A Short Story Just For Fun
“I wish you wouldn’t look at me like that,” I grumble, laying out the blanket. “It’s not my fault you’re the size of a house, I got the biggest Picnic blanket I could.
She snorted scornfully, planting her rump on the farthest corner of the blanket in sullen protest of my words. I sighed, laying down my pack and opening it. “Don’t be like that,” I scolded, pulling out my meal. “It isn’t becoming for a lady.”
She shot me an amused look, curling a lip slightly as if to say, “Really? You’re playing that card with me?”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I tried again. “Let’s not fight, Skee. I just want us to have a nice relaxing Picnic meal together. We can do that, can’t we? One day without any arguments, nobody flies off in a rage, and nothing goes up in flame. Can we do that?”
She Shrugged A Shoulder
She shrugged a shoulder, staring pointedly at me.
“I’ll do my best too, Skee. Promise. Look, I even got your favourite.” I reached into my pack, withdrawing a bright red handful. Her sky-blue eyes lit up, and I smiled. I always knew how to bring her around. “Here, dig in.” I tossed it at her, and she caught it elegantly, downing it with a snap and a gulp. “Fresh from the deer, just like you like. Now help me with mine?” I pulled out a piece I’d carved earlier and speared it on the end of my sword, holding it out to her.
Pursing her lips, she blew a delicate stream of flame at the haunch. I sat, the smell of roasting meat making my mouth water as I watched it turn a pleasing brown. When finished, Skee shut her mouth and rested her chin on the blanket. I smiled, rubbing her snout in thanks as I turned to tear into my meal.
A high, shrill shriek stopped me, inches from a mouthful of delicious roast venison. I groaned, setting the haunch down. “Really?” I moaned.
“Somebody help! Save me, oh save me!”
I felt a nudge at my side, and I grumbled, “I don’t want to!”
A Harder Nudge
A harder nudge nearly knocked me over.
“Fine!” I shoved the venison back into my pack. “But if it gets cold you’re heating it again! Damsels,” I swore, slinging a leg up over the base of Skee’s glistening white neck. “I wish you’d just roast them like other dragons sometimes.”
Skee gave a throaty rasp I took to be a laugh of some sort as she spread her wings and took to the sky. Belatedly I thought of the picnic blanket, but I could get another one. Apparently, I could not replace the damsel who was being abducted, or so Skee would have me believe. How she became more of a knight in glistening, scaly armour than would ever care to be was another story. At that particular moment, however, there was a particularly unpleasant-looking troll with a delicate maiden slung over its shoulder, and he was just begging to be roasted for interrupting my meal…
