coming in the fall of 2025

Chapter 1

 Resting in a dust mote, his body so tiny human eyes would not notice him, the Assister’s Leader Guide savored the sweetness of the sun’s rays on his fuzzy blue antennae. He tucked his purple and gold wings tightly against his sides and hunkered down, prepared to see what he could see and hear what he could hear.  Craning his thin neck for a 360-degree view, the guide stared around a small room. It was almost empty except for a beat-up old dresser, a lamp, and one twin bed.  But what was sitting on top of the dresser informed the Guide that he was in the right home.  In an old green tin cup were treasured crayons of all sizes and hues, huddled together with Number 2 pencils almost entirely down to their nub. An old pencil sharpener was screwed into the wall next to the dresser. Scattered on the floor were bits and pieces of used school paper and worn-out drawing tablets covered in doodles and drawings. The guide frowned at the dirty old overalls and cotton shirts piled in a heap in the corner of the room, a testament to the boy’s employment at the local cotton mill, which kept food on the table to feed his family.

Tacked up on the wall above the dresser were pictures of a young boy with his mother and father and several of the same boy, older now, with another small girl and boy.

The Guide smiled at the sounds of laughter. Two little children sprawled across their older brother’s bed, hypnotized by the pencil streaking across the page of his drawing tablet with fast, deft strokes.

Meggie tugged on her big brother’s hair, a sure way of getting his attention when he was drawing. “Robbie, make her hair golden with lots of curls running down her back.” 

Andrew scowled at his twin sister in disgust. “Meggie, not all princesses have golden hair; maybe this princess is ugly. Give her a great big nose, Robbie.”

The older boy laughed and agreed with his brother, turning the page of the sketch pad.  “Andy’s right, Meggie. Let’s start over.” Robbie drew a fat dragon, adding a long snout like a crocodile. With his crayons, the dragon soon had an orange body, blue eyes, and a red bow on its long, curling tail. 

“Oh, it’s a girl dragon! But that’s not a princess,” Meggie wailed while Andy grinned wickedly at the new picture boldly outlined before him. He added his two cents worth.

“Robbie, give her some hair and make it all ugly and dry like the hay the horses eat.”

Quickly, Robbie penciled in thin strands of hair on the dragon’s head with straight bangs falling into the dragon’s eyes, now adorned by long, wispy eyelashes.  Inspired by his sibling’s giggles, he added fat eyebrows resembling caterpillars above the dragon’s eyes. All three children laughed at the hilarious drawing.  Robbie’s hand wobbled and froze with his pencil as he heard their mother cry out from a nearby bedroom. He silenced the two little children, listening hard to find out if she would try to get up by herself or lie back down in defeat.

The guide observed the emotions playing across the older boy’s face as the youngster decided to help or leave her alone.  Resigned, Robbie pushed the two small children aside and stood, dropping his drawing pad on the floor and placing his treasured crayons and pencil back in the tin cup.  “We’ll finish this later. I’ve got to go help Mom.”

Meggie tore the drawing from the pad and held it tightly so Andy couldn’t take it. She wanted to describe the dragon princess to Mother.

The guide transferred his attention to the four-year-old twins, their sweet faces now serious, padding in worn pajamas behind their older brother down the short hallway.  Andy nudged his sister and whispered in her ear. “You remember what we have to do.  Robbie is the helper, but he said our job is to make Mama smile when she is sad.” Meggie scowled at Andy in irritation and put her hand on her tiny hip. “I know what to do, Andy. You don’t always have to tell me.” The little girl repeated the story by heart. “Mama can’t see very well and only has one leg left. The doctors saved it after the big car accident when we were only babies. Robbie said he thinks one of her eyes is getting better.” 

The guide frowned in dismay. Knowing he needed to gather a bit more intel from this family to decide on the course of action, he popped out of the dust mote and appeared behind the lamp that Robbie turned on in his mother’s bedroom.

Meggie and Andy leaned against the footboard of their mother’s big bed.

Andy told her, “Mama, I wish you could see the silly princess dragon that Robbie drew! She has a stupid bow on her tail and blue eyes.”

“I wanted to tell her!  Mama, Andy made Robbie give her hair  – it’s ugly.” Meggie frowned at her brother and stuck her thumb in her mouth.

“Oh yeah?” Mama’s smile lit up, and she bit back a laugh at the indignation in her young daughter’s voice.  She took a deep breath and stopped struggling for a minute, waiting for Robbie to help her attach the wood and leather prosthetic leg to her right stump. She kept trying to do it herself, but her right hand wasn’t very strong. Some of the bones had been crushed by the car that smashed into them. “What did you name your dragon Robbie?” 

“Ugh, I don’t know. You name it, Mama.”

“Hmmm, a dragon princess. A girl, you say?  How about Valoria?  Andy, Valoria means strength and possibly even honor. Meggie, a princess, even if it’s a dragon, should have honor. Dragons don’t have to be pretty – but she can be strong and honorable and save her knight in shining armor.”

Robbie helped his mother to her feet and watched her rock back and forth, steadying herself to walk to the bathroom. His hands clenched, but he didn’t assist her more than necessary, or she’d get angry.  He knew she could make her way around the house once she was up.  “Okay, mama, we’ll call her Valoria. The goobers and I will be in the kitchen making breakfast when you’re ready.”

Robbie pulled little Meggie and Andy out of the bedroom, already thinking of what was available in the almost empty fridge he could throw together before he had to go to work. 

After another quick look at this boy, much too old before his time, the Guide left this small home full of conflicting emotions. He needed to think about which of his Assister pods could help the boy Robert on the right path toward his future.