Chicken

It's a fine enough meal for anybody.

 We were so tired of being constantly woken up. Every Monday night, staying until perhaps 3 or 4 in the morning, without fail, that f*****g Dragon decided to come back. 

It started off as an impressive affair, as nearly all Dragons are exhibitionists. It swooped over our estate, breathed billowing columns and cartwheels of flame into the sky with destructive beauty. Once it had finished showing off and the neighbours had come out to look, it would perch on our rooftop specifically, beating its wings powerfully.

I'd say it took maybe a month of Mondays before the neighbours stopped coming out to look. The initial lure of seeing a Dragon for the first time, especially for the kids, eventually wore off. I was on the sort of council estate where nobody seemed to really have to get up early for anything, most days, but I was far from idle. I was working two jobs to save for college, a lifestyle which burnt right through me at the best of times.

So obviously when this Dragon started routinely crashing about the place, it was enough to set my mind creaking and groaning under the pressure. To begin with, the visits were short and with earplugs, I tolerated only a mild disturbance. 

As time passed, and people had lost interest in the Dragon, it started acting up. It began to demand attention, sometimes stomping up and down on our roof. Worse, it was beginning to stay later. My housemate Paul had phoned the police a couple of times, to no avail. 

"Sorry sir but there's nothing we can do about it. You can get a catcher in, take your chances, but in cases like these it's best to wait until they move on." - the officer told us morosely in our front yard. He could see the property damage. He could see our twitching, restless eyes and hollow bags filled with a hopeless, directionless anger. Unfortunately he was right, what could be done?

The two of us did sit in eventually, and decided that our only course of action was to move. Even then, who the hell would want to move anywhere with such a monster throwing a tantrum on a weekly basis? We had to get someone to take over our rooms in the house, after all. Well, we were lucky that some guy eventually did come by to look the place over. He'd seemed like a nutbag over the phone, but who cared at this stage. We leapt at the chance to give him a viewing, even if his only free night was the worst one possible. A Monday...

On that following Monday, each one having become an event of sheer anger blended with a sinking dread at another inevitable breakage in the house, we sat waiting for the man. We ate our bucket of fried chicken in silence and pure tension, having since become too exhausted with househunting and cleanup to bother cooking for ourselves.

The doorbell eventually rang, startling us. Paul let the man in..a wiry figure dressed predominantly in leather. A rogueish little moustache, and a shifty nature worn as though it were his very skin. A sense very much of having something to hide. He joined us in the dining room with our chicken, we offered him a piece as he told us how he'd been looking for a place for a while and was happy to be here. Paul and I shot a furtive glance at one another, wondering if he'd heard about the Dragon..surely he'd heard a rumour?

Within just a few minutes..an ear piercing roar and the usual penetrating, shaking crash. Our Dragon had come back. In an uneasy jolt, Paul and I each rubbed our eyes and braced ourselves for the speech and negotiation we'd have to give.

It seemed too that our mans eyes popped open, nearly out of his head, as he bolted from his seat. Without a word, he grabbed at our bucket and sprinted out of the door!

Having no idea what was going on, we both raced after him. Just outside our door, he threw the chicken high up like a basketball roughly in the Dragons direction, perched as usual billowing flames on our roof. We watched in utter confusion, mixed with dread, time itself slowing. 

The Dragon raised its monstrous bulk, ceased its horrifying furnace, and jetted out towards the bucket, swallowing it whole mid flight. It crashed to the ground at our mans feet, shaking the earth. We could now appreciate its true presence, dark scales of steel. Darting, hungry eyes. Snapping its jaws, somewhat calmed by its appetiser. It seemed at that moment..almost small..docile. Knelt down small against the ground like a saddened puppy.

As we watched enraptured, our man whipped a harness from his jacket and leapt boldly, straddling the Dragons back, whipping his apparatus into place in just seconds.

"Later suckers! Hahaha!!"

With that, he cracked at the Dragons back..it snapped back to life and burst forth into the air, with a gale force rush, both man and beast shot off into the night.

Paul and I stood for a while. I lit a cigarette in silence, staring at nothing. Paul spoke first:

"I'm gonna get us some more chicken."

Reviews

[Vasilees Sybissyl]

Woah! The ending is awesome! And your descriptions are just right - not too much, not too less. I used to wish I had a Dragon, but now I'm rethinking it. I've always loved your stories. I'll be waiting for another story.

Love,
Vasilees.