The next morning Bobby woke up with a difficulty breathing.He
remembered the flash of heat and light from the ring,and then his skin
had begun to itch fiercely.After that he had blacked out,and now he seemed
to be in his bed and the air was thin and cold.Though his furniture seemed to
still be there with his clothing thrown sloppily over it,everything else was
different.Where he should be staring at a light yellow plastered wall were
dark shades of green,black and brown wallpaper which had the texture
of sandpaper.The room was dim,and as his eyes adjusted to the dim
light he noticed his video games and gameboy were gone.Had he looked
further he also would have noticed there were no electrical outlets or any
indication that this room belonged in a technologically advanced society.
What he did notice was that where his cross and baptismal font
used to be now towered a 7 foot tall statue of a dragon with its wings stretched
over three smaller statues of dragons.The three smaller statues had their forepaws raised
as if begging for something.Bobby looked for his bible and where it used to be on his dresser
sat a 2 foot wickedly pointed ivory horn with various runes carved into it.Bobby took another
look at that big statue and was startled to discover it held on one taloned finger the ruby ring.
The talon was pointing out in one direction and that is how Bobby noticed his bedroom window.
He walked up to the window and looked about.He appeared to be living in a tall mountain
and all along the rock face he could see other square windows like his own.His was about 3 by 3 feet
square but others appeared to be extraordinarily huge,20 by 20 feet and he could see into the rooms
the windows led into.He could see the white curved sticks and the round sheperical objects
scattered about the floor of the other rooms.Then he went away from his window and looked on
the inside.His room too had once had a huge window,but it had been bricked in.Where his door
stood was more brickwork and Bobby got the sense that everything had been scaled down
just for him.
He went back to the window and looked down just in time to see the huge horned dragon leap out
of the window beneath his.The winged beast flew off into the clouds below and vanished from
sight.Bobbys legs were slowly turning to jelly but he was a liitle more reassured when he heard
his mom calling out to him that dad was going out to pickup some fast food and would be back in a
few minutes.She wanted him to brush his teeth and get his clothes on as dad was getting a
special treat for his son.
That all went out the window a few minutes later when the dragon returned carrying
a screaming bundle,a female girl in its paws.Bobby just stared slack jawed as the dragon entered
the window beneath him.Suddenly the screaming stopped with a CRACK sound and a few
seconds later Bobby could hear his mom and dad and brother and sister chatting excitedly
over the treat the family would have for breakfast.
BOBBY,YOUNG MAN COME DOWN THIS INSTANCE called up his mom
WE HAVE SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR YOU
Well by that time Bobby was already out the window and was scrabbling
for a foothold as he made his way away from dragons,weird families and screaming
girls.He didn't hang around for any explanations from his parents.
Bobby made his way away from the mountains and away from the nuturing care
of his fellow dragons.He found his way into a large city of what he thought were his fellow humans.
They told him of shape shifting dragons who lived in nearby mountain lairs who could take
on a human form with the aid of their dragon goddess Histh.They talked of how the dragons would
swoop down upon humans and seize a few to be taken back to their ovens for broiling.As the dragons
put iT "COOKED MAMMALS TASTE BETTER WITH KETCHUP"
Bobby didn't say anything to them,but he looked carefully at his nails
to see if they were sharpening.He was slowly realizing why those unholy thoughts and
culinary urges were awakening in him.
When it finally came he was walking down a country road in the general direction of the
mountains.The land was so flat and featureless,with not even a tree to hide behind.He was running
along the road when suddenly his skin seemed to stretch thin and his ribs began to break as they
burst out and expanded out of his chest.He just managed to make it behind a tall tobacco
kiln when he began screaming from the pain.It was his first time after all.His mom and dad had
done this sort of thing for decades and had learned hoe to block out the pain.
A neighbouring farmer heard the screams and ran out with his shotgun to help
whoever was in distress.Then the screaming stopped and all the farmer could
hear was the chirp of the cicadas.The fellow was looking at one tobacco kiln
in the moonlit night when the building suddenly went dark.Something was
blocking the moonlight.
He looked up to see a great horned head slowly rising above the roof and could hear the
sound of rippling growing muscles stretching out enlarging wings to blot out the night sky.
The chirping was replaced by the slow stedy rythmic THUMPA THUMPA THUMPA
of a swelling dragon heart.The tobacco kiln began to splinter and topple over as the
beast continued to grow.
Bobby felt an intense urge to eat and he roared thunderously
as he lashed out his long coiled neck to snatch up the juicy morsel in his
curved razor sharp teeth.Then he flew home to his mom and dad.