Dragons and Wolves

For years, Laura was my best friend.

By M J GrahamPublished 3 years ago • 3 min read

I remember the time that she came to my house. We were in grade 12, and she was telling me all about the project she was doing for a subject she was taking called Student-Directed Inquiry. Students would have an entire year to undertake research on a topic of their own choice in this class. The only condition was that the final product had to cover at least three different areas of the Australian Curriculum. To say that she was excited was an understatement! While we were sitting in the lounge room with my 13-year-old sister, India, she talked with great enthusiasm about dragons.

Yes, you read that correctly, dragons! Finally, after many weeks of persuasion, Laura had managed to convince the class supervisor to approve her year-long study on the topic of dragons. Her eyes lit up as she spoke, telling me all about the different types of dragons and where they were all rumoured to have originated from.

“Don’t you think it’s just absolutely fascinating?” she asked in excitement, perched on the very edge of her seat. “All of these different dragons appeared in so many different cultures and at so many different times! They had to have existed in real life! They just had to! How else could they exist in all these artworks and stories from people and places all over the world?” Sometimes I wondered how Laura remembered to breathe. When she found something that sparked her curiosity, she became absolutely absorbed. She was so passionate that her arms would fly in every direction, and her words would tumble out faster than you could even comprehend.

“Absolutely fascinating…” I replied.

Well, what’s so funny about this story? You may ask.

While Laura was entertaining India and myself with tales of the ancient Chinese varieties of dragons, a look of confusion passed over my sister’s face.

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“What bit?” Asked Laura.

“Well, why did you choose to study dragons?” She asked. A fair enough question, so Laura replied.

“Well, I really like the idea of being able to find out more about these fantastic creatures to see if there is some evidence that they actually existed,” Laura shrugged. “It’s just too convenient that there are so many records of dragons from all around the world at all different times! They even existed before different civilisations were aware of each other, and there was global travel and communication. So dragons just have to be real!”

“Okay,” India replied. She paused for a moment, “but why didn’t you choose a different mythical creature that people know more about?”

“Like what?” I asked, wondering where this conversation was going.

“I dunno,” India shrugged. “What about unicorns? Or wolves?”

Laura and I looked at one another, bemused.

“Wolves?” Asked Laura, trying not to laugh.

“Yeah, wolves!” Said India with enthusiasm. “Like the ones they write about in fairy tales. I’ve always thought that wolves are pretty cool. Surely there has to be more information on creatures like those than there would be on dragons?”

Laura and I exchanged glances before dissolving into laughter.

That day we had to clarify many things for my sister, including the fact that wolves are real.

But every time I think of that day, I smile, not only because I can tease my sister for her ignorance, but because Laura and I were still friends.