XIV. Pickney & the Grand Dragon

The majority of my early childhood was riddled with boredom. All day I would whine and moan about a lack of excitement in my young life. While all the other children were outside playing in the sun, I could not. That was because my imaginary friend Pickney Spoonsetter was albino and could never be exposed to sunlight. There were a few times were I would beg him to go outside with me. After long periods of annoyance, I think he would finally see the light in my eyes and realize how much it meant to me. "Hurray, Hurray" I would always exclaim, "My albino buddy and I are headed off on a great adventure."

Well it wasn't 5 minutes outside before I could see the color of his pale skin begin to brighten to red like a stoplight at an intersection. A few times I actually saw smoke coming off of his skin and became very frightened. Usually, I wouldn't see my good friend for a couple of days after that during his recovery. After learning our lesson from going outdoors, we began to entertain ourselves indoors, by pretending that we were brave knights and wizards, chasing after dragons in the old days. As time went on, and we had slain all the dragons in the old country, we began seeking more dragons. Then I remembered that I had heard one of my grandfather's acquaintances referring to a "the Grand Dragon" that my grandfather knew of. "Hear this Pickney the Pale" I would say, "we must seek out the grand dragon of them all and destroy him, before he destroys us."

So one night, my friend and I crawled into the back of my grandfather's truck when he was leaving so we could finally slay the grand dragon he and only he could lead us to. "Oh no" I said, "do you think my grandpappy has any idea how much danger he is in from the grand dragon?" Pickney assured me that he would be fine once we destroyed the great and terrible grand dragon. As my grandpappy's truck came to a halt, we rushed out of the back of the car so not to be detected. I didn't know where we were, but it was very dark outside, save for the light that we noticed in the distance from a fire. "Oh how terrible" I thought, "the dragon is already here and breathing fire upon the forest. I must save my grandpappy before it's too late."

So I rushed through the woods with my pathetically fair skinned companion, and we drew our swords on what appeared to be a group of worshippers of the grand dragon and his tree that he had caught ablaze. "Look Pickney the Pale" I said, "the grand dragon is upon us, and we must set the world right at once." So we ran into the circle of men in their white hoods to much bewilderment. "Stand back, it is time that the grand dragon have justice done upon him. I will slay this grand dragon and send him back to hell where he belongs." This angered the crowd very much, which I couldn't understand at all, for I was about destroy the greatest evil there is.

Out of nowhere my grandfather came, wearing the same white garb of the others in the crowd. "Do you also worship the grand dragon grandpappy? How is this possible?" I said. He responded, but I was in too much shock to understand. That night, we had our chance to kill the grand dragon, but for some reason my grandfather stopped us from doing so. In the months to follow, we were relocated a number of times for reasons I still do not know, and to this day, my grandfather still claims that if we don't keep moving, the grand dragon will hunt us down and kill us.

It's been several years since I spoke to Pickney the Pale. We left him out there to kill the grand dragon, but he was not afraid. And thanks to his courage, neither am I.