The Seven Day Dragon

By Teena Raffa-Mulligan and Ella Mae

Joshua Jones has no one in the world except a fruit loop of a gran and they live in a tiny city flat so he can’t even have a pet.

When a spectacular creature on a seven-day visit from Jupiter offers to be his houseguest during its Earth stay, Josh thinks his luck has changed. His nothing life is about to become awesome.

His cel

• Language: English
• Publisher: Serenity Press PTY.Ltd
• Release date: Jun 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9780648103042

Teena Raffa-Mulligan

Teena Raffa-Mulligan is a reader, writer and daydream believer who believes there is magic in every day if you choose to find it. She discovered the wonderful world of storytelling as a child and decided to become a writer at an early age. Teena writes for children and adults and her publications range from poetry and short stories to picture books and novels. Her writing life has also included a long career in journalism. She shares her passion for books and writing by presenting talks and workshops to encourage people of all ages to write their own stories.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Saturday: Joshua Jones finds a dragon – or does a dragon find him?

His life was zilch. A big fat zero. Joshua Jones gave a whole-body sigh. He must be the only kid in the whole world – perhaps the entire universe – who had nothing and no one. No dad and mum. No big brother. No baby sister. Once it had been different. If only they’d not tried to drive home in the storm that night after visiting Nanna Bess …

Josh blocked off the thought. It was easier than remembering what happened.

‘Lucky you’ve got your gran,’ grownups had been telling him ever since the accident that only he had survived.

That was true. Where would he have gone to live? Probably some creepy orphanage like you saw in movies. Josh shuddered. Now that was a scary thought. Nanna Bess would definitely take out the prize for Champion Fruit Loop Grandmother on Planet Earth, but she did make sure he had plenty to eat and didn’t hassle him too much about keeping his room clean. The trouble was, a kid needed more than his gran. Josh sighed again.

Pete had a chatter-box cockie called Cracker. Ben had a big white rabbit. Kelli had Tiger the cat. And now Josh’s best mate Mario had a new buddy. His dog, Buster.

Mario didn’t want to play video games. He didn’t want to have a Nerf gun battle, build Lego or kick the footy around the park. Mario just wanted to walk Buster. That’s where he was now.

Mario had offered to share Buster, but what good was that? You could share a packet of corn chips or give away half a Mars bar. A dog was different.

So, Josh was home, hanging upside down with his legs hooked over the back of the sofa, on his own again except for his gran. The thing was, his life didn’t have to stay zilch. The most amazing opportunity had turned up and all Nanna Bess had to do was say yes.

‘A kid needs a dog,’ he said. How could any grandmother worthy of the name argue with that?

Nanna Bess was standing on her head on the yoga mat in the corner and didn’t even bother to turn right way up.

‘A dog needs space,’ she said. ‘We don’t have that.’

Josh couldn’t argue with that. There was barely room for the two of them in their tiny upstairs apartment in the middle of town. When Josh lay on his bed and looked out of the window all he could see was more apartment blocks. Taller apartment blocks.

But there was a park around the corner. And Josh was prepared to make sacrifices. He would share his room, even if that meant ditching some of the really interesting stuff in the box under his bed. Mum used to call it his Treasure Chest. Josh’s left eye twitched at the memory. He got back on track.

‘It’s a matter of life and death, Nanna Bess. Bob, who sits on the chair outside the corner store, is getting sent to live in an old people’s home. He can’t take Fred. Fred’s a really good dog, you know he is. You’d hardly know he was here. And I’d feed him and walk him and he could sleep in my room.’

Josh dropped to the floor and rolled over to the corner so he could lie eye to eye with Nanna Bess, who was still standing on her head.

‘If we don’t take him it’s the end of the road for the poor old fella. You wouldn’t want him to get taken to the dog pound and terminated, would you?’

‘Of course not. Look out, I’m coming down.’

Nanna Bess waited for Josh to move and then lowered her legs and turned right way up. She rolled up her purple yoga mat and propped it in the corner.

