‘The Squashbuckler Diaries’ are the daily tales of Joy Shelley’s Life in the Dream. The ‘Lost in Dreams’ books will tell the story of what happens to her at ages 6, 9, 12, 15, and so on. The diaries tell us what happens before, after, and between the books.

#71: The Tall Grass

The grass was tall on this planet, and Dragon Little and Dragon Father did their best to sneak into the evil pirates’ base. The evil pirates, who were nameless in this specific Dragon Father dream, had taken over the planet and only Dragon Little and Dragon Father could save them. 

I call them dragons, but, of course, they are human. I just love Dragon Little so much, I wish I could have been her mother. 

The grass was tall, just a bit taller than Dragon Father. 

Dragon Father whispered to his daughter that he was going to put her on his shoulders so she could see over the grass. 

She nodded quickly and many times. 

He picked her up and put her on his shoulders. 

“Huh,” he said immediately after doing it, as if realizing something. 

“Dad, I can see their base. It’s near the mountains, that way.” She was four and a half and, since this is almost all they did in his dreams, well trained in defeating evil-doers. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he answered distractedly. “Hold on.” 

He raised her again, and put her on the ground. “Huh,” he said again. 

“What, Dad? Are you okay?” She was worried. Last week he was poisoned by a magician. 

“I didn’t get tired at all doing that,” he said. “I mean, I feel you’re heavy enough. But… My muscles didn’t get tired.” 

She looked at him, not understanding. He did not understand, either, for, in all the years I have watched over them, he did not realize he was dreaming. 

“Hold on. Let’s try something.”

He bent his knees low, keeping his back straight, and grabbed Dragon Little under her armpits. 

“Ready?” he asked. 

“Ready!” She did not ask ready for what. 

He stood up suddenly, throwing her as high in the air as he could. 

She squealed in joy, as she reached twice her father’s height and fell back into his arms. 

“Again! Again!”

“Yeah! I can do that again!” 

“Wheeeeee!”

And again: “Wheeeeeeeee!”

And again: “Aaaaaaaa-haaaaaa!”

And again. And again. 

And then a one-person spaceship approached. It was the pirates. They had noticed. 

“Uh-oh,” Dragon Father said. “We shouldn’t have done that. Ready?” He drew his sword. 

“Ready!” She did not ask ready for what and pulled out her own sword.

—Told by the Red Dragon


Want to see how I came up with the idea for this post? Check this out:

#72: Battle of the Eyes

#70: Yes Yes Yes!