THE GREAT BEAR EATING DRAGON ADVENTURE

Once upon a time (that’s how all good stories begin) there was a little boy named Wes. Wes was an amazing little boy, a special gift from God.
He was going to be the big brother to a very special little girl and being a big brother was a very important job. You have to teach little sisters lots of things about playing games and having wonderful adventures and you have to protect them so they don’t get lost or hurt. It was an important job all right but Wes was sure he could handle it, with a little help from Daddy of course, at least sometimes. Daddy‘s were good for that, helping with great adventures.
Wes loved learning new things. Wes especially loved adventure and Wes had a very BIG imagination, especially when it came to adventures. Wes could make up very good stories. Wes could think up the best adventures of anybody in the whole neighborhood. Everyone liked to hear about the great adventures of Wes, especially Daddy. Sometimes Wes would even invite Daddy to come along but most of the time he just invited his friends and of course his little sister. She always liked to tag along. He liked sharing his adventures with his sister, especially adventures about dragons and bears and giants. His sister thought he was very brave.
One summer day Wes was sitting on the steps reading his favorite book about bears when a thought occurred to him; oh what a grand adventure it would be to go on a great bear hunt but Wes didn’t think there were any real bears around, at least not in his neighborhood. He thought and thought,
then he smiled. Wes knew where there were a lot of bears, seven of them to be exact, seven bears, four in his room and three in his sister’s room including her favorite Patty Bear.
Patty Bear had already been on one great bear adventure, the day they had met the giant bear eating dragon. Wes remembered how his sister had been really scared but Wes hadn’t been scared at all. He wasn’t afraid of any giant bear eating dragon. Wes was very brave.
Wes put his book away on the shelf where it belonged. He went to his room and got his four bears; two brown ones, a black one and a panda bear.
He slipped out of his room and down the stairs. He peeked around the corner into the living room. Good. His sister hadn’t seen him. She was rocking her baby doll in the rocking chair. He tip-toed to the back door of the kitchen. Momma was in the kitchen baking cookies.
“Wes, what are you doing,” Momma asked as she slid a tray of cookies into the oven? “Where are you going with your bears?”
“Outdoors. I’m making an adventure.”
“Oh,” Momma said. “What kind of an adventure?” Sometimes Momma worried about Wes and his big adventures but Daddy didn’t. Daddy thought his adventures were fun and sometimes he even helped Wes with them.
“I’m making a great bear hunt adventure,” Wes said. “I’m taking my sister with me when it is time. We are going on a great bear hunt. It might be dangerous but I will keep her safe.”
“Oh,” Momma said, smiling at Wes. “You be very careful and don’t get in any trouble.”
“I will and I won’t,” Wes said. “Momma, I think I may need some cookies to feed the bears so they won’t get hungry and eat us. You have to be very careful around bears you know”
“Oh you do, do you,” Momma smiled. “We’ll see about the cookies. Maybe I’ll be able to help with that in a little while but you need to be good and you need to be careful.”
“Don’t worry Momma. I’ll be very careful,” Wes, promised and then he took his bears outside. He took his drawing pad and a big red crayon with him too so he could make a map. You always need a map when you are going on a great adventure so you won’t get lost. Wes looked all around him.
Oh no, there it was, the giant bear eating dragon sleeping in the sun.
Maybe the dragon would stay asleep. Maybe he wasn’t hungry yet. Wes tip-toed into the yard so as not to wake the dragon. That dragon really liked bears, especially teddy bears. Wes knew all about that.
Wes would never forget the day the bear eating dragon had changed himself to look just like his dog and how that dragon had charged right into the middle of the teddy bear picnic he and his sister and Mommy and Daddy were having in the yard. His sister had just been pouring tea when the giant dragon had charged them. Tea and sandwiches and cookies had spilled everywhere.
