The Dragon Who Wouldn’t Fly

Names are in Chinese. This setting is in the olden times where the people wore long sleeved clothes and cloth shoes.

“Xiao Ping! What are you doing?” a woman dressed in tatters called out to her daughter. The child who was concerned, was playing with the soil. It had rained the night before and she was fascinated that she could draw on the wet ground. She had drawn a creature with a long neck and huge wings on its back. She finished the touches with a cloud of smoke bellowing out of its mouth.

“Xiao Ping! Do you know what that is?” she heard her mother asked from behind. She turned around and blinked as if she didn’t know that her mother had been calling her for the sixth time. She shook her head.

“That’s a dragon, you’ve been drawing. You’ve seen it?” her mother went closer bending over her child to look at the drawing more closely. It was a beautiful and detailed piece of art on the dragon. She had heard of tales of dragons in the high mountains beyond but never seen them. They were said to be fire-spitting and fly about in the dark to find people to eat if they were not in the house yet. Their village had missing people since the dragons were heard to be roaming about, so everyone were not allowed to stay out after the sun set.

“Did you see one?” Xiao Ping nodded her head.

Pre-Destined

They had been together since they met each other in a ward. She had been visiting a relative with her family when they bumped into each other. Helping her pick up her bag, he couldn’t but help notice that she was so graceful with her movement. Mesmerised, it took him a while to register that she was apologising to him.

“Oh, it’s alright, Miss. It’s my fault for not looking where I’m going,” he smiled at her. It took his breath away just seeing her smile. After she left, he still had her image in his mind. Determined to know more about her, he followed her to her relative’s ward. It took some coaxing from a fellow trainee but he managed to find out what her name was.

They had their happy times but underneath the happiness, there was the fear from her, resentment from him. It took a while until he gathered his courage one day.

“We shouldn’t see each other again,” he told her forcefully. He couldn’t bear to but her parents’ disapproval was getting on his nerves and they were starting to match-make her with different guys whom they thought were better compatible. He was still studying and working as a trainee in a hospital, which her parents thought was not prestigious enough to suit their only daughter.

A Hamster for Bobby

Bobby had always been fascinated by little furry animals. His favourite was hamsters. He liked the way that they dig frantically into the wood shavings, turn a few rounds before settling down into little fur balls to sleep. He had asked Mommy if he could have one, she had patted his head and said, “Honey, we’ll see,” before walking out of the door for work. Little Bobby was sad. He wanted to have one very badly.

“Come, it’s time for school,” Grandpa told him. Sighing, Bobby went to get his school bag from his room.

After the class had finished, Bobby walked up to Grandpa as usual. They started walking the path as usual except that they were not walking home yet. It was when they reached the pet shop that Bobby realised that they were not going home yet. “Why are we here, Grandpa?” asked Bobby. Grandpa smiled and opened the door to the pet shop, Norman’s Pets. They were greeted by a woman who asked them what kind of pets they were looking for. Grandpa smiled, “My grandson wants a hamster, can we take a look at them?”

Mummy Dearest

Author’s Note: This is written in British spelling eg, colour instead of color. Some of the names eg, Ma stands for mother. Children call them mama. The Asian mentioned is a Chinese whereby surnames are very important for most families.

Dearest Ma,

I’ve never been close to Pa, you know. When he chased me out of the house that day, I saw your tears, but I couldn’t wipe them away because Pa had blocked the doorway. I wanted to take away your pain and bury them deep till you won’t hurt again. But I couldn’t.

I met him at a friend’s birthday. Something attracted me to him. Maybe because he was wearing sandbags to train on his ankles or the way he spoke. He spoke with care and he was the only one who talked to me. I was a little afraid, thinking he was trying to get too familiar with me. Later he didn’t, not wanting to let the others tease about me and him when we just met for the first time.

Pa had always had the thinking that as long as you are of the same race and you are not of other religion, he would approve. He had always been… conservative. Somehow I came to hate him for his inflexibility and stubborness. I felt restricted and I couldn’t even go out without his comments like, ‘Are you going to wear that? Where’s your jacket? I can see through that.’ Ma, sometimes, I wondered what you saw in him. Being conservative is one thing, but too much is another. I began to feel that I couldn’t breathe when I reached 3-metres away from him.

Lost Love

Hearing the Christmas carols, he switched off the radio in his car. They reminded him of last Christmas spent with her. They were exchanging gifts for the first time. When he saw her eyes light up when she opened to reveal a matching pair of earrings and necklace with the stars that she had always wanted, he wanted to hold her in his arms and never let go.

He went into the white building that had become his second home 3 weeks ago after parking his car.

Opening the door slowly, he saw that she was sleeping soundly. Not wanting to disturb her, he sat in the chair just looking at her. She looked so angelic in the dim light that he couldn’t help but ached because he didn’t want to lose her. They hadn’t spent a lot of time together and he had made the time when she fell ill again. He brought her for a check-up when her fever wouldn’t subside and was devastated when she was diagnosed with dengue fever. It would be hard for her to recover and she might die from the fever or the medicine that was used to help her as it was in the last stages. She had accepted to go through the treatment while gripping his hand tightly.

She stirred slightly, opening her eyes. He smiled at her bravely, “Merry Christmas, dear.” She smiled weakly at him and closed her eyes. She opened her eyes again; his heart ached as she was struggling. “Fairy tales lie.” She whispered sadly, “There’s no such thing as living happily ever after.” He squeezed her hand tightly.

“Dear, please don’t think of it that way. I’m willing to be your guardian angel. I will always be.” Coran was desperate to keep her spirits up. Rika smiled wanly.