‘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.

#272: Backwards Day: Doing the Unthinkable

Dragon Father and Dragon Little made two more stops in their Backwards Day, each time giving pirates treasure rather than taking it back. Dragon Little, who first enjoyed the thought of having a backwards day, was liking the day less and less. 

“And now,” Dragon Father said, clapping his hands together excitedly. “We meet the villain.” 

“Yai!” 

“Let’s go,” he left the wheel of Bonny’s Revenge

“Where is he?” Dragon Little ran after him. 

“He’s in prison, of course!” Dragon Father said, getting closer to the stairs that lead to the Infinite Prison in the belly of the ship. 

“NO!” Dragon Little shouted loudly and stomped her foot. 

Dragon Father stopped and bent down to face her. “Joy, this is Backwards Day. We do everything backwards.” 

“NO!” she shouted.  “We are NOT freeing bad guys!”

Dragon Father stood up. “Trust the process, Joy. Trust the process.” 

“YOU trust the process! I HATE the process! The process SUCKS!” 

Dragon Father, who was already taking a few more steps towards the stairs, bent forward, laughing. 

He hid his laughter quickly and reached out with his hand to Dragon Little. “Come on. Let’s go together. Trust the process, Joy. It will be worth it in the end. I promise.” 

Dragon Little looked up at him, hesitating. 

“I promise that by the end of the day we’ll put him back in.” 

Dragon Little reluctantly gave him her hand. The two entered the stairs together and disappeared from my sight. 

My sharp dragon ears heard Dragon Little mumble, “This is Process Day! I hate Process Day!” 

Tomorrow I will tell you what happened next, as Backwards Day continued. 

—Told by The Red Dragon

#273: Backwards Day: The Fight

#271: Backwards Day: The Treasure