Leo liked rainy days, because rainy days meant puddles. One gray afternoon, he splashed in every single one on the way home. Splish, splash, splosh! His boots were wet, his cheeks were pink, and he was very happy.
That night, Leo curled up on the couch with a warm blanket and a big yawn. He closed his eyes and began to pretend. In his pretend, there was a big round door, and it was open just a little bit.
"Let's look inside," said Leo.
He stepped through, and there it was. A cozy library, glowing with soft golden light. The shelves were tall and curvy. The floor was covered with a fluffy green rug.
"Hello," whispered a book.
"Hello," whispered another.
"Hello, hello, hello," whispered all the books, as softly as a breeze.
Leo smiled. "Hello, books," he whispered back.
Something big was sitting in the middle of the rug. It was a triceratops! She was the color of sage leaves, with three gentle horns and a round, kind face. She wore little round glasses on her nose.
"Hello, Leo," she said, in a slow, warm voice. "My name is Tilly. I am the librarian. I am so glad you came."
"Hello, Tilly," said Leo. "I like your horns."
"Thank you," said Tilly, and she gave a happy wiggle. "Would you like to see my favorite books?"
Leo nodded. Tilly led him past the shelves. Each book whispered a little hello as they went by. Then they came to a round table. On the table sat a big, shiny jar of star-shaped cookies.
"These are for story time," said Tilly. "I baked them this morning."
Leo looked at the cookies. Then he looked at the shelves. Little round faces were peeking out from the bottom shelf. They were baby dinosaurs, no bigger than kittens! There was a blue one, a yellow one, and a speckled one. They were all looking at the cookies.
Leo had one cookie in his hand. It was a very good cookie. He thought about it for a moment.
"Would you like some?" Leo asked the little ones.
The baby dinosaurs hopped out. "Yes, please!" they whispered.
Leo broke his cookie into pieces. He gave a piece to the blue one, a piece to the yellow one, and a piece to the speckled one. He kept the last piece for himself.
"Mmm," said the blue one.
"Mmm," said the yellow one.
"Mmm," said the speckled one.
Tilly clapped her three-horned hands together. "Oh, Leo! Look at all those happy tummies."
And then Tilly did something lovely. She opened the jar and gave a cookie to every little dinosaur. She gave one to Leo, too. And there were plenty left over.
"When we share," said Tilly softly, "there is always enough."
Leo smiled a big smile. His cookie tasted even better than before.
Then everyone sat on the fluffy green rug. Tilly opened a book about a little puddle that wanted to be a pond. The books whispered along, very softly. The baby dinosaurs leaned on Leo, one on each side. They were warm and cozy.
Tilly read slowly, and then more slowly. The golden light grew dim and sleepy. The words went soft and quiet. Leo's eyes felt heavy, heavy, heavy.
"Thank you, Tilly," Leo whispered. "Thank you, books."
"Goodnight, Leo," whispered the books. "Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight."
Leo felt the warm blanket around him. He was home on the couch, with his cozy pillow under his head. Soon he was carried to his own soft bed, and tucked in nice and snug. He could still taste a tiny bit of cookie. He felt warm all over.
Sharing made the whole day brighter.
Leo sighed a happy sigh, and he fell fast asleep.
馃寵 The End 馃寵
This story was written by AI for an example child named Leo, and it passed the same safety check every Tuck-In Tales story gets before it's sent.