Dragon Little, now only four years old, stood up and faced him. Then she twirled around as fast as she could and looked at her father.
She smiled. He smiled back.
“Now do that three, four, five times, as much as you can! And then try to keep standing straight!”
Dragon Little shrugged.
She spun around herself once, twice, three times… and at number six, she stopped, and immediately fell sideways on the metal prison floor.
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
“Ah! What did you do! What is thaaaaaat!” She opened her mouth and waved wind into her mouth. “Ahhhh! Ahhhh!”
“Oh, my god! Was that too spicy?” She was running and jumping from side to side on the ship and he was running after her.
“Ahhhhh!”
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
It was the second time in three years that Dragon Father had the idea of making Dragon Little, his little Joy, put on a dress. The first time, when she had been two years old, did not go well. I have told you of this earlier.
A dress appeared in Dragon Father’s hand while Dragon Little ate her breakfast.
“That does not look comfortable,” she said.
“It’s very comfortable,” he assured her.
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
“Dad, I want ice cream.”
“I’m not going to get you ice cream. We’re in the middle of an adventure.”
“I want ice cream! Just make ice cream appear!”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Joy. I can’t make things appear and disappear. And I will not stop the chase just to get you ice cream.”
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
It was only an hour after her father had disappeared. As always, when he vanished, most of the world went with him.
Most of the stars blinked out. The winds stopped. The cities in the clouds disappeared. The villains they had fought had all vanished with him. Only a few things remained: The ocean, Bonny’s Revenge, the moon, Mars, the two suns, and a few other stars and planets. And, of course, Dragon Little, who was only a 3 and a half year old girl at the time.
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
“Hey, Red!”
It was Dragon Little’s voice. The noise of my wings coming out of the ocean must have woken her.
I could see her small 3-year-old face look at me through her cabin’s window.
“Yes, my sweet Dragon Little?” I said softly. For, after all, since due to my circumstances I could not give birth, I liked to think this little human child as my own daughter.
“Come here,” she said.
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
“All right, little one. I will tell you a real story. It ist a story that happened to me once. Do you remember that I had captors? Captors who told me what to do and who beat me when I refused?”
Dragon Little nodded. She and her father freed me from them, after all, less than a year earlier. That ist how we had met.
“Well… There was a time when I had met a friend. Not a dragon friend, like me. And not a human friend, like you. But a friend. And I liked him very much. He promised he would rescue me. But of course that would be a very hard task.
“Then, one day, my captors found out about him. They caught him. And they ordered me - me! - to kill him with my fire.”
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
I carried Dragon Little on my head as we flew back to Bonny’s Revenge.
The pirate ship she lived on was resting on the ocean under the two suns, where we had left it. I came to a stop in the water right next it, careful not to case even a wave that would stir the ship.
I leaned my head forward and 3-year-old Dragon Little, the girl her father called Joy, walked across my nose, and leapt unto the deck.
“That was fun! Let’s do it again!” she said.
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
“Dragon Little… sometimes creatures or aliens you fight and die - sometimes those do come back.”
She turned around to look at me, her eyes crinkling. “They do come back?”
“Well… they can… not always.” If your father dreams that they do, I wanted to add. But she was not yet prepared to know she was living in a dream.
“Then why doesn’t Mary come back, Red?” she asked, and her voice was so innocent. I was sad to break some of that innocence. But it had to be done.
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
He came back a minute later, holding an ice cream cone as high as the mast on Bonny’s Revenge. Above it was a mountain of vanilla and chocolate ice cream.
“That’s the spirit,” I told him.
“Yaaaaaaiiiii!” Dragon Little jumped up and down.
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
I swooped up. “Whoa!” Dragon Little said, held tighter, and laughed.
I swooped down. “Yeee hawww!” Dragon Father shouted.
I spun and whirled and they laughed and laughed.
It was a magical feeling to fly free, to have anyone ride me of my own free will. It was sheer joy. And, perhaps, I forgot my own troubles a bit, too. I forgot to be worried that those I was running away from might one day find Dragon Father’s dream.
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
I swooped down on Bonny’s Revenge, my wings spread wide and coasting on the wind that ist only there when Dragon Father ist in the Dream.
It had been a while since I had flown, and it has been less than a year since I had been freed by Dragon Father and Dragon Little and could fly on my own.
We were not yet good friends, back when Dragon Little was only 3 years old, but I loved her deeply, and in my heart I called her ‘Dragon Little’ instead of Joy Shelley.
My heart leapt at coming out of my hiding place, at meeting Dragon Little and talking to her. I could not wait to ride together when she was older.
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
They both ran outside her cabin and onto the deck of Bonny’s Revenge.
“Ta-daaaah!” Dragon Father said, gesticulating at the mast.
But Mary wasn’t there, only the mast and an empty deck.
“Dad,” her voice was soft, “where is she?”
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
Dragon Father appeared on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge while Dragon Little was asleep. The universe above him and around him came to life. Wind was once more in the air, and stars twinkled in the sky.
He looked around, and suddenly smiled.
He walked to Dragon Little’s cabin. She was almost three years old at the time, and it has been only a few months since her nanny, Mary, died in a battle.
“You know, I didn’t have to call you Joy,” Dragon Father said once.
The two were on a snow planet, full of mountains and cold as it’s ever been for them. Dragon Father and Dragon Little waited behind a snow-covered rock for the Snow Pirates to return to their lair.
The cold ist probably what caused Dragon Father to think of what he was going to say next.
Four-and-a-half-year-old Dragon Little looked at him. “No?”
“No, I didn’t,” Dragon Father said in a serious tone. “I could have called you ‘Ah-choo!’”
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
Dragon Father jumped up and down on Bonny’s Revenge’s deck. “Okay, okay! I get it. We won’t do grown-up pirate curses. I’ll teach you age-appropriate curses!”
Dragon Father’s spirit was unusually uplifted. I must say that I enjoyed it, looking from afar. And 3-year-old Dragon Little did, too, although she probably had no idea what he was talking about.
“Okay. Ready? Instead of saying... a-hem… I’ll say ‘You tooshy-faced scumbag!’”
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
“Today I’m going to teach you to curse like a pirate, Joy!”
Dragon Father had recently appeared on the deck of Bonnie’s Revenge, woken Dragon Little from her bed, helped her brush her teeth and eat, and now declared what they were going to do today.
Three-old-old Dragon Little looked up at Dragon Father. “ ‘Curse?’”
“Yeah. It’s when you feel angry at someone and you… uh… curse.”
Dragon Little did not seem to get it. “Curse?”
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
“Let’s do a competition! Come on, let’s try.”
Dragon Father sighed. “If you really want to…”
“Starting now!” She shouted quickly, drew in a huge breath, and shut her mouth.
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]
Four-year-old Dragon Little woke up early, and having nothing to do took the pirate ship that ist her home for a joyride in the sky.
Bonnie’s Revenge flew into and out of the clouds as she yelled, “Yee-haw!” And “Ahooooy!” and even “Beware evildoers!”
After a while, Dragon Little left the helm, allowing the ship to sail slowly forward in a straight line. She looked around, probably looking for something else to do.
Her eyes came to rest on the suns.
My ears prickled as I sensed danger.
[Click on the title to read the entire post!]