The dragon snatched up his sister’s pink Patty Bear and chomped down hard. Dragons have very big teeth. The dragon shook the little bear and shook it some more and then ran away with it to hide beneath the lilac bush. His sister had been so afraid, afraid the dragon would eat Patty Bear and she began to cry.
It had been a terrible battle, Wes remembered. He and Daddy had chased down the dragon and fought the dragon and had rescued Patty Bear just in time. Poor Patty Bear, she looked a terrible mess. Daddy grabbed hold the giant bear eating dragon and put the dragon in the dungeon and locked the gate while Wes rushed Patty Bear to the special Mommy Hospital where Doctor Mommy and his sister were waiting.
“It’s an emergency,” Wes yelled as he ran through the doorway to the kitchen where the Mommy Hospital is located. “It was the giant bear eating dragon and it almost ate Patty Bear but me and Daddy saved her.”
The Mommy Doctor was very wise and knew all about how to make teddy bears well again. She took Patty Bear from Wes and hugged his sister who looked just like she was ready to cry again. It always made Wes sad when his sister cried. Wes patted her arm and told her Patty Bear would be all right. The Mommy Doctor would fix her. His sister sort of smiled.
Mommy Doctor washed all the dirt off Patty Bear and quickly stitched up all her bite marks so her stuffing wouldn’t fall out. She put a Band-Aid on Patty Bear’s ear and one on her nose and another one on her arm and one on her toe and then Mommy wrapped Patty Bear in a soft blanket and gave her to his sister to hold. Mommy Doctor said she was sure Patty Bear would be all well again by morning and Patty Bear was but it had been a narrow escape and an adventure Wes was not sure he wanted to repeat. He looked at his own four bears. He really loved them and wanted them to be safe.
Wes walked back toward the house and sat down on the back steps. He stared at the dragon. The dragon sat up and stared back at him.
Wes narrowed his eyes and squinted. He couldn’t be certain. It looked a lot like his dog but there was something about that smile and the way its tail thumped on the ground, like a warning. No, it wasn’t the dog. His dog would have come running to play, play ball or frisbee or fetch the stick. It was the dragon pulling his tricks again, making himself look like his dog. Dragons can be very tricky. Dragons do that, pretend to be the dog, just a good old dog taking a nap. Wes wasn’t fooled, not this time.
Wes picked up his drawing pad and crayon and wrote something on the paper and then he went inside again. He took his teddy bears back up to his room and sat them on the toy box where they belonged. He came downstairs and got a piece of tape from the desk and then went outside again. When he came back into the kitchen Momma was just taking the last tray of cookies out of the oven.
“Hi Wes. How is your bear hunt coming along.” Momma asked?
“I changed my mind,” Wes said, leaning against the counter. “It’s not a good day for a bear hunt.
“Why is that,” Momma asked?
“There is a giant bear eating dragon in the yard,” Wes told Momma
“I’m being careful. I don’t want my bears to get eaten like Patty Bear almost did.”
Momma glanced out the window. She saw their dog inside the fence of the dog kennel and saw a sign printed in bright red letters, “BEWARE OF THE GIANT BEAR EATING DRAGON.”
“Oh,” Momma said, “I think I understand. I think you have made a very wise decision.
Go get your sister and I’ll let you each have a cookie and a glass of milk. After you have had your snack I want you to go let your dog back out of his kennel. It is hot and he likes to play in the yard and be able to get in the shade too just like you and your sister do.”
“But Momma,” Wes said, “I want to wait for Daddy. I need to tell him about the bear hunt and I want him to see I caught the giant bear eating dragon all by myself. It was easy. I sneaked right up on him and put him in the dungeon so my bears would be safe. We can’t have a bear hunt today because there aren‘t any bears out there. The giant bear eating dragon ate them all. He was really hungry.”
“Oh Wes,” Momma said as she poured two glasses of milk, “where did you get such a big imagination?”
“God gave it to me,” Wes grinned and took a big bite of his cookie.

Annette Bromley