Chi Chi found the button beside the pond. It was round, blue and bright enough to hold a tiny piece of sky.
“Treasure!” she cried.
Pip Duckling hurried over. “May I hold it?”
Chi Chi tucked it under her wing. “You might drop it.”
“I am standing on grass.”
“You might drop the grass.”
For three days Chi Chi carried the button everywhere. She polished it during breakfast, balanced it on her head and slept with it beneath a leaf. Whenever Pip came close, she folded both wings around it.
On the fourth day Pip stopped coming.
Chi Chi tried playing hide-and-find by herself. She hid the button beneath a pebble, counted to ten and found it immediately. The game was not improved by winning every time.
At the pond, she leaned over the water to admire its reflection.
Plip!
The button fell from her beak, flashed once and vanished into the muddy deep.
Chi Chi plunged her head under. She came up wearing weed. She tried again and came up with an old acorn cup.
“My treasure!” she wailed.
Pip heard her from across the reeds. Though he was still hurt, he waddled over.
“It fell near the flat stone,” Chi Chi said. “But I can’t reach the bottom.”
Pip took a breath and dived. His tail disappeared. Bubbles rose. Then he popped up with a snail on his head.
“Wrong round thing,” he said.
On the second dive he found a smooth blue pebble. On the third, his beak emerged holding the button.
Chi Chi hugged it, then saw Pip turning away.
“Wait.” She placed the button on his wet head. “You found it. You should have first turn.”
Pip tipped his head. The button slid down his beak and landed like a blue coin on his tongue. Both birds burst out laughing.
They spent the afternoon inventing better games. The button became a pirate jewel, a beetle’s dinner plate and the wheel of a walnut cart. When the cart rolled into the pond, Pip retrieved it before Chi Chi could squawk.
At sunset they made a little box beside the reeds. The button would live there, ready for either friend to borrow.
The next morning, Chi Chi found Pip waiting by the box.
“Treasure hunt?” he asked.
Chi Chi handed him the button. “You hide it. And please don’t hide the grass.”