ALROY'S DRAGON SOCIETY

1985-02-04-118

STORY #003

ALROY'S DRAGON SOCIETY

    Warren couldn't wait until Saturday. That was the day that he and Alroy spent the whole day together, exploring the things nature had in store. Alroy was the best friend anyone could ask for. They never got into any fights, and Alroy would do whatever Warren wanted to do, except go to town. That would never do, for dragons didn't go to town, and Alroy was a dragon. "How disgusting", some folks would say. "The nerve", others would say.

    This day, Warren skipped along the mountain trail merrily, wondering what he and Alroy could do today. Suddenly, he stopped, slowly turned, looked all around, and felt very strange. There was something he couldn't quite put his finger on. There was a sadder note in the melodies of the birds. The sounds of the forest was somehow quieter, lonelier. And there was no Alroy! Alroy gave life to the forest. His antics made the birds sing, the squirrels play and the rabbits run.

    "Alroy! Alroy!" Warren called and called.  He kept going up the mountain until he finally heard a very low sob. "Alroy, why are you crying", yelled Warren as he came running up the path toward him. "Don't you know what today is? It's Saturday."

    Alroy turned a long, green, scaly face toward Warren and said,"I'm sorry Warren, but I just found out that they won't let me join the Society."

    "What society?"

    "The Society For The Preservation of Dragons."

    "But why won't they let you joint."

    "Because I can't breathe fire and I can't fly. I can't even blow steam."

    "Who wants to do all that anyway?" asked Warren. "Only mean dragons do that, and you're not mean."

    "But every dragon breathes fire and flies" cried Alroy.

    "Alroy, I've got it! If you can't be a member of the society, we'll invent one of our own."

    "But Warren, I'm a dragon, and dragons are supposed to. And dragons aren't mean either. They just do it, that's all. Have you ever seen a fish that couldn't swim?"

    Both of them thought for a moment. Then Warren finally said "Come on, Alroy. The other boys in town would like to be in your society. We're all friends. We can even call it ALROY'S DRAGON SOCIETY. How about it?"

    At first Alroy didn't know what to say. Finally he said "I guess so. Since I can't have any dragon friends, I might as well have some human friends."

    Warren jumped up and went running down the mountain trail. "Just you wait, Alroy. All of us will be here for the first meeting of ALROY'S DRAGON SOCIETY. I gotta go get it organized. Seeya!"

    The next Saturday, Warren went early in the morning to Dragon Mountain with twenty three other boys.  As soon as they saw Alroy coming out of his cave, Warren said "Order! This meeting of ALROY'S DRAGON SOCIETY we will elect the president, the treasurer, and all that stuff."

    While the others were busily selecting the officers, Jason and Johnny Johnson quietly slipped off to go exploring. They had never been to the mountain before, and they were quite curious about it. They stopped to look at the moss on the trees and tried to follow all the tracks they saw. They weren’t watching where they were going, and soon found themselves on the edge of the mountain looking down a big drop off to the bottom of the mountain. A bear came up behind them and roared so loudly they almost jumped off the ledge.

    Dragons are known for their hearing, and Alroy heard one of the boys scream. He knew he could never get there in time to save the boys from the bear by running, so he gave a mighty lunge and flew to where the bear was  still scaring them. He arrived just in time to see Johnny fall off the mountain. Alroy flew down, picked him up, then flew back to save Jason. As soon as he had done this, he got so mad at the bear, he raced back and blasted that bear with the hottest breath any dragon had ever breathed. That bear ran so fast that by the time he slowed down he was in Tennessee.

    Alroy didn't pay any attention to what he just did, but the boys did. Every boy there ran as fast as they could to where Alroy was resting. "Alroy, you did it! You did it!" shouted Warren.

    "Did what?" asked Alroy, not knowing what the excitement was all about.

    "Aw, quit foolin'. You flew and you breathed fire." All the boys cheered and shouted. Then they all slowly got quieter as they noticed that Alroy seemed to get sadder and sadder.

    Johnny understood and in a hushed voice said "It means that Alroy will have to join the SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF DRAGONS and won't be able to be in ours."

    Almost as soon as he said it, Alroy started crying and trying to hide his face from the boys.

    A booming voice behind and overhead came ringing in their ears. "Oh, I wouldn't say that." The shadow of the dragon that spoke loomed large enough to frighten even the toughest of the boys, as they fearfully turned to look at who had spoken.

    "Don't be afraid" Alroy said "it's just my father."

    "Hi boys. I flew down to congratulate him on becoming a dragonette. In human terms that means he is now a teenager. And I saw what happened. I'm proud of him. Now that he's proven he can breathe fire and fly, he will be able to join the society tomorrow.

    "What about us?" yelled one of the boys.

    "Yeah, what about us?" cried several of the boys as they all took it up and the noise got louder.

    "I don't understand" Herman said in his booming voice. As soon as he started speaking, everyone got quiet.

    "Well father, since I couldn't be in the SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF DRAGONS, the boys started a new society and called it ALROY'S DRAGON SOCIETY." Now it looks like I won't be able to be a member of my own society.

    Herman laughed loudly until tears rolled down his face. No one could understand why he thought it was so funny. "Boys, "he said still laughing. "Alroy is growing up, that's all. There's no reason he can't be a member of his own society. But there will come a day when he will become so big that all you boys will be afraid of him. That's what our society is all about. We are trying to get people not to be afraid of dragons. When men grow up, they are afraid of  every  dragon they see.  ALROY'S DRAGON SOCIETY sounds like just the thing we need to convince the men that dragons aren't as mean as they think we are. We aren't their enemy. They just think we are."

    The boys were proud of Alroy. The net day they held two parades. One in the city for the men, and one in the mountains for the dragons. To this very day, if you read in the history books of Gonzalia, you'll find it written that Alroy the dragon and Warren the boy were responsible for men and dragons being friends.

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    RitaB says:

Flea, What a wonderful story! There are times when I am amazed by the straight forward simplicity of your writing and how wonderful a story teller you are. With a few minor repairs which LinnAnn pointed out, you've got a very marketable story. God Bless.
.................I could not bring my passions from a common spring........