“Did you think my idea to save us was good?”
“Yeah, it was awesome.”
“Uh huh. And the part before, where we had to run?”
“I told you. It was awesome.”
“Uh huh. What, particularly, was especially awesome for you?”
She shrugged. “Everything.”
“Did you think my idea to save us was good?”
“Yeah, it was awesome.”
“Uh huh. And the part before, where we had to run?”
“I told you. It was awesome.”
“Uh huh. What, particularly, was especially awesome for you?”
She shrugged. “Everything.”
The Kingdom had vanished behind them, but the trampoline staircase remained, and Dragon Little was standing on its edge.
She shrugged and made her way down, jumping and bouncing, whooping and laughing.
“I am in too much pain. I have to heal.”
“Don’t go, Red! Heal here!”
“I have to go,” I began to distance myself from my ship. “I’m sorry. I have to go.”
My heart beat faster. Joy! I thought. Joy Shelley! You can’t die so young!
Then I saw her turn around in the air, and begin to fire at the swarm chasing her.
I hit the water as if it was a brick floor. All I could think about was Joy, no longer ‘Dragon Little’. Now she was the girl I needed to save.
The wind was powerful enough to topple me on my back. Dragon Little was thrust at my neck. She caught on and held.
“I’m holding tight!” She shouted at me. “Fly! Fly us out of here! I can hold on!”
I shifted my weight and turned around enough to flap my wings and break through the high ceiling of the palace.
“Hold it, hold it!” Five and a half year old Dragon Little raised her hand. She was armed as usual with a laser pistol on one side of her belt and a sword on the other. “Before we start the battle, I have one question.”
“Yessssss?” the Lord of the Flies whispered menacingly.
“You guys have jokes, right?”
“Of coursssssssse…”
“Okay. Try this. Knock knock.”
“Red,” Dragon Little shouted over the wind. “Do dragons have jokes?”
“I am sad to say that all dragons are enslaved. They are not allowed to have fun,” I said.
“Okay.Then, I’ll teach you one!”
“Okay,” I smiled. I have been watching them from afar at all times. I have seen Dragon Little’s ‘jokes’. I knew what was coming.
“Yeee-haaaaaw!” Dragon Little yelled when I spun around and blasted another part of the swarm with fire.
“Go, Red, go!” Dragon Little yelled as, in the middle of battle, I swatted dozens of Flying Flies with my tail.
In two seconds, I stopped just above the water, my body and wings slightly bigger than their ship, my face mere centimeters from my two favorite people.
“How are you doing, my Dragon Little?” I asked and smiled.
Dragon Little’s smile was even greater. She jumped on my nose and hugged my head. “Red! Red! I missed you!”
“Come on,” he reached with his hand.
Dragon Little shook her head.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“It’s mine!” She held it close to her chest.
A laser pistol appeared in his hand. He gave it gently to Dragon Little.
“A gun! Yai!” She jumped up and down.
“That’s right. Every swashbuckling girl needs a gun. But… “
Dragon Little looked up immediate to meet his gaze. She looked at him defiant, and at the same time tears were forming in her eyes.
“I am not a villain!” she shouted at him.
“Do you want to play games?”
The Princess shook her head.
“Do you want to climb the mast?”
“I realllly want your dad to come back.”
“I can teach you to fly the ship.”
“I reeeeeeeaaaaallly want your dad to come back. When is he coming back?”
Princess Marianne leaned in and Dragon Father kissed her.
“Eeeewwwww!” Dragon Little’s loud scream of disgust caused her father and the princess to separate quickly. “What are you DOING?! Eeeewwww!”
I could have told them. But I knew I shouldn’t. The longer it takes for Dragon Little to learn where she lives, the longer it will take her to learn who she ist, and the longer she stays out of harm’s way.
Even during their adventure battling evil aliens, he would take pictures of the fight with one hand and fight the aliens with his other.
Dragon Little would stop every time and demand to see what the picture looked like.
The dust twirled in the air, as the breeze of old air flew to where old air flies and new air comes, my hiding place.
Dragon Little raised her head and looked. The cloud took on the shape of Mary’s head and hand. She smiled and waved down at her ward, Dragon Little.
“Look there! See the island?”
A small island appeared right next to Bonny’s Revenge. It was not much bigger than three Bonny’s Revenges, or my adult dragon body. It was circular and looked like a small hill in the middle of the ocean. It was filled with small, shoddy, unorganized graves. A small wooden cabin stood in the middle of the island, surrounded by graves.
“You know, Mary will always be here,” he touched her heart. “In our hearts. And here,” he tapped her temple, “in our memories. You remember her, right?”
Dragon Little nodded.
“And me, too. I will always remember her. And so will you.”