Trudy

"FOR CRYING OUT LOUD TRUDY, ANOTHER THREE DOGS AND ONE CAT ARE MISSING FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU, YOU CAN'T KEEP TAKING PEOPLE'S PETS. IT'S ALL OVER THE FRONT PAGE OF THE MESSANGER! YOU'LL GET CAUGHT! I'LL GET BLAMED. I DON'T NEED THIS CRAP!" I took two deep breaths to calm down and spoke to Trudy again. "It says here that the count of missing pets in the Lachine/Dorval area is up to 16. The police have opened an investigation. One small mistake and they'll be onto you. You know what'll happen if you get caught. Who'll take care of you then?"

"Why you will mommy."

I hate when he calls me mommy. I know he knows that I hate being called mommy but he does it anyway.

"But you are my mommy, mommy. Why should I not call you mommy?

"I've explained it to you one thousand times. Your real mother died before you were born and left you to me. And don't read my mind. I don't like that. It's not polite."

"But I don't read your mind mommy. You send out your thoughts. I just pick them up."

"Well just leave them lying where you found them. They're not yours to pick up."

Trudy jumped up on my lap, curled himself into a ball and looked up at me.

"Tell me again what my mother was like mommy." AARGH! "Pleeeease"

"Oh alright." How could I resist those big yellow eyes and that lost puppy look?

"That's a good puppy look by the way. You've been practicing."

"Your mother was strong and brave and very smart. She was the…" "No, tell it from when you met her." "Ok"

It was four years ago, a Wednesday I think, I had just finished a long day at work and I was heading home. We were doing twelve and sixteen hour shifts, seven days a week, at the plant to meet year-end sales projections. I was burnt out and looking forward to a shower and a bed. I was spending so little time at home that Sydnie, my daughter, was soon going to think of me as a stranger. Thank god that we only had a week of this left before year's end.

"What do you do at work mommy?" "I'm a supervisor." "What's that?" "I tell the other workers what to do and when to do it." "And that's hard?" "Shut-up and let me tell the story."

Anyway, I was very tired and on my way home around one in the morning when I saw a bright flash just ahead of me on the highway. A split second later a loud noise like thunder shook my car. Being close to the Dorval airport I assumed that an airplane had crashed onto the highway. I slowed down, not wanting to crash into anything. The lights on that stretch of highway rarely work properly and it was a very dark night.

I drove at a crawl for a minute until I got to the area where I thought that the plane had come down but I could see no wreckage or anything. Just when I was coming to the conclusion that I had imagined it all and that I really, really, needed to get to my bed I saw something in front of me that made me sure that I had lost my mind.

Even though I was going very slowly I couldn't stop fast enough to avoid hitting it. It tumbled over the hood and landed on the ground on the passenger side of the car. Grabbing my courage in both hands, as well as my tire iron, I got out and walked around the car. Lying on the asphalt was a lump about the size and shape of a loaf of crusty bread. Definitely not what I had just hit. I looked around for a while but nothing else was anywhere near that could explain what I had just seen and hit.

Being the only thing in the area out of the ordinary I bent down to look at the lump on the road. I was about to poke it with the tire iron when it moved. Not that it moved around on the ground. It moved more like a bag would look like if it had something alive inside it. Every single scene from every Sci-fi movie I had ever seen was playing back in my head. And my brain came to the quick conclusion: DON'T STAY BENT OVER WITH YOUR FACE STICKING OVER THAT THING. IT'S GOING TO BURST AND EAT YOUR FACE OFF OR POP OUT OF YOUR STOMACH OR SUCK OUT YOUR BRAINS OR…. I didn't get to finish that train of thought because nothing happened. The lump just stayed there and didn't do anything to me. I still would not go near it though.

That was when I first met your mother. She dove at me from nowhere screaming DIE MAN so loud I thought my head would explode.

"You know we can not speak your language. She could not have screamed that out loud."

"Now I know. But I didn't then."

I was suddenly fighting for my life. All I could see were fangs, claws, spikes and the deepest yellow eyes I had ever seen. Even with all the pain going through my body from that savage attack those eyes somehow awed me.

