Dragon Little and Dragon Father were seated around a fire. Beside them, handcuffed, was The Vulture Man, a villain they had captured after a particularly hard adventure.
They had eaten marshmallows on sticks above a fire, something Dragon Little had insisted on ever since Dragon Father had mentioned it. This time, he had relented. The Vulture Man had waited patiently while they enjoyed themselves.
Dragon Father stood up.
“All right. Time to go to Bonny’s Revenge, Joy, it’s getting late.”
Dragon Little kept eating her marshmallows slowly.
“Come on!”
Dragon Little took small bites out of the marshmallows and did not seem to hear him.
“Joy, you can eat on the ship just as well.”
Dragon Little shook her head. “I’m not finished.”
“You’re not finished, you can eat on the ship, we need to put The Vulture Man in prison,” Dragon Father spoke with less patience.
“I’m not finished.”
“All right. Listen. The day’s ending. I’m counting to five, and then you’re going. If you don’t go by five by yourself, I’ll just pick you up and hoist you on my back.”
Dragon Little continued to eat the marshmallows slowly.
“All right. One… Two… Vulture Man, get up!”
Vulture Man stood up. Dragon Little continued to eat without worry.
“Three… Four… Five! Let’s go, Joy!”
Dragon Little looked up, straight into his eyes, and said calmly, “That’s not the last number.”
Dragon Father tried to suppress a laugh and failed. “That’s not the last number?”
“That’s not the last number.”
“Okay, then. Until six. And… six! Let’s go.”
She shook her head. “That’s not the last number.”
“What’s the last number, then?”
“Twenty.”
“And at twenty you’ll go?”
She nodded.
“Okay. Seven… eight… nine… ten…” And he vanished. The Vulture Man also vanished.
Most of the world around her vanished, as happens often when Dragon Father wakes up from his dream.
The fire remained behind, as well as the marshmallows, and the path back to Bonny’s Revenge, which waited silently at the port nearby.
Dragon Little shrugged and continued to eat the marshmallows.
—Told by The Red Dragon