Chapter 7 My journey home

As I flew away, I glanced back to see the fire truck arrive at the house. The firemen poured out of the doors and began setting up hoses and putting on oxygen masks. One fireman approached the family, and seemed to be asking them questions. Then the father pointed up at me and seemed to be telling the firemen that I almost ate his daughter.

I flew away as fast as I could.

My wings still hurt, but I set out northward, toward home, thinking about how all this had happened. Why had I turned into a dragon in the first place? Were my parents somehow responsible? All this and more I contemplated as I winged my way towards the Wisconsin border. After about an hour I looked down to find the city gone, and only the highway below me. Ahead, I saw the sign for Wisconsin hanging over the road. Wow, that was fast! I thought. If I was in a car, that would have taken twice the time! So if it takes four hours to get from the border to my house in a car, it will only take me about two hours to fly! I think I can handle that... After about an hour, though, I had to stop for a breather. My wings felt like they were about to fall off.

I landed softly on the roof of a shabby motel in a small town, crouching, wings sweeping the rooftiles, so I could avoid being seen while looking around. I glanced down into the room across from me, (the motel was U shaped) and saw that the TV was on, and tuned to the news, which showed the fire in Chicago. The man and woman, holding their child were speaking tearfully to the camera, and I caught occasional snatches of their speech. "Was big and white...looked like a dragon...dove at the house and...couldn't see what...rescued our baby girl...spoke..." Great. Now everybody is going to be after me, trying to take pictures of me, or capture me for research, or something else equally annoying. Just great.

I decided to set off, having rested enough that I felt like I could make it the rest of the way.

It was dusk when I finally spotted Rib Lake, and my house near the edge of both the town and the water. I glided gently down, trying to come in low over the water, so nobody would see me and call the police, or something equally stupid.

I crossed the small street that stretched between the house and the lake shore, and settled gently on the front lawn. The car was in the front, parked against the curb. The house seemed quiet, all the windows black. Then I saw a light flicker across the front window, and a face, my mother's, peeked out between the curtains. She looked startled, then immediately withdrew her face again, and the light went out in the window.

She's scared of me! But... what if... I can't believe I didn't think of this before! I'm an idiot.

I didn't quite know how to begin, so I decided to do what people did in books. I concentrated, trying to think of what it felt like to be human, to have fingers instead of claws, skin instead of scales. A breeze kicked up, swirling around my feet, growing stronger, seeming to glow. Suddenly, white light seemed to erupt from the ground around me, looking like a mixture of fire and water. Sparking and flowing, it swirled up in a dancing cocoon of light, so bright I had to close my eyes. I felt a sharp, tingling sensation, as if shocked by an electric wire. Slowly, the sensations faded away, and I found myself standing on two feet, human, in my front yard. The problem was...I was also completely naked.

Well... fudgesicles.