My Big Sister Can See Dragons by Rocky Tirona

My big sister can do a lot of things better than me.

She can swim all the way across the swimming pool. I still need to grab mom when I need to breathe.

My sister can read words with more than 3 letters in them. So when mom gets home late from work, my sister can read herself to sleep. I have to sing.

And when she draws a dog, people know if it’s a German Shepherd or a Labrador or a poodle. When I try to draw a dog, people ask if it’s an animal or a hotdog with marshmallows.

But you know what else my big sister can do? She can see dragons.

It’s true. Yesterday, when she came home from school and I was playing with my doll, she suddenly said “Shhh! Don’t move. There’s a baby dragon behind you.”

I turned my head but I saw nothing. I said, “Where? “

“You can’t see them. You need a Dragon Eye in order to see dragons.” she said.

“DragonS? You mean there are more?”

“Of course!” answered my sister. “There’s a whole world of dragons next to our world, but if you’re a dragon tamer, you can bring them over to our side. But they’ll have to go home before bedtime.”

“Can you teach me?” I said.

She told me to half-close my eyes and sort of roll up my eyeballs. She said I have to do it ‘til things start to look fuzzy.

So I squinted a little and I tried to move up my eyeballs. But they started to hurt, so I opened my eyes.

“Nothing’s happening”, I said.

“Do what you do when we pretend to be asleep when Dad comes home”, she said. So I opened my mouth, half-closed my eyelids, and let my eyes roll up. And I saw a white blur move just behind my sister.

“I saw it! I think..” I cried. “Is it white?”

“This baby one is”, said my sister. “But when they’re all here, there are blue ones, orange ones...even a rainbow colored one.”

She said that maybe I could practice so I could tame the pink one. Pink is my favorite color.

I’d like that. But I wish I could see the white one better. It was still kind of blurry, even when I crossed my eyes really hard and saw double of everything.

My sister said we could have a dragon party. She would invite the others over and we could serve chocolate crinkle cookies since they’re the favorite food of dragons. She said crinkles taste like brimstone, which is what they chew on to make fire come out of their noses.

So we laid out plates and cups and my stuffed lizard toy. I thought the dragons would like to meet one of their cousins.

It was a lot of fun. My sister pointed out the purple mommy dragon who had 23 little babies hanging on to her. And the slimy green one who liked to live in mushy swamps. And the grumpy old grey grandfather dragon with no more teeth, so you didn’t have to be scared of him.

Just one teeny-tiny problem. I still couldn’t see anything. But I really wanted to join the party. And I didn’t want my sister to stop inviting me.

Today, she said we could have the dragons over for a sleepover. Mrs. Purple came, with her 23 babies, all in purple pajamas covered with sleeping clouds. A silver teenager dragon also came. He’s supposed to be the one who can do spirals while flying.

But I still can’t see them.

Then my sister said something that got me worried.

“We need to be careful though. If you can see dragons, you can also see goblins. And sometimes, when you call the dragons, the goblins come too.”

Goblins? Gulp.

My sister spread Mom’s big fluffy quilt on the floor beside us, and I helped her bring all the cushions from the living room. (Dad will be mad when he tries to watch TV, but we’ll be asleep by then).

She waved her arms in the air like a conductor, then pointed to the pillows. “There, I told them to all go to sleep now.” she said.

I did the thing with my eyeballs again and looked at the floor. I still couldn’t see anything.

The phone rang. It was Mom. She’s stuck at the office...again. She told us to go to bed.

“Goodnight Mrs. Purple. Goodnight little ones. Goodnight Grumpy”, said my sister. “Goodnight, little sister.” Then she turned on her side and fell asleep.

That’s another thing my big sister does better than me. She can fall asleep as soon as she puts the blanket over her head.

I’m not sleepy. I’m thinking about goblins. What if they got into our world together with the dragons? Do goblins eat little kids? Can I wake up the dragons to fight the goblins if I can’t see them?

Wait! If I can’t see the dragons, I won’t be able to see the goblins either! Does that mean I’m safe?

But wait again! What if the goblins attack my sister because she can see them?

I shake her awake. Which is really hard to do, because as Dad says, my sister can sleep through an earthquake. So I sit on her tummy and yell really loudly into her ear.

“Gaaaaby! Wake uuuuup!”

My sister opened one eye.

“The goblins! They might come for you!” I cried. “They can’t attack me because I can’t see them. You said that you can only see goblins if you can see dragons. Well, I can’t see dragons really. I tried, but I can’t. I lied! So the goblins can only attack you!”

You know what she said?

“I can’t see dragons either. I just made them up”, she said as she closed her eye again. From under the blanket, I heard her add, “Dummy.”

I can’t believe it. We’re just the same. My big sister can’t see dragons either. I don’t have to lie anymore.

And maybe my big sister’s not much more special than me after all. Maybe I’ll be able to swim across the pool too when I’m six.

But maybe I should keep Dad’s shoe beside me. In case the goblins do come.