Dragon Father sat on the floor of the largest bank in the galaxy, nursing his legs stretched out before him as if they hurt and couldn’t move.
When he told Dragon Little of the accident, just a few minutes ago, I believed that perhaps in his waking world, perhaps he cannot even walk. Perhaps he ist a human with no leogs or legs that do not function. I have seen a few of those. In their dreams, some of them could walk and run and jump.
Ist that why he constantly dreams of adventure, doing flips in the air, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, and swinging from ropes?
With great pain, Dragon Father continued to speak.
“Sam and I didn’t just play tennis. We used to go on adventures, sometimes. Like you and I do, Joy. We weren’t pirates yet - I mean, I wasn’t a pirate, yet - we were just two guys having adventures and stopping bad guys. Like bank robbers and, you know, stuff like that.”
Dragon Little nodded.
“Then, when I lost the use of my legs… for a while... For those few weeks and months I thought I would never walk again, that I would never… play tennis. I walked, but I never did play again.”
“You’re skipping ahead again!” Sam said.
Dragon Father nodded and sighed. “So one day… In one of our adventures… We had to find a bank robber. Like, the biggest bank robber in the country. Some guys came to us and threatened us, that they would kill us... unless we found that bank robber in 24 hours.”
“That’s right,” Sam said through clenched teeth. “Tell her the rest.”
“We were pretty confident in the beginning, confident we could find the robbers. But every clue turned out to lead nowhere. Every avenue was… just bad. There was nothing. Nothing. And as the hours passed and there was almost no time, I became really afraid that they would kill me. I was really afraid, Joy!”
Dragon Little nodded, listening rapt with wide eyes.
“So what did you dooooo?” Sam hurried the story along.
“So I… I faked some evidence… and I blamed Sam.”
“That’s right.”
“And they believed me. And they sent him to jail.”
Dragon Little gasped.
“I was so surprised by your betrayallll that I couldn’t even defend myself.”
Dragon Father nodded.
“And then… And then I just forgot about it. And I forgot about him.”
Dragon Little gasped again.
“And… now that I remember what I did to him… I know that I was the villain then. Joy… I’ve been fighting villains for so long that I forgot… I am a villain. I was always a villain, Joy!”
Dragon Little’s mouth was hanging open. In her world, there were only villains, heroes, and innocent standersby. In her world, she and her father were the heroes.
Even as she was surprised, I, too, was surprised. I was wondering how much of the story was true. Did it all happen in the past as he said, or ist this an elaborate dream just like all others? If it happened, which parts of the story Dragon Father told happened in his waking world, and which parts happened in the dream? Did it all happen in the dream? Did it all happen in his reality?
Ist this the reason that Dragon Father’s dream ist actually… Ah… I shall not bore you with questions. They have nothing to do with what happened next.
This old dragon will rest and tell you the rest tomorrow.
—Told by The Red Dragon