“Where are you taking us, Joy?” Dragon Father groaned as he sat up on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge and leaned on the railing. He still held his head to nurse it and took deep, slow breaths.
“I’m not Joy,” she yelled back from the helm, as she handled the wheel of their flying ship expertly. “I’m ‘Justin the Pirate’!”
“Ah, you’re Justin the Pirate. Right…”
“You’re Joy!”
“Ah, well, Joy is not feeling that good right now,” he moaned. “Where are you taking us?”
“We’re going to Mars, where we’ll fight the Martian Space Pirates and win!”
“Martian Space Pirates? Joy, they’re a tough group. You can’t take them alone.”
“I’m Justin the Pirate! You’re Joy!”
“Ah, right.”
“Don’t be such a lily-livered wuss, Joy!”
“What?” Dragon Father looked up in surprise. That was not a phrase Dragon Little or Dragon Father had used on each other.
“Don’t be a wuss, Joy! Get up!” she commanded. “We’re going on adventure, not vacation!”
Dragon Father collapsed on the deck, laughing.
“Dad! Don’t laugh.”
He forced himself to stop, exhaled, and sat up. “Sorry. I was thinking of something else. Joy - I mean, Justin the Pirate - I’m not feeling well enough to fight.”
Dragon Little left the wheel and walked up to her father. “Listen, Joy,” she spoke harshly at him. “You can’t feel bad now. You can feel bad later. Right now we have adventure.”
Dragon Father smiled at her and was fighting a laughter.
“Is that what I sound like?” he asked her.
“Right now you sound like a lily-livered wuss!”
Dragon Father fell on his stomach again, laughing.
“You can’t laugh now! You can laugh later! Right now we have adventure!”
Dragon Father stopped laughing, and put on a serious. “Right, Dad,” he said. “We have adventure! Let’s go!”
“Stand up, then! Straighten your clothes!”
He stood up and straightened his clothes.
“Reporting for adventure, Justin the Pirate!” he saluted.
“Good,” she nodded with authority. “Let’s get those pirates!”
Tomorrow I will tell you how their adventure continued with their roles reversed.
—Told by The Red Dragon