by Ty Burson
Justin’s mom hesitated, “Mrs. Wang, Justin is, well, he can get set off by certain things, changes in routines being one of them. Honestly, I’m kind of shocked that he’s not having some kind of reaction right now. Can I speak with him?”
“Certainly, here’s Justin,” she said, passing the phone.
“Hi Mom.”
“Honey, your father and I will leave right away to get you. I think it might be safest to have you wait for us right where you are. I bet they have some crayons and you could draw or something.”
Justin thought about it. Eight hours at a buffet didn’t sound too bad, but he liked Mrs. Wang and he’d already traveled with her nephew and his family, even if he couldn’t remember it. Ordinarily, there’d be no way he would want to go sightseeing with a bunch of people he didn’t know. For some reason, though, when he looked at the old woman, he felt pretty good about it. “Mom, I think these are nice people. Would it be okay if I went with them?”
After a long hesitation, Justin’s mother agreed and then spent the next several minutes working out the particulars with Mrs. Wang. Shou Wang then led Justin back to the rest of her family. They had settled down by now, and a few had even gone back to eating. They all stopped and waited for the old matriarch to speak. “Everyone, this is Justin. He is going to be our guest today.” Everyone seemed to accept this rather calmly, given their earlier excitement. She nudged Justin toward his former seat before whispering in his ear, “Later, you can tell me about your dragon. Batista…now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long, long time.”
Justin’s jaw dropped, but before he could respond, little Elizabeth Wang climbed down from her mother’s lap and stood next to him. She looked at him and tilted her head like she was trying to decide something. Then, with a giggle, she grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the self-serve ice cream machine, pointing at the sprinkles.
Chapter 40
Runoff from mountain snow fed the Smith River, creating one of the most pristine rivers in the whole country. Joy was clinging to a rock, her entire body wrapped around it to keep from being swept away by the wicked current, while her friends screwed up enough courage to jump off the rocks thirty feet above her. As expected, Steve jumped first. As soon as he hit the water, Joy reached out and grabbed one of his arms to keep him anchored. The river was so crystal clear, they could see each other smile.
Joy let go of the rock with her feet and immediately her buoyancy and the current whipped her body around and pulled her like a flag blowing in the wind. Steve was about to try the same when a silver fish darted by. At that moment, Justin hit the water and Steve lost track of it.
Steve laughed and shot ahead, swimming frog-like with the current. Justin struggled to anchor himself the way Joy had, by grabbing for a rock, but the current grabbed him before could get a good hold and soon he was gaining on Steve. With a couple of strokes, Joy caught up to the boys, and together they swam to an inlet where the water became shallow and the current only teased at their ankles. This was the only way to enjoy the river: don’t fight it, let it pull you along as far as you wanted to go, and then swim like crazy for a spot to climb out and hike back to where you started. Then do it all over again.
The trio climbed out on wobbly legs and used each other for balance. They had drifted a good ways this time, and would have to climb up the bank into the trees to one of the mini-trails that led back to the main sunning spot, a stretch of land beneath the Hiouchi Bridge, which crossed the river some 70 feet in the air. Justin paused to investigate a nearly perfectly round river rock while Joy and Steve stretched.
“When’d your dad get home?” Joy asked Steve while they waited.
“Last week. He took a bus from Seattle. Mom took us all to pick him up at midnight.”
Joy reached up for a pinecone and tossed it at Justin. “Come on,” she said, “my mom said not to leave her sight, especially after last time.”
Steve smiled to himself. It was good to see Joy talk about her mom without getting sad or embarrassed. After the dragon incident, her mom had started taking a new medicine, which seemed to be working; Joy seemed a lot happier. Steve hoped it would last.
They hiked through the trees as quickly as their bare feet would allow. The sandbar was full of people who had staked their claims with their towels and beach blankets. The kids headed toward Joy’s parents, who had a nice spot selected where the shadows from the trees could keep the sun off their faces if they leaned back. Teenage boys snuck little glances at Joy’s mom, but were careful not to get caught by the huge ex-basketball star who reclined next to her.
“You kids about ready?” Joy’s dad boomed. “Steve, your grandmother said they’d have supper at five and it’s a quarter ’til.”
Joy answered, “Yeah, Dad, just let us wash the sand off.”
Justin took a few steps into the cold running water to clean his feet, stepped out, and got them dirty again. He repeated the process again before Joy swatted at him, “Would you knock it off? Get your sandals first, dummy.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, okay,” he replied, grinning.
“I swear, for someone so smart he can be an idiot,” Joy remarked to Steve.
“Yeah,” Steve nodded, “sometimes.”
In a slightly lower voice, Joy asked, “So, what are they going to do with the dragon. I mean, what’s your dad going to do?”
Steve sat down and swept off the wet sand before putting on each shoe. “The dragon’s okay, but it’s going to need a new place to live. It trashed its cave.”
Justin finished cleaning his feet and stood next to them. “How are they going to move it?” he asked “Where are they going to move it? Even with a semi-truck, it would be way too long. Maybe they could put it on two flat beds linked together. Yeah, that might work. But how would they lift it? They could bring up a crane, or maybe a helicopter. That would be cool, a helicopter.”
Steve stood up, his wet feet squishy in his old tennis shoes. “He’s going to find his own home.”
Both Joy and Justin asked together, “How?” Joy punched him.
“Dad says he’ll fly,” Steve answered. “He says the dragon will find a place, and then fly there when he’s ready.”
“Can it do that, you know, while it’s still asleep? I didn’t think it was supposed to wake up,” Joy asked.
“Yeah, that would be really bad. Dad and Granny talked about it though, and seemed to think it would be all right. I guess it can fly in its sleep.”
“You should give it a name,” Justin said.
“What?” Steve said.
“A name. Or does it have a name already?”
“Not that I know of--”
“What about Marilyn?” Joy asked.
The two boys looked at her. “What are you taking about?”
“Well,” she started, “why does it have to be a boy’s name? Can’t the dragon be female?”
“Of course it’s a male,” Justin said. “All you have to do is look at it and see it’s male.”
“Really, mister dragon expert? And how do you know? Did you lift its tail?”
Steve broke in, “No, hold on. In Granny’s book, they always called the dragon ‘he.’”
Joy was not to be put off that easily. “Those were sexist times, Steve. Didn’t this dragon come from another dragon’s egg? And don’t females lay eggs?”
“You know,” Justin said, “there are some species, like pipefish and seahorses, in which males lay eggs--”
“That doesn’t mean anything—”
“I’m only presenting the possibilities.”
Steve broke in. “Back in Portugal, they called this dragon’s mother, or whatever, Dragao.”
“That’s a cool name,” Justin said.
“That’s the word for dragon in that language.”
“That sounds asexual to me,” Joy said.
“It does not,” Justin countered, “It sounds totally like a boy’s name. Plus, it’s not really a name at all is it?”
“Yeah, I kind of said the same thing,” Steve admitted.
“But,” Justin pointed out, “unless you speak Portuguese it, does it matter?”
“He has a point,” Steve said.
“Fine,” Joy said, “whatever. He’s your dragon anyway. Call him anything you want.”
“Hey,” Steve pointed, “Joy, your folks are gathering everything up. We better hurry.”
In the back seat of the VW bug, Justin continued to question Steve. “So is it safe to leave Dragao there until he can fly away?”
“Dad’s been going up every night to check and apparently he hasn’t moved yet. He caught a couple of teenagers trying to spray graffiti on him. That’s why he needs to move. Nothing can hurt him, but you know, people would keep coming around and stuff. They might wake him up.”
“So, has either of you, you know, talked to Dragao since…?” Justin asked.
“Seriously, Justin,” Joy said, with a huff.
“What? I’m just asking,” Justin replied, clearly confused by Joy’s reaction.
Joy sighed, “No, not a word.”
“Me either,” Steve agreed, “nothing. No dreams, nothing.” As an afterthought, Steve asked, “What about you, Justin? Anything weird happen to you?”
“Oh, you mean after I woke up with my adoptive Asian family? No, but my mom has signed us all up for therapy. She’s having the house tested for Radon or something, in case some strange gas caused us all to lose our minds. Larry’s been really cool to me lately; that’s unusual, I guess.”
The three kids nodded their heads in unison. That was unusual.
Chapter 41
The two brothers lounged on the balcony, the deck shaded from the worst of the late afternoon sun by a large canopy. “So, when’s the old man getting out?” Frank asked.
“Tuesday. They’re calling it a miracle, a complete remission.” John got up and slid open the screen door. He scooped some ice cubes into his glass from the freezer. From the fridge, he grabbed a bottle of iced coffee. “You sure you don’t want some? I’ve got twelve bottles of this stuff; it’s addictive.”
“Naw, thanks. I can’t stay, got to get back to Vegas. It’s a long drive,” Frank replied. “You been to see him?”
“Yeah, I drove down last week. He’s still all bent out of shape because he thinks we killed Mammon. He says that we’ve lost the family fortune. One of his accountants did call me.”
Frank’s interest perked up, “Yeah, what’d he say?”
“He said because the family had suddenly experienced a series of downturns, that I would not be receiving my monthly stipend. Jerk. I told him he’d probably end up laid off, soon.” John took a drink of the coffee concoction. “Did the old man say anything to you?”
“I called him right after I first returned to Vegas. Our investors in the new hotel pulled out. The whole deal got cancelled. Dad blamed us, well, me, mostly. Idiot doesn’t realize that Mammon was killing him.” Frank answered.
“How bad is it? Is the old man broke?” John asked.
“Naw, we had a bunch of shaky deals fall apart. They shouldn’t have been approved anyway. Without Mammon, we won’t have people throwing money at us, but we’ll survive. The old man made a lot of decent investments all on his own; he’ll be all right, but I don’t expect him to come around to the idea that Mammon was a curse, not a blessing. Anyway, I need to get going. I’ve got a job interview.”
“Oh yeah, where?”
Frank smiled, “Back in Vegas. It’s a production manager for a company that supplies linens to the hotels. Pay’s decent; not great, but decent. Know anyone who wants to buy a brand-new BMW?”
