It was a calm day. Dragon Father had taken Bonny’s Revenge up to space and kept it there. He did not seem eager to go on adventure and was content to just look at the stars.
Dragon Little was 3 years old and just as content to lie down on the deck and look up at the sparkling space.
Dragon Father leaned on the railing. “Joy, what do you want to do today?”
“Dunno,” she answered quickly and simply.
“Want to go on adventure?”
“Dunno.”
“Want to stay here and play?”
“Dunno.”
“Okay. We’ll stay here.”
Dragon Father turned his back to her and stared up for a few minutes. Then he said, “Joy, ever think what you want to do when you grow up?”
“I wanna be free,” Dragon Little said simply and automatically.
I do not know where this answer came from. She had a whole dream to play with every day. She had a ship that went everywhere. She had no knowledge that she was stuck in one dream. She had no knowledge of those who seek to find her on the outside. She had no knowledge of the billions of dreams that lay outside. She had no idea she was in a prison for one… for now. Why would she say that?
Dragon Father reacted calmly. He, after all, knew none of that either… as far as I knew. “Really?” he smiled, turning to look at her, still as calm as he was before. “Aren’t you free now?”
“No,” Dragon Little answered quickly and simply, again.
Dragon Father pursed his lips together, thought about it, then sat down next to her. “Okay. So we just stay here now?”
“Yes,” she answered simply and with conviction.
He lay down on the deck next to her and the two of them stared at the stars for a long time.
—Told by The Red Dragon