrapped up in light blue paper with pictures of aeroplanes and clouds on it. He started taking the paper off carefully, because maybe he could stick it to his bedroom wall to play with his aeroplanes in front of it. Then his little sister wanted to help and she pulled at the paper and the paper tore and he pushed her away and she cried and then – well, it doesn’t matter what happened then. Let’s pretend that it didn’t happen. Duncan took the paper off. Inside was a box as big as a shoebox. There was a card on the top with a message written in it.

Happy 9th birthday Duncan!

We found this near some ruins here in South America. The outside is fragile – that means it can break easily – so be careful with it.

Love from Uncle Michiel and Auntie Anita.

Duncan opened the box – carefully. It was filled with straw and bits of paper and bits of torn cloth. He pushed these to the side – carefully – until he could see what it was in the middle. It looked like a big egg but not like a normal egg. It was about the size of an Easter egg – the ones with Smarties or chocolate buttons in. It wasn’t just one colour either. It was mostly a sort of bluey-greeney colour with yellow spots and stripes. And it was shiny. Really shiny. He could almost see his reflection in it, like a mirror.

There was a note beside it:

There are lots of these here, buried inside a hill here in the Andes Mountains. The local people call them dragons’ eggs. But you know, like we do, that dragons don’t exist. This one was dug out with some others which were all broken. Inside was just sandstone, made from the sand they were buried in millions of years ago. So this is not filled with crystals like the geode we sent you last year – don’t go breaking it open to check! We polished this one to make it really shiny for you. We hope you like it.

Love from Uncle M and Auntie A.

Duncan took his present out of the box – very carefully. It did look just like an Easter egg – round at one end and a bit more pointy at the other. And the shiny outside looked just like the coloured silver paper round a real Easter egg. But it was much heavier than any of the Easter eggs he had got for Easter – even heavier than the big, huge, massive family Easter egg they had all got from Grandma and Grandad.

Now that Duncan had opened his last present, it was time for the cake. Birthdays were the only days of the year when they were allowed cake in the morning. Duncan got a big slice – his slice had the top of the spaceship with the number 9 on it – specially for him. It was a chocolate and banana cake – his favourite.

After the cake, there was time for Duncan to play with his new presents. He had a new fire-engine which made real fire-engine noises, a spaceman jigsaw, a dinosaur book full of pictures of different kinds of dinosaurs, a build-your-own-marble-run kit, and lots of other exciting things.

But before he played with any of those, he took the dragon’s egg up to his bedroom – carefully – and put it on his windowsill. The sun was shining through the window and it sparled in the sunbeams – it made patterns of blue-green light on the ceiling. He decided that even if it was just a shiny stone, he would call it a dragon’s egg.

The rest of the day went just like any other birthday. Grandma and Grandad came to visit. So did his uncles and aunts – apart from Uncle M and Auntie A who were too far away. There was a party with his friends. There was more cake. There were party games. There was Duncan’s favourite fizzy drink – ginger beer, yummy – and lemonade and juice and lots of sweets.

Duncan was allowed to stay up for an hour past his bedtime that evening. So, when he went to bed he was very tired. But after his parents said goodnight and turned the light off, he could not get to sleep. Every time he was almost asleep, he would hear something. It was like a squeak mixed with a purr – a squeaky purr – or maybe a purry squeak. But when he got out of bed and turned the light on, he couldn’t hear it any more. He put the light out again and went back to bed. He could hear the sound again, but it was quieter now. He fell asleep and dreamed of flying a silver spaceship with a blue-green dragon flying beside him.

When Duncan woke up the sun was shining through the curtains. He opened them and saw the shiny dragon’s egg sparkling in the sunlight. He stroked it – carefully – and promised quietly to look after it for ever. The egg felt warm from being in the sun.

