I Thought It Was Only A Rock

• Macarthur Bettington, Grade 1
• Short Story
• 2016

One day walking home from the beach to my grandma’s house, I found a little rock shaped like an egg. I picked it up and took it home. At bedtime, I put it on my dressing table. I read a book and went to sleep.
I woke up at midnight and heard a little cracking noise. I turned on the light. The rock had cracked. It was an egg! But there was nothing there except a broken