“This is boring!” said Rick, inside the tent.
Tommy didn’t respond as he watched a spider crawl down the side of the tent. It was one of the harmless ones with really long legs. As it scurried down the yellow tarp, Tommy reached out a hand and scooped the bug onto his fingers. Cupping his hands around it, he shoved his way through the tent flap and out into the rain as Rick continued to complain.
“Where are you going?” Dill called after him.
Tommy glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Dill’s head poke out of the flap. “I’ll be back,” he said.
Turning away again, he hurried through the storm toward a thick grouping of trees where the spider would be safe. As Tommy ducked under the pines, he stepped over the damp earth to the trunk. He knelt down and allowed the spider to scramble off his palm onto the craggily trunk. Before long it had disappeared—its color blending with the bark.
Tommy sighed. He didn’t want to go back in the tent. Camping with his two best friends had sounded fun at first, but then the unexpected rain came, so the three of them were stuck in their dinky yellow tent for hours. Within the first ten minutes they all got bored, and Rick kept a continuous stream of complaints going about how he wished he could be home playing video games.
Tommy drew lines in the mud with his finger. If only something interesting would happen.
Suddenly an explosion ripped through the air.
Tommy jumped with surprise, hitting his head against a branch in the process. As water spiraled from the branches, soaking him, he rubbed his head.
“What are you doing without us?” Rick shouted, his tan face appearing out of the tent. Tommy could barely see Dill behind Rick.
Another explosion rippled through the air.
“Tommy?” Rick crawled out of the tent, stood, and wiped his muddy hands on his jeans.
Tommy crawled out from under the trees. “That wasn’t me.”
“Yeah right.” Rick sneered. “Hand over the Game Boy. It’s my turn to play.”
“No, really!” Tommy said, holding up his hands to show that they were empty. “It wasn’t me!”
“It’s better to take turns,” Dill said.
“I don’t have—!” Tommy began, but another big boom cut him off.
The three boys looked to each other.
“Wow,” Dill said.
“I’m going to go see what that was!” Rick dashed into the forest.
“Wait, Rick! You shouldn’t go alone!” Tommy hollered.
“Then I’m going with him!” Dill said. He sprinted after Rick.
“Hey! Don’t leave me here alone,” Tommy yelled.
The forest was thick, and if it hadn’t been for the racket his friends created, Tommy was sure he would have lost them. But he heard Rick shouting, “You can’t catch me!” along with Dill’s cries of confusion. Before long he caught up to his friends, then took the lead. He focused on leaping over logs and other dangers in his path.
This was easy. The others were probably far behind him by now. He looked over his shoulder to see if his guess was correct, but just then his foot caught on a root. Tommy flew forward, tumbled to the ground, then rolled to a stop. Dazed, he looked around the meadow he had fallen into. Behind him in the forest he could still hear his friends’ shouts.
A growl split through the clearing.
Tommy froze, then slowly looked around toward where the sound had come from.
“Hey Tommy! Why’d ya—?” Rick choked over his words as he came to a stop somewhere behind Tommy.
“Hey, what’s going—?” Dill began to ask as he joined them.
“Quiet!” Rick said.
Dill didn’t listen. “Tommy! Get away from that thing!”
But Tommy was frozen. With awe, he gazed to the creature that was so pure a shade of gold that it seemed to shine. Its eyes were locked on his, the irises only slits in the lizard-like face. A stream of smoke spiraled from each nostril, and as it shook its leathery wings, a small breeze picked up, twisting leaves through the air.
“Dra—dra—dra—” Dill said.
“Dragon,” Tommy said.
“What’s it doing?” Dill asked.
Tommy watched with curiosity as the small dragon turned away from him and began to scurry up the tree. As it did, several branches broke, creating an explosive sound that echoed through the forest—the sound the three friends had heard earlier.
“Look!” Rick said. “At the top of the tree!”
Tommy gazed up. At the very top of the pine was a sparkling ball of white light. Little crackles of electricity zipped from it. “The dragon’s trying to reach it,” he said. “Maybe that’s how it got here, and now it’s trying to get back.”
Rick rushed past him. “Well I’m going to stop it.”
“Wh-what?” Tommy said. “Why?”
“Can you imagine how much money I’d get if I caught it and sold it?” Rick said. He reached the trunk of the tree and climbed into the branches.
“That thing could eat you!” Dill shouted, still frozen at the edge of the clearing.
“You’ll only hurt yourself Rick!” Tommy called.
Rick paid no attention, just continued climbing higher.
Tommy started forward, hurrying after his friend.
“No Tommy! Don’t follow him!” Dill ran to Tommy’s side, pulling him back.
“He could get hurt! I have to stop him!” Tommy said, shrugging Dill’s hand away as he scrambled into the tree.
He wound his way quickly through the branches, gaining on his friend. Tommy noticed how fast the dragon climbed as it tried to get away from Rick. Tommy felt fury enter him. Why was Rick putting himself in danger to catch a dragon? Magic was meant to be free. “Rick! Get down!”
“No!”
Just then another crack split through the air.
Tommy looked up just in time to see a huge branch crashing toward them.
“Move!” Tommy tackled Rick, knocking them both out of the way of the branch, but at the same time hurling them from the tree.
They landed on top of Dill, and the three of them crashed into a bed of moss.
“Where’d the dragon go?” Rick sputtered as he looked back up the tree.
“It went into the ball.” Dill groaned, rubbing his head where Tommy had accidentally kicked him.
“Well, where’s the ball?”
“It disappeared,” Dill said.
Rick moaned in frustration. “I could have bought a new Wii with that money.”
Tommy didn’t respond. Instead he silently looked up the tree, smiling, glad the magic was free.
~The End~
Illustration Copyright © 2009 Anna Repp
Copyright © 2009 by Kimberly Kay, Youth