Bradbury Tales

Dragon

Dragon

Aloysius Prendergast considered himself a dragon. As far as he knew, he had all the requisite qualities. He was repellant in looks, antisocial in behaviour, prickly in temper, and interested in damsels only to the extent to which they were useful.

Not that he was in some sort of delusion on the matter. He was quite sane (as most dragons are, he assured himself) and used the comparison merely to claim an identity that explained his circumstances. The most essential of these was solitude.

More than anything else, Aloysius was alone. His family had never been close and now lived so far away that all contact had been lost. He had no friends and even acquaintances were few and purely the result of necessity. Which is how Aloysius preferred it. In all his reading about dragons, he had never come across one that enjoyed company, even that of other dragons.

So it was not chance that gave rise to his conviction that he was a dragon. The very fact that he enjoyed being alone struck him as being the quality common to all the dragons he had studied. After that realisation, it was natural that he should collect other evidences of his dragonness. And they were many.

Aloysius’ profession might not be considered particularly dragonish. Accountants are not usually feared as powerful and dangerous beasts. But closer inspection would reveal that they are extremely interested in treasure, especially that of others. And, in some cases, they are uniquely positioned to take advantage of their proximity to the wealth of their clients. Let us suppose that Aloysius was not above making use of his advantages in this regard and had amassed, as a consequence, a pile that any dragon would be respect.

Whatever the truth, the fact is that Aloysius was wealthy beyond the expectations of most accountants. In this, too, he was particularly dragonlike in that he did not waste his treasure in the pursuit of comforts or fripperies. In true dragon fashion, he sat upon it and guarded it jealously.

The fact that Aloysius could not fly and so lacked a dragonish ability did not concern him at all. From his researches he knew that many dragons did not fly. Thus it was that another name for them was “wyrms.”

The most obvious shortcoming in his adoption of dragonness was the lack of captured damsels. In his younger days, Aloysius had managed to ensnare a few damsels who could see beyond his unappealing looks (perhaps to the wealth behind them), but these had soon been repelled by his abhorrent nature. Inevitably, they had escaped without needing even the intervention of some passing knight upon a white steed.

Aloysius consoled himself with the thought that, sooner or later, one more was bound to fall into his clutches and he would then use more assertive techniques to enslave her.

Time was slipping by, however.

Thus it was that, when the opportunity finally presented itself, Aloysius was unprepared and thrown into indecision in the moment. It happened on the day that he had chosen to wander down to the corner shop to buy something to read. He was over halfway there when he spotted the damsel, kneeling down at the side of her car and trying to remove one of wheels.

A quick glance around confirmed for Aloysius that there were no knights about. This would be impossibly easy, he thought.

There was still some distance to travel before he reached the damsel, and Aloysius considered the situation as he approached. She was a pretty young thing, well up to the task of fulfilling her role in the affair. And, quite clearly, she was struggling with the task of wheel removal, handling it as though determined not to damage a nail in the process. This was going to be too easy.

Aloysius was close now and realised that things were not going to be as easy as he had first supposed. If he grabbed her and started to drag her back to the house, he was bound to be seen by some busybody. The matter would have to be a good deal more subtle than that, something more akin to his rare attempts in the past. So much for the aggressive approach, he mused.

Perhaps the best was to offer assistance and then use a little persuasion and the offer of refreshment to get her back to the house. Yes, that would do it.

He was right by her now and she turned her head to look up at him. There was no disguising the fright in those big, blue eyes on her first impression of the unpleasant sight that was Aloysius. He attempted a smile.

“Do you need assistance?” he asked.

She released the wheel and stood up. “Oh yes, if you don’t mind. I’ve never changed a wheel before.”

This was going to be easy. The girl was clearly out of her depth and eager for help from any direction. She stared at him innocently, quite over her initial surprise and relieved at his intervention.

Aloysius wrestled the wheel off its lugs and replaced it with the spare. The girl watched closely, as though memorising the procedure for future occasions. Her perfume filtered into Aloysius’ nostrils.

He tightened the wheelnuts and let the car off its jack, taking everything to the rear of the car and placing them in the trunk. She followed, thanking him profusely. Then she said something that gave him pause.

“You’re my knight in shining armour.”

Aloysius looked at her in horror. The moment she said it, he knew it was true. Somehow his role had been swapped and, without realising it, he had become the sworn enemy of all things dragon. His entire being raged at the insult, the fickleness of fate that had brought him to this point. He stared at her, confused, and all thoughts of capturing her driven from his mind.

She was still talking away, rapt in her gratitude, eyes sparkling, soft skin shining with happiness, and voice lyrical in the morning atmosphere. And now she was moving past him, opening the car door and getting in, still talking.

He stood like a statue, unable to act.

The window hummed down and she turned to offer her goodbyes. The engine burst into life.

Aloysius could do no more than wave a hand, his tongue immobile in his mouth and mind still shattered by his conversion.

She turned away and the car moved off.

Sir Aloysius Dragonkiller staggered back the way he had come.


Word count: 1092
For The Bradbury, Week 3 2025