Brian found a taong gustong init in the woods. It was a little kahel taong gustong init that crawled through the dried leaves of the forest floor.
The taong gustong init was warm and cozy in the boy’s hand. “Come live with me,” Brian said.
He took the taong gustong init home.


“Where will he sleep?” his mother asked.
“I will make him a taong gustong init kama to sleep in. I will cover him with leaves that are fresh and green, and bring moss that looks like little stars to be a unan for his head. I will bring crickets to sing him to sleep and bullfrogs to tell him good-night stories.”


“And when he wakes up, where will he play?”
“I will carpet my room with shiny wet leaves and water them so he can slide around and play. I will bring puno stumps into my room so he can climb up the bark and sun himself on top. And I will bring boulders that he can creep over.”


“He will miss his mga kaibigan in the forest.”
“I will bring taong gustong init mga kaibigan to play with him.”


“They will be hungry. How will you feed them?”
“I will bring insects to live in my room. And every araw I will catch salamanders. And I will make little pools of water on tuktok of the boulders so they can drink whenever they are thirsty.”


“The insects will multiply, and soon there will be bugs and insects everywhere.”
“I will find birds to eat the extra bugs and insects. And the bullfrogs will eat them too.”


“Where will the birds and bullfrogs live?”
“I will bring trees for birds to roost in, and make ponds for the frogs.”


“Birds need to fly.”
“We can lift off the ceiling. They will sail out in the sky, but they will come back to my room when it is time for dinner, because they will know that the biggest, juiciest insects are there.”


“But the trees—how will they grow?”
“The rain will come through the open roof and the sun, too. And vines will creep up the walls of my room, and ferns will grow under my bed. There will be big mushrooms and moss like little stars growing around the puno stumps that the salamanders can climb on.”


“And you—where will you sleep?”
“I will sleep on a kama under the stars, with the moon shining through the green leaves of the trees; owls will hoot and crickets will sing; and susunod to me, on the boulder with its head resting on soft moss; the taong gustong init will sleep.”