A Dragon!

Just over a week ago, on Friday, Dan and I got some groceries from the store. Along with the rest of the food we picked up, we git a small cantaloup. When Dan saw it, he protested, and went to switch it for a different (larger) one. They were all small. Still not completely happy, he put it in the cart.

You and Emily can share it for breakfast, I said.

I can it it for breakfast, he countered. There isn't enough for two.

The cantaloup was small, but it was still a pound or two of fruit.

You can each have a reasonable sized serving for breakfast, I insisted.

We got home, and per usual, Dan brings in most of the groceries while I put them away. I tucked the cantaloup into the fridge in the bottom shelf, above the full produce drawers, between the eggs and the bread.

The next day, I was in the kitchen, and Emily wanted food. She pulled open the door to the fridge, and saw the cantaloup.

I should probably insert a couple comments here. First, Emily loves cantaloup, but they are usually at least twice as big, and it had been a while since we had gotten one. Second, Dan had just watched a cut short film with Emily a couple days before. The short film was about the characters from "How to Train Your Dragon," in which the dragons all fly off to their hatching grounds and have eggs. Round eggs. Rough on the outside. Maybe a little like a cantaloup.

"A dinosaur egg!" Emily exclaimed, and lovingly grabbed the cantaloup. Another comment: she also loved to watch a show about a boy who sees dinosaurs. Sometimes they have eggs. 

Over the next couple days she varied whether it was a dinosaur egg or a dragon egg. I asked her what kind of dinosaur was inside (since she'd seen lots of different dinosaurs on TV). She told me it was a baby dinosaur.

I let her carry the egg around, because, really, what could happen to it? Plus, I don't really like cantaloup.

That afternoon we went on an expedition with Emily's cousins, her Aunt, Dan's parents, and his Grandma. We took two cars. The dragon egg came, too.

We ventured out to find ponies at the local state park, and ride them if possible. Failing at that, we went to the playground at different park. Emily had fallen asleep sometime in our quest, but still held her egg, nestled in her lap.

The egg also joined us when we went to church the next day. It got to wait in the car during services, but Emily carried it along when we stopped to visit Tabitha afterward. By this point it had acquired a nice metal "nest" (by which I mean a bowl which I had forgotten at the Memorial Day breakfast the week before). Emily (okay, with some encouragement) told Tabitha about her egg. Then she ran off with her cousin, ultimately to pick peonies from one of the nearby graves. Dan stopped them after they both got one, but Emily was headed back for another.

On the way home from church we asked Emily what kind of dragon was in her egg. (It was definitely a dragon by now.). Dan and Emily settled on a pink dragon, with spots. I glared at him about the spots part. Because I had started scheming, and I didn't have polka-dot pink fabric in my stash.

At home she toted her egg around some more, until Dan convinced her that it should go back in the fridge. I should interject another comment: Dan and I had both reminded her that the egg was, in fact, a cantaloup, and it was going to get eaten. Dan in particular was adamant about the eating part. He is very fond of cantaloup. It was one of the reasons I had started scheming on the way home, because he was insisting on eating the cantaloup, and she so obviously loved it.

At home I drafted a pattern, and got to work. I took time off to have Sunday dinner in the afternoon, but besides that I spent most of the day sewing.

Just before I finished my project, I got Emily to get her egg out again. It would hatch soon, I assured her. We found a spot where she and her cousin could wait. I hurried back inside to finish. Fifteen minutes later I woke Dan up from his late afternoon nap, wrapped up the project in a towel, and went back to where I had left Emily. It was raining, she was gone, and so was the egg. Further searching found them in GranB's truck while Pappy got ready for our trip the next day. The egg was tucked up on our stuff in the garage. We collected both the egg and the girls, and found a spot to watch it hatch.

This fuzzy picture is of Emily drying off her egg.

The egg was wet, so we rubbed it dry. First Emily tried, but the egg didn't hatch. Then I tried (and using some of my superior sneaky skills) and it hatched.

Emily was delighted, and shocked. It isn't often that pretend eggs give you real dragons.

Just so you know, she loves it.