replied.”
However, it was the dreaded ‘health and safety’ issue that eventually forced the Mayor to act. Eventually, the day arrived when Douglas had grown so large that when he sat down in the Village Square, his big bottom filled it and made it impossible for anyone else to move about.
One by one, the villagers complained to the Mayor that Douglas’s presence was unsafe to put up with in the Village Square any longer and that his enormous size was now making their lives a misery.
"Something will have to be done!" Douglas heard one villager mumble behind his back.
"If something isn't done soon," another villager commented to the Mayor of Marfield, "it will be only a matter of time before there's a serious accident. Lord only knows, but the dragon could crush a child to death if it sat down without looking behind him!"
When Douglas the Dragon overheard this latter fear being expressed, he began to entertain the thought that he might have to move. He loved every child in the village, even the spotty- faced Frances McNally who was always picking her nose and flicking bogies at him. The thought of him ever hurting one of the children accidently frightened Douglas a great deal. So much so, that when the Mayor of Marfield next approached Douglas and asked him politely to move to the edge of the village to live, the dragon reluctantly agreed.
"You're just too big to live in Village Square any longer, Douglas," the Mayor explained. "We'd appreciate it if you would pack your bags and move to the edge of the village where there is plenty of space for you to park your big bum."
So, Douglas the Dragon went to live at the edge of the village, but quickly discovered that living on the edge of the village instead of at its centre wasn't the same. No longer did he get to eat the misshapen biscuits, burnt loaves and mince pies that he regularly received when he lived outside the bakery in the Village Square. No more did he receive those succulent pork pies that the baker considered to be overcooked, but which tasted perfect to Douglas. His meals now consisted of what people gave him as they passed in and out of the village. To a creature of Douglas’s growing size, the odd crisp or apple core wasn't the kind of dragon meal he’d become accustomed to! Occasionally, a waft of air would carry the smell of freshly baked bread and mince pies passed the nostrils of the dragon, but Douglas soon realised that ‘smelling’ delicious food wasn’t the same as ‘tasting’ it!
Initially, the children of the village would visit Douglas briefly after their school day had ended and share their news with him. But, these visits gradually got less and Douglas saw fewer people each day. He quickly started to get lonelier and to miss all the village gossip that kept him in touch with village life. He only had one neighbour who lived near him at the edge of the village, and because she worked all day, Douglas would only see her once at the start of each day to say ‘Good morning’ to, and at the end of the day when she came home from work to say, ‘Good night’ to.
Most of all, Douglas missed the noise, laughter and presence of the village children. He imagined them playing games merrily in the Village Square without him, but thinking about this merely made the dragon sadder and more depressed. He started to feel badly done to. He began to think that he’d been dumped on the edge of nowhere; left to scrimp and scrounge out the remainder of his days.
At first, it was as though the villagers had placed him out of sight and out of mind. They rarely paid him a visit and the only time that Douglas saw or spoke to one of the children or adults was if they passed in and out of the village. Then Douglas started to feel cheated and deceived. He’d been previously led to believe that he would always remain a part of the village, but it didn’t feel like that anymore. He was close enough to the village to hear the children laugh and play, but he could no longer join in their games. He was close enough to Marfield to still smell the food being cooked, but was now too far away to have any of it thrown to him anymore.
Douglas started to sulk and grumble. "It's not fair! It's just not fair! Just who do they think they are, turning me out of the Village Square? They don’t really love me! They don’t really care about me!”
Gradually, he became more irritable, depressed and rejected. When he thought about his ‘human mum’; the boy Douglas, he felt sadder. He didn't even have the comfort of looking at the urn of ashes in the Village Square during the night, when he didn’t sleep anymore.
"If only my mum was still alive," he thought angrily. "If only mum was still around, none of this would be happening to me! He wouldn't let it!"
As the weeks and months passed, Douglas started to become angrier and angrier with the villagers who’d move him out of the Village Square and, before long, he refused to talk with them anymore. He thought,” If that lot think they can dump me out here on the edge of the village and still expect me to be a part of their life, they have another think coming! Just who do they think I am? I’ll not talk to them again; ever! Hell will freeze over before I speak to any of them again!”
