Dancing Dragon

I sat in my room, no pet. Everyone I know has a pet, all my classmates, even everyone in my extended family. And yes, that does include Aunt Mary with 5 children and a pet. But me? Nothing, my parents are allergic to any animal thinkable, that is except for reptiles. I once tried to convince them to get an alligator for a pet. Someone in my class has a snake, but I am too scared to argue for that. All I want is a pet is that too much to ask? It’s not like I want a Unicorn. But little did I know, a unicorn was close to what I was going to get.

Have you ever sat on your bed and just wished with all your might something, extraordinary would happen to you? Well, that’s what it felt like sitting there, wanting a pet. Really an Alligator would do. Wishing is all I got that night though, and trust me, wishing was not a waste of time.

The next morning, I was walking to school when an egg fell right out of a nest, I play football, so I guess it was instinct to catch the egg, and I caught it just in time. I was planning to set the egg down on the ground carefully and wait for what ever mom was going to pick it up. But right then and there the egg hatched in my hands. I had no idea what to do, I was 11 and I was holding an egg while it hatched. A bird flew over my head and nested in the spot the egg had fallen from, but it didn’t come down for me to get the egg, it just sat in its nest. I looked back down at the egg and a little creature poked its head out. Its scaly head.

I almost dropped the egg, ok confession time? I did drop the egg. The egg fell to the ground and out of it popped a little scaly head connected to a body with wings. That’s right I said it, wings. The wings flapped and flapped keeping the little guy just above the ground until I held my hand out. He (or she) was small enough to fit in my pocket. And glimmery enough to be on a ring. It squirmed around in my hand, but it was warm and cozy. It sneezed, I saw it coming and held the little creature as far away from my face as possible, I squinted my eyes shut, then I opened them a touch. It sneezed, I was expecting it to be a pile of goo on my hand but instead it burned me I could see a little white spark and I pulled my hand back toward me. There was a bulging burn on it, and I covered my mouth with my other hand. It was then that I realized what exactly had hatched in my hand, it was a dragon.

I looked down at the little dragon, it was nestled into my hand. I rolled my eyes and carefully placed it into my pocket. I walked the rest of the way to school careful not to smoosh the little guy (again, or girl). When I finally arrived at school, I put him in my locker, don’t worry he didn’t suffocate. You know lockers have slots, right? He did however get a paper cut, which for something smaller than paper is worse than you think.

             At the end of the day, I came back to my locker to see the little guy (do I really need to say or girl again?) and I saw he had a big cut on his neck. I panicked. I put him in my pocket again and quickly slung my backpack over my shoulder and ran out of the building. I ran home and rushed to the bathroom I opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out a band-aid I wrapped it around his small neck.

             The next day I decided that I would leave my new acquaintance at home, my locker hadn’t been treating him so well. I left for school and my mom yelled when I opened the door, “Your leaving honey?” “Yup!” I said and left.

             When I came back from football practice I ran to my room where I had left the dragon. It had doubled in size. That’s right, doubled. It was now the size of a toddler; you know I take it back it had tripled in size or even quadrupled. I picked it up and snuck outside. I opened the door and looked both ways like I was crossing the street, luckily no one was there. I let out a sigh and walked out of my room. My dad was down stairs and I had to sneak past him and run outside to our backyard. He (I am going to stop after this because I am pretty sure it’s a boy but or she, ok?) was shimmering blue and green. I placed him on the ground. He took off in flight I smiled. Then I remembered playing with Mara, my friends’ dog. Mara’s owner isn’t on GLLFT (Girl’s little league football team) but we know each other from school. Anyways, when I went over to her house the other day we played with her dog and she told me to throw a stick and have it play fetch with me. I wondered if I could train Bob to do that (Bob is what I decided to name the dragon). I found a stick near-by and threw it. Bob flew after it and caught it in his mouth! He turned around but instead of bringing it back to me he set it on fire. I sighed and brought him inside, the next day was a Friday and I left him at home again.

             I came home from school on Friday and I found that Bob had grown again. Now, if you stood him up from his tail to his head, he would be just a tiny bit shorter than me. He was sleeping on my bed like a dog with his tail wrapped around his body. I wanted to bring him outside again but I knew this time it would be much harder. So, I left him in my room and left it shutting the door behind me. My mom was in her office so I walked over to the other side of the house and closed the door. She smiled at me and went back to her work. I walked downstairs and my dad was right there walking in front of the stairs. I walked the rest of the way down and turned to him, “What are you doing?”

“Just going to a meeting in a minute,” he said and walked to the kitchen where his computer was.