‘I’m sure Fred won’t end up on Death Row at the council pound, Josh. All Bob has to do is put a notice up in the window of the deli and his monster of a dog will have a new home in next to no time.’

Josh sighed. ‘Not here?’

She shook her head. ‘No.’ She ruffled his hair. ‘Sorry kiddo. I’d love to give you a house in the country with a yard full of pets and room to play, but I can’t. I would if I could.’

Josh thought for a minute. ‘How about a cat then?’ They didn’t need room to run so it was worth a try.

‘I’m allergic to cats.’ Nanna Bess sneezed seven times just at the thought of one.

‘A tortoise? A guinea pig? A mouse? A canary, even?’ Anything would do.

‘No pets allowed here, you know that. I’m sorry, Josh, you’ll just have to make do with me.’

That’s what he’d been afraid of. Josh groaned, did a triple somersault over the back of the sofa, tunnelled under the table, dived out of the front door, and slid down three lots of stair railings until he reached the footpath outside.

He sat on the kerb with his head in his hands. He was not wrong. His life was zilch. A big fat zero. It wasn’t fair. Why should he be the only kid in the whole world – perhaps even the entire universe – who had nothing and nobody except for his fruit loop gran?

That was where Joshua Jones found the dragon – if it was a dragon. Or did it find him?

CHAPTER TWO

Still Saturday: Joshua Jones talks to the dragon – or does it talk to him?

‘It’s just not fair!’ Joshua said aloud, making the hole in his left sneaker bigger so his toe could poke out.

‘Everybody’s got something or somebody, but not me,’ he muttered, staring at an ant struggling with a dead bug.

‘Will I do?’

Josh looked up. There was no one there except for Mrs Marriott pushing her baby in the pram up near the corner. Right. Now he was hearing things. What next?

‘Hey! Kid! Are you deaf or just plain ignorant? I asked you a question. An answer would be polite. Will I do?’

Josh jumped to his feet. He looked up and down the street and every which way. No one! What was this? Some kind of joke? Mario being a noodle? But it hadn’t sounded like Mario. Or Pete. Or anyone else Josh knew. He sat back down on the kerb and scratched his head. He must be losing the plot.

‘Look again,’ said the voice. And suddenly, there it was. Whatever it was.

Josh’s mouth fell open. He stood there, gaping. Then he shook his head. Now he was seeing things as well as hearing them. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. The thing was still there.

It seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It was all the colours Josh had ever seen and all the colours he had never seen. It was everything he had ever imagined a dragon to be – and everything he had never imagined a dragon to be. In fact, he decided as he stood there with his eyes and mouth wide open, and his hair standing on end, words could not possibly describe what was in front of him.

‘Wow,’ he said.

‘Is that all you can say?’ it asked, but not in the everyday way. This was thought talk, like it was thinking the words.

Josh had never known anything like it, though he’d imagined it often enough. He was still struck dumb. But he did shut his mouth.

‘You’ll have to do better than that if we’re going to get along,’ it said.

‘We?’ Josh’s voice came out as a squeak.

‘You do need to get your hearing checked, kid.’ It sat down beside Josh, without exactly sitting down.

He covered his eyes with his hands. His imagination was definitely working overtime. Any minute now this thing would disappear into thin air and everything would be back to normal. But when Josh slid his hands away from his eyes, it was still there.

‘Are you real?’ he asked.

‘Are you?’

What a stupid question. ‘Of course I am!’

‘How do you know?’

Josh snorted. ‘I just do.’

‘Oh, do you?’

Josh gave it some thought. ‘I’m as real as you are,’ he said.

‘There!’ It was satisfied. ‘That’s exactly what I meant.’

‘What are you?’

‘What do you think I am?’

‘A – dragon?’

‘Ah.’ It wasn’t a yes but neither was it a no.

Josh couldn’t think of anything else the new arrival might be, so until he knew otherwise he decided it was a dragon. And that raised some rather interesting questions. Where had it come from? How did it get here? Why had it come? What did it eat?

He didn’t get the chance to ask any of the questions that were tumbling around