A/N: Avi is reminiscing about a day in 5th grade when he got proof that dragons are real.
'Dragons aren't real'. Everyone says it to me, but I know they're wrong. My teacher and classmates and even my parents. They're all wrong. I clutch the dragon books that I checked out from the library tighter to my chest. I have read them a million times and the bindings are starting to fray, but I love these books. The librarian has stopped asking me if I want to take home any other books. After I checked these books out for the 5th time, she started leaving the desk and searching for books she thought I might like as soon as she saw me walk through the doors, but this time she just checked them out to me without any attempt to sway me.
The sun is out today which is nice because it has been raining all week, I decide to take the long way home through the park, and walk down the bike trail that dips into the woods and by a creek. I walk down the path about 20 feet and decide to stop and sit at on one of the benches that line the path. I can read at least one of my books all the way through and still leave with time to get home before either of my parents. I wouldn't want them to worry, but I also really want to read one of these books. I set my backpack down on the bench before sitting down and cris-crossing my legs. The wood is a little damp, water logged from the weeks of rain that have just finally ended. Luckily they won't color my jeans darker when I stand to leave later.
I unzip the main pocket of my backpack and put the three books I won't be reading, into it so they won't get wet, wither from the bench or the trees that still occasionally drip. I readjust and open the book. I can't help but feel excited despite the number of times I have read through it and the others. A smile is spread wide across my face as I take in the colorful illustrations and read the sentences I have memorized if I'm completely honest with myself. I am looking intently at the page where the skeleton of a dragon is drawn, and each bone and joint is labeled, marveling at the light bones in their wings that are able to hold up their enormous bodies, when i notice a small shadow hovering over the shoulder of my own. I tilt my head as the smaller shadow bobs up and down on the page before I turn my head to look.
Whatever it was is gone. There is nothing next to my shoulder. I turn and look over my other shoulder and see nothing still before I look up and down the walking path. Confusion and a mild fear mix in my head, but I ignore them and turn back to the page. I make sure to pay attention to the shadows around me. After about 10 minutes I see the shadow again. It hovers for a moment and then lands where the shadow of the bench begins. It walks closer to me, its body moving like a snake with feet. I divert my eyes from the page but don't move my head. At the corner of my vision I see a green body. Watching it, I see it step even closer to me and suddenly feel a small area of pressure on my shoulder.
Ever so slowly, I turn my head. It is almost as if I'm not moving, but soon I am looking at my shoulder and looking up at me is a tiny green dragon. It looks back at me, head tilted to the side in a studying look. My jaw drops. The dragon looks at my mouth and takes another step closer, both it's front feet now on my shoulder, and sniffs at my mouth. I snap it shut and he pulls back, startled, and seems to be glaring at me.
"Sorry," I breathe out "I didn't mean to scare you." my words are barely audible and I know he wouldn't be able to understand me, but people talk to animals all the time, it's like an instinct. The little dragon looks at me for a moment before turning his attention on the book in front of me. His wings unfurl and flap, lifting his tiny body until it is an inch above my shoulder, then he moves forward and drops lightly onto the pages. After taking a few careful steps, he begins sniffing at the images of dragons and the dragon skeleton on the pages. When he doesn't find the scent he's look for he tilts his head again like a confused dog before looking back at me. We stare at each other for a few minutes until he walks quickly to the edge of my book and to my hand, which he nips at. The hooked front end of his snout scratches me a little and I pull my hand back abruptly.
"Ow!" I say and my eyebrows pull into an involuntary glare as I look down at the little dragon. He looks back up at me and, seems to realize what he's done. carefully he approaches my stomach and nuzzles me. An apology. I smile and lower my hand, slowly and gently I touch the top of the dragons head. Now it is his turn to pull back surprised, and I freeze hoping he won't nip at me again. He doesn't and instead reaches his neck toward my hand so his snout brushes against my finger and he sniffs me, even though I'm sure he has caught my scent plenty while he has been sitting with me. Then I realize that barely any time has passed since I first saw his shadow hovering over my shoulder.
