Enga mellom fjella

Once on Lois Lane [33] (300 words)

"I'm the new King of the Realm."

"And I'm the heir to Bilbo Baggins."

He eyed the ring dangling from her necklace.

"Don't disappear!"

Frankie was a pet. Nothing more. Samantha had been telling herself that for forty years.

She'd bought him at the market under the bridge. A lovely jade shaped like an egg. She'd brought it home, placed it on the mantle.

When it hatched she was gobsmacked... once the shock wore off. He was cute. He was tiny. He was... hungry.

All she had was fresh baked bread. She had watched as he toasted it then gobbled it all down.

Frankie woke her from her reverie.

"Baking bread again?"

He grinned at her. It was one of many private jokes.

No one else knew she had a talking dragon. But then... few knew that she existed either.

Folks talked about their weird never-seen neighbor as she stood there invisible. She knew all their secrets. She never tattled.

Weird? Yes, weird and much more.

What more does one need when your pet hoards scrap pieces of metal. "I like shiny things," he'd once told her.

Samantha sold the scrap and returned the gold and silver when Frankie wasn't looking. Oh... he knew. It was their secret game.

An old, very old, midget and her fledgling dragon living on Lois Lane... oh, the horror of it all! The truth was... they couldn't have handled the truth.

A knock at her door startled her. She peered through a crack and saw no one, so she opened it.

First she saw the toothy grin, then the whirling eyes.

"I'm here to see the new King."

She put on her ring and vanished.

"I'm Here to See the New King." Faint smoke circled the nostrils. "And yes, I can still smell you."