Truth or Fantasy?
What if you could see fairies? Unicorns? Dragons? What would you see?
This is the tale of my first encounter with a dragon. Truth or Fantasy? I will let you decide.
It was a sunny Fall day. I was driving from my home to my client’s horse farm, some two hours away. The driving was easy, not much traffic to contend with. I had stopped at my favourite Starbucks for my morning coffee to kick start my day, to get me in the right frame of mind for my drive and ready for a long day of working with horses.
As I normally do, I glanced in my wing mirror to keep an eye on the cars around me. Imagine my surprise when I picked up the sense of a presence just outside my peripheral vision. How bizarre! I glanced in the rearview mirror and there, large as life, if not larger, was a dragon. Oh, now that wasn’t expected! Life suddenly became much more interesting.
It is funny what happens when confronted with the unexpected. My initial reaction was one of stunned disbelief. A dragon? In my car? In the rear seat, right behind me? Surely not. I concentrated on staying on the road, what else can you do? I glanced back again. Yes, still there, looking at me and waiting patiently.
The mind has a great time throwing out possibilities, that’s just what it does. This didn’t fit anything it had encountered before so a great attempt at rationalization and categorizing was made. Pull over and let it out? Tell it that there’s no such thing as dragons? Probably not a wise decision given that they are known to breathe fire. Just ignore it and see if it disappears? Not likely to happen; it seemed very comfortably ensconced in the back of my car and definitely enjoying watching me struggle with the dilemma of his presence.
It gradually dawned on me that it isn’t every day that you get a chance to interact with a dragon. Why not give it a try? Here was a dragon, hitching a ride, what better time?
He was quite magnificent now that I was actually brave enough to really look at him. Iridescent scales that changed colours in the sunlight and shade; blues, greens, browns, purples and colours I couldn’t even put a name to. His wings were folded carefully at his sides so that he could fit in the seat. His head was huge, but in proportion with his stunning body. Thankfully he wasn’t showing too many teeth, and his multi-faceted eyes had a look that could only be described as benign amusement.
As is my way when nervous or caught off guard, I went from stunned silence to excited chatter. Oh, the questions I wanted to ask, but how to address a dragon?
Truth be told, I don’t remember my exact words though I am sure there was a greeting in there somewhere, and admiration at how glorious he was. I asked his name, but he continued to just look at me. I tried to come up with some dragon-sounding names that he might agree to. Nothing. If dragons could roll their eyes he would most definitely have been doing some of the most spectacular eye rolls ever witnessed. I was at a loss. Maybe he didn’t understand me but, somehow, I sensed that he did.
My logical brain kept searching and searching for a way to actually converse. That is what logical brains do. But sometimes logic and assumptions really do get in our way. Sometimes we need to just let go and see what happens. What if? What if I spoke to him, what would he say? There! A flash of intuitive insight grabbing the space in between the streams of logic.
‘Oh’, I said. ‘I believe I’ve had it all wrong. My assumption all along was that you are a male dragon. I believe that you are actually a female dragon and a most beautiful one at that. I am so sorry for making such a tactless mistake.’
The dragon sighed softly, blew a little puff of smoke out of her nose just because she could, gazed at me with eyes all sparkly with fun and laughter.
‘Ah!’ she said. ‘Finally you are paying attention and letting go, listening with your heart. Now we can begin ….’