When he finally pulls back his nose, I wiggle my fingers so he expects movement, and place my head on his head and pet him. His leathery skin is surprisingly soft. I run my finger down it's back feeling the little bumps protruding from his back, and then lift its tail in the palm of my hand. I let it drop and focus my attention on the wings. I barely set a finger on it and they spring from the dragon's sides. A 'whoa' escapes my lips and I start inspecting. Tiny veins bloom in the middle of the feather light skin stretched across the airy bones of the wing. I grab the edge gently between to fingers, and then place my hand under it and lift it to watch how it moves and bends. Then, my pinky grazes the the underside of the wing where it joins the rest of the body, and the tiny dragon in my lap yelps and jumps away from my hand.
"Did... did I tickle you?" I ask amazed, then drop my head because it still can't understand me. The tiny dragon spreads its wings again and lifts off the book in my lap and I panic internally until it lands on my shoulder looking expectantly at my library book. When I don't move it switches its gaze to my face before looking pointedly at the book. I scoff in disbelief, it may not understand me but it is smarter than I expected. I turn the page and it shuffles its petite body before settling down, laying, on my shoulder. We both look at the pages intently for a few minutes until I hear a loud almost booming sound like wings and lift my head as a large shadow surrounds us.
An enormous orange thing lands heavily on the path in front of us. The little dragon practically jumps from my shoulder and zips to the space in front of the orange thing and lands, its head nearly on the ground. A huge head lifts up and I see what I expected, it is a full grown dragon. The larger one looks down at the baby dragon before it before it inspects it thoroughly. I watch in amazement as it sniffs what I can only assume is its child until it turns to look at me and every part of me freezes, I don't even breathe. The dragon takes two lumbering steps to turn and face me and snorts hot air into my face. I snap my eyes shut and try not to shake. After a few minutes, I don't feel the hot air anymore and open one of my eyes. The bigger dragon is looking again at the little one and quickly gestures toward the sky with its head before it spreads its expansive wings and lifts into the air gracefully. I watch it fly off and look back at my little friend. He is also watching the bigger dragon and when it is no longer visible, he spreads his own wings and lifts off the ground to follow.
"No!" I shout before I can stop myself. The tiny dragon turns and looks at me before darting to the space right in front of my face. It looks into my eyes before its tiny snake like tongue darts from its mouth and glides up my nose. I laugh from shock and also in sadness because I know he is saying goodbye. I lift my hand and he drifts to it and nuzzles it. Off in the distance there is an unmistakeable roar and he flies off before I can even react. My hand curls shut slowly as sadness sweeps over me and I whisper goodbye to my little dragon friend.
"What?" I hear and am snapped out of my memory. Scott is sitting by Mitch and Kirstie, his phone in his hand, probably tweeting the vine he just made of him telling me dragons aren't real. I look at their faces and realize I actually said goodbye out loud. "Oh... nothing." I say dismissively. Scott shrugs and the trio turn their attention back to the tweet at hand. I take a quick scan around and see Kevin watching me and I smile at him. He smiles back before turning back to the book he's reading.
People still tell me dragons aren't real but I know they are. No one will ever believe me and I have never told anyone about meeting that little dragon because I know it wouldn't have helped my situation. I turn and look out the window and think back again to that fifth grade year. Every day for a month, I went back to that bench in the park and waited. Every day I wouldn't leave until the last possible second and would make it home before my parents with barely a minute to spare. I never saw him again, but I gave him a name, just in case I ever did. Smaug, after the dragon in The Hobbit, but eventually I changed it. When I became a bass. I also thought the knew name would suit his grown self better than a name already given to a dragon in a book. He never knew I'd named him, so he'd never know the difference. People don't know that Basso Profundo is the name of a dragon I already know.
I sigh heavily and wish I had that book with me from the day I met him . But I don't. It sits on a bookshelf in my apartment in California. I never returned it and had to pay a fine to my library. I just couldn't bring myself to take it back. Not just because of the memories, but mostly because of the tiny dragon foot prints that are scorched into the pages he'd walked on. The only proof I have that the day wasn't a dream. "Dragons are real." I say quietly and smile to myself.
