Enga mellom fjella

And I'm the Prince of Poets and Prose.

2nd entry for

Journalistic Intentions  (18+) This is for the journal keeping types that come to PLAY! New round starts February 1! #2213121 by Elisa the Bunny Stik

"I'm the new King of the Realm."

"And I'm the heir to Bilbo Baggins."

He eyed the ring dangling from her necklace.

"Don't disappear!"

Frankie was a pet. Nothing more. Samantha had been telling herself that for forty years.

She'd bought him at the market under the bridge. A lovely jade shaped like an egg. She'd brought it home, placed it on the mantle.

When it hatched she was gobsmacked... once the shock wore off. He was cute. He was tiny. He was... hungry.

All she had was fresh baked bread. She had watched as he toasted it then gobbled it all down.

Frankie woke her from her reverie.

"Baking bread again?"

He grinned at her. It was one of many private jokes.

No one else knew she had a talking dragon. But then... few knew that she existed either.

Folks talked about their weird never-seen neighbor as she stood there invisible. She knew all their secrets. She never tattled.

Weird? Yes, weird and much more.

What more does one need when your pet hoards scrap pieces of metal. "I like shiny things," he'd once told her.

Samantha sold the scrap and returned the gold and silver when Frankie wasn't looking. Oh... he knew. It was their secret game.

An old, very old, midget and her fledgling dragon living on Lois Lane... oh, the horror of it all! The truth was... they couldn't have handled the truth.

A knock at her door startled her. She peered through a crack and saw no one, so she opened it.

First she saw the toothy grin, then the whirling eyes.

"I'm here to see the new King."

She put on her ring and vanished.

"I'm Here to See the New King." Faint smoke circled the nostrils. "And yes, I can still smell you."

© Copyright 2022 Kåre Enga [179.33] (19.juni.2022)

ANALYSIS

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AndImTheQueenOfSheba

Perhaps sarcasm... perhaps truth. Perhaps both are true! This snippet feels more like an intro or 'first chapter' than a flash fiction, but I use what I have at my disposal.

And I'm the Prince of Poets and Prose!

The trope gave me focus... as did the three word prompt: egg, bread, ring. I was desperate okay? In this case I amused myself with the names Samwise/Samantha and hobbits (alluded to but not mentioned) and common mythical beings (dragons, dragonets a la Hogwarts. Hagrid would understand). Frankie? No idea where that came from.

The ambiguity allows various paths for the story to continue. Who is Samantha? What's special about Frankie (reincarnation of Qinglong, the Azure Dragon of the East?). Who's that dragon-at-the-door? (next chapter: Let me introduce myself...). Could be folk-horror-tale or a nice cozy-mystery... dunno...

Do I use this trope IRL? When I say "I'm a poet" is that just my overestimation of myself? Or just an observation. I write = writer. I write poetry = poet.

As for the power or pain of secrets (shared or not) I have a few and can speak to that as well.

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