The figure looked at Dragon Father, still on the ground, still holding his legs in pain. 

Dragon Little looked at Dragon Father, horrified at the last thing he had said. 

“Tell them,” said the figure. “Tell them who I am.” 

Dragon Father looked down at the ground for quite a while. 

Then, in a soft almost tear-filled voice, said, “Joy.. this happened before you were born. I was… uh… I was having adventures even back then. I used to… I used to play tennis. That was something I loved doing so much. I thought I’d be... “ he seemed like he was about to cry. But he continued, “I thought I’d be one of the country’s best… It doesn’t matter.”

I did not know what ‘tennis’ was and I am quite sure that neither did Dragon Little. But she didn’t interrupt. She let him talk.

“Sam here was my partner. We played together, trained together, but I was always better than him, and he was jealous.” 

“Let’s stick to you, okay?” the figure called Sam said. 

“Then, uh….” It was hard for him to speak. “Then I had this accident. A car hit me. And my two legs broke. And I knew I could never be as good in tennis again. Not even if I healed. Not even… Just never as good.”

Justin took a deep breath. ”My life was over. It was the only thing in my life and my life was over… until I became your father.” 

“Skipping ahead,” Sam said. “Don’t skip ahead!” 

Dragon Father shook his head. “I don’t want to tell this. She doesn’t need to know. It doesn’t matter.” 

“A girl needs to know who her father is. A girl needs to know how her father became a villain.” 

Dragon Little stood in front of Sam with a warning finger. “You shut up about my dad! He is Justin Shelley, pirate extraordinaire!” 

Dragon Father let out a small laugh and smiled. “Oh, Joy… I think I do have to tell you.” 

Oh. This strange dream of Dragon Father’s ist too emotional for me to tell, especially what he told next. I will take a break now, recuperate, and tell you the rest of his story tomorrow. 

—Told by The Red Dragon