The first thing he noticed was that he felt stronger. Not just a little stronger, but a lot, better than he'd felt in years! It was like a wave of vigor rushing into his elderly body. The first thing he did was stand up. It felt great! He could stand straight without holding onto his bed or a nurse or a walker. He held out his arm and flexed his muscles, smiling. He knew he had the Wave of Light to thank for this.
"Maybe I'm getting young again," he thought. "I can't wait to lift weights again!"
But it wasn't stopping. He was starting to feel like he could lift a hefty piece of furniture single-handed. Staring at his bed for a moment, he placed his arms under it, and ... oomph ... yes, he could lift it! Soon he had the whole thing up over his head, muscles bulging underneath his gown!
He was getting physically larger, too. The baggy gown he was wearing was now stretched tight against his hardening skin and thick muscles. "I must be as strong as Superman!" he thought.
The aid came in, shrieked in amazement, and ran back out. He thought perhaps he should put his bed back down where it was. The gown was starting to become very uncomfortable as it became too small for him. But that wasn't the only source of his discomfort. There was a warm, increasingly hot feeling in his chest, like the worst case of heartburn he'd ever felt since middle age. An acid-like sting inched up into his throat, he instinctively opened his mouth, and WHOOSH! A large burst of flame gushed out from between his lips! It startled him and scorched the ceiling, but he was very grateful he didn't actually catch anything a blaze in the nursing home.
"FIREBREATH?!" he thought. "In addition to inhuman strength? I've never heard of anyone getting SUPERPOWERS from the Wave!"
But there was more to this story of fire, size, and strength, as Mr. Thompson was about to discover. His gown finally snapped, and a look at his bare skin made him do a double-take. There, on his now hairless chest and abs, was a layer of golden yellow scales. On his sides were deep purple scales that were starting to grow down his arms as well. He wondered if he might be becoming an animal of some sort, but what kind of scaly animal would breathe fire?
Oh, right.
"NO WAY! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" he tried to shout, but only a roar came out, with another spat of flames at the end. He winced, a harsh pressure from either ends of his spine making it feel trapped inside his own body. This pressure soon translated into rapid grown at base of his neck and the top of his butt. He felt taller and more flexible as his head floated away from his torso at the end of a thickening, lengthening neck. He felt the floor through something long and foreign beneath him that was growing even longer than his neck. He had to duck his head to keep from bumping the ceiling, and he also had to drop to all fours when his stretching torso could no longer be held upright. His scaly hands took to the floor readily to hold up his increased weight. Two aids and a nurse appeared at the door; the aids fainted, and the nurse ran away again.
Ready to take advantage of his new vantage point, Mr. Thompson worked his lengthy neck around to give his head an aerial view of his changing body. He saw emerald green spines sticking out of his violet-scaled back, plus two giant wings that had grown in without his knowledge. Concentrating on the massive bat-like appendages, he was stunned to watch them spread almost from one side of the room to the other. They even flapped when he willed them to! He could probably fly if he had enough space and enough practice, he realized.
Dropping his neck down lower, he was able to tuck his head between his bulky forelegs with ease. His golden-yellow underbelly was unbelievably beautiful, and there, behind his talon-tipped hind legs, was a tail--a mighty dragon's tail! Mr. Thompson realized he looked like something out of a picture show or an old story book. He swished his tail around in awe, mightily impressed with its green spade tip. The painful burning in his chest became a soothing warmth as he came to terms with what he was now. The Wave of Light had changed him from a fading human to a massive, unearthly beast! Who could say how long he might live, or what unthinkable feats he could perform, from now on, living as a dragon, perhaps the only one in the world?
The dragon unfortunately did not stop growing, until it barely fit in the room, which could be a problem. Even curled around in on himself from head to tail, with his legs folded inward, he could feel three of the four walls against his long spiked back. The floor and ceiling barely gave him room to unfold himself or stretch his wings. The people who fainted were waking up but still seemed dazed, and a crowd of nursing home workers was gathered outside the door, completely at a loss for what to do. How would he even get out of his room?