Friday, 10/22/10 - The Last Dragon

"Judy, come here."

"What's the matter?"

"You tell me. What is he doing?"

Judy joins Sam in front of the sink. Together they look out through the window into the back yard where Jason stands holding a curtain rod above his head.

Jason raises his sword above his head. The tip points to the heavens, home of the gods.

"Zeus, send down your light! Give me power to slay the last dragon!"

In answer to his request, clouds gather, darken then roil, angry at being called from the four corners.

Jason braces himself as an unseen hand hurls a bolt of lightning through a thin seam in the clouds.

"Looks like he's playing a game."

"By himself?"

"I guess he prefers to play alone."

Jason's body bucks. He fights to hold onto the sword as Zeus' lightning courses through the blade, into his arms, through the rest of his body and finally, into the earth around him.

"Oh, my god, is he OK? Look at the way he is shaking!"

"That's nothing. Wait."

A final surge of power streams down and knocks Jason off of his feet. His muscles, engorged with Olympian energy spasm uncontrollably.

Sam sees Jason writhing on the ground and starts for the door. Judy grabs his shirt and stops him.

"He's fine."

"He doesn't look fine, he looks like he's having a seizure."

With his body adjusted to his god-given power, Jason raises himself up from the ground. His new eyes can see many leagues and to the east he directs his vision.

There!

A glint of light. The rainbow reflection of something scaled.

He sets his feet, shoulder width, and waits.

"If you thought that was odd, watch what happens next."

"Are you telling me that he's done this before?"

"He's a boy. He has an imagination. Who knows what adventure he is conjuring up in his head."

"Judy, this is not normal."

With a leap and a tail-flick Nefrifth, the golden winged dragon, traverses the space between. In an eye-blink, Nefrifth has moved from the forest to unfurl his serpentine form only inches from Jason. The dragon's sneer reveals rows of razor sharp teeth. Acrid smoke rises from the beast's maw only to be inhaled through its distended nostrils.

Nefrifth points his chin up and lifts his massive head skyward. Jason watches the dragons move and slowly shifts his weight preparing for...

A spit of flame, from Nefrifth's upraised head two stories above him, chars the ground where Jason had stood.

"What's normal?"

"Baseball is normal. Jumping around in your back yard by yourself while waving an old curtain rod is not normal."

There is a reason that Nefrifth is the last dragon: he is wise. Jason has fought him before and the experience has taught him something valuable.

Rather than retreat, Jason raises his sword and races in between Nefrifth's feet.

"So, you would feel better if he were waving a baseball bat instead of a curtain rod."

"No, I would feel better if he were swinging a baseball bat... on field... with other kids."

A dragon's scales are toughest on its back and on its legs and they could easily break Jason's sword. His only hope is to hide beneath the dragon so that it has to lower its head to look for him.

And when it does, Jason can thrust his sword up under the scales on Nefrifth's chest to pierce the beast's bloody heart.

Sam places his hands on the edge of the sink and leans closer to the window. Judy moves up behind him and slowly massages the tight muscles in Sam's neck and shoulders as they both watch their son raise the rod and run under the apple tree.

Timing. It is all timing. Jason watches for the subtle shifts in balance necessary for the dragon to strike out with its foot.

Nefrifth tries a few times to use the sharp talons on its feet to slice Jason but with his head so high up, the dragon's attempts are futile.

Jason races back and forth between the dragon's feet daring Nefrifth to lower his head and look for him.

Watching his son race around beneath the apple tree, Sam considers his options.

"Do you think we should take him somewhere?"

"Somewhere? For what? He's just a boy."

Pulled in tight, concealed beneath Nefrifth, Jason turns to observe the dragon's tail. He knows that to maintain balance, the tail will always move in the opposite direction of the dragon's head.

Watching, waiting.

Slowly the tail lifts.

In a single motion, Jason turns and forces his blade forward into Nefrifth's eye.

The dragon's whiplike retreat and return knocks Jason onto his back. Nefrifth's razor teeth snap shut on an empty space as Jason pushes his blade up between the soft scales on the dragon's chest.

Judy raps on the window and yells to her son, "Jaaaason! Tiiiime for diiiinner!"