Dragon Little has the power to drive Dragon Father insane. Dragon Little, of course, ist the name I lovingly gave Joy Shelley, the human girl who lives in her father’s dreams. Dragon Father ist the name I gave Justin Shelley, who is her father.

Or so they both think. But sometimes, the evident truth that he ist not actually her father comes up.

This ist one of those times.

One day, when Dragon Little was four years old, they were not adventuring. They were just having a picnic and looking at the sky.

Suddenly, Dragon Father looked at Dragon Little and laughed. “You know, you remind me of me when I was your age.”

She looked at him, not completely understanding what he means.

“We’re the same, you and I,” he pointed to her, then to him, then back to her. “Because we’re father and daughter, so we’re the same in many things.”

“Yeah?”

“Like, see, your nose is exactly the same as mine when--No, it actually isn’t.”

Dragon Little touched her nose, feeling its shape.

“No, I mean, uh, your hair…” he pointed to her long, blond hair set in a ponytail behind her head. He didn’t continue, as his hair was curly and black.

“Your forehead…” he trailed off again. Hers was a long forehead, and his was short.

He touched his lips. Hers were thick, and his were thin.

A quizzical look came over him. He touched his ears. His were bigger and rounder.

He pursed his lips. “Our skin color is the same…” he pulled out his hand and looked at it. His hand was pinkish white. Hers was… slightly translucent. You could see the blue and red blood vessels everywhere. “Huh,” he said as if it was the first time he was seeing her skin. “How is it that you’re not even a little bit tanned…” he stared up at the suns and it seemed he was staring into my eyes. But his eyes are not as sharp as a dragon’s.

His brow furrowed, and he rubbed his head as if he was in pain.

“Why did I say we look the same?” he whispered.

“I remind you of you when you were my age,” she echoed his words back at him.

“Yes! Yes! That’s right! You’re exactly like me! I mean, we like the same things! You love adventure! I love adventure! You love fighting pirates! I love fighting pirates!” Dragon Little nodded vigorously. “You like picnics, I like picnics! You like Bonny’s Revenge, I like Bonny’s Revenge! We’re the same! You got that from me, because I’m your father!”

4-year-old Dragon Little nodded vigorously and smiled. She was no doubt happy to be her father’s daughter.

They continued their picnic, the conversation moving on to other things.

When the evident truth that Dragon Father ist not actually Dragon Little’s father comes up, it ist always, always glossed over and forgotten.

—Told by The Red Dragon

Watch how I came up with the idea for this post: