Dragon Little was two years old when I first heard her talk about a monster under the bed.
I was new to her father’s dream, having only arrived a few weeks ago, so if it had happened before, I would not know.
Dragon Father had disappeared when the bad guys were already defeated, as he did most of the time when she was that age. But he had also disappeared too early to tuck his daughter in.
Mary, still alive at the time, waited for the adventurers aboard Bonny’s Revenge. As usual, she asked Dragon Little about her adventure, got Dragon Little to take off her clothes and wear her pajamas, tell her a story, and tuck her in.
Once the story was told, Mary gave Dragon Little a kiss on the forehead.
“Good night, little one,” she said and softly stepped out of Dragon Little’ cabin and onto the deck of Bonny’s Revenge.
Fifteen minutes later, Dragon Little walked out in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes.
“What’s the matter, Joy?”
Dragon Little shrugged.
“You can’t fall asleep?”
Dragon Little shook her head.
“There’s a monster under my bed. It’s making too much noise.”
“Oh, lass,” Mary hugged her. “Did you have a bad dream?”
Dragon Little looked at her. “What’s that?”
“Everybody has bad dreams. Just… think good thoughts and go back to sleep, okay?”
Dragon Little nodded and returned to bed.
She came back to the deck after a few more minutes. “Mary, the monster’s making too much noise.”
“Dearie, there are no monsters…” she stopped, no doubt remembering that Dragon Little fights monsters on a daily basis. “Well, under the bed, dear. Everybody has bad dreams. Let’s take a look, okay?”
Dragon Little nodded.
They walked into the cabin, past my ability to see from my high vantage point, except through the window. But my sharp dragon ears heard well. “See, lassie, there’s no---Aaaaaah!”
Mary ran out of the cabin, panicked. Then she wanted to run back, but could not get herself to get back into the cabin. “Joy, Joy, get out! Get out now! Come on, now!”
Dragon Little came out, holding a giant spider as big as her head with two hands. She held it by one of its legs, making sure the body was hanging underneath and far enough away from her body. “Awww, it’s one of those baby giant water spiders we rescued!” she said, referring to an adventure last week. “Look!” she pushed it in Mary’s direction.
“Get it away from me!”
“It just wants to go home. You want to go home, right?” She turned it around to look at its eyes. “Yes, you do! Yes, you do!”
She walked up to the deck and threw it into the water. “Here you go!”
The baby giant water spider hit the water and began swimming away from Bonny’s Revenge.
“Okay. Now I’m ready to sleep,” she began heading towards her cabin. “It was just making SO much noise!”
Mary looked after her, still trembling.
Soon I heard Dragon Little’s breaths slow down as she fell asleep in her cabin.
—Told by The Red Dragon