Valley and the Shru

Shru didn’t know how he got left alone in the forest. He was asleep like most three-year-old boys are at 4 AM. When he woke up and discovered himself alone, he was immediately panicked and shrieked in tones only a toddler can reach. The first one to figure out where the noise was coming from was Momba, a dragon on her way home.

Momba approached the screeching child and realizing he was abandoned, breathed a circle of fire high up in the air. Shru immediately stopped screaming and watched the makeshift fireworks display that lit up his red, tear-stained face. As the fire show fizzled out, Momba scooped up Shru with her tail and placed him on her back for a dragon ride to her home.

Shru giggled for a few minutes, enjoying the dragon ride before remembering his predicament. He began crying again. This time he was a little quieter. It was quiet enough for Momba to continue moving through the trees to get her and her new charge home in time for breakfast with her own. When Shru would start to hyperventilate from crying, Momba would make a shape with fire. Sometimes a star. Sometimes a heart. Each time the little guy would cease sobbing for a few minutes and Momba’s heart would hurt a little less.

The fire parade of two back to Momba’s forest home took a little while but when they arrived, Valley, Momba’s own son was sitting among the trees ready for breakfast. Shru was ready as well since he hadn’t eaten yet.

Momba prepared a meal that looked to Shru like a pile of gray scraps. When it was placed in front of him, Shru just stared at it. He was about to cry again when Momba placed a plate of the same thing in front of Valley. The young dragon liked his breakfast and he liked it charred so he breathed fire on it before happily shoveling it down. Of course, this made Shru want to eat his too so he took a bite. He gave Valley a look and Valley knew. He breathed fire onto Shru’s plate and Shru giggled loudly before lapping up his charred meal.

After breakfast the two giggling boys went to play among some next door trees. Valley grabbed a high tree branch with his tail and pulled it down to the ground and jumped. Valley let go of the branch as he went flying up in a air, did a couple of flips and then landed back on the ground. Shru was in awe. Valley pulled the branch back down and gave it to Shru who was more than eager to try the fun ride. He wrapped his little hands around the tip of the branch. Valley let go and the little youngster quickly went straight up and much higher in the air than the heavier dragon. After a few flips, Shru fell quickly onto Valley’s raised tail laughing the entire time.

Momba, who was cleaning up after the breakfast, saw the boys taking turns flying into the air. She smiled and continued her cleaning.

Several weeks later the boys were used to their routine. They would fire heat and eat breakfast, go out to play and then help Momba with some of her chores. Shru smiled through all of it, even the chores. At night, Shru slept comfortably under a tree next to his new brother. The two boys were happyily curled up together each night. Momba was at peace with taking on the toddler as before he arrived Valley was quite lonely. He didn’t like playing by himself and they lived far from others.

One day, the three were sitting by a pile of wood to have a bonfire.  Momba breathed fire so hard on the wood that it burned up instantly.   The fire was over before it began. The boys laughed and Momba joined in the laughter.   She then used her tail to gather a new pile of wood in a matter of seconds.  This time she breathed very lightly on it to light a longer lasting fire for them. They both smiled and Shru clapped at the little trick Momba played. That’s when Shru’s birth mother and a policeman came barreling through the trees.

“Here you are,” Shru’s mother said turning to speak to the policeman.

“We found him, ok? Good thing we saw him flying up and down in the air or it would have taken a year for us to find him,” she continued.

She then scooped up Shru and pulled him into a harsh hug.

“Apparently, I am not allowed to leave you for someone else to find. Apparently that’s just for infants at firehouses or something. You have to stay with me,” she told her child who didn‘t really understand.  The policeman nodded.

Shru looked at Momba who wanted to grab him back but she thought better of it. Shru then looked at Valley who didn’t think anything at all before using his tail to remove Shru from the arms of this intruder. The policeman immediately hit Valley in the belly with a stick he had attached to his belt and Valley winced in pain and dropped Shru. The cop caught Shru and handed him back to his mother. Both dragons breathed fire at the policeman and both he and the birth mom ran away from the flames and through the trees.

“Good thing I’m getting him out of that situation anyway, “ the birth mom yelled.

Shru looked over his mother’s shoulder and saw Valley and Momba getting further and further away from him. He began sobbing loudly. Momba and Valley could hear the sobbing for hours as the humans made their way through the forest. The two dragons just stared at the ground. They couldn’t look at each other because their broken hearts showed on their faces.

Even though Shru was just three when he lived with these two dragons, he never forgot them. He thought of it as the place he felt loved even though he had no recollection of where it was that it all happened.

Once Shru was teenager and he was old enough to venture out on his own, his favorite thing to do was to walk in the forest. It helped him reclaim some of the calm he once felt when he was a toddler living with dragons in the trees. He would find other dragons and walk among them and spend time with them whenever he had the chance.

One day, a sixteen-year-old Shru was walking down by a stream when he heard a screech. He looked up to see a dragon running toward him.  As the dragon got closer he realized it was Valley all grown up. Valley was running fast and he was out of breath when he reached Shru.  He didn’t stop to exchange glances or pleasantries. He picked up Shru with his tail and started spinning around and around. A dizzying Shru was laughing and crying at the same time.

After a minute Valley stopped spinning and put Shru down gently. Valley put his head down and started sobbing. Shru looked at Valley and put his arms around his neck.

“It’s ok, Buddy,” Shru said to the dragon, “Everything is ok now.”