Moses stared at the woman, his neck craning at her height for so long that he felt a cramp coming along. His eyes flicked down briefly, scraping the sight of her thumb combing over the worn grip of her hand-me-down snub-nosed revolver. She spoke softly, a hint of venom coating her tongue. He could barely hear her over the patter of the rain hitting the puddy-like mud. Though it was rare, he hated when she spoke like this.
“Whatcha got there, kid? In them filthy hands of yours.”
“It- it’s a popper…”
“And you wanna tell me what you’re doin’ here holdin’ it?”
“I’m- uh, I don’t-”
“I ought to tell you that if the DTC comes runnin’ around here, and you know they will with them nosey selves, who do you think is going to be here to cover your sorry ass? Me? You know what theys do to people like us who harbor those things without reportin ‘em.”
Moses looked down, a mix of anger and shame washing over his face. He locked eyes with the creature in his hands, its chubby body tensing at the animosity throughout the air. He resolved, looking up at the woman with scorn in his eyes.
“It’s abandoned! What would you want me to do, Ma?”
“I’d want you to get rid of the fuckin’ thing so we can go inside!
The boy held fast, squeezing the thing he held in his arms dearly. He considered he was making a mistake, but would leaving it there, alone, with no food for miles be the correct decision? The thing thrived on eating flowers, yet they lived on a “farm” in name only. Only mud and shame covered the land now. Ma’s thumb raked over the revolver again. She eyed the creature in his hands. It cooded softly, enjoying the rain hitting off its tough and dirty skin. After a moment of thought, she spoke:
“Best to get inside. You know we don’t have no money for medicine.” She turned almost instantly and stalked off towards the house. She would come around eventually, we’re gonna take good care of you. thought Moses, holding the dragon close to him as he followed after his mother.
●
The days had been rough, at first. Snappy, who Moses had decided to name the creature due to its tendency to playfully bite, was difficulty to feed. Unable to eat its natural diet of various types of flower, Moses was required to feed it most1 of the time, which mostly ended up with Snappy spitting out the various mud and foodstuffs he was fed. But the times he did eat, he fell asleep soon after and slept the day away. He knew she would never admit it, but sometimes, he caught Ma looking at Snappy peacefully sleeping. The sight filled him with some semblance of hope.
Ma sat at the head of the kitchen table, a newspaper in hand with a steaming cup of coffee sitting in front of her, almost filled to the brim. Moses sat across from her, a single piece of toast on his plate.
“Made you something.” He offered, pushing the plate towards her.
“Thanks.” She said, keeping her eyes on the newspaper in front of her. “DTC startin’ to do some more investigations. Wouldn’t be surprised they came on ‘round here lookin’ for that man, that London fellow.”
“They come around here regardless, right? Ain’t they supposed to do it… soon…?” They were, now he remembered. And they had more than enough problems on their hands with Snappy, who was growing more by the day.
“Mhm, better find some way to hide it. I ain’t helpin’ ya when it comes to that, not one bit.” Moses didn’t blame her. She had laid out the risk when she had allowed him to take in Snappy that day, and if anything, she was a woman of her word.