Being Mommy

Cecilia awoke with a yawn and stretched lazily in the grass.

GRASS? Wait a minute!

She had fallen asleep in her house! So why was she waking up outside?

Her eyes popped open and she sat up and looked around quickly. She was in a small meadow filled with tall, soft, green grass and tiny pink daisies. The meadow smelled wonderful, like freshly baked cake in her grandmother’s kitchen. She picked a daisy and held it up to her nose. Yep, the smell was definitely coming from the daisies. The flower smelled so good, she wanted to put it in her mouth to see if it tasted as good as it smelled. But Mom had taught her never to eat plants if she wasn’t sure they were safe, so she put the daisy in her hair instead.

Because she was waking up in a strange place, Cecilia should have been frightened, but she wasn’t. For some reason she felt happy and calm, as if nothing bad could happen. She smiled and closed her eyes, tilting her face up to the sun. Warmth poured over her like a cozy blanket. A light breeze swept through her hair, making the ends dance across her shoulders.

She was about to get up off the ground and try to figure out where she was, when a small creature flew up and landed on her knee. It was about the size of her palm, and looked just like a miniature version of a dragon! The only differences between this creature and a dragon were its small size and the fact that it was covered with soft white hairs like a rabbit instead of scales like a dragon. The creature folded its wings as it landed and sat gently on Cecilia’s knee. It looked up at her and smiled .

“Hello,” said the creature.

Not sure what else to do, Cecilia answered back, “Hi.”

The creature kept smiling up at her. “How are you today?” it asked her.

“Um… okay, I guess. Where am I?” she asked back.

“Why, you’re in Ancilon of course! Where did you think you were?”

“I don’t know!” she answered. “What are you? Are you a dragon?”

“I am a dragon-fly. My name is Ty. What are you?” the dragon-fly cocked it’s head inquisitively.

“I’m a girl. My name is Cecilia.” She raised her knee up closer to her face to get a better look at the dragon-fly. She had heard of dragonflies before, even seen pictures of them, but Ty did not look like the pictures she had seen. Dragonflies were supposed to be insects, but this dragon-fly looked more like a dragon. She furrowed her brow in confusion as he kept smiling pleasantly up at her.

“You don’t look like a dragonfly,” she finally said.

“I’m not a dragonfly, I’m a dragon-fly. I can’t say if you look like a girl because I’ve never seen one before,” Ty said with another tilt of his head. “Why are you here?”

“I’m not sure,” Cecilia quickly answered. “I fell asleep at home and woke up here! I was just going to get up and look around when you landed on me. Hey! Maybe you can help me figure out what’s going on,” the thought came out of her mouth as she was thinking it.

“Perhaps I can,” said the dragon-fly. He was still smiling at her.

“Why are you smiling so much?” she asked him.

“Why not? You’re smiling too!” he said. She realized he was right. She had been smiling since she awoke. She wasn’t scared of this new place, only curious. She stood up to get a better look around the meadow, and Ty flew gently up onto her shoulder. His soft fur tickled her ear and she giggled. “Sorry!” he said and scooted over a little. “You can eat that, you know,” the little dragon-fly whispered in her ear.

“Eat what?” she asked.

“That flower,” he said. “They taste yummy. Try it!”

“My Mom told me never to eat a plant if I’m not sure that it’s safe,” she told him.

“Here, let me show you.” He glided softly down from her shoulder and hovered near a pink daisy. The flower was almost as big as his head. He picked a petal off and popped it in his mouth, chewing gently. His smile got a little bigger. “Mmmm, I love them! Try one!”

Satisfied that the flower was not going to harm her, she bent over and picked one, stopping for a moment to inhale deeply, savoring the tasty scent again. Then she picked a few petals from the bloom and placed them in her mouth. Ty was right, they were good. They tasted just like birthday cake! “Wow, you’re right! I like them,” she looked over at him, but he was busy eating more daisy petals. She finished eating the flower, and was amazed at how full she felt after eating such a small flower.

After finishing his meal, Ty flew back up to Cecilia’s shoulder, this time landing far enough from her ear so he didn’t tickle her.

“So where is Ancilon? Is it in the United States?” she asked him.

“What is the United States?” he asked her back.

“It’s where I live,” she answered. “Where do you live?”

Ty’s smile changed a little; he looked amused by her confusion. “I live here, of course. Ancilon is the first land in the kingdom of Rettel. It was here before all the other lands!” he said proudly, his chin tilting up just a little.

“How many lands are there?”

“Twenty-six, all together. But you can’t get to the other lands from here.” Ty told her.

Now she was really confused! “Well, if I can’t get to the other lands from here, how do I get there?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never been to any of the other lands before. I’ve lived here in Ancilon my whole life. But I like it here so much, I don’t really mind!” He jumped up softly onto the top of her head. “Do you mind if I eat this flower? I’d hate to see it go to waste.”

“No, go ahead,” she replied. He plucked the flower from her hair, hopped back down onto her shoulder, and began munching on the petals. As he was eating, she looked around some more. The meadow was small, not much larger than her backyard at home. At the edge of the meadow on all sides were trees. She was surrounded by a dense forest. She could only see a little way into the forest because there were so many trees.

But she still wasn’t scared. The trees looked nice and soft. She walked over to one edge of the meadow and examined one of the trees. Instead of hard scratchy bark, the trunk was covered in a thick layer of fine light brown feathers! She touched the trunk. It almost felt like a pillow!

She looked up at the leaves. Finally something looked normal. Just your average green tree leaves. She reached up to touch one, and was surprised to find that she couldn’t! The leaf blew gently in the breeze away from her fingers, just out of reach. She reached for another, and another, and another. Each leaf lifted slowly away on the wind, just inches from her fingers.

“Oh,” Ty said, looking over at what she was doing, “don’t bother, you can’t touch them. They won’t let you. They’re too ticklish.” He had finished eating the flower from her hair, and had lain down across her shoulder with his head tucked in close to his body.

“Ticklish? How can a leaf be ticklish?” she asked him.

“I don’t know, they just are. How can anything be ticklish?” he replied with a yawn.

“Good question. I don’t know either.” Since she couldn’t touch the leaves, and the feather-covered trunk felt so wonderful, she brushed her cheek up against the tree, closing her eyes and enjoying the feel of it. It made her feel like she was back at home, sleeping in her bed with her head on her soft, soft pillow. She wrapped her arms around the tree and squeezed.

She opened her eyes again and looked up at the sky. The sun was starting to go down into the tops of the trees. She needed to find out where she was going to sleep for the night if she couldn’t get back home before dark. “Ty?” she looked over at the little dragon-fly lying contentedly on her shoulder. “Do you know how I can get home?”

“Sorry, I don’t. But you can come into the village and meet everyone if you want. Maybe someone there can help you get home.” Ty looked up at her expectantly.

“Sounds good. Let’s go… which way?” Cecilia asked.

Ty pointed to the left. “That way!” he said. “It won’t take us long. Follow me!” He sat up and hopped off her shoulder and began flying off in the same direction he had pointed, into the woods.

Cecilia looked around once more at the meadow. She was definitely confused, but she was not scared. She had no reason to be scared. The meadow was nice and warm, the flowers smelled and tasted yummy, the trees were soft and comfy, and Ty was the nicest dragon-fly she had ever encountered. She took one more deep breath through her nose, enjoying the sweet scent of the tiny pink daisies, then turned toward Ty and began to follow him.

As she entered the forest, she noticed that her feet felt like she were walking on clouds. She looked down and saw that she was wearing her Grandma’s shoes. She smiled wider, then laughed a little, realizing that the shoes were indeed magic. Her Grandpa had been telling the truth!