Dear Dragon,
For about three years, as of this writing, I have been telling you stories at night. They’ve been improvised and a lot of fun to tell. They started out very simple, with little girls getting lost and having tea with pixies, or rabbits who couldn’t jump, they expanded to Heroes, Legends, Fairies, and other Absurdities, and about a year ago, maybe less, you started asking for the same characters.
I wanted to help you with your French and I thought that adding some words would help. So I made up the Princesse, she started out as a simple character who discovered the servant’s tunnels in her castle and made friends with a kitchen maid called Amie.
From there, the cast expanded to include the brave Chevalier and a whole lot of magical creatures. There was a dragon kept as a furnace, another castle through the lake in the basement, grumpy wizards, aliens, a knitting ogre, and many others. It was serialized and adventurous. You loved the stories, begging me for more every night.
I added a one-off superhero and you loved her so much you named her MIghty-Girl and she became part of the main cast.
After a few months you asked about bad guys and I introduced the Shadows, a group of shadow monsters that the main characters accidentally released when they opened a treasure chest with a warning.
We went back to serialized for a while and then we added the Silver Fox, the Princesse’s arch nemesis and equal in intelligence. He was an alien like Mighty-Girl, but has super magic instead. She captured him eventually, but I drew it out for over two weeks. You were really excited about it. Later there were other villains; the Swan Sorceress, The Nightmares from Beyond, and the Evil Serpent.
We added lore about the great Wizards, Dragons, and Mermaids who created magic in the golden days, there was the glass pyramid in the Arctic with a castle full of zombies, the castle on the moon, the dragon palace that flew in the clouds, the mermaid kingdom, the floating city of mermaids and people, the great caves of friendly monsters, and the ancient ruins that littered the world.
I tried to have the Princesse win through brains, friendship, and kindness. She built hospitals, learned magic, and helped people and even changed bodies with a girl from our world who you called Rachael.
A few weeks before Halloween, you asked me to read some of the Disney Halloween stories instead and I agreed. This week, I asked if you wanted to go back to me making up stories, and you said no. You’d rather I keep reading short stories from your bookcase.
I know you really like being read to, but I’m sad that this story has ended. Maybe we’ll go back to me making up stories for you at night, but I fear the Princesse, Chevalier, and Mighty-Girl’s stories are over.
I wonder if you’ll remember them, or if like so many other things, they’ll fade away. Maybe someday I’ll write some of them down, but it won’t be the same.
All things change and I’ve never been a big fan of change.
I love you little Dragon,
Papa