Dragon Little and I asked Dragon Father to buy us ice cream cones at the amusement park.
We needed Dragon Father to get it, because it was his dream, and he was the only one who could create something where there was nothing before.
“No, no!” Dragon Little said. “Buy us ONE ice cream cone. Let’s share it!”
I smiled. Being with Dragon Little was so much fun! “Yes, one,” I said, hoping my booming voice did not bother anyone at the park.
Dragon Father nodded, and came back after a few seconds holding an ice cream cone.
I looked at it. It was the size of Dragon Little’s fist, and she was a 3 year old human girl. I was a dragon the size of their ship. My tongue was bigger than her father.
“I appreciate that, Dragon Father,” I said, “but I cannot eat it. Can you get a size fit for a dragon, and we’ll share that?”
Dragon Father nodded happily. I would like to think he enjoyed it that his little girl was having some fun with a friend. “Sure thing.”
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.
I sat on my hind quarters and held the cone with my short forearms.
Dragon Little looked up at me. “Now I can’t eat it!” she said simply.
“Let me fix that.” I reached down with one paw. She climbed atop it, and I brought herup to my face. She jumped off and sat at the end of my nose.
Now I brought the ice cream to my mouth, almost touching my nose. “Ready? One… two… three!”
We both licked the ice cream.
“It’s so good!” Dragon Little shouted.
“It is great!” I agreed. “Ready? One… two… three!” And we both licked it - I licked the bottom of the mountain of ice cream and she licked the top.
Dragon Little laughed.
I nodded. “One… two… three!”
We did it again. But in the pit of my stomach I knew that now was the time to talk to her about death. That was the reason that Dragon Father had summoned me. More than that, there were things she needed to hear so that she could cope with the dangers that awaited her outside her father’s dream.
But I will tell you what I told her and how she reacted… tomorrow. For now I want to enjoy the memory of that ice cream.
“One… two… three!”
—Told by The Red Dragon