Stories in November

Crocodile Kisses

Moll grabbed her laser gun, strapped to the stone wall of her cottage.

"Mother, they're beautiful, aren't they? I mean, for monsters." Moll's nineteen-year-old daughter pulled a crab apple pie out of the oven. "If we feed them, they'll go away."

"No, feeding them will make it worse. Pack your bags. It isn't safe here with the monsters," Moll Heart said to her daughter. They were one of the last families to pack up and leave for the safety of the castle.

"Do we get to live with the king?" her daughter asked.

"We will live in the protective village, but I am sure the young king will want you to work in his kitchen. You're better than all his royal bakers."

"Yes, I will run my own bakery. Are you coming?"

"No, I am staying with your brothers and their wives. We promised the king we would keep the crocodiles out." Moll shoved her daughter on the last horse-driven coach.

The remaining hearts and their wives walked inside the little village with laser shotguns.

"No man or beast will drive us off our land," Moll Heart said. "We fight for the king!"

A crocodile lunged at her, and she drove him back, firing her laser into his green flesh.

A month before, Shadow Waters was a simple southern town in the kingdom of Grace and Reed.

Before the crocodiles became stronger. Local cafés used to sell chocolate biscuits, full crab diners, toasted cheese sandwiches, and sour milk pies.

Open markets sold laser swords and dresses made from spun silk and gold.

The king loved his people, but that was before, under the light of a red moon, terrible magic happened.

A beautiful glow appeared in the swamp outside the fishing cottages. Blue algae bloomed in the middle of the night, and it sparkled like stars. It would have been like magic if not for the crocodiles that lived in once murky water.

Swimming around in circles, crying, and singing.

Dead fish floated in the water.

They learned to speak. "The algae killed the fish that we need to survive, but it has made us smarter. We are now like humans, and we offer friendship and kisses."

An elderly man attempted to feed them, and a crocodile gobbled him up.

They hurt or maimed anyone trying to help them.

Knights with guns shot the crocodile, and his family screamed out in hunger. They cornered the knights one by one.

Even when the glowing algae died off and the fish returned, the crocodiles remained bright, but they were always smart hunters.

The king dug a jagged trench around his castle full of thorns and carved spikes. Any crocodile who tried to enter the landlocked part of the kingdom met dangerous paths.

Whatever was in the algae made them smarter. They walked on land, stealing people's homes and gardens.

Food ran low.

The smart ones swam to better hunting grounds away from a man with knowledge expanding their thumb-sized brain.

But the others fought over food until only a few of the creatures remained in a stone cottage with a huge garden and sheep they raised themselves.

Moll and this green beast formed an uneasy truce over tea.

"We are no longer crocodiles and can grow our food," the head of the crocodile family said to her.

Another beautiful monster spoke. "We that are left call ourselves dragons, and one day we will breathe fire!"