I ran up the stairs I had a minute or two to get out the door and into the backyard. I opened the door to my room fast, I looked at the bed and Bob wasn’t there. I ran to the other side of the room and looked over at the place I had been hiding Bob at night, it was a little part under my bed that you could only see from one side. There Bob was trying to fit into the little spot he had now grown out of. I could still pick him up so I did and I brought him down stairs, I could hear my dad starting his meeting.  I ran out the door and outside to my backyard. And let go of Bob. Bob the beast. I knew some tricks other than fetch so I thought of ways to change them. I knew you could make a dog sit so could you make a dragon float? What do dragons eat? Chicken? I think they are Carnivores or at least Omnivores. I went inside to warm up a snack, I made chicken nuggets and told my dad who was finishing getting on a different call I was eating it outside. I brought the chicken nuggets out and raised them above my head. Bob dived for them and I smiled. I didn’t know how to keep something out of the reach of a dragon but I tried as hard as I could. Bob swerved and ducked but I somehow managed to keep the chicken nuggets away from him, finally he calmed down and I raised one above my head. An idea struck me and I threw the nugget. Bob lunged into the air and caught it, he swallowed it whole and waited for more. A smile creeped across my face as I spun around and threw another nugget. Bob copied me spinning around. He spun and caught the nugget in his mouth again. I laughed, picked another nugget. I twirled around twice before chucking it into the air. This time Bob didn’t just copy me he spun and then summersaulted in the air! Then he sprang into action chomping the nugget just before it hit the ground. Then I realized, Bob was a dancing dragon.

             I had to find a new place to hide Bob. I had been outside with him for a while when I finally came in, before coming to dinner I snuck around the kitchen and left Bob in my room upstairs. My dad started screaming up the stairs for me to come down and I panicked, I couldn’t let my parents see Bob. I glanced at the clock and back at Bob I searched my room. That’s when I saw it. There was a huge hole behind my bookshelf, I could never get in there and had to be lying on the floor to even see it. The only way in was from above. The bookshelf was pretty tall, no one at least in my family, was as tall as it. But Bob could fly! I tried to signal to him to get behind the book shelf and my dad yelled again. My hands started to go numb, I wanted to keep Bob. The last thing that I felt in my hands was rough and slimy. My eyes widened; it was part of a chicken nugget. Bob had bit it out of my hand but I held on to a little bit, I never threw it away. Quickly, I aimed as best I could into a tiny spot and I threw the chicken nugget. It landed in the spot I wanted Bob to go! Now that was a shot I wanted to tell the GLLFT about.

             I ate dinner quickly; this is the best day ever! I had discovered a new hobby, figured out what my pet ate, and made the best throw of my life! Well at least it was the best day ever. I finished dinner and ran back upstairs, my parents were surprised but didn’t argue for me to stay and I felt like I was running to glory, but that is when I heard the scream. Even though I had never heard a noise escape his lips, I knew that scream was Bob’s. I rushed upstairs it felt like my ears popped, I could feel the blood draining from my face as I sped up my victory lap into a move before it’s too late kind of run. I finally reached my room after what felt like forever, luckily my parents didn’t seem to notice the scream.

             When I got to my room Bob was sprawled on the floor. He didn’t seem to be hurt. He actually seemed scared. As soon as he saw me, he jumped up and circled around me. He kept glancing at me and back at a window. I realized what he was scared of, he must have saw a bug in the window screen, a bunch got stuck in there all the time. I know, you heard me right. A massive dragon was scared of a bug. I rolled my eyes and sat down on my bed, Bob joined me and I laid my hand on his head. I tried to give him a comforting look and I think he smiled, don’t ask me. I walked over and put my hand out trying to signal him into his little cranny behind the shelf. He realized what I was doing and flew in. I went to sleep thinking about the great day I would have tomorrow, with Bob and Mara’s owner (I’ll continue to leave her nameless to respect her privacy) I mean what could go wrong, it was a Saturday after all.

             As soon as I woke up the next morning, I tapped the bookshelf and Bob jumped out from behind it. He seemed to have had a good night sleep. I brought him outside and I could do that easily since my parents weren’t awake yet. Before I brought him outside, I made bacon for breakfast and I had a lot left over. I brought my plate outside, and Bob seemed excited at the new treat he saw me carrying. I picked up a piece of Bacon nodded at Bob and broke a piece off, he lunged for the rest I was putting back on the plate but I held it high making clear I would keep it away. I threw the small piece of bacon into the air and put my hands out and faced sideways, I had my arms angled so that my left was lower and in front of the right and they made a perfect diagonal line, I held the position for a split second but Bob noticed. He copied, catching the bacon then going to the same spot I was and making the diagonal line with his body, which stilled and only his wings were moving, and they were just slowly flapping. I glanced down at my watch, it read 10:32. I looked back at Bob I had about 3 hours to keep practicing. 3 hours till Mara’s owner came.

             Me and Bob practiced dancing all day, when my parents were in the kitchen and came close to the windows Bob was ready to jump under the table. I had made him stay under that table during lunch and from time to time did the same to get more food. That dragon ate constantly all day. By 1:00 we had a whole dance routine which we practiced over and over again. I looked down at my watch, 1:22. We had 8 minutes and so I tossed a piece of chicken nugget in the air and we did our routine. Swirl, dive duck, and twirl. The it was time for the big finish, a back-to-back of the arm move I told you about earlier, I jumped into my position and that’s when I saw Mara’s owner staring at me and Bob.

             Mara’s owner stared at me speechless she watched Bob with a glowing glint in her eye. I could tell she immediately knew what Bob was when she saw her. Finally, Mara’s owner turned to me, she took a big gulp and she said what she was holding in with her shock.

“Valerie, you’ve got a dancing dragon.”