Warning: the absurd story that follows includes exact quotes from my most recent survey. I cannot be (entirely) held responsible for its bizarre nature.
Once there was a dragon who didn’t know she was a dragon.
She felt shy like a mouse, tired like a work horse, and fast-moving as a cheetah, but never a dragon. Instead, she knew herself as a girl called Lila.
Honestly, Lila didn’t know what she was exactly, and most days, she was too busy to wonder about it.
Until one day, walking through the marina in Faro, Portugal, she saw a yacht so enormous it dwarfed every other boat.
On the deck was a leprechaun eating a grilled cheese sandwich.
The dragon girl had never seen a leprechaun before.
“Close your jaw, girlie,” the leprechaun said in a thick Irish brogue. “Ain’t ye never seen a little person eating lunch?”
Lila had not, but she didn’t want to admit it. “Would you like some tomato soup with your grilled cheese?” she asked instead because it seemed like the polite thing to do.
The leprechaun raised his bushy brows. “Well, blow me lucky charms! That’s exactly what I didn’t know I was waiting for.”
She handed him the can of tomato soup she happened to be carrying in her purse. He snapped his fingers. A bowl appeared. Another snap and the soup was steaming inside it, the can whisked away to the nearest recycling bin.
He slurped the soup at lightning speed, then wiped his mouth on his green tunic. “It seems to me you’ve earned a treasure, dearie.”
He ducked below deck and reemerged with a thick, ancient book in his hands.
“The Voynich Manuscript,” he said, extending it to Lila.
Lila stared.
“You don’t know how to read it, do you?” The leprechaun sighed. “Good thing I have this. Think fast!”
He tossed her a tiny device and Lila jumped to pluck it out of the air. It was a small rectangular gadget about the size of her pinky nail.
“Place that in your ear. It will translate anything. Mandarin, Portuguese, the babble of tech nerds…and of course, the Voynich Manuscript. Right then. I’m off to transcend the boundaries of time and physical energy with a golden orb that can instantly transport me anywhere, like Glinda’s bubble on steroids. Thanks for the sopa!”
Snap.
The leprechaun and his yacht were enveloped in a glowing sphere of light and disappeared.
Lila pinched herself a few times to make sure she was awake (she was) and flipped open the heavy Manuscript. It was filled with illustrations of strange exotic plants and indisciperable script.
Lila popped the device in her ear.
A voice crackled to life. “This transcription is brought to you by the power of a Dragon Pearl.”
Lila adjusted the device and listened as it continued.
“This book is filled with details that will be mainly irrelevant to humans. Allow me to present the condensed version: Follow the desire that doesn’t make sense.”
The girl jiggled the device and waited for more.
“Please insert 5,000 rubies for your next translation,” the voice continued. “Or quit wasting my time and follow the instructions.”
Lila had never much considered desire before. Mostly she followed the rules and what other people seemed to want her to do. Desire always seemed…risky. Dangerous.
Still, she tried.
Hot chocolate. A foot massage. A winning lotto ticket.
All those desires made sense.
Lila arrived at the corner of Rua do Queijo and Avenida do Vinho. A man dressed in raggedly clothes was building a sandcastle.
Suddenly, she was seized with the desire to give the man a big, juicy hug.
“That makes absolutely no sense,” she said to herself. “Perfect!”
Before she could talk herself out of it, Lila wrapped her arms around him.
He jumped in surprise, then softened into the embrace and spoke softly in Portuguese.
The translator hummed in Lila’s ear. “May you be granted endless wishes.”
A beautiful warmth spread across her chest, awakening her DragonHeart.
For the first time, she knew what she really was. It didn’t matter if it was a girl or a dragon.
She knew this:
The path of who we are unfolds by following the desire that makes no sense at all.
She looked down at her feet on the sand, and felt peace at exactly where they were right now.
Yours in love and play,
Steph 🐲❤️🔥
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