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.
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All in Age: 3
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.
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Dragon Little was excited to go into the store again. She was 3 years old this time.
“Joy. Do NOT touch anything,” Dragon Father warned her ahead of time.
“A-ha,” she nodded happily.
“No, no, you’re not hearing me,” he said again and slower. “Do not touch ANY of the weapons. Not those you like. Not those you don’t like. You don’t touch the shelves. You don’t touch the lights. You don’t touch the people. You. Touch. Nothing.”
“A-ha,” she nodded just as happily, eyes sparkling.
“A-ha,” he seemed to lack confidence in her words. “What did I just say?”
“Ah… Don’t touch… something?”
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Dragon Little’s laugh is infectious. It is a laugh that makes you want to laugh.
Every time I hear her laugh from my hiding place, I do my best to suppress the laughter that comes out of me. A laughing dragon is not… something that should be viewed.
This is a day I had to hold my laugh many times.
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I learned not to fear for a 2-year-old standing in front of a vicious villain.
His subconscious had given her a wooden sword that would defeat any villain once they have seen it.
It defeated many pirates, who just fell to their knees, crying, asking her not to use the Magic Sword of Ra.”
It defeated many robot villains, who would short out seeing her wooden sword.
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Dragon Little and Dragon Father faced off against the powerful Wizard of Woz.
This was their life: They would begin their day on Bonny’s Revenge, their flying pirate ship, and each time adventure would take them to fight another crazy villain. I have never seen so many false villains before I had arrived at Dragon Father’s dream. But his villains seem endless, and he ist always the hero, along with his daughter.
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One day, Dragon Father yelled at Dragon Little as loudly and as harshly as I had ever heard him.
She was being stubborn, as usual. And for some reason, Dragon Father lost his ability to stay calm.
Dragon Little stopped and looked at him. She was only three years old at the time.
Her chin wobbled, and it seemed as if she was about to cry .
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In the middle of battle, a flying monkey came down and swooped up Dragon Little, taking her away to the palace.
Dragon Father remained behind, on the deck of the ship, watching as his daughter was taken away.
“I’ll save you, Joy!” he yelled after her, even as he battled the monkeys with a sword in each hand. “I’m coming for you!”
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I have never heard a laugh like Dragon Little’s.
Dragon Little’s laugh rolls and rolls. It is as if the entire world is funny. It is as if whatever made her laugh is the funniest thing in the world.
Every time she laughs, her father laughs, too. Her laughter is catchy.
Her laughter makes even me want to laugh, even though she is a human and I am a dragon.
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“You stepped in elephant poo. Your shoe has elephant poo all over it. You’re going to take it off, take all of your clothes off, and get into the shower.”
“Uh uhhhhh,” she sung back.
“Joy,” he spoke with greater strength. I have been witness to her behavior for only a year, and I knew how impossible it was to convince her to do something she did not want to do.”It smells! You smell!”
“I like the smell!”
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“Dad, I want ice cream.”
“I’m not going to get you ice cream. We’re in the middle of an adventure.”
“I want ice cream! Just make ice cream appear!”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Joy. I can’t make things appear and disappear. And I will not stop the chase just to get you ice cream.”
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“Hey, Red!”
It was Dragon Little’s voice. The noise of my wings coming out of the ocean must have woken her.
I could see her small 3-year-old face look at me through her cabin’s window.
“Yes, my sweet Dragon Little?” I said softly. For, after all, since due to my circumstances I could not give birth, I liked to think this little human child as my own daughter.
“Come here,” she said.
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“All right, little one. I will tell you a real story. It ist a story that happened to me once. Do you remember that I had captors? Captors who told me what to do and who beat me when I refused?”
Dragon Little nodded. She and her father freed me from them, after all, less than a year earlier. That ist how we had met.
“Well… There was a time when I had met a friend. Not a dragon friend, like me. And not a human friend, like you. But a friend. And I liked him very much. He promised he would rescue me. But of course that would be a very hard task.
“Then, one day, my captors found out about him. They caught him. And they ordered me - me! - to kill him with my fire.”
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I carried Dragon Little on my head as we flew back to Bonny’s Revenge.
The pirate ship she lived on was resting on the ocean under the two suns, where we had left it. I came to a stop in the water right next it, careful not to case even a wave that would stir the ship.
I leaned my head forward and 3-year-old Dragon Little, the girl her father called Joy, walked across my nose, and leapt unto the deck.
“That was fun! Let’s do it again!” she said.
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“Dragon Little… sometimes creatures or aliens you fight and die - sometimes those do come back.”
She turned around to look at me, her eyes crinkling. “They do come back?”
“Well… they can… not always.” If your father dreams that they do, I wanted to add. But she was not yet prepared to know she was living in a dream.
“Then why doesn’t Mary come back, Red?” she asked, and her voice was so innocent. I was sad to break some of that innocence. But it had to be done.
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He came back a minute later, holding an ice cream cone as high as the mast on Bonny’s Revenge. Above it was a mountain of vanilla and chocolate ice cream.
“That’s the spirit,” I told him.
“Yaaaaaaiiiii!” Dragon Little jumped up and down.
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I swooped up. “Whoa!” Dragon Little said, held tighter, and laughed.
I swooped down. “Yeee hawww!” Dragon Father shouted.
I spun and whirled and they laughed and laughed.
It was a magical feeling to fly free, to have anyone ride me of my own free will. It was sheer joy. And, perhaps, I forgot my own troubles a bit, too. I forgot to be worried that those I was running away from might one day find Dragon Father’s dream.
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I swooped down on Bonny’s Revenge, my wings spread wide and coasting on the wind that ist only there when Dragon Father ist in the Dream.
It had been a while since I had flown, and it has been less than a year since I had been freed by Dragon Father and Dragon Little and could fly on my own.
We were not yet good friends, back when Dragon Little was only 3 years old, but I loved her deeply, and in my heart I called her ‘Dragon Little’ instead of Joy Shelley.
My heart leapt at coming out of my hiding place, at meeting Dragon Little and talking to her. I could not wait to ride together when she was older.
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They both ran outside her cabin and onto the deck of Bonny’s Revenge.
“Ta-daaaah!” Dragon Father said, gesticulating at the mast.
But Mary wasn’t there, only the mast and an empty deck.
“Dad,” her voice was soft, “where is she?”
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Dragon Father appeared on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge while Dragon Little was asleep. The universe above him and around him came to life. Wind was once more in the air, and stars twinkled in the sky.
He looked around, and suddenly smiled.
He walked to Dragon Little’s cabin. She was almost three years old at the time, and it has been only a few months since her nanny, Mary, died in a battle.
Dragon Father jumped up and down on Bonny’s Revenge’s deck. “Okay, okay! I get it. We won’t do grown-up pirate curses. I’ll teach you age-appropriate curses!”
Dragon Father’s spirit was unusually uplifted. I must say that I enjoyed it, looking from afar. And 3-year-old Dragon Little did, too, although she probably had no idea what he was talking about.
“Okay. Ready? Instead of saying... a-hem… I’ll say ‘You tooshy-faced scumbag!’”
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