Geppetto jumped awake from his bed as soon as his ears filled with the sound of furniture landing on the floor. The older man's pupils widened when one thought came to his head.
Was he being robbed right now by some unwary thieves who saw his carpentry as the right target for assault?
The carpenter's attention was caught by a strange and suspicious sound coming from his workshop. The sound of several high-pitched hiccups repeated after a few seconds.
Even if Geppetto himself was not an expert in these things, he guessed that this is not a sound belonging to human.
This insistent thought began to frighten and fill the old man with adrenaline. What if there was a big animal in his house that demolished all the work he made of wood?
The carpenter couldn't let it destroy all of his wooden figures, which he did so hard and for several hours with his sick hands. With those same limbs he had to take matters.
The old man had to protect his property.
Geppetto took a deep breath and gingerly moved away the blanket he was covered with. When a familiar cold wave passed over his nightshirt, the old person's legs landed on the wooden floor.
The carpenter shivered with fear, when the high-pitched sound imitating hiccups intensified into louder crying.
Geppetto with growing anxiety got up and took the closest object he could find to scare off the lurking intruder. In this case, a pillow, which the old man also made himself.
Geppetto walked nervously to the door and being right next to them, put his right hand in the direction of the handle.
The old man took a heavy and deep breath, while his fingers trembled, hesitating about doing it. Curiosity, however, came to light when the carpenter quickly opened it.
The carpenter glanced around his workshop in search of alleged intruder. He was surprised spotting nothing but a few scattered furniture.
Confused by this phenomenon, the old man took a few steps forward with distracted gaze in the front.
He gasped and stood frozen in place, seeing how something was moving and terribly wept on the floor, at which the carpenter made simple toys and other works.
"Good heavens..." Geppetto mumbled with shock, lifting the pillow high enough to make it touch his nose. "What in the world is this?"
The dark little creature in the shadow fell silent with a whisper heard in the area. When the intruder turned its head directly at Geppetto, it began to slowly crawl towards him. It terrified the older man very much, forcing him to step back.
It didn't work.
The little creature somehow managed to stand on the lower limbs in bipedal position to start moving more freely towards the carpenter.
Being paralyzed with fear, Geppetto watched the little monster stops moving with returning growl right at his feet.
The silence arrived and the old man himself raised his eyebrow, when instead of a sign of attack the predator slowly lifted its head up.
Was it trying and failing to recognize the victim and saw nothing or was it just friendly?
"D-daddy? Is that you?"
Wait... Geppetto scratched his head, not sure if he heard it correctly. Did this intruder just call him dad, or the old man just started going crazy and insane from loneliness?
To the luck of the carpenter, on the table was a candle with a lighter next to it.
Geppetto quickly lit a candle and lifted it gently above the head of the little shadow in front of him. The old man was overcome with surprise once again.
It was a small alligator made of wood, the toy that the carpenter had a shine to make before sleeping. The young reptile stayed on its small limbs with great effort and the tail made with wooden parts and rope swinging in both directions.
"P-Pinocchio?" the old man asked with stupor. "I-Is that you?"
The young wooden reptile was only shivering with cold and uncontrolably sneezed.
"D-daddy..." the little alligator stammered, catching his shoulders. "I-It's s-so cold here!"
Geppetto glanced to his left, when another cold wave marched across his body. It was then that he realized that he had not closed the window.
"My bad..." the old man slowly approached it and then closed. "I should remember about that more"
After this deed, the carpenter walked over to the little crocodile and knelt down in front. He spotted that despite the closed window, the young reptile still continued his motion after sensing a terrible whiff.
"You can't stay here in that position for the whole night..." the old man declared with a calm sight. "You'll sleep by my side"
Geppetto gently picked up the small wooden reptile and placed him on the shoulder and then patted him on the back. The young alligator grunted friendly after.
"Thank you poppa..."
The carpenter smiled. Even if he met Pinocchio a few minutes earlier, not including the time he built it, he would say he that being in good father's role wasn't that bad.
But those few minutes couldn't decide how good he was a father, because the only significant moment of his atypical descendant was the shaking with cold.
When Geppetto and his son entered the bedroom, the old man put the sleeping reptile puppet on the bed and covered him with a duvet.
When the older man was sure that his son had fallen asleep, he planted a kiss on the young alligator's forehead.
"Goodnight, Pinocchio..."
Geppetto also lay down on the bed and glanced for a moment at the miracle of nature that was his descendant. A small wooden reptile slept peacefully, breathing calmly from his nostrils and by the way, snoring quietly.
The old man smiled for one more time seeing this, but didn't enjoy the sight for too long, when he fell from fatigue himself.
Who would have thought that a wooden little reptile toy intended for a child would become a child by itself?
I think nobody.