As the villagers passed in and out of the village, they each said, ‘Hello Douglas’ to the dragon, but Douglas remained determined not to reply. One day Granny McNally spoke to Douglas as she walked back into the village and instead of answering her civilly, the dragon simply snorted contempt at her with a haughty ‘Hu...h!’
The elderly woman could sense the abundance of anger inside the dragon and before returning back into the village, she gave the dragon some friendly advice. “I realise that living on the edge of life, Douglas, isn’t as exciting and as satisfying as being constantly at the heart of it. Life is what we make it, Douglas. If you are fortunate enough to be the centre of attention, then enjoy your moment. But life is never a bed of roses all the time, Douglas. It comes to us wrapped in both pleasure and pain. Sometimes, we have to make do with less than we desire, and when that happens, we’d better learn to make the best of it if we want to survive. However unpleasant life appears, Douglas, never lose your manners and civility, for it is these two human traits that separate mankind and beast. Hold on to your manners and civility, Douglas, and you will never burn all your bridges between yourself and others. You have been blessed, Douglas, to learn the power of human speech. But if you stop talking to people civilly; soon you will lose your ‘humanity’ along with the ability to speak at all!"
“Yeh! Yeh! Yeh! Keep your talk to yourself, Granny!” Douglas thought it, but he wasn’t yet angry enough to say it to the most respected citizen in Marfield. After Granny McNally had left, Douglas started to get angrier. He felt that nobody loved him, cared about him or understood him anymore.
Douglas's decision to stop talking to the villagers didn't make him feel any better. In fact, once he’d stopped talking to those villagers who passed his way each day, he felt even lonelier and more depressed. Before very long, Granny McNally’s advice had started to come true. Having stopped talking to the humans who passed by, eventually resulted in the dragon no longer being able to talk at all. The only form of expression he now possessed was in the form of angry snorts that were borne from the burning embers of his fiery furnace!
"I'll teach them!" Douglas protested angrily one morning. “I’ll jolly well teach them to push me out of my happy home and ignore me!"
These sort of vengeful thoughts occupied Douglas’s angry mind all day long. The more he thought about ways of getting his own back, the angrier he became. Now, when a dragon becomes angry, his tummy gets hotter and hotter and he begins to start spitting up fire to help him cool down. Spitting up fire for an angry dragon is only natural, but unfortunately, when the dragon lives next door to a neighbour with a thatched roof, and accidently burns her house down, the neighbour naturally becomes angry also!
Douglas knew that burning down his neighbour’s home had been a little accident, but being unable to voice what precisely had happened, he realised that she may not be prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt when she saw the remains of the fire.
"Oh no, Douglas! Whatever have you done to my lovely home? I’ve lived in that house for 50 years. I w
as born in that house! My parents died there!" Douglas’s neighbour yelled angrily, when she returned from work to find her happy home and property in flames with the dragon watching on helplessly. "You will not get away with this, you… you nasty dragon! I'm going to report your arson to the Mayor! What do you have to say about that then?"
Douglas wanted to explain that the fire had been an accident caused by his angry breath, but the words wouldn't come out of his mouth. You see, it had been so long since Douglas had talked to anyone that he forgotten how to talk to humans. He’d truly lost the power of human speech!
Douglas‘s neighbour waited for an explanation, but when one didn't appear to be forthcoming, she stamped off to tell the Mayor. The Mayor returned to the scene of the fire and asked Douglas for an explanation as to why he'd burnt down his neighbour’s house. Douglas again tried to talk, but couldn't. He was able to think the words he wanted to say but he couldn’t seem to speak them. However hard he tried, he couldn't make them come out of his mouth. The only sound that Douglas could manage was to bubble like a gold fish out of water, gasping for air.
“Come on, Douglas, tell me this instance, and stop this angry silence.
Douglas the Dragon: Book 1 - Douglas the Unloved Dragon Page 5
