Dragon Little was stuck at the bottom of a giant forest where she was smaller than a grass blade. Far above the trees her home, the flying pirate ship called Bonny’s Revenge, floated without moving. That meant her father was not there. He had vanished.
But in a few hours, he would return. And since he always returned to the ship, she knew she had to be in a visible place when he reappeared.
Dragon Little found a tree the bark of which had the best surface for climbing: small grooves all over that were big enough for her to hold.
She put her hand in one, and her leg in another. “Okay, no problem,” she whispered and began to pull herself up.
“Arrrr!” She stopped to caress her back and ribs.
Apparently, they still hurt from her fall. When she checked her tiny four and a half year old body a few minutes ago, most of it was bruised and blue. Any move up would hurt her.
Nonetheless, she pulled herself up. “Arrrr! Okay, no problem. Arrr!”
And she would pull herself up more. “Arrr! No problem. Okay, no problem.”
And more and more.
She climbed slowly. Every move up hurt, and every move up became slower and slower.
She climbed for an hour and was not yet a quarter of the way up the tree.
She looked up and sighed.
And then she continued to climb.
Soon, as she climbed, her “Okay, no problem,” turned into “You suck!”
“Arrr! You suck!”
Then a sigh. then, “You suck! Arrrrrr!”
After more than four hours, she reached the top branches.
Slowly, she moved up the top branches, careful to maintain her balance and not fall. Within another hour she was on top of a leap on top of the highest branch on the tree.
I was so proud of her!
She lay on the leaf, exhausted, and waited.
After twenty minutes, she fell asleep.
A few hours more, and she woke up with a start.
She looked up at the ship. It was moving away! It was flying away from her!
“Dad! Dad!” She stood up and jumped up and down on the leaf.
But Bonny’s Revenge was quickly on the other side of the forest and sank into the forest itself.
Dragon Little made a face. “You suck!” she said.
—Told by The Red Dragon