John laughed, “Not anyone I hang out with at the bowling alley. Craigslist?” John suggested, as he returned to his seat.
Frank laughed again. It felt good to laugh. “Hey, what’s that on your ankle?”
“Huh, oh, nothing. It’s nothing.”
Frank reached down and lifted his brother’s pants leg. “Yes, it is. You got a tat! What is it?”
Reluctantly, John rolled up his pant leg, revealing the new tattoo, its bright colors still sheeny.
Frank bent low to get a better look. “Oh, no. You’re kidding me, right? A dragon? You got yourself inked up with a dragon?”
“Yeah, well, you know, because it was kind of life-altering,” John explained, lamely.
“And what’s that thing in its mouth, a worm?”
“No, it’s a smoke ring. My dragon is eating a smoke ring,” John insisted.
“Idiot!”
Chapter 42
Shou left the Wang family reunion early and drove herself south to visit her new friend, Justin, and his family. She assured all her nieces and nephews that all was well. The trip would only take a few days.
She had spent the entire day of sightseeing with Justin, asking him about his dragon, about his friends, and about where he lived. She seemed to be fascinated by everything. After meeting Justin’s parents, who were extremely grateful, she had promised to visit and see his remarkable home.
Justin, of course, thought she was being polite, the way lots of adults try to be when talking to strangers. Therefore, when she called his mother a couple of weeks after their meeting in Seattle to say that she was coming for a visit, he was pretty surprised.
Shou Wang took Justin’s family out to eat; she met Steve and his family and Joy. She’d been fascinated to learn the Batista family history. She visited the marina and Jedediah State Park; she didn’t make it up to Hiouchi to visit Steve’s grandmother, a trip she felt she had to make as soon as she took care of some unfinished business.
After a couple of days of this, Justin wasn’t sure if the old woman was ever going back home. Then, very late one evening, long after most reasonable folks had gone to bed, she stepped out of her motel room, cane draped under her arm, suitcase in the other hand and got in her car. She drove north with the window down, despite the cool misty air. Every once in a while, she would slow down and take a deep sniff of the air.
At last, she found the road that led to the dragon—a rutted, muddy thing that would ruin her tiny, foreign car. She turned around and looked for the closest place to park, choosing a place just off the main highway. She stepped out, popped her trunk, rummaged around until she found a collapsible chair, and marched off toward the dragon, her cane forgotten in the backseat.
No one was around for miles to see her approach the dragon’s lair, to see her pause, extend her chair, and take a seat. Several hours passed, but nothing happened. All anyone watching would have seen, or rather heard, was the slow steady rhythm of the dragon’s breath, and the soft snoring of an old woman. Finally, the dragon stirred. It pressed itself up and hunched its shoulders like a great cat. The left wing unfurled, spreading nearly a hundred feet out. Then the right did the same. When both wings were fully extended, the old woman opened her eyes. “Beautiful,” she said.
Shou sat comfortably and reached into her purse. She opened a can of smoked sardines, popping them into her mouth like popcorn at the theater. With a mighty jump, the sleeping beast launched itself up until its enormous wings caught the air and lifted it skyward, higher and higher. The old woman followed it with her eyes, her hair blowing back from her face. She popped a couple more of the tiny fish into her mouth. “So beautiful.”
The dragon circled around its den a couple of times, blocking out the moon each time it passed, and then flew south. Shou Wang stared up at the sky for a long time after the dragon had gone. She tilted the can up, and, very unladylike, shook the final fish out, letting it drop into her mouth. She folded up her chair, took a couple of steps, and burped out a puff of smoke. “Oh my,” she said to herself, “I better stick to the raw ones.”
THE END
Steve and his friends will return in the second installment of the Modern Dragon Chronicles, It’s a Dragon-Eat-Dragon World. To take an exclusive look at the opening chapter, simply read on!
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Long before Steve met his dragon, a Portuguese village under the protection of a powerful talisman came face to face with an infamous plague that ravaged all of Europe…but was it a plague, or an infestation? And what role did Steve’s ancestors play in stopping it? To get answers to these questions and more, check out the extraordinary prequel to The Modern Dragon Chronicles, It’s a Dragon’s Life, by going to Ty Burson’s website www.tyburson.com, clicking the link, and letting him know where to send your free copy!
Chapter 1
Shou left her Palo Alto condominium well before sunrise, though of course time was irrelevant at her age. Still, she had to leave early, if only to avoid her loving and over-protective niece. After a quick check to see if she had her purse and keys, she dialed her niece’s cell and left a message, knowing the girl would still be sleeping and that, by the time her niece got up for work, Shou would be well on her way north.
Her niece would be upset, but that couldn’t be helped. This trip was important. Ever since Shou had met that young man in Seattle and had seen his friend’s dragon with her own eyes, she knew it was only a matter of time. So, each morning, before the city awoke and kicked up every little stink and smell that had settled through the night, she would step out on her balcony, face northwards, and take a big sniff. Today, her marvelous nose caught something.
