It was another long wait for Dragon Little and Dragon Father, as they waited for the Martian Space Pirates to return to their base. Dragon Father and Dragon Little huddled behind a cold rock next to an ice mountain.
Both were wearing coats, but their breath could be seen and Dragon Little was shivering from the cold.
Bonny’s Revenge waited for them in a cave within the mountain.
“Joy, do you want to be a Martian Space Pirate?” Dragon Father asked.
Dragon Little made a face of disgust. “No!”
“Do you want to be… a unicorn?”
Dragon Little shook her head. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Unicorns don’t have adventures.”
“Hmmm… Do you want to be… a dragon?!”
My ears perked up at this from my hiding place.
“Yesssss!” she almost shouted.
“Why?”
“Then I can fly and have adventures and play with Red all day!”
Dragon Father laughed. Then Dragon Little said, “Do you want to be a flying elephant?”
“Flying elephant? Huh… Sure.”
“Why?”
“Because then I can catch water in my trunk and spray it on you!”
She laughed.
“Do you want to be a flying elephant?”
“Yes!”
“Why?”
“Because I like to fly!”
Dragon Father laughed again, and Dragon Little exploded with another question, “Do you want to be a toenail?”
“A toenail? Ugh! No! Do you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to be stepped on all day! Do you want to be snot?”
“Gah! No way!” He was disgusted but also playing with her. “Do you want to be snot?”
“Just for a day. To see what it feels like.”
“Gah! Are you sure?”
“Just for a day.”
“Just for a day then it’s okay, then.”
“Dad, do you want to be the number three?”
“Three? Uh, no, I don’t think so.”
“I want to be a number!”
“Really? Why?”
“I want to be counted,” she said simply.
Dragon Father’s face straightened immediately and for two seconds he said nothing. “You want to be counted, like one, two, three?”
She nodded.
“So you just want to see what it’s like when someone counts you?”
She nodded.
“Huh.” He leaned back on the icy rock. “Huh,” he said again, his eyes staring into the distance. “That’s one for the books. I want to be counted.” Jeez.”
It took Dragon Father half a minute to recover, then he returned to their game. Half an hour later, the Martian Space Pirates arrived, and their adventure continued.
—Told by The Red Dragon