by Richard
Last night was a wonderful sort-of holiday.
You see, Hyper Lad and I went out on the front porch after dark to let Buzz, the garbage disposal that walks like a dog, out for his last bit of run-around-and-pee-on-anything-that-doesn’t-move-and-some-stuff-that-doesn’t (his favorite game) and we found out we’d entered Dragon Weather.
Yeah, while we were standing there shivering in the night, Hyper Lad, my youngest little dude, noticed that he could see his breath. That’s always a bit of a cool thing for us. It means fall is here and winter is on its way and we get to pretend that we’re dragons, with flame just getting ready to spout out. We’re breathing out smoke and those knights on the horizon look like they’re going to be mighty good parboiled in the metal they’re wearing and doused with plenty of ketchup.
I know it’s a bit of a silly game, but it’s something we’ve been doing for years now. Dragon Weather is a great excuse to get outside and act silly.
Of course, being a bit older and a bit more annoying, Hyper Lad quickly went from glorying in the dragon weather to grabbing a stick and pretending he was smoking. Fortunately, he cut that out pretty quickly and we went back to seeing who could blow smoke the farthest.
We might have scorched a few of the bushes near our front porch that night, but it was worth it, dudes. It was worth it.
Especially considering I’m not sure if I’ll have anyone to help me celebrate the coming of Dragon Weather next year. Hyper Lad will be 12 by then and already thinking he’s ready to take out the car and become as annoying as possible. You know, a pre-teen who thinks he’s a teenager.
Still, it was a wonderful interlude. Standing there in the cold night, with a full moon shining over the lawn, a dog snarfing up bits of grass like he had blades attached to his stomach and wheels instead of feet, my youngest little dude next to me. Pretending to be dragons.
I’m going to miss it when it’s gone, but that just means I’m going to enjoy it all the more while Hyper Lad is still willing to play along.
And tonight’s going to be another cold night. I’m predicting plenty of dragons on the loose. And I couldn’t be happier about it.
