End of line

I wake up early enough and slip out of Mom's wing.

Rudia opens an eye... "Are you leaving me already?"

Me. "Sooo.. I'd like to go to town while I can... you need something?"

Rudia: "Yes, bring some salt if you see any and take whatever spices you want to eat to leave here."

Mom, do you want a mobile phone to call me?

Hahahaha, dragons don't need that!

"ˋYou hears me like that?

Rudia's voice was in my head!

"How do you do it?" I asked.

"Next lessons... Hehe..."

Indeed, Mom had tons of things to teach me. Her long life had nothing to do with it...

We hugged each other one last time but I didn't want to miss the croissants and nesquik hot chocolate with farm milk.

With a few flaps of wings I was at home but I never took off from the lair... Always the trick! The trick and the trick again. Mom was still scanning the cell phones and then telling me "now"

She was a real command centre on her own.

I could see the table in the courtyard and everyone waiting for me.

I dived right next door.

"Hello, everyone!"

Tantante came close to me and kissed me...

"Emily, you smell like a beast! Go take your shower quickly, the water is hot and change your loincloth."

Afterwards, breakfast I was all excited about our outing.

I was rushing into the van. And Luc and Celine arrived in the centre of Houffalize. We park near the tank. Already the smell of fries and ice cream and waffles was attacking my nose.

I went out in good clothes and Luc said to me, "You stay next to me. Especially and we're not flying into town.

I pulled myself out of the excited van and jumped on the spot.

We went down the square from the top to the shops.

Everyone turned around and wondered what I was.

Pedestrians ran across the street to observe me and others followed us to see me better.

We arrived at the church square where the market was held.

I was standing, leaning against my tail and the crowd moved away by instinct.

The fear of the dragon....

I waved: "Hello, I am Emily, I am thirteen years old. I don't bite!"

We immediately felt the crowd calm down and the fear gave way to curiosity.

Then we went shopping again. I held the bags and celine looked at the scarves for her and for me.

She compared them and two children said to me, "Hello, dragon lady!"

I say "hello, children"

Child: Are you Emilie?

Yes!

"Everyone here is talking about you. Some people are afraid of the dragon. But you're not a bad person, are you? You're not going to attack us like the sleeping beauty?

Never! But I'd like to have friends to play with. I'm bored without friends! People are afraid and no one dares to talk to me.

Child: Can you show me your teeth?

I don't want you to scare your parents. Not here! Not here!

Children on bicycles arrived in groups and asked me to play with them.

Luc then dropped me in the playground and the people from the market came in crowds to see me play with the children. It didn't last a minute that they were already climbing on my back. I was a hen and they made footprints of my legs on the sand in the sandbox.

Then I braided the friends and went to the market near the cheesemonger. I took the biggest one and the children laughed when they saw my long tongue wrapped around the chew.

Then it was the selfy rush.

The market was coming to an end and I was asking for tantante salt and we went to the barbecue accessories and bought pins and a battery-powered motor and smoking spices. A cast iron plancha to put on the fire and rope and butcher hooks. Then there were accessories for incubators and battery-powered chick lamps. I'll talk to Mom about it later.

We bought matching wooden jewellery for me and Celine, my aunt.

Slowly, people got used to me but people would ask humiliating questions sometimes.

Like, "Do you have a license to own a dragon? Or like, "Where do we buy or a dragon?

Most of the time we didn't answer, but once I had to show my ID card so that people would leave me alone.

We went home, bags full to burst at the farm and I was helping so much to clean up. She was happy with my help.

Then she says to me: You can go play...!

It was nice and I put myself out in the sun with my toy box in front of the house.

I was on my Marklin electric train.

Tchoouk tchouuk' I imitated the sounds of the station and the train to perfection.

My family felt like they were in a station.

Manu cycled down the street and stopped: wow! A dragon!

He saw me playing with my train and doing tchoouk tchoouk tchoouk.

In half an hour, all the children in the village were playing with me.

The worried parents rushed to save their child but everything went well when they saw that I had identity papers. I was a person, not an animal. I had a lot to catch up on.

Leukaemia had stolen my childhood. I wanted everything back, to have a magical childhood again.

I was laughing with my friends.

Eric thought I was crazy, but still the same. He was jealous. We were going to live together again but I wanted more friends now that I wasn't sick anymore...

