The Shiny

Patricia was in a grumpy mood. Being the oldest of eight children did not always mean you got the best of everything. With their beloved mother fallen ill, and their dad away on business, Patricia was given the task of getting her younger siblings organised for school. Not to mention the seven lunches she had to pack and the seven sets of faces and teeth she had to check were cleaned! And to top it off, she had to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Sixteen was supposed to be a magic age of hanging with friends, skipping school and talking about boys. Not chasing after kids to get them all dressed, fed, clean and out the door in time for the school bus. It just wasn't fair!

Patty (as she liked to be called) surveyed the kitchen, which so happened to look like a war zone once the "troops" had their fill of food and drink! She was exhausted before she had even begun to clean up the pigsty that covered pretty much the whole entire bench space, and some! She almost felt like crying! It was all just a little too much!

"There! That oughta do it!" Patty surmised as she gazed at the now pristine kitchen she had spent an age cleaning. Feeling quite proud of her morning achievements, she headed upstairs to check in on her mum carefully balancing a bowl of soup, toast and her mum's favourite English breakfast tea.

Finding her mother awake and looking a little rosier in the cheeks, brought a smile to Patty's face. Of course she was glad her mum was getting better with each day, but it was the thought of gaining her "freedom" to do whatever she wanted to that really filled her heart with glee.

That moment of joy was short-lived when her mamma cried out for the bucket beside her bed, as she tried to choke back the vomit rising in her throat. Patty almost shrieked in disgust as her hand holding the bucket was splashed with last night's dinner, chunky corn chowder if you please! So now this meant she was on nursing duties as well! Just great!

Once Patty had cleaned up the vomit bucket and scrubbed her hand until it was raw, she gently propped pillows behind her mamma's head and placed the tray over her lap so she could try to eat a little soup and sip her tea comfortably. It didn't look like Patty would be going to school let alone anywhere else. Not while her mom was still ill.

Just as Patty sat down to enjoy a freshly made cup of cocoa with melting marshmallows in the peaceful confines of her daddy's office, when the phone rang loudly almost causing her to jump out of her skin! Her moment of silence shattered, she picked up the handset placed it against her ear speaking the word "Hello?"

"Hello Patricia, is that you dear? It's me, Mrs Wilkins from school. I'm just calling to see if you will be coming into class today as you were marked absent for roll call and your younger siblings told me your mother is feeling poorly".

"Oh right! Sorry Mrs Wilkins, I totally forgot to call as I had so much to get done, with mum being sick and all. I have only just sat down to be honest".

"Oh dear, you poor thing! That's quite alright. I will mark you as absent for "family reasons" and that should suffice".

"Thank you Mrs Wilkins. I am not sure when I can return back to class. Mum threw up again this morning. And just when I thought she looked a lot better with colour back in her cheeks!"

"Hmmm, I see, yes that is cause for concern. I will see what I can do to help make sure you do not fall too far behind your studies. Perhaps I could arrange some work books to be completed from home. Of course when you get the time too!"

"Um...Okay, sure thing Mrs Wilkins! I better go now, I need to see if my mum managed to eat her soup, bye!"

"Oh yes of course! I will send the booklets home with your brother Martin. Bye Patricia! And do tell your mom that I enquired about her!"

"Will do Mrs Wilkins! Bye!"

Hanging up the phone, Patty slumped back into the cosy armchair her dad often sat in while he read from his extensive collection of rare and unusual books he had accumulated from his travels abroad. It was in that moment that she felt a renewed appreciation for all that her mother did for her family. Patty made a promise to herself that from now on, she would make more of an effort to help out her mother whenever she could.

Spying the thick bed of dust on her father’s desk, Patty decided to start by cleaning all surfaces in her dad’s office. A chore her mother had been meaning to do before she became ill. This would require rubber gloves, some Mr Sheen polishing product and a whole lot of CHUX cloths to wipe every service clean. Of course, no job would be complete without some motivation music to help get into the swing of things. Patty even managed to surprise herself when she lifted up all objects to dust underneath not around them like she would have one in the past. She was really keen to impress her mamma!

Patty had really outdone herself! She beamed with pride as she surveyed the now very clean and shiny surfaces, once covered in blankets of dust. That was when something caught her eye. Something she had not noticed while she had been focused on the task at hand. It appeared to be a round button-sized glowing object that pulsated as though it were alive. It had been hidden in one of her dad’s books in his mystical, supernatural collection. Patty must have somehow loosened it from inside the pages as she pulled each book out to give them a polish, being leather bound and all they did seem to gather quite a bit of dust!

“Patty-cakes! I need you!” Patty’s mother called out just as she was about to reach for the shiny thing that seemed to be calling to her to touch it. To feel its magical powers.

Racing upstairs in response to her mother’s cries. Patty was greeted with the sight of her mamma all tangled in the bedsheets and looking rather distressed! Patty carefully untangled the bedsheets, freeing her mother from its folds. The bedside clock said it was 1:35pm which meant Patty had lost several hours while she had been staring at “The Shiny” she had discovered during her cleaning spree earlier that morning. That would account for her stomach growling at her for food!

Fixing herself and her mamma a light salad sandwich and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, Patty contemplated how she was going to approach the subject of “The Shiny” with her mum. Perhaps, given the circumstances, it might be best to wait until her Dad returned from his business trip. After all, The Shiny had been embedded in one of his books. So this could mean that he was well aware of it and what it does.

Patty’s peace was about to be shattered, as her younger siblings arrived home from school all chatty and hyper. Still it was good to see them all smiling all things considering. It meant Patty wasn’t such a bad substitute mum after all. Martin didn’t waste time handing her homework booklet as discussed earlier by Mrs Wilkins. But even that couldn’t put a damper on Patty’s spirits.

Once the kids were all fed, washed and tucked safe and sound in their beds, Patty checked on her mamma to make sure she didn’t need anything before heading off to bed herself. Dad was due back tomorrow morning, and Patty could hardly wait to show him what she had discovered!

Something had awoken Patty from her deep slumber. A high pitched squeal that pierced at the eardrums and her now throbbing head! As soon as her bare feet touched the ground, she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her. She immediately lay back down until the feeling had passed. Once she was sure it was over, she attempted again, to get out of bed to investigate the source of that horrible noise! She had a funny feeling The Shiny was connected.

Making sure everyone else in the house were all safe and sound, she headed for the kitchen utility draw in search of a flashlight. She didn’t want to risk waking up everyone by turning on the study lights, which were actually quite bright! Taking a slow deep breath, as she felt her heart pumping harder causing her adrenaline to kick in replacing the fear that had been creeping under the surface of her skin.

 Patty gently pushed the study door open and peered over at the now very bright pulsating light emanating from The Shiny. Thankfully the piercing sound had subsided! She instantly felt calm as she continued to watch the pulsating Shiny expanding its light almost filling the room! This encouraged her to edge even closer to the source of light. Imagine her surprise when quick as a flash the light seemed to collapse into itself, vanishing without a trace!

Patty stared at the empty space where The Shiny had once been, feeling a little saddened that it had gone. Just as she was about to turn away and head back to bed, she noticed a movement from the corner of her right eye! Slowly turning to face whatever had grabbed her attention, Patty’s eyes grew large as she found herself standing face to face with a dragon! A very shiny spectacular beast if ever she had seen one!

The last thing Patty remembered was feeling overcome by that dizzy feeling again before collapsing in a heap onto the hardwood floor beneath her! Her world immediately turned from bright and shiny to dark in an instance!

Martin stared at his sister’s semi-conscious form, slumped forward in their Dad’s favourite reading chair, mouth agape with drool slowly trickling down the side of her left cheek. Martin looked all bug eyed and afraid as he checked to see if Patty was okay and not having some kind of seizure!

“What the heck Martin!” is all Patty had the strength to say. She felt as though she had been struck by a freight train or something! With all the wind knocked out of her!

“S-sorry! Patty-Cakes! I was just checking you weren’t having some kind of fit with all of that drooling going on and the weird look on your face!”

“Oh... It’s Okay, I’m Okay, really Martin”.

But Patty was far from Okay! She was really struggling with what was real and what was not! Especially after last night!

As if on automatic pilot, Patty gathered her senses together enough to carry out her usual morning duties organising the kids and her mum as best she could. Once the house was empty and quiet, Patty headed into her room to lie down as she suddenly felt very, very tired.

“Patty! Patty! Wake up!”

Patty opened her eyes reluctantly, finding her Dad sitting on the edge of her bed. A look of concern plastered over his face. Seeing his familiar face caused a sudden onset of tears and nonsensical blubbering as she blurted out what had been happening while her Dad had been away.

“I am so sorry I wasn’t here for your fantastical experience Patty-girl! Wowsers! Wow, wow, wowsers! I knew it was coming, but I really thought I would be back in time to support you through it!”

“Wait! What! You mean to tell me you knew this would happen! Why didn’t you at least give me a heads up Dad? I mean, seriously! I thought I had lost the plot or something!”

Fergus gently cupped his daughter’s tear-stained face in his left hand as he grabbed a tissue from the dispenser on Patty’s dresser. Carefully wiping away the blotches of snot and tears, Fergus grabbed Patty’s hand and lead her downstairs into his study. Letting out a long, deep sigh, Fergus prompted Patty to take a seat while he opened a secret draw hidden underneath the bookshelf where all of his paranormal books stood. Patty’s eye’s more over the shock of never having discovered the secret drawer herself! Nor had she been eagle-eyed enough to spot the pendant her father always wore, a key shaped like a dragon, hanging from his neck.

Fergus opened the secret drawer to reveal another large leather bound book emblazoned with a glowing dragon on its cover. Turning to his wide-eyed daughter, he handed Patty the book with such a look of pride in his eyes. In the instant the book connected with Patty’s hands, a whole world of knowledge seemed to flood into her mind! It became very clear that she was now the new guardian of the last remaining Dragon. A Role her father had been living for over 40 years now. All of the “business trips” were in fact a cover for his real job.

“Wow! Wow wowser! Dad! I had no idea you were actually this cool! “

Fergus felt tears creeping down his face as he handed Patty the key that had never left his neck for a very long time now. It felt odd not feeling the familiar touch of dragon’s gold against his chest. But it was time to step down. He was tired and definitely deserved to spend his retirement days with his beloved Maggie.

Patty was mixed with feelings of excitement and anxiousness. What if she couldn’t do her job as good as her Dad had done all of these years?

“You will do just fine Patty-Cakes”, an oddly familiar voice that seemed to come from all around her, spoke. And she really did feel like she would be Okay. Obviously she had plenty of practice babysitting her younger siblings. So how hard would it be to look after a Dragon?