Egg: Part 3

By Leafmuncher

The next day Leaf Muncher woke up early. She was used to waking up at the crack of dawn each day, normally she lived with her herd out in the open, and took the opportunity at the first light of dawn to go and graze on sweet ferns covered in dew, not in a building in Waterfall City. Last night, although she had gone to bed late and Parle and James had still been awake talking, after all they were not going to walk all the way back to Hadro Swamp in the morning. Excitement of what the day might bring fluttered through her heart as if someone had just tipped a bucket of cold water onto her head to get her to wake up. She looked around her; James and Parle were still sleeping. Quietly she got up and headed out of the room. For a moment she thought of making them breakfast, but she didn’t know her way around the kitchen and had no idea what James might want for breakfast. She was used to giving children their breakfasts but was not sure if older humans had the same thing. She decided that she would go for a short walk out the front. The feel of walls around her, although comfortable, was making her homesick, and she wanted to be out in the air again. Silently she pushed open the big front doors with her fore arms and felt relaxed as the cool morning air flowed in. She carefully shut the doors so as not to wake up her hosts before walking out into a deserted street. The cobbles, just like the grass would have been at home, were covered in tiny dew droplets.

They must still be asleep, she thought to herself as she looked up the barren walkways. She walked up one that led to a small town square, sure that someone must be awake this early. The hatchery Dinotopians must have to get up this early I bet, to turn all those eggs and to adjust the temperature, she thought.

She looked at the various doors on other Dinotopian houses, not many were as big as James and Parle’s. The larger saurians preferred to be out in the open rather than being behind the walls of a city, although there were large water troughs outside some houses for the odd traveling saurian. The town square was only a small one with a small statue of a Troodon holding a feathered quill in the middle. She tried to read the writing underneath but it was old and worn away. She turned to head back to the house. No longer were the cobbles damp, the morning sun had already dried them up. Perhaps Parle and James would be awake by now. Before she pushed open the doors again she admired again the carvings on the outside of the house. They were very intricate with Parasaurolophus crests mixing in with pond reeds and Corythosaurs dancing in the sun. She pushed open the big doors and was surprised to find James and Parle both up and awake.

James smiled “Did you have a nice walk?”

“I did thanks, I just went up to the town square and back,” replied Leaf Muncher.

“Breakfast is up!” yelled Parle from out the kitchen area.

Leaf Muncher chuckled “I see that Parle is having her turn in preparing meals now.”

James laughed, “Yes, it took some blackmailing but I got her to do it.”

Leaf Muncher wondered what blackmailing was but decided not to ask.

Parle soon appeared with a plate full of bacon and eggs in one hand and a basket of plants in the other. “There you go Leaf Muncher,” Parle said placing the basket down in front of her. “And here you go slave driver,” mocked Parle as she placed the plate in front of James. James just gave her a look then laughed. Parle went out then re-appeared again with her own basket of plants before they all settled to eat.

“Oh, last night Leaf Muncher, after you went to bed we thought we would give you a little memorabilia of Waterfall City,” announced James just popping the last bit of bacon into his mouth.

“Designed by me and hand crafted by James,” added Parle as James pulled something from behind his back and placed it in front of Leaf Muncher.

“Oh, that’s lovely! Thank you James, thank you Parle! I will never forget you both now I’ll have this to remind me!” cried Leaf Muncher. The object was a small statue of a young Iguanodon looking fondly down at an egg held in her front hands. It looked exactly like her, her grass green body color was exact, and her yellowy green underside and the darker green patches that ran down her back were perfect.

“That’s not all,” said Parle who handed her a small satchel, woven with vines that fitted the statue perfectly.

“There you go, now you can hold the egg as you travel with the satchel round you neck holding the statue,” laughed James.

“Thank you both so much, this is really great!” replied Leaf Muncher. The day was turning out extra better than expected.

Leaf Muncher, after saying sad farewells to Parle who had to leave to go to work, and with her new satchel on round her neck, the statue safely inside, set off with James towards the hatchery.

“After you pick up your egg I’ll walk you till the end of the caves, then I must go back to building those Skybax models,” said James, who was looking at his waterproof shoes he wore especially.

“Thanks James, for everything.”

Shinoba and Cassandra were already expecting them as they arrived at the hatchery. Simon had gone to his own home and was probably back at the launching site by now. James was under strict instructions to thank him for everything he’d done for her.

“Ah, Welcome! We have your egg wrapped up nice for the travel home,” said Shinoba as Cassandra placed a sort of backpack onto Leaf Muncher.

“You will be able to walk on all fours with this on,” said Cassandra, adjusting the straps.

The backpack was mainly a wooden box with air holes that contained the egg inside, which was safely wrapped up in mosses. It was fixed firmly onto her back by straps made out of strong vines that went around her neck, under her tail and under her forearms. It was quite comfortable in spite of the appearance. “There you go. Now the Dinotopians at the hatchery will know what to do with the egg when you arrive, go there first.”

“Breathe deep, seek peace Leaf Muncher, and let us know what’s in that egg when it hatches,” said Shinoba.

