Grandma Stories - The Dragon

No grandmother’s pages would be complete without some true stories…………those which happen spontaneously when you are around little children. I will share such tales from time to time in my posts. Today’s story is about “The Dragon”.

When our granddaughter, Stephanie, was about four years old we had a big, white, Chevy Astro Van. Whenever her “Papa” was at the wheel he would use the phrase “Whoa, Dragon!” whenever he would have to come to a stop more quickly than he anticipated. One evening we were on our way home in the van, with a few of our younger children and Stephanie in the back seat – everyone chatting and laughing along the way. Papa looked up just in time to notice the light had turned red shortly before we reached an intersection. As always, he yelled out “Whoa, Dragon!” as he quickly applied the brakes.

As the van was gliding to a halt, Stephanie cried out, “I hear it! I hear it, Papa!” Catching us all off guard, we questioned her as she continued to proclaim to us -- in no uncertain terms – that she had indeed “heard it”. Since she remained adamant, we kept asking her, “What, Stephanie? What did you hear?” Quite pleased, she finally announced, “The dragon – I heard the dragon!” It suddenly dawned on the rest of us that she had heard the squeal of the brakes as we had come to our abrupt halt at the red light. It was obvious to her at least, that the “Dragon” had obeyed her Papa’s command.