My Dragon

The sun was just starting to creep into Carmen`s room when she shot out of bed. The clock said that it was about five in the morning. Being an eight year old that didn`t matter in the least to her. Carmen quickly got dressed and looked around her room for something to do. She was SO excited. Today was her birthday! She was turning nine!

With energy barely contained inside her Carmen seemed to shake with energy. Not knowing what else to do she started to jump on her bed. Higher and higher she went, trying her best to be quiet. Just when she had reached her ceiling, her sister Julie burst into her room. Julie was seventeen years old and looked like an owl this morning. "CARMEN STOP IT!" she demanded in a hiss. "Some of us are trying to sleep!" Carmen just lightly off her bed and watched Julie stalk back to her own room.

Carmen wasn`t sure what to do anymore. So she decided that maybe she would be better off at outside. Putting on her shoes she marched outside into the cold wet sunshine. The sky was almost completely bright blue by this time. With just a little bit of pink and purple left to the east. Carmen decided to try and dig a hole to China. Though her parents told her not to try, it was her birthday! Thinking about her birthday got Carmen all excited again. She started to dig with boundless energy.

Carmen dug and dug and dug. She kept digging even when her arms started to hurt and her hands had blisters on them. When she concluded that she was half way to China she stopped digging. Carmen remembered that her two brothers were coming home from China today. They had promised her a special surprise for her birthday. She couldn`t wait till they got home.

Tired of digging to China, Carmen set down the shovel and went over to the tramp. Getting on it, she started to bounce up and down, up and down thinking as hard as any nine year old can about what special surprise her brothers were bringing her.

At seven her mother called her in for breakfast. Carmen ran inside and asked, "Are they here yet?" "Who`s here yet?" her mother asked. "Tony and Sam," Carmen answered. "I`m sorry sweetie, they won`t be here for a long time," her mother replied, "Now eat your breakfast." Carmen ate her pancakes and tried to be patiant about her brothers.

At ten her friend Monica came over and they played outside in the backyard with Monica`s golden retrever Goldy. They talked about digging to China and what special surprise Carmen`s brothers were bringing her. "When I turned nine my daddy got me a brand new bike," Monica explained. Carmen didn`t think her brothers would go all the way to China just to bring her back a bike.

At noon her father called her in for lunch. "Are they here yet?" Carmen asked again. "Sorry Carmen but they`ll be a while yet." Carmen grudgly accepted this and ate her lunch.

Carmen went back outside and decided to finish digging her way to China. So picking up the shovel again she continued to dig down further and further. Finally her brothers arrived.

With a shout Carmen flew into Tony`s arms. "Hey kiddo! You miss us?" he asked picking her off the ground and spinning her in a circle. "I very much did!" Carmen replied as she hugged Sam as well. "Would you like to see your surprise now?" Sam asked. Carmen jumped up and down in excitement, clapping her hands wildly. "YES YES YES!" The two brothers exchanged a look and then Tony knelt down in front of her. "Okay Carmen, you can have your surprise now but you have to close your eyes until we say you can open them." Carmen nodded and then shut her eyes tight.

It seemed like forever past before she heard Tony`s voice saying she could open her eyes. She did and there before her was the smallest, greenest and cutest looking dragon she had ever seen. Not that she had seen many real live dragons before. "You got me a dragon?" The brothers nodded smiling widely at her expression.

The dragon stood on all fours with moss green scales covering it`s body. Pale yellowy green spikes went down it`s entire back. It came to about Carmen`s neck. The eyes were gold and red mixed together like a fire. It was a beautiful dragon and Carmen loved it on sight.

"But what should I name him?" she asked her brothers. They shrugged in unison. "That`s up to you," Sam answered. Rubbing her chin in consentraton Carmen came up with a name, "I know! I`ll call you Spike!" The dragon blinked but did nothing else. "Let`s go for a walk Spike!" Carmen exclamied and putting a lease on her new pet started to walk around her block.

It was a very strange walk. Whenever people realized that it was a dragon they would either, sream or shout, faint, dive out of the way or turn and run the other way as fast as they could. Carmen just kept on walking. "Just ignore them Spike, some people just aren`t very nice," Carmen explained.

Half way around the block they ran into a problem. Spike started to breath fire. At first it seemed to be alright, he would breath fire at the sidewalk and nothing would catch fire. Then Spike set a tree on fire. And not a small tree at that. Spike set on a fire a very large, very old, very wide oak tree. "Uh Oh, that`s not good," Carmen whispered stopping her forward progress.

Soon an old man came running out of the house toward them, hands waving in the air. "YOU SET MY TREE ON FIRE!" he exclaimed. Carmen looked down at her feet and then explained, "Well, actually sir it wasn`t me, it was my dragon Spike." "Dragon?" the man asked. Carmen nodded and pointed to Spike who had collasped onto the ground. The man gave a shout and jumped back quickly.

Just then a fire truck pulled up and dosed the tree off. One of the fire fighter`s asked, "Now sir, how exactly did your tree start on fire?" The old man pointed at Spike and said, "That dragon set my tree on fire!" The fire fighter scracthed his head and said, "Now sir, I don`t think that this here is a dragon." "Oh but it is!" the old man reassured the fire fighter. "Just watch it breath fire!" Just then Spike opened his eyes and then stood up. "Jumping Jelly Beans it really is a dragon!" the fire fighter exclaimed backing up. Carmen frowned, "His name is Spike!"

No body paid any attention to Carmen they were all too busy watching what Spike would do next. Spike burnt down a white picket fence in one breath. People screamed and ran away but Carmen still stood there. Spike set afire an entire lawn. But Carmen still stood there. Spike set an entire house on fire and still Carmen just stood there. Finally someone noticed that Carmen was there and screamed for the fire fighters to save "That poor child!" They quickly pulled Carmen away from Spike. Carmen screamed at the name and shouted for Spike. Spike just continued to burn things up.

Just when things were looking bleak for both Spike and Carmen. Spike turned around to face Carmen and walked toward her. When he was close enought to her and the fire fighters, he set their shoes on fire and waited for them to drop Carmen. They did so immediately. "Spike you saved me!" Carmen said and wrapped her arms around Spike`s neck.

"Excuse me little girl," a voice said from behind Carmen. Carmen turned around to see a man with white and red robes standing there. "That dragon needs to go home to China. His parents miss him very much." Carmen looked sad for a moment because she really wanted to keep Spike.

Nodding to the man she turned back to Spike to say her good-byes. "Good-bye Spike. You have to go home now. You have to be with your family. Good-bye." With a finally hug Carmen let go of Spike and stood up. "Come," said the name in the rodes and Spike quickly moved up beside him. "Good-bye, I`ll love you forever!" Carmen called as the man in the rodes and her dragon walked down the street. As they disappeared from sight Carmen whispred, "I`ll remember you always."

So Carmen went home a little wiser and a little sadder and she celebrated her birthday but she missed Spike. And for the next fex years she wondered what had happened to him.
THE END