I fought for what seemed like hours but must have been only minutes. It took every ounce of my strength to keep those natural weapons away but with every scratch, bite and gouge that got through I was losing ground. Had it not been injured by the impact with my car I believe I would have been dead very quickly. As it was, it seemed to have trouble moving.

With my last bit of energy I kicked her off me and staggered backwards. In doing so my hand came down on the lumpy thing by the car. She screamed louder this time. "NOOO!"

But stopped advancing. "FOUL CREATURE! HARM IT AND YOU WILL DIE A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH!" That's when I realized what the lump was.

"It was me!" "Yes it was you. Now let me finish."

The lump was an egg! Her egg!

Now that it wasn't moving I could see it in full glory. And glory it was. There standing before me was a dragon. Not your typical giant dragon from mythology but with that shape none the less. Its scales were a wondrous red and copper color that seemed to glow with its own inner light. It stood on its hind legs about a foot taller then me. I don't think it preferred this position as it soon fell to all fours. The front legs could be considered arms as they ended in two-fingered hands with proper thumbs. The tail was long, about as long as the body, and very flexible. It ended in a Y shaped blade that was very sharp. There were no spiked ridges down the spine like dragons in mythology but around the top of the head there was a crown of sharp curved spikes. The head was about half as wide as mine and set on a long neck. Those wonderful eyes were set wide apart over a large and well-armed mouth. The teeth were not what I expected. Though there were quite a few long sharp ones there were also some that looked like they were meant to chew things other than meat. The mouth looked like a mix of T-Rex and human.

If you can picture an alligator with smooth scales, human shaped limbs and a slim neck to hold the head you will get a gross approximation of the creature that stood before my that night.

"My mother did not look like an alligator!"

"I said approximation didn't I?"

"Ok."

I looked down at the egg. It looked like an old beat-up leather bag-- "Hey!" "Well it did, what can I say?" and felt pleasantly warm to my hand. I tried to pick it up one handed but it was too floppy and slippery.

The dragon was visibly shaking by now. I could tell she was worried about what I would do with her egg. That's when I was attacked from a direction I could never have expected. She was inside my mind screaming with rage. This froze me to the ground. At the exact same time as the scream she leapt straight for me. I was totally unable to stop her. Faster than an eye-blink I was on the ground, her tail blade entering my right leg, her teeth sinking into my throat and her mind rampaging through mine.

And then she stopped.

I could only see one eye but it seemed to bore right into the very depths of my soul. The pain I was in was terrible but was somehow being held at bay though I could feel myself slowly fading out. She let go of my throat and spoke though her mouth did not form the words. I could hear them in my mind.

"YOU ARE NOT EVIL!" This seemed to amaze her. "YOU WOULD NOT HAVE INJURED MY EGG. HOW CAN THIS BE? ALL MEN ARE EVIL YET YOU ARE NOT." As she spoke I could feel her inside my head, probing my thoughts, my memories.

"YOU DID NOT HIT ME WITH YOUR CARRIAGE BY CHOICE. YOU WOULD HAVE AVOIDED ME HAD YOU HAD THE TIME. THIS IS UNHEARD OF. PEOPLE AND MEN ARE SWORN ENEMIES." Somehow I knew that when she said people she meant her race. "YOU ARE OF MEN YET YOUR SOUL IS AS OF PEOPLE. I SEE NOW THAT MANY THINGS HERE ARE NOT AS IN MY REALM."

She stepped back a pace and sat down though she left the tail blade in my leg. "I MUST, TO PULL IT FREE NOW WOULD LET FLOW YOUR LIFE'S BLOOD"

"I HAVE DONE YOU A GREAT INSULT, BOTH TO YOUR BODY AND TO YOUR HONOR. NEVER, NEVER, HAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE ATTACKED ANOTHER CREATURE WITHOUT JUST CAUSE. I MUST ATONE FOR THIS TRANSGRESSION. I MUST UNDO WHAT I HAVE DONE.