The same thing happened every night for the next few nights. Duncan would hear the squeaky purr and turn the light on. The purr would stop until he turned the light out again then it would start again, but quieter. Every night he dreamed of a blue-green dragon. Sometimes it was flying beside him, if he was in a spaceship or an aeroplane. If he dreamed of something on the ground, the dragon would be there too – sometimes flying just above him and sometimes on the ground beside him. Every morning after he got up, Duncan stroked the dragon’s egg – carefully – and promised to look after it for ever.

About a week later, Duncan got up as normal and went to the dragon’s egg. The sun was not shining because it was raining outside. But the egg was still sparkling. When he stroked it – carefully – it felt warm. Duncan thought this was a bit strange – not scary strange but exciting strange. He decided not to say anything to mum or dad. He didn’t want them to get worried and take the egg away.

In the afternoon, when Duncan got home from school, he looked at the dragon’s egg. It was still sparkling. When he touched it, it was still warm – even without any sun. He stroked it – carefully – and promised to look after it for ever.

That night Duncan dreamed he was flying beside the blue-green dragon. Not in an aeroplane or a spaceship but really flying, with the dragon beside him. As they flew together he could hear it purring to him – a sort of squeaky purr.

The next morning, Duncan got up as normal and went to the windowsill kust like he always did. But when he got there he got a fright. The dargon’s egg was cracked! He reached out to touch it, then snatched his hand away. It was moving!

Duncan watched in amazement as the egg rocked back and forth. He could hear the squeaky purring noise as it moved. Then the noise stopped and he could hear tapping. It sounded like someone with a little hammer inside the egg. Duncan thought that maybe there was a baby bird inside. He had read about how a baby bird would break out of its egg using its beak.

A piece of the egg suddenly broke off and fell on to the bathroom floor. Duncan jumped back in shock. Another piece broke off and he saw something poking through the hole. He leaned forward to get a better look. It looked a bit like the end of a bird’s beak, but longer. And it was red, like a dragon’s nose in the films.

The egg stopped moving and Duncan heard the squeaky purring sound again. Then that stopped and the tapping started again. All of a sudden the egg cracked in half – right down the middle – and something fell out of it on to the windowsill. But the windowsill was narrow – too narrow. There was not enough space for the bird-thing and its started to slip off the edge.

Duncan jumped forward and caught it before it could fall to the floor. He looked down at what he held in his hands. It was about the size of a crow. But it was definitely not a crow. It was not any kind of bird, even though its body was covered in blue-green feathers – which were a bit sticky and wet. There were feathers on its head too. There were no feathers on its wings though. The wings looked more like bat wings than like bird wings – except they were blue-green, just like the feathers.

Duncan knew exactly what it was. He had seen a picture of it in his new book – the dinosaur book he had got for his birthday. It was a p-ter-oh-saur. But this one was much smaller than the ones shown in the book – and much, much prettier. They were all brown or grey and had sharp teeth and looked scary. This one didn’t look scary at all.

Duncan put it on the windowsill – in the sun – and stroked its leathery head. It looked up at him and started purring – that strange squeaky purr that he had heard in his dreams.

Duncan had always wanted a pet for as long as he could remember. Every year when mum and dad asked him what he wanted for his birthday he asked for a kitten. He asked really, really nicely, lots and lots of times. But he never got one. He was a nice, polite boy and said thank you for all the presents he did get – but secretly he still wanted a pet.

Now Duncan had the pet he had always wanted. His very own dinosaur pet. And he knew they would have lots of fun together. Duncan and Dino, his very own pet dragon.Then Duncan heard his mum calling him downstairs for breakfast. He realised that this might be a problem. How do you tell your mum that you have a real, live dinosaur in your bedroom.

Duncan looked around for something to put Dino in. He saw the shoebox the egg had been in – still filled with straw and paper and cloth. He put Dino in it – carefully. He stroked Dino’s head gently and said he would be back soon. He closed his bedroom door carefully behind him and went downstairs.