“Thank you, both of you. I’ll be sure to let you both know. Breath Deep, Seek Peace, good luck with all your hatchings!” said Leaf Muncher as her and James left.

The journey through the caves went all too quickly and Leaf Muncher soon found herself saying goodbye to James. “Thank you James, I’ll be sure to go visit you if I come back to Waterfall City. When the hatchling is old enough to walk this far I’ll bring him or her along to meet you and Parle,” said Leaf Muncher.

“I’m sure Parle will look forward to that, she loves hatchlings. And I will too. Breathe deep, Seek peace, Leaf Muncher. Au Revoir!” replied James.

“Breathe Deep, seek peace to you too James and also Bye bye!” Called Leaf Muncher as she left, heading into the forest.

It was a long and peaceful walk back. Along the way, Leaf Muncher pulled at leaves from trees as a quick snack, and she talked to her egg. She didn’t say anything in particular but just told it about how tasty pine nuts are, and how much it would enjoy eating them when it hatched. She told it of all the people that would also be its mother and father. She knew that she wasn’t really old enough to have her own hatchling, but she often minded other saurian hatchlings while the parents had a rest. And she knew that her friends like Sandclaw and Rosaline would be all too happy to hatchling sit once and awhile. Flat Tooth was her Iguanodon friend from the herd. He was one month older than her and a lot bigger because he was male. They were good firm friends and even though Flat Tooth wouldn’t admit it, he would probably relish in the idea of looking after a hatchling as much as she did. She laughed and told the egg of how when Flat Tooth and her were little they used to play hide and seek, and worry their mothers when they thought they were lost.

On her journey she passed a traveling caravan that was being pulled by an Apatosaurus on their way to Waterfall City. They stopped and asked if she wanted to join them for a morning tea break, so she did. She was getting a little hungry and was going to stop and graze for a while before continuing anyway. The travelers were very friendly and they listened with interest at her story, promising to tell it to other caravan travelers and pass it along. Leaf Muncher told them where she and her herd lived so they could come back another day and see what the hatchling turned out to be. Then she excused herself. It was time to move on again, and she thanked them for their kind hospitality and hoped that they got to Waterfall City safely.

It was in the afternoon when she finally reached the hatchery and was greeted by an excited group of workers. Rosaline was there, and Sandclaw, but along with them was Opo, a Corythosaur who was around the same age as Leaf Muncher only bigger, and Tront, a middle aged Chasmosaur who also helped out at the nursery as well.

“Leaf Muncher you look exhausted!” worried Rosaline who came over and undid the vines while Sandclaw carefully lifted the box off.

“I’m fine. I just need to stop walking for a little while,” she laughed.

“Let’s get this into some fresh mosses,” said Sandclaw, taking the box into the nursery.

They all followed her in, wanting to catch a glimpse of the new egg. Leaf Muncher still had the satchel around her neck when she turned to Opo. Opo was usually very talkative, but Tront had made Opo shush until she had had a good rest. “Did we get any new dolphinbacks in while I was away?”

“No, haven’t had any, and Tula found a new family and home and left today. She was very sad that she didn’t get to say goodbye to you, but once we explained where you were and what you were doing, she promised that she’d come back to visit you and the egg and say goodbye properly,” replied Opo.

“And how are you Tront?” asked Leaf Muncher turning to the smaller Chasmosaur by her side.

“I’m alright, haven’t come in much, like Opo said we haven’t had many dolphinbacks in lately. I came in today though, I’m anxious to get a look at this egg.”

Rosaline went and made Leaf Muncher lie down and rest while Sandclaw carefully opened up the box. Her Maiasaura hands were slightly more nimble than most hadrosaurs. Opo went and lay next to Leaf Muncher on one side, and Rosaline sat on the other side. Tront stood, while Sandclaw bought the egg down in the box, placing it on the floor for all to see and admire.

“Wow, that’s a big one,” exclaimed Opo.

“Not big enough to be a large sauropod though,” added Tront.

Rosaline gently lifted it up and examined it. Everyone watched as the nimble human hands turned the egg.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that looks like that before. Look at its shape; unless there is a new species of sauropod, it’s the wrong shape,” said Sandclaw admiring the egg.

“The color is very plain and dark, and the shell is unusually thick. But it seems very healthy,” said Rosaline placing the egg carefully back into its box. Sandclaw picked up the box and started to make the egg comfortable upon the small incubating table they had.

“Careful you don’t drop that Sandclaw, you’d never find it again on the floor, it could easily be mistaken as a light shadow amongst the floor bedding,” laughed Tront, but he soon fell silent under Opo’s gaze. Leaf Muncher had fallen asleep where she lay, with the satchel still around her neck.

Rosaline chuckled, “Come on let’s go, I’ll stay here with Leaf Muncher and make sure the humidity and temperature are fine. The rest of you may go back home now, there are no more jobs to do here.” Opo and Tront nodded with agreement then left. Sandclaw, being Rosalines age old saurian partner, stayed and rested next to Leaf Muncher, occasionally helping to turn the egg every three hours, or to bring in snacks for Rosaline and herself.

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