Dragon Father appeared on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge the very next day. He appeared with a smile. He took a step forward, yelled “Joy!” and then his smile disappeared.
His head lowered in despair.
He sighed. “Oh, no…” he whispered.
He looked around, probably looking for Dragon Little.
When he didn’t see her, he walked towards her cabin, shaking his head the entire time.
As he did so, I realized that when he had appeared, he had probably not remembered the events that had happened just before he had woken up the previous day. During that half a second, his memory had returned, and now he was not happy about it.
He entered the cabin. I could not see anything that occurred between them through the window, but my sharp dragon ears heard everything.
“Oh, god,” he groaned. Then, with his regular, happy tone he said, “Wake up, Joy. Wake up.”
I heard Dragon Little stir. I heard her stretch. Then, immediately, “I need a new shirt, Dad!”
“No problem. It’s very sad what happened to it yesterday. I’ll get you the exact same shirt.”
“No! I want the other one!”
“You can’t have it.”
“I can have it!”
“You can’t have it, Joy!”
“I can have it! You don’t know!”
“I will not allow you to have one, Joy.”
“You will allow me!”
“I will not.”
“You will yes.”
“I will not.”
“You will yes.”
“I will not.”
“You will yes.”
“Joy!” he shouted suddenly. “I will not have you wear the clothes of a villain!”
Dragon Little immediately responded, “I will not dress like a villain! The villain will be dressed like me!”
“Will not!”
“Will yes!”
“Will not!”
“Will yes!”
And so the long morning began.
—Told by the Red Dragon