Dragon Father appeared on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge, the pirate ship he and Dragon Little live on.
He was in an extraordinarily happy mood. He ran to Dragon Little’s cabin, and woke up his 4-year-old daughter with “Rise and shine! Shine and rise! It’s time to have adventure in the sunrise!”
From my hiding place, my sharp dragon eyes could see through the window of Dragon Little’s cabin as she slowly turned to face him, her eyes scrunched together. “Huh?”
“Huh?” he mimicked her, a smile on his face.
“What did you do?”
Dragon Father clapped his hands together happily. “I rhymed! It’s a thing that I do! Just like I pee and I poo!”
Dragon Little turned around in her bed. “You don’t pee and poo. I pee and poo!”
I could not see Dragon Father’s face, but for a second he stopped. Then he clapped his hands together again. “Come on! Breakfast’s awaiting! And adventure’s… um… eh… what rhymes with awaiting?”
Dragon Little sighed and sat up, throwing the blanket to the side of the bed. As always, she was dressed in the clothes she wore during the day.
“We’re gonna do this all day! I’m on a rhyming roll! And… and… What rhymes with roll?”
She looked down at the gap between her shirt and her pants. “We need to go shopping, Dad.”
Suddenly Dragon Father’s mood changed. “Huh?”
“My shirt is getting too small. Look.” She stood up and showed him. “See?”
Dragon Father was no longer in a good mood. “Not shopping!”
“Look at me!”
I did not see his reaction, but Dragon Father was silent.
“It’s just short. It’s okay.”
“Last time you told me to force you to go shopping when I needed it!”
Dragon Father’s back slumped. “Ohhh… All right.” All the excitement had been knocked out of him. “Go outside,” he said as he exhaled. “Breakfast’s waiting.”
Dragon Little left her cabin for the deck. Behind her, I heard Dragon Father whisper. “This sucks. What rhymes with sucks? Nothing rhymes with sucks. That sucks. Goddamn shopping!”
He then straightened his back and joined his daughter on the deck.
Tomorrow I will tell you how pirates go shopping.
—Told by The Red Dragon