Eldon leads the typical boring life one would associate with being a CPA. He wakes every day at 7. Has cereal for breakfast. Packs his own lunch. Picks up a pizza, some Chinese or the Colonel on his way home from work, and hits the sheets again promptly at 11.

Fortunately for Eldon, he was blessed with a rich and full dreamlife. The dreamscapes created by his subconscious each night take him to far away places, couple him with beautiful, often exotic women, and strange, but true- introduced him to his life-long best friend. An orphaned dragon he calls, Harry.

Harry and Eldon first encountered each other the year Eldon’s mother remarried. Although both his mother, and his then Uncle Tommy, had painted a glorious picture of the three of them together, the night they explained they were to become a family, Eldon never felt as if he fit in.

He retreated instead into the world of his own imagination, where he took respite in the pages of opulent fantasy novels that carried him so far away from the drudgery of his own insignificant existence that the few hours a day he did have to spend in reality, became livable.

Eldon had been working his way through a fantasy series in which the earth had become so inhospitable, that all forms of life dwindled out of existence, that first night he noticed a pair of bright blue eyes, piercing like daggers through the all consuming fog that blanketed his dreamscape.

After having revisited this particularly scary dreamscape several times, Eldon noticed the brilliance of the eyes had noticeably diminished. He began to fear they might extinguish themselves completely before he ever had the courage to come face to face with whatever creature, be it friend or foe, that possessed them.

He crept silently, closer and closer until he was so close he could hear the unmistakable sound of a child’s cries emanating through the fog. The fear that had previously consumed, him gave way to great empathy. For he knew, only too well, what it was like to cry alone.

“Don’t be sad.” Eldon entreated in a smooth and calming tone. “I am here. You are not alone anymore. Don’t be afraid.” he continued, as he edged slowly closer, no longer afraid, but rather anxious to meet this poor, sad creature with whom he already felt a strong kinship growing.  

“I have lost my mother.” A small, frail dragon with fragile blue wings said in a meek, quivering voice as he stepped from behind the last of the fog that had separated them until now. “She was everything to me. I don’t know how I will go on without her.”

“I have lost my mother, too.” Eldon responded, the weight of this truth, hitting home as if for the first time. “I guess that means we have something in common, you and I. We are both kind of alone in the world. I mean we were, at least, until tonight.”

Eldon remained strong for Harry. He saw him through many a tribulation, in the face of which his own life’s inadequacies, simply faded away. Being strong for Harry carried over into his waking life. It saw him through being bullied in high school, and in college- even a broken heart.

So yes, to you and I it may appear, that Eldon leads the boring life of a mundane CPA, but that’s only because neither you, nor I have ever had the privilege to meet a once small, frail dragon with fragile blue wings, that answers to the name of Harry..

This was written in 50 word increments, contains the three phrasal prompts offered by the OLWG #31 and is my response to Sadje’s What do you see- Prompt # 1– the wonderfully inspiring picture that she provided, above. I am thrilled to see that Sadje has taken up where our dear Hélène  was forced to leave off.

This ones for you, Hélène.

The phrases were as follows:

1. pierced like daggers
2. CPA
3. Strange but true