I owe a lot to Eric and even if he did something wrong to my dragon mother, otherwise I would have died for good. Eric had grown and matured and I considered him more and more like my big brother rather than a potential boyfriend. But I wanted to PLAY, PLAY and PLAY again!

And he, with his 14 years old, the hormones were heating up and he was checking out the girls in the village.

Then came my legos and playmobiles, I had passed the age but not in my head.

People driving by, slowed down when they saw a dragon lying on the blue stones in the sun, in front of a huge neighbour's vegetable garden, playing playmobiles. And guess what I was playing dragon... and knights...

In my crazy head, I was the knight who attacked the evil Rudia!

GRAAAH, she got me again!

I had a castle and then Manu came to bed next to me and he brought his box of playmobiles and we told each other stories

Marise came by bike, she lived with her grandmother, her parents working abroad for a year.

His grandmother sold and distributed sweets and chews at cost of nothing to all the children in the village.

Marise also had playmobiles and we quickly became very good friends.

We arrived at the church square and rushed to the chewing tobacco.

I was waiting my turn and many were actually asking for it for me. They laughed when they saw my big tongue sucking cheques.

The inhabitants, little by little, got used to my presence and often I would bring my friends back on my back unless they had a bike

The week went by and the month of August came up.

The days were getting shorter and the leaves of the trees were getting ready for the approaching fall.

The fields were harvested and the farmers made a round trip with their tractors.

I never failed to be polite and sometimes it was the bacon competition!

The neighbour had made lots of cured meats for his consumption and Marise, Manu, Sylvie, the daughter of the neighbour downstairs who came on weekends, during the week, she stayed with her mother in Brussels. There was also Jeremy, Anne and Stéphane, Sylvie's sister and brother. They stayed here during the week but Sylvie really liked me very much.

In the village, there was also the old Auguste, an old rebutted farmer who had saved many people from incurable diseases. He only ate fricassee and local fruit(smoked ham mainly).

A/N : He really existed and was really doing miracles. His house has been moved entirely in a open air museum of the 3 furnaces near Arlon, Belgium. I met him many times when I was a kid and the farm here really exist and is now classified as a museum monument. It was build in 1417 and was also a refuge for the villagers when there were attacks or heavy snow. The tank is a real story but we did'nt keep it but there is still a 4ch Renault oldtimer car hidden there. There were an underground and a hidden pit but i've never found it. I just found the middle age remains of a lifting bridge. The fae forest is in Achouffe where the famous beer is brewed and when I was young, there were fog veils and dangerous swamps there. I've also found a real mushroom circe and nearby a fae ring of stones. For joking with friends, I prayed the "gold" dragon and when I go back home, my father was in critical condition at hospital, bitten by a golden wasp exactly at the same time. Praying for fun is an insult and with nothing can be done, I prostrated in the direction of the stones and begged mercy to the dragons and telling it was never my will to insult him. And then, like miracle, his tongue deflated and he can be saved. So until now, I pray the dragon for mercy and protection. Of course I am still christian but.. who know????

I was crazy about red and green gooseberries, and so were the grapes.

So, Jean, Sylvie's grandfather had called us for the waffle and ham festival. It was forbidden to adults (officially)

So he cut slices of smoked ardennes ham and the rule was 1 slice of fat for a slice of meager.

Of course, I loved fat and everything. So the others gave me the fat in secret and the rind so that they would have the meagre, smoky piece, the one with the most taste!

I was very interested in his smoking techniques!

Then we went to his garden among the chickens and a large storage room, almost a barn had a bread oven in it.

And the grandmother I loved very much made waffles the old-fashioned way with brown sugar cubes, like brown sugar.

It was sublime and we didn't find it in the shops.

Then she took the rice and blackcurrant pies out of the oven!

I was drooling just from the smell,

Then I didn't remember anything but I fell asleep under the stars and several children lay under my wings.

The parents saw to reassure themselves of our little party.

Friday evening arrived and I flew back to my mother Rudia.

She welcomed me in the evening by opening her wings so that I could sleep under her comfortably.

"Here, Mom, I brought you some waffles and a homemade pie that I made with the neighbors."

Mom swallowed them and kissed me with a blackcurrant taste!

"Thank you for thinking of me!"

Look, I set up the cave a little bit and made a fire pit.

I drew her a smoking room to try to increase the flavour of the boars. It was still natural and she thought it was a good idea.