“Let’s see, let’s see, let’s see…” Dragon Father drawled slowly.
They were still sitting on the plank as Bonny’s Revenge rested calmly on the waveless ocean. Both of them were looking out. Dragon Little was sitting between Dragon Father’s legs, on the edge of the plank.
Both seemed happy to sit there and let Dragon Father find nicknames for Dragon Little. He had just realized he had never given her one, and for a reason that seemed to come from his waking world, he thought it was important to do so.
“Let’s see… I can’t find a shorter version of ‘Joy’, so… What do people call Joys?”
Dragon Little looked at him strangely, no doubt because she had never met another person or another Joy.
“I can’t think of anything. How about I invent something? How about…. Joyjoy?”
Dragon Little made a farting noise with her tongue.
“Yes, I’ll call you Joyjoy, and we’ll see how it feels.”
Dragon Little slapped her own forehead.
Dragon Father continued, “Hey, don’t do that Joyj…” and his mouth got stuck on the word. “Don’t do that, Joy….” he seemed to be unable to finish that sentence. He tried again… “Joyg—” And again “Joyyyyy—” but he didn’t seem to be able to do it, “yyyyyyyyyyy” he tried to finish that word.
“Hmmm…” he said. “Doesn’t roll off the tongue.”
“Ah-ha,” said Dragon Little confidently. “That’s because I’m called Joy not Joyjoy!”
“How about Josephine, just to annoy you?”
“What’s a Josephine?”
“That’s you now. Every morning I’ll wake you up and say, Good morning Jo—Jo—Jo—” his mouth got stuck again. “Joyyyyyyyyy...Sephine.”
Dragon Little stood up.”See? I toldja. My name’s Joy. You’re not going to find another name for me because I don’t have one. I’m Joy.”
Dragon Father smiled. “That’s not how names work.”
“Says you. My name’s Joy. But you… You look like a Joyjoy to me. Yes, I think I’ll start calling you Joyjoy.”
Dragon Father made a face.
Dragon Little put a leg on his shoulder and jumped above him to the land on the plank behind him. “Come here, Joyjoy, we gotta go on adventure!” She jumped to the deck. “Come on Joyjoy!”
Dragon Father buried his face in his hands and groaned. “Oh, no…”
—Told by The Red Dragon