One of this week’s spare prompts: Dragons are real, and there’s now one curled up at your front door like a stray cat demanding a home.
Lisa wandered through the house, scrolling through the surveillance system app on her phone.
“I managed to get back in,” she told her boyfriend, who sat at his desk staring at his laptop.
Jack grunted but didn’t look up from the spreadsheet. “Make sure you write down the password this time.”
She shrugged and flopped onto the couch, flipping through video clips. “We don’t use the front door much. It’s all package delivery and wildlife. You know how we thought there was a stray cat crapping in the flower garden? Turns out there are three different ones.”
“You trying to distract me from your Amazon habit?” Jack asked. He frowned and started typing. “No, that’s not right.”
“I’m deleting the past month and a half and it’s only been two deliveries so far,” Lisa said primly, and draped her free arm over her head.
“Mmm-hmm,” Jack answered, still typing. “Must not be far in.”
“Cat, cat, delivery guy, cat. Oh, did you know we have a possum in the area? He’s kind of cute. All fat and waddles.”
“Mmm.”
“Cat, delivery guy. Who has chickens? Oh, wow. Coyote. Didn’t expect that.” She paused. “Oh, man. That poor chicken.”
Only the click of keys answered her this time.
“Babe.”
“Yeah.”
“Babe, come look at this and tell me what you see.”
“I really don’t care about your Amazon habit as long as it’s affordable,” Jack said. “I’m just teasing you.”
“No, really, babe.” Lisa’s voice was high-pitched. She sat up and planted her feet, staring at her phone. “I need you to tell me I’m not crazy.”
“I’m sure it’s just more wildlife,” Jack said.
“That’s the problem.”
He looked up finally but didn’t move from his padded chair. “We can call an exterminator if you’re freaked out.”
“I don’t think an exterminator can handle this.” She got up and handed him the phone. “Watch it.”
His eyebrows rose. “There’s got to be a reasonable explanation.”
“What, a deformed bat?” Lisa gave him her patented look.
It didn’t work this time. He seized on it with evident relief, settling back into his chair and handing her the phone. “Yeah. Definitely. You know bats eat bugs, right? That means fewer crawly things and fewer spiders. They’re good to have around.”
She perched on the armchair next to his desk and scrolled through her phone. “The so-called deformed bat seems to have taken care of the rest of the wildlife over the past month. Ate a skunk yesterday.”
“See? Like I said. Good to have around.”
“Bats don’t eat skunks.”
Jack was resolute. “Dragons aren’t real.”
Her phone buzzed with an alert. “Babe.”
“Hmm?”
“Babe, the baby dragon’s back on our front porch.” She looked at him with pleading eyes. “It’s so cold, and I think he’s hungry.”