All through breakfast, Duncan though about what he could do with Dino. Duncan was sure Dino must be hungry, but he didn’t even know what a little p-ter-oh-sor would eat. He waited until mum was out of the room helping his little sister brush her hair before school. Then he opened the fridge and took out some pieces of ham, a bit of cheese, some lettuce leaves, half a cucumber, a tub of yoghurt and a bottle of milk. He picked up two cherry tomatoes and an apple as well, then got a bowl and a big plate from the cupboard and went back up to his bedroom with everything balanced in his arms.

Dino was still in the box beside the window. Duncan put the food on the plate and poured some milk into the bowl, then put these beside the box. Dino sat up a bit and stretched its neck over the edge of the box to pick a bit of lettuce.

Duncan heard his dad calling him to get ready for school. He stroked Dino’s head – Dino squeaky-purred when Duncan did this – and said he would be back later. Then he closed his bedroom door carefully and went downstairs.

Normally Duncan really liked being at school because he liked learning things. But today he didn’t. The teacher told Duncan to pay attention three times during geography and twice during maths and during gym he even fell over the football. He could not think about anything else except Dino. He wanted to be at home with Dino.

When Duncan got home after school, he ran upstairs right away. Dino was still in the box. It was squeaky-purring and its eyes were closed. The ham and cheese were still on the plate. The yoghurt pot was tipped over on to the floor and some of the milk had splashed on the floor. There was what looked like sick in the milk too. Duncan remembered his dad telling him that milk wasn’t good for some animals – like the hedgehog which sometimes visited their garden – so he decided that maybe milk wasn’t good for Dino.

But Dino had eaten all of the lettuce and the cucumber and both tomatoes and all of the apple – even the core and the stalk. Duncan realised that Dino must be a vegetarian, like his friend Andrew’s mum and Mrs Taylor the school secretary.

After tea that evening, Duncan took another apple and a banana to his room. Dino ate them up completely – even the banana skin – then laid down and went to sleep again. Duncan did not think that his parents would like Dino, so he pushed the box gently under his bed to hide it. When he went to bed after getting washed and brushing his teeth, he could hear Dino quietly squeaky-purring in the box under him. That night he dreamed again that he was flying, not with a dragon but with Dino.

The next morning Duncan decided to take Dino to school with him, so that his parents wouldn’t find Dino while he was out. He wrapped Dino in one of his T-shirts – the one with a spaceship on it. Then he put this – carefully – into his school bag.

Whilst walking to school, Duncan could hear Dino squeaky-purring quietly in his bag but his dad did not say anything. His sister looked at him strangely a few times but did not say anything either.

Dino stayed asleep in Duncan’s bag at first. Duncan could hear the quiet squeaky-purr but no-one asked him about it. At break-time he took his bag and went all the way over to the other side of the playground, beside the trees. He opened the bag carefully and took out his T-shirt. Suddenly Dino popped out and squeaked at Duncan. Duncan knew that Dino must be hungry by now. He got an apple out of the bag – his mum always gave him fruit for break time – and gave it to Dino. Dino crouched on the ground, held the apple with the little claws on the front of its wings and started tearing bits off. Duncan could see little white teeth in Dino’s red beak.

Dino finished eating the apple – including the core and stalk – at the same time as the headmistress called all the children back into school. Duncan quickly wrapped Dino in the T-shirt and put it back in his bag and ran back across the playground. He was almost too late. He got on to the end of the queue for going in. The headmistress frowned at him and told him to be quicker next time.

The first lesson in the afternoon was history. They watched a video about the Vikings, which was really exciting. Suddenly Duncan felt something touch his ankle. He almost jumped out of his seat. He looked down and saw that Dino had got out of the bag. Duncan slid out of his chair and went under the desk. He picked Dino up and it back in his bag, on top of the T-shirt.

He managed to get back on to his seat without the teacher seeing. But someone saw him. Daphne, the girl who sat at the next table along. She saw him.