With these words she began to glow even brighter. So bright I had to cover my eyes. A burning sensation started in my leg and slowly spread throughout the rest of my body. With it came pain like none ever experienced by man before. Every nerve was on fire, from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. I was in hell. I imagine the scream was heard miles away.

Abruptly it stopped. The pain was gone, the glow was gone, and I felt better than I had in months. I sat up and looked at the dragon. She was no longer glowing. Her color was an ugly grayish yellow. I could tell she was dying. Just then I remembered the egg. How would it survive? "I HAVE GIVEN YOU THAT WHICH I HAD WRONGFULY TAKEN. I WILL SOON CEASE TO BE. THOUGH YOU ARE NOT OBLIGED TO GRANT ME A BOON I WOULD ASK ONE OF YOU. TAKE MY EGG. YOU NEED DO NOTHING. IT WILL HATCH SOON. RAISE MY CHILD AS YOUR OWN. Here she said your name using her mouth. It sounded like growlchokeTrudycoughgrowl. I COULD ASK FOR NO BETTER PARENT. WITH YOUR GUIDANCE HE WILL GROW TO BE AN HONORABLE PERSON. TELL HIM OF ME AND OF HIS PEOPLE. TELL HIM THEY HAVE FOUND A PLACE. HE CAN GO WHEN HE IS READY.I HAVE GIVEN YOU THE MEMORY."

With a last look at the egg she died. All color drained from the body and it crumbled to a fine powder that blew away on a wind that I could not feel. I picked up the egg, got into my car and drove home. When I looked at the dash clock I could not believe how little time had gone by.

"And then I was born?" "Not right away but a few weeks later."

"Tell me of my people mommy." "Not Mommy!"


For millennia the people lived in peace and harmony with nature. But there came into the realm, from regions unknown, a creature so foul, so evil that it destroyed all others in its path. This creature bred quickly and soon spread across all lands. Countless people died trying to explain the error of their ways to these monsters. Though the ways of war were not in our nature our bodies were evolved to hunt and kill efficiently to feed ourselves. That is part of the cycle of nature. Not the indiscriminate slaughter that these creatures enjoyed.

We learned that we must fight back if we were to survive. And so we fought. But it was a losing battle. Their number was so great that we would kill one and ten would take its place. For centuries we fought and died. Always losing ground. Always losing hope.

Not all people fought. Those too old to fight stayed in the rear and tried to think of ways to escape this nightmare. It was one such that finally found a way. It was possible to leave this realm by traveling in a direction opposite to all others. This would bring us to worlds an infinite distance away yet occupying the same area as ours. She showed us how this could be done. She disappeared and was never seen again though all heard her death cry.

We learned that not all worlds could harbor life. Some were slow to kill and some were instant. Volunteers were sent to many worlds trying to find one to which we could escape.


"Your mother was one such volunteer. She risked any number of horrible deaths to save your people. As she lay dying she heard from another who had found a perfect world. The exodus has begun."

"When can I go?"

"In a few more years you will mature and reach the change. You will lose the ability to shape-shift and you will become female. All adult dragons are female and all dragons are born male. As long as you are male you do not have the ability to travel between dimensions nor to hear your people across such barriers. Those abilities come only with adulthood."

"But I want to go now mommy!"

"Don't call me mommy! Call me daddy if you want but not mommy!"

"But you just said that all adults were female. That makes you mommy."

"I said all adult dragons and you know that full well. Now go brush your teeth it's time for bed."

"Aww, tell me the story again?"

"No. Go brush your teeth and go to bed. I'll tell it to you again another time. And keep practicing your puppy dog shape. It's looking much better."

"Oh alright. Nite-nite."

"I know you have to practice hunting but please don't go after pets. It's not nice. Go out in the woods, it's safer."

"Yes mommy, I mean daddy."

Bio:"I work in the electronics industry in Montrael, Quebec, Canada. Before the age of 21 I used to hate reading. On a rainy day with nothing to do I picked up my first science fiction book. I haven't been longer then one day without a book in my hands since that day(thanks mom & dad)."

E-mail: dfb@p2net.ca

Visit Aphelion's Lettercolumn and voice your opinion of this story.

Return to the Aphelion main page.