Lucy & a dragon

To Believe

Lucy walked over to her Aunt Teresa and asked her to tell her a story.
With a wary look Teresa asked, "Tell you a story, Lucy?" Lucy was eleven going on twenty but climbed up into Teresa's lap saying, "Yes, Ma'am, you tell good stories."
"Lucy, stories are born of the imagination and the imagination must be exercised and stretched just like any other muscle. What if you were to tell me a story?"

Lucy, squirmed to get down. She didn't know any stories.  She wanted Teresa to tell her a story. Teresa felt Lucy tense and she sighed aggravated because, she thought, it was a shame children didn't have active imaginations these days.  Lucy slumped down, leaned into Teresa's shoulder, closed her eyes then said, "Aunt Teresa, I don't know how to tell stories, not like you." As the visitors kept stopping by to give their condolences to Lucy's mom and dad she wasn't sure if sitting in the living room was best place for Lucy to take a nap.  Teresa knew that Lucy was tired, it had been a long day of funeral services and Lucy had held up well.

"Oh honey," a lonesome smile spread across Teresa's charming face, "you have the most wonderful stories inside you waiting to be told. If you allow your dreams to take root they will blossom like flowers in the spring after the sun has warmed them.  Your dreams will grow and rise out of the soil of your imagination to brighten the world and you will have the most overwhelming desire to tell them."  Teresa looked down at Lucy's freckled nose and blue eyes.  Her thick swath of hair was pulled into a ponytail and she was a ray of sunshine.  Even if she didn't see her own brightness at that moment.
.
Lucy squirmed again and whined, half-smiling said, "Aunt Teresa, don't make me think." She huffed and rolled her little fist up and lightly pumped Teresa's arm.  It was mid-afternoon and even Teresa felt like a nap.  Lucy sleepily said, "Why can't you just tell me story?"  With a mischievous twinkle in her eye that anyone, even the cat in the window could've seen, but Lucy wasn't looking, Teresa leaned down and whispered in Lucy's ear, "I have a dragon."

Lucy snorted, "No, you don't, Aunt Teresa, you're just making that up." She opened her eyes wide with a smile, "So you are gonna tell me a story."  Teresa, shook her head ever so slowly saying, "No, stinkerbug, this isn't a story." She pinched Lucy's nose and Teresa scrunched her nose up too saying, "I have a real dragon."

Teresa's eyes slightly widen and as she looked into Lucy's eyes she smiled whispering, "He even told me his name. You do know that a dragon will not, ever, don't misunderstand this Lucy, a dragon will never reveal his name to you unless he is willing to protect you for the rest of your life.  For a dragon to tell you his name is a bond for a lifetime."  Teresa leaned down and whispered again in Lucy's ear and this time Lucy leaned in close to listen, "Lucy, you must know this, because you have to be careful.  You also have to protect the dragon."

Lucy squirmed but this time with laughter, "Dragons aren't real."  Teresa grabbed her and smiled too but said, "shhhh, Lucy, we have to be quiet.  This is a time to be quiet. " The neighborhood visitors looked over and smiled; they knew that Burgness, Lucy's grandmother, was special to her.  Lucy visited with her everyday after school. This time whispering Lucy said, "Dragons aren't real, Aunt Teresa.  No dragon is ever gonna tell me his name because they don't, they're not real." Teresa said slyly, "If they aren't real then how do I have one?"

Lucy smiled looking up into Teresa's brown eyes as they seemed to twinkle.  She twirled a piece of Teresa's long dark hair and sheepishly said, "You don't, Aunt Teresa, it's make believe."  Teresa relaxed and sunk deeper into the sofa then tucked a pillow behind Lucy's head.  Lucy responded and stretched her legs out.  Teresa thought Lucy was going to be a very tall woman, she had long lanky legs as an eleven-year old. Then she heard the softness of snowflakes against the window pane.  The first snow of the winter was falling.

Teresa asked Lucy, "If you were to have a dragon what would he look like?"  Lucy looked up, thinking and asked, "May I have a girl dragon?"
Teresa's smile widened, "Is your dragon a girl dragon?"  Lucy rambled quickly, "Yes and she's the blue color of the water from when we went to the Caribbean with Grandma.  She's spunky with a green belly and green eyes with shiny scales and feet that are too tiny for her big ol' body.  But her wings are bigger and whisper quiet, so when she tip toes they don't knock things over."
Teresa was looking out the window then looked seriously at Lucy asking, "Does she come to visit you?"
Without hesitation Lucy responded, "Yes, she flies me to the land of lollipops." Lucy paused and said, "No. I don't like that." Then after a thoughtful moment Lucy asked, "Aunt Teresa, what does your dragon do for you?"
Teresa sighed, "He sleeps a lot."
Lucy laughed and her voice filled with warmth, "Like our dog, Grimace?"
Teresa chuckled, "Yes, like Grimace and a bear.  My dragon hibernates like a bear."
Lucy stopped playing with Teresa's hair and asked, "What does hibernate mean?" 
Teresa's voice rang with explanation, "When winter is coming bears will prepare for the long cold months of winter.  To prepare they collect food and eat and eat as much food as they can before the cold of winter sets in.  Then when it becomes very cold they lay down and sleep until it becomes warm again."
Lucy asked thoughfully, "So does your dragon only visit you in the summer?"
Then something tapped the window.  Teresa turned to look behind her and Lucy sat up.  "Look Aunt Teresa," Lucy exclaimed, "a blue and green dragonfly."  Teresa tensed her shoulders and squinted her eyes a little, she thought, 'the dragon flies should've died off it's been very cold here for weeks.' She took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders then smiled knowing, 'One must believe in magic for it to exist.'