The Reaper's Token

I Ride Bubba Into a Dragon During the Parade

I soared down the hill after Lee. The faster I went the skinnier the sidewalk seemed. I wove crazily in and out of pedestrian packs closing the distance between us. I managed to avoid crashing into several pedestrians by moving into the middle of the street but a car blared its horn behind me and I raced back onto the sidewalk. Even though I applied gentle, steady pressure to the breaks they let out embarrassingly loud, rusty squeaks.

With squeaking breaks and the "Bring! Bring!... Bring! Bring!" of the bike bell, I tried to warn the swarms of people I was bearing down on. I was no longer, Dominic - Death's apprentice, I was Bubba and the Bike of Collateral Damage!

Ahead of me, I saw an ancient, Chinese man sitting on the corner playing a one-stringed, Asian instrument.

I rang the bell furiously, but he wasn't moving so I screamed, "Move out of the way!"

The old man jumped up in a fluster. We both screamed in unison and braced for impact.

I tasted wood as my face smacked against the instrument. With a twang and a snap, I blinked and thought I must have just missed him. I turned to look over my shoulder and saw him stomping and shaking his fists at me. I glanced down at my neck finding it hard to swallow and I realized the string and his instrument was wrapped around my neck. I had kind of stolen it.

"Sor!-" I tried to apologize but I had to swerve to avoid a black limo coming down the hill to my right. It honked at me and I careened into the middle of the street again. I was speedily approaching Lee and some kind of parade. I began frantically ringing Bubba's bicycle bell in a warning.

"Ruuunnn!" I shrieked. "Get out of the way!"

"EEEAAAH!" hollered Lee as he dove out of the way and into the crowd. His eyes were wide in amazement or... panic? Hard to tell!

A blur of onlookers let out a collective scream as I sailed under a golden tent and crashed face-first into a large wooden mask??? What the...? Oh, man! My mind blanked momentarily but I continued to race forward and heard the unmistakable - R-i-i-i-i-p!!! - of fabric! Several more screams ensued as a swath of red ribbon covered my eyes. I peeled it off and realized that I was caught in the head of the fierce, scowling, Chinese dragon! Several dancers dived out of the way as I raced forward.

A policeman with an orange, handlebar mustache waved his arms in front of me. Puffing into his whistle he commanded everyone to, "STOP THAT DRAGON!!!"

Through the eyes of my dragon I recognized where I was — Grant Street. I pivoted and made an abrupt left toward the Trans America Building. As I peddled past the Chinese park, several onlookers stood up. Some were in shock. Some were laughing, but they all grabbed their phones to snap pictures or videos as the dragon sailed past them.

I could taste the salt in the wind as I tore through crosswalks toward the pier. Truth is, I couldn't have stopped even if I had wanted to. I had momentum working in my favor (my physics teacher would be proud!) - and it wouldn't be denied.

I had lost sight of Lee but I felt there was a chance I could still beat him.

"Come on, Bubba, we can do this!" I barreled across cable car tracks and up onto the broad sidewalks of pier 7.

This was the first time I realized that Lee was actually behind me! Ha! Ha! Almost half a pier away I saw him stop and then bolt toward me. My chest hurt, breathing hurt, my calves were shrieking but I somehow raced forward anyway!

The guys sleeping on the sidewalk thought that they were tripping, as they jolted awake and watched me — a dragon! - fly past them.

I had to brake sharply to maneuver around a herd of pokey walkers and a crowd of bicyclists. Lee began gaining on me! DAMMIT!!!

"Nice dragon," he yelled sarcastically.

I wanted to retort something clever, but I couldn't afford to waste my breath.

A fire burned in my gut as the flags for Pier 39 waived in the distance. It was time for Bubba, me, and the Chinese dragon to make one last break toward the finish line. The beautiful, silk material billowed out around and behind me like the world's largest kite tail. A sharp pop sounded close behind me like a throwing star sunk deeply into my back tire. Lee lunged forward clutching after the dragon's tail but it snapped away from him in the wind.

We rounded the Aquarium of the Bay and the Hard Rock Cafe. THOCK! I hit something, squarely and suddenly. The bike stopped short but I kept going - right over the handlebars! I flew, skidded, and rolled across the dock, wrapping myself up in the body of the Chinese dragon like a burrito. I waited for Lee to run past me but he had stopped. It took me a few seconds to realize why. I had officially rolled onto the pier of Pier 39. I had won? I had WON!!!

"We had a deal," I said. I began unwrapping myself from the silk material and finally staggered to a standing position tucking the dragon mask under my arm.

"Yes. I believe we did, Dragon Warrior," Lee smirked. He tossed something to the ground making the smoke-like fog appear again.

"Our paths will cross again in this afterlife," I heard Lee whisper ominously. "Count on it!"

I started coughing and a white powder exploded in my face. Violet stumbled into my chest covered in a thick coating of pasty chalk.

I tried to breathe a sigh of relief as I wrapped my arms around her.

"Where... have... you... been?" Violet panted.

"I could ask you the same thing," I wheezed.

I pushed her away and hunched forward over my knees as my coughing fit resumed.

"Are you okay?" She asked patting my back. I nodded not bothering to explain. I wished that I had my inhaler on me.

She brushed some of the chalk from her shoulders and it floated to the ground like snow. It didn't seem to make much of a difference. She was still as white as a ghost. Violet looked around, surveying her surroundings, as her eyes settled on my apparel. I tucked the dragon's head beneath my arm but the tail was still wrapped around my waist like a skirt.

"Lee?" She asked.

"No... I kind of charged headfirst into this one on my own," I said with a light chuckle.

"Oh," Violet said stifling a laugh.

"So... what now?" I asked.

"Well..." she said, reaching into her pocket before folding out a large map from a square the size of a pack of gum. "Whatever you did in Chinatown should have checked that off our list, but..." Violet turned to scope in her surroundings. "It looks like we need to head further down the pier before we can move onto the next checkpoint."

"Um, Violet?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"Can I get something to eat first?" I asked. "What I am trying to say is... my asthmatic carcass is hungry and I could really go for a cup of O.J. right now. I sort of feel dead without it."

Violet smiled a little as she pulled and secured her chalky hair into a high ponytail.

"Sure," she said as she rifled through her black satchel purse and chucked something small and rectangular at my nose. "Just to tide you over."

I caught it by reflex, Strawberry Fig Newtons?! I gave Violet an unamused stare as I began peeling off the wrapper. I liked regular Fig Newtons - NOT strawberry.

"We can stop by Aunt Fanny's Hot Pretzels and pick up an orange juice but I want to be finished with this patrol before sundown." Violet turned and began walking down the boardwalk toward Aunt Fanny's.

I sighed and tucked the silky fabric into a ball and dropped it inside the dragon mask. I reluctantly laid it all on a nearby bench and followed after her.

"So, where were you all this time?" I asked, catching up to Violet.

"Let's just say that whoever invented chalk deserves to die."