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“A baby dragon! There’s going to be a baby dragon!” It was several minutes before she stopped dancing around. Then she quieted abruptly and looked uncertain. “It will be a dragon, won’t it, Papa It won’t be a child like me, will it” Her hand moved to the cord necklace she wore, fingers playing over the fragment of dragon’s egg she’d tied into it. Aleksandr coughed and nearly sucked half his beard down trying to get air back in his lungs. He’d kept the egg fragments he found in Minchka’s basket the night she arrived. The shell was hard as river ice and good for cutting bits of meat with its sharp edges. Minchka claimed the smallest piece when she was two, a jagged oval. The blue-grey sliver of shell, bright against Minchka’s dark smock, had given him the idea. So perfect. So easy. If the baby had hatched from an egg, then of course there was no way of knowing who her mother was or how to find her. He had spun the lie into a grand story and as he’d hoped, the tale quieted Minchka’s questions in later years. “Of course not! Just a dragonling, that’s all. The egg isn’t nearly big enough for a baby.” Minchka sagged against the wall and smiled. “Won’t it be wonderful, Papa A baby dragon!” “What’s wrong with the ones we’ve got” Aleksandr muttered. “They destroy the place well enough.” “Don’t be silly! Dravij and Zinfir are wonderful dragons, but they’re old. They aren’t babies.” “Old” he protested. “They’re only seven, same as you. Scarce bigger than lambs!” “They aren’t babies,” Minchka repeated, hands on her hips. He waved a hand in defeat. “They aren’t babies. Whatever they are, they need to get to work. It’s late.” He left Dravij to her egg but scooped up Zinfir and headed for the smokehouse. Zinfir could hold a controlled flame for five minutes solid and focus it enough to dry and smoke a side of venison in that time. Aleksandr had tried regular flames but they just cooked or burned the meat. 50 Writing Tomorrow Magazine
As Sinivushka had promised in her note that long ago night, the dragons provided for Aleksandr and Minchka. They helped Aleksandr dry meat, creating delicate cuts and strips. Their claws, when shed, could be shaped into curved needles that were suited to leather work. The dragon’s scales glittered and shimmered in the light and made perfect ornamentation for pots or jewelry. By trading with the goods shop in Valminsky, Aleksandr was able to get whatever he and Minchka needed. He grew and preserved their own vegetables and their small herd of goats provided milk and dung for the fire. They were largely self-sufficient and Aleksandr preferred it that way. By midday, Minchka was driving Dravij and Aleksandr mad with her constant prattle about the egg and the way she hovered beside the dragon. “When do you think it will hatch, Papa When” Minchka demanded. Dravij snapped her fangs and curled more tightly around the egg, glaring at Minchka. “I don’t know,” Aleksandr muttered. “They’re not like birds.” The egg cracked open as Aleksandr tucked Minchka under her covers that night. The two halves fell apart in Dravij’s claws. She shoved her snout inside the shell and hunted for her baby. There was no dragonling, only a twist of paper like the one Aleksandr had received the night Minchka arrived. Dravij tipped the eggshell and the note out of her makeshift nest and searched the ripped leather desperately. She searched the room and then stood by the door, wheezing smoke and huffing. Zinfir approached and nuzzled her neck. Dravij made a hoarse sound that Aleksandr had never heard before, and then the two dragons curled into one another furling and unfurling their wings. Watching the two dragons, Minchka cried. Aleksandr cuddled her close to his chest as she sobbed. There was no baby dragon for either of them. He suddenly regretted his earlier thoughts. Another dragon would have been fine. It would have been perfect. February 2014 51
Page 1: Writing Shaping Tomorrow With Our P
Page 4 and 5: Contents Fiction 6 A Day of Rain/Ro
Page 6 and 7: Rolli A Day of Rain As it was a day
Page 8 and 9: I then returned to my Duties. As I
Page 10 and 11: “There was a boy. Another boy. Be
Page 12 and 13: Steven Volynets For Love, Eternal W
Page 14 and 15: pile. “Don’t hurtchaself now.
Page 16 and 17: up for a bump—maybe as much as tw
Page 18 and 19: mostly, crude pieces of wood and sc
Page 20 and 21: side. “Twice!” the Kid barks ba
Page 22 and 23: hair and face. “The friggin’ ba
Page 24 and 25: me, it aint happening. My uncle sai
Page 26 and 27: “What am I supposed to do, Skippe
Page 28 and 29: street— Chinatown, Harlem, Murray
Page 30 and 31: go back and forth in silence, like
Page 32 and 33: cellophane trash bag, pulled real t
Page 34 and 35: April Salzano Lightning can, does,
Page 36 and 37: Rob Andwood Set Phasers for One Ell
Page 38 and 39: the cloud cover. Don’t fret, Susa
Page 40 and 41: carried his plate to the sink. By t
Page 42 and 43: with the lady who cut all our hair.
Page 44 and 45: Jennifer Racek The Dragon Keeper Li
Page 46 and 47: They spent the night in a standoff,
Page 48 and 49: The door belched cold air into the
Page 52 and 53: It was a long time before Minchka f
Page 54 and 55: laboriously stretched out to him. A
Page 56 and 57: you made me last summer.” Aleksan
Page 58 and 59: flames at one another and huffing.
Page 60 and 61: Leila Fortier ~Punctuated~ Why Am I
Page 62 and 63: Leila Fortier ~Impossible Geometry~
Page 64 and 65: Devyani Borade Sky’s the Limit Th
Page 66 and 67: of her sari as she goes about her b
Page 68 and 69: “Shoe shine! Shoe shine! Get your
Page 70 and 71: “What, sir” “So what’s your
Page 72 and 73: himself some decent clothes. How lo
Page 74 and 75: • He watches the dancing water gr
Page 76 and 77: sacks on their shoulders. Of the la
Page 78: Still, when I remember you, it is w

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