“What? Where?”
“We found them in the chicken coop!” THe kids were smiling, as though this was a good thing. Liam tugged on his beard, staring at the largest eggs he had ever seen.
“Can we keep it?” The hopeful faces would have melted most men. But Liam was not most men. Liam was a parent.
“No.”
“But Dad…”
“We don’t even know what they are. I’m sorry but I’ll need to hand these in, well, somewhere.” Ignoring the laments, Liam went to look for a box to put the eggs into. The trio had settled somewhat by the time he returned. He began lining the box when a faint crack was heard.
Liam’s head snapped around in time to see a shard of an egg go flying. All three kids jumped back as the largest egg split to reveal the strangest looking lizard Liam had seen. As the other two eggs began to crack, the larger one stretched up and out of the towel nest the kids had made. It was as long as his shin from nose to tail tip, covered in dark green skin. The lizard rubbed its head on the carpet, trying to shed the last of the egg sack.
Frozen in place, Liam was at a loss for words. Lizards don’t have wings. The thing gave a cough and a tiny flame was spat out. Lizards don’t spit fire either. He stopped the small flame out and looked to see all three kids slowly shuffling towards it.
“CAN WE KEEP IT?!” THe kids descended on the pseudo-lizard. Liam lunged to stop them from touching it, but the thing rolled over and leaned into the pats. The other two pseudo-lizards came down to join in, one navy and one red.
“No. Just, no.” Liam reached for his phone, at least he knew who to call now.
“Dad, wait!”
“Why not?”
“My dagon.”
“It is NOT a dragon! I’m calling animal management. Guys, we don’t know what they are. The fire spit thing is not ok. You can play with them until they get picked up.” They couldn’t be dragons. They had all but gone extinct after the government began destroying egg nests.
Dragons had been a fashionable pet once upon a time. As the practical implications of having a pet that will outlive you became apparent the government had taken steps to prevent their breeding for sale. Private ownership was no longer an option. Feral dragons released into the wild after their owner died were a real problem and anyone caught harbouring eggs was given severe penalties. These were not dragons.
“My dagon.” The little one cuddled the blue lizard tightly, which just seemed to make it happier. The other two were silently stroking one each. The ringing led to an automated message, which Liam missed entirely.
A short growl was followed by the lunge of their dog, who rushed the lizards. Liam caught him before he could get too close. The lizards however, had scattered, the kids running after them.
The blue one was trying its best to fly. Its wings were not up to the task and the poor thing nearly landed in the fish tank. The green one was sitting on top of the red behind the sofa. It growled when the kids tried to coax it out. Liam pulled the kids away and sent the elder one to take the dog back outside.
“My dagon.” The little girl had the blue one in her arms again. Liam redialled animal control and blessedly, a real person answered.
“Hi, yes, look I’ve had a few of what appear to be a type of dragon like lizard hatch, the kids found the eggs in the chicken coop and they hatched just now.”
“No worries Sir, we get many reports of nests in strange places around this time of year. The feral ones tend to come into town more and more these days. It’s the…” Great, Liam though, a talker. By the time she had finished the mandatory policy warnings and given him a full weather report the kids had assembled in front of him.
“Please Dad, what about just this one?” The blue one had not left the girl’s arms once. They levelled him with their best expressions of hope again.
“Pease, Dagon?”
“Ok Sir, how many eggs were there in total?”
“Three.” The navy lizard, despite being the same size as his daughter, managed to make itself look small in her arms. He really couldn’t tell which one was clinging harder.
“Oh good, a small nest. And how many survived the hatching?”
“Three.”
“Did any make an attempt to fly?”
“Ah yes, one.”
“Noted. Occasionally the dragons are kept as guardians for various facilities but flying is a trait we don’t want. Please make sure you let us know which one as it’ll be put down on site. Did any escape?”
Liam paused for a moment. He wanted them gone, he didn’t really want them dead. The navy dragon had started snoring.
“Pease Daddy.”
“Yes one escaped, the other two are balled up behind my lounge.” He waved at the kids and tried to shush them. The force of holding in the excitement went to their legs and they bounced around him.
“Ok Sir, we’ll send someone out to collect them within the hour.” Liam hung up the phone, wondering how the hell they were going to hide a dragon in the middle of the suburbs.
Liam turned to the kids, still bouncing.
“We need to hide it. Look we’ll keep it but you need to follow the rules I set out. And I guess it needs a name.”
“Dagon!” Dagon? Well, why not?
C.M. Wellsmore 