Tug Baker: Under the Dragon's Eye (F)

Tug Baker heard the rustle of something, something large up in the oak tree. Maybe something huge. He stood very still and looked at where the sound came from.

More movement. A shadow slowly creeping along.

Wait! Between the leaves, it looked like, it was, an eye. A big round yellow eye staring at him.

Tug looked around for something to use if the—well, what was it?

Again, the shadow moved, and now Tug could see a claw with long nails wrapped around a limb.

Tug let out a breath. Wow! Scary. But cool, too!

It moved higher. Tug bravely stepped forward. A long tail with black stripes waved back and forth.

Tug tried to remember if he ever saw such a thing in a book or on t.v. It was too big to be a lizard.

It looked down at Tug and out came a long pink tongue. Tug jumped back a step.

Okay, this was not something Tug saw every day or in a book or on t.v. Should he run back to the house and tell his mother? Should he get his BB gun and shoot this, this, this, thing?

Tug knew he was fast and the thing was high up, so maybe the BB gun was the best idea. And so off he ran to the house, so fast his feet barely touched the ground.

In the back door and through the kitchen and out to the garage.

“Tug! Tug close the back door when you come in,” his mother called.

He was already out the back door with his BB gun in hand. Fully loaded.

“Tug! Close that door! Tug Baker!”

Tug ran back to the oak and looked up into the tree. There on a sunny limb it rested.

Huge! Longer than Tug’s arms opened wide. With sharp spines on its back and short spines on its head.

Kind of like a lizard, but not. A dragon. A small dragon. A baby dragon?

Tug lifted his rifle and aimed. He thought for a moment. A baby dragon?

The dragon looked down at him, mouth open, tongue moving back and forth.

Tug lowered his gun. What if the dragon was lost? Where was its mom?

“Tug!” his mother called. “Tug, make sure the chickens are locked in the coop and close the front gate.”

“But, Mom!” he called.

“Tug, now! And hurry!”

Tug ran to the coop and checked the lock. After closing the gate, he went in through the back door.

“Close it. Your father just called. Somebody over on Walnut street has lost their iguana. It’s in the news and the police are looking for it.”

“A what?”

“An iguana. A very, very large lizard that could be four or five feet long.”

“Kind of like a dragon, sort of?”

“Sort of, I guess.”

“Mom, it’s in our oak tree out back.”

“What? No!”

“I was going to shoot it, but I didn’t.”

“Tug Baker, how do you get into everything there is to get into?”

“I guess I’m an action sort of guy, Mom.”

“Get some juice and sit at the table. I’m calling 9-1-1.”

Lyman 2021