to glow amiably rather than burn.
âSoon after you left,â Between says, âAbalone got bored with her magazine. She didnât seem sleepy and I heard her mutter something about going to the Park.â
âThat was a while ago,â Betwixt adds. âI guess sheâll be back soon.â
I try to relax and agree. Abalone has done well without me; certainly I must be a trouble to herâa constant shadow. I stretch out on my hammock and set myself gently rocking. Balanced on my stomach, the dragons drowse.
âGo to sleep, Sarah,â Between says soothingly. âYouâre beat. Weâll take turns watching and wake you when Abalone comes back.â
I can feel exhaustion stealing through me and yawn nodding my acceptance of the dragonâs plan.
âFor some must watch, while some must sleep: so runs the world away.â
Pulling my blanket over me, I position the dragons so they can watch. My last sensation is their claws, like little needles, gripping for purchase as we gently swing.
I do not awaken when Abalone makes her stealthy return, but true to their promise, the dragons hiss me awake. Even in my pleasure at seeing Abalone safely returned, I do not miss that they are more agitated than seems warranted.
âSay âHelloâ quickly, Sarah,â Betwixt urges, âand donât let her drop off yet. Weâve got to tell you something and I think she should hear it, too.â
âAbalone!â I call, reaching out across the space between our hammocks. I struggle, but I cannot find words for my irrational concern for her safety and my joy at her return and must settle for smiling.
âHush, Sarah,â she whispers. âYouâll rouse all the Jungle. I didnât expect to see you here so early.â
âHide me from dayâs garish eye,â I comment softly, hoping she will read my grimace into my words, âwhile the bee with the honied thighâ¦â
âOh,â Abalone chuckles. âBumblebee came calling. Sheâs been watching you, my friend. Iâm surprised she waited this long.â
She begins to snuggle into the down-filled sleeping bag that lines her hammock. Betwixt and Between hiss urgently at me.
âTell her we heard Edelweiss saying that someone is looking for you. Someone from the Home from what she said. We heard her telling Tapestry while you were sleeping.â
My mouth opens and shuts like a clam in an old cartoon. There are no words in my mind for this fragmented message. Still, I reach and shake Abalone.
She yawns at me. âYeah?â
âI am a brother to dragons, a companion to owls,â I start.
âSarah, Iâm tired,â Abalone sighs. âI know about the dragon.â
âCharity begins at home!â I try again, my voice breaking above a whisper.
âHush!â
ââTis ever common that men are merriest when they are from home,â I mutter futilely to myself.
Abalone falls asleep. I lie swinging, too awake and hunting for words.
âYouâll never take me alive,â I murmur as I finally fall asleep.
In the evening, Abalone sleeps past the time the Tail Wolves and the Four rise and leave. Their activity awakens me and I lie in my hammock watching them dress and depart, a nighttime rainbow. My mind tries to find words to tell Abalone of Betwixt and Betweenâs warning, wishing for not the first time, that my friends could talk to the dragon.
When the commotion below has thinned, I slide down to the floor level and go to wash. I am soaping in one of the showers rigged in a curve of the Jungle tank when I hear soft cursing from down by my feet.
âDamn, damn, damnety, damn!â
Tilting my face into the gentle fall of water, I rinse my eyes and look down. A small stuffed rabbit sits in a puddle half-hidden by the edge of the shower curtain. The water has soaked into the plush and one ear is limp and bedraggled.
Recognizing that it
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