After school, Daphne ran up to Duncan. She said that she had seen that he had something alive in his bag. Was it a kitten? Was it a rabbit? Was it a bird? What was it?

Duncan could see his mum coming. He did not want her to hear what Daphne was talking about. So, he told Daphne that if she would just be quiet, he would show her another time.

Daphne immediately asked her dad if she could go to Duncan’s house tomorrow. He said that because that was Saturday then she could, if Duncan’s mum agreed. Duncan looked at his mum. He secretly hoped she would say no because he didn’t want to show Daphne so soon. But she said yes. She said that Daphne could come in the afternoon. She even said that Daphne could stay for tea too.

Duncan sulked all the way home. His mum asked him what was wrong and then got annoyed with him when he didn’t answer. When they got home, he ran straight upstairs to his bedroom and closed the door. He opened his bag. Dino jumped out straight away. Duncan took his T-shirt out of the bag. It was dirty and smelly. Dino had done poos in his T-shirt. Duncan wrinkled up his nose as he took the T-shirt to the bathroom. He washed it in the sink, just the way he had seen his dad wash his pyjamas when Duncan had been sick on them a few months ago. He hung the T-shirt on the radiator to dry.

In his room, Dino was running around sticking its beak into every little corner. It was flapping its wings and squeaking to itself. Duncan closed the door. He went downstairs to get an apple and a banana. When he went into his room again, Dino ran straight to him and grabbed the banana in its little teeth. Duncan giggled as he watched the little blue-green p-ter-oh-sor eat it.

At tea, Duncan said sorry to his mum for being sulky. He asked if he could play in the garden tomorrow. She said that if it wasn’t raining, that would be a good idea.

The sun was shining when Duncan woke up the next morning. He looked under the bed for Dino. The box was empty. He looked under his desk. Dino was not there. Then he looked in the cupboard. Dino was not there either. Then he looked in the wardrobe and chest of drawers – even though he knew Dino wasn’t big enough to open the wardrobe door or the drawers. He couldn’t find Dino.

Duncan wanted to cry. Then he heard a little squeak. He looked round. He still couldn’t see Dino. He heard another squeak. He looked up and saw Dino perched on the top of the bookcase. Right on top. Even higher than the top shelf with the books which Duncan wasn’t old enough to read yet.

After breakfast Duncan got another T-shirt – one with a fire engine on it. Dino had come down from the bookcase whilst Duncan was having breakfast. Duncan wrapped Dino in the T-shirt. He took it downstairs and into the garden. He put Dino inside his play-hut then went back to the kitchen. He got an apple, a banana, a peach, three cherry tomatoes and some more lettuce. In the hut, Duncan happily watched as Dino devoured all the food. It looked to Duncan like Dino was already much bigger than when it had hatched just a few days before. P-ter-oh-sors must grow very quickly, Duncan thought.

Daphne came round at about 1 o’clock, just after dinner. Duncan got another apple from the kitchen – his mum told him she was pleased he was eating lots of fruit. Daphne looked really excited. She said she’d seen something moving in his bag and she wanted to know what his new pet was.

Duncan told Daphne she had to promise not to tell her mum or dad or big sister or little brother or anyone else about his secret. Really promise. Not just a pretend promise but a real one. Daphne promised that she would never tell and if she did then he could cut off all her hair – she had long hair, all the way down to her waist – and paint her head green. Duncan laughed at that.

Duncan pushed open the play-hut door – it was a blue door made from the old shed which his dad had taken apart the year before. Dino looked up and squeaked happily when it saw Duncan with the apple.

Daphne just stared. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Duncan’s pet wasn’t a kitten or a bird. Not even a lizard like her cousin Calum had. It was a... thing. A thing with blue-green feathers and strange blue-green wings and a red beak and little blue eyes. Eating an apple. She didn’t know if she should be scared of it or not.

When Dino was finished eating – which didn’t take long – Duncan picked it up. They left the play-hut. Duncan’s house was at the edge of the village next to a farm. Dino perched on the fence at the bottom of the garden.

Duncan told Daphne what had happened. She didn’t believe him at first. He had to go and get a bit of the shiny shell and the note from Uncle M and Auntie A. Then she believed him.

She wanted to know if Dino was a boy or a girl. Duncan said he didn’t know and Daphne told him that it must be a girl because it was so pretty. Duncan wasn’t sure but he couldn’t think of a reason to disagree, so that was that: Dino was a girl p-ter-oh-sor.

Dino started squeaky-purring, pointing her beak upwards. Duncan and Daphne looked up an saw a skein of geese. They were coming in to land on the field. As they descended, Dino got more and more excited. Her squeaky-purring got louder and louder and she started jumping up and down on the fence.

Some of the geese must have heard Dino because they came waddling over to the fence. Dino spread her wings and sqeaky-purred hard at them. They honked back at her. Duncan watched in amazement as Dino jumped off the fence and glided to the ground beside them. Daphne wanted to know if Dino could really fly. Duncan said no. Then he remembered about Dino being on top of the bookcase and said maybe, he wasn’t sure.

They watched Dino and the geese. The big birds and the little p-ter-oh-sor were sniffing at each other and honking and squeaky-purring at each other. Then the rest of the geese further away started to honk loudly. The geese around Dino honked quietly at her then waddled away to join the gaggle. A few moments later they flew off, right over Duncan and Daphne and Dino. Dino squeaked and squeaked and squeaked but the geese didn’t come back. Daphne said she was sad because her new friends had flown away.

The next day Duncan took Dino into the garden again after church. The geese landed in the field again. Dino glided down into the field and this time more of the geese came across to sniff and honk at Dino, who sniffed and squeaky-purred back.

The same thing happened after school the next day, and the next, and the next. Daphne came round to visit again on Thursday. When the geese came over this time, Dino didn’t just glide down to meet them, but flew round them too. Duncan and Daphne were amazed. She flapped her wings and really flew.

Daphne wondered what would happen when it came time for the geese to fly away. Duncan didn’t know what she meant. Daphne told him that geese didn’t stay all year but flew away to live in the Arctic during the summer and that they would be leaving soon.

It rained all day the next day so Duncan could not go outside to play after school. He played with Dino in his room instead. Dino squeaky-purred happily as Duncan tickled her under her chin and fed her pieces of a mandarin which he had got from the kitchen.

Duncan was having so much fun that he did not notice that his mum had come in. She saw Dino and shrieked in surprise. She demand that Duncan tell her what Dino was, where she had come from, and what he was doing with her. Duncan tried to explain but his mum just kept saying that it looked dangerous and that Duncan should leave it alone and she would get his dad to deal with it.

Duncan’s dad wanted to know the same things. Where did Duncan get Dino? What was she? Had she hurt Duncan? How long had he had her? Duncan told his dad everything. He showed him the pieces of broken shell. He got a banana from the kitchen. His dad watched as Dino ate it all up – even the skin. Duncan told his dad that he would look after Dino properly. He told him that he would feed her and clean up her poos and make sure she had water to drink and do everything else that you need to do to look after a pet dinosaur.

Duncan’s dad nodded. He told Duncan that he was proud of him that he had done so well looking after Dino until now. He told Duncan that he understood that he wanted to keep Dino. But he told Duncan that he could not keep Dino. He asked Duncan what he would do if Dino grew to be as big as a dog or a horse. Duncan said it didn’t matter – he would still look after her. Duncan said that he was now an expert pet p-ter-oh-sor looker-after.

Duncan’s dad said it did matter. He said that Dino would have to go somewhere else. He said that he would find a good place for Dino to stay. He said she would be looked after properly. Duncan said that he could look after her. He said if she were taken away the other people would just want to poke at her and study her. Duncan’s dad said he was sorry but Duncan could not keep her.

Duncan cried himself to sleep that night. He dreamed that he was flying beside Dino but it turned into a bad dream when Dino flew away, leaving Duncan behind. He woke up crying again.

Then he heard the squeaky-purr from the big crate on his desk where his dad had put Dino. He got out of bed and went over to the crate. Dino looked up at him then climbed up the side of the crate using her wing-claws. She spread her wings. Duncan scratched her under her beak and she squeaky-purred even louder. Then she half-jumped, half-flew down into the crate again. She looked up at him and then laid down and closed her eyes. Duncan went back to bed and dreamed again of flying beside her.

Daphne came round the next day. They went out into the garden with Dino. The geese were back. They watched as Dino played with them again. Duncan told Daphne what his dad had said. She offered to look after Dino for him. But Duncan knew that her parents wouldn’t let her keep Dino either.

All of a sudden Daphne jumped up. Duncan asked her what was wrong. She pointed upwards. Duncan looked up. A skein of geese was flying overhead honking. In the distance was another skein. He looked at the geese in the field. Most of them were looking upwards too and honking.

Duncan suddenly had an idea. It was a strange idea and maybe a little scary too. But he thought it might be a good idea. He told Daphne and she grinned. She said that she thought that it was a good idea.

Duncan ran inside and got some mandarins. Daphne and he peeled one each and separated out all the segments. He showed a piece to Dino. She half-ran half-flew over to get it. But when she got to Duncan, he didn’t give it to her. Instead, he threw it up in the air just above her head. She stretched upwards, caught it and swallowed it – whole. Then he tossed another. She caught and ate that too. Daphne threw one a little to the side. Dino missed it and one of the geese ate it instead. Daphne threw another segment, a little higher. Dino jumped up, caught it and gobbled it down.

Duncan and Daphne took turns tossing mandarin segments, throwing each one just a little higher than the one before. Dino didn’t get them all – the geese realised there was free food and they snatched quite a few of them with their longer necks. But Dino did manage to get quite a few. For the later ones she actually flew upwards to get them. Duncan was sure now that his plan could work. Dino would be able to fly away. She could go with the geese when they flew away.

At church the next day, Duncan didn’t listen to any of what the minister said in the prayer. Instead, he prayed for something different. He prayed to God to help Dino to fly away safely. He asked God to tell the geese to look after Dino. He also asked God, if He wouldn’t mind too much, if maybe God could send Dino back to visit sometimes, if that wouldn’t be too much trouble, thank you very much. But God didn’t give any answer. Not even a sunbeam through the window. Duncan was very sad in the car going home.

That afternoon, Duncan took Dino out into the garden again. There was no sign of the geese. Duncan looked up into the sky and saw a big skein a long way away. He was sad. He was sure that he was too late. He thought that Dino would not be able to fly away with the geese. He thought that she would be taken away by someone who wouldn’t love her but would be mean to her. He sat down, put his head between his legs and cried.

He didn’t realise Daphne had come into the garden until she poked him in the side. He looked up and saw her pointing into the sky. A few geese had broken off from the big skein. Duncan and Daphne watched as they descended and landed in the field. They waddled over. Dino flew up from beside Duncan and flew over the fence. She landed beside the geese. There was a lot of sniffing. There was some honking and squeaky-purring. Then, one by one, the geese took off again. Dino was left alone on the ground.

Dino looked at Duncan. Duncan looked at Dino. Dino looked at the geese flying away. Duncan looked too. Dino spread her wings and jumped into the air. She flapped her wings – just once – and landed on his shoulder. It hurt a bit as she gripped him with her claws. She rubbed her beak on his cheek and squeaky-purred loudly. Then she launched herself off his shoulder. She flapped away, following her geese friends.

Duncan watched as Dino flew away. His blue-green dragon dinosaur friend disappeared into the sunset. He was happy that she was free but sad that she was going. But Duncan knew in his heart that he would see his friend again. Next winter. Maybe even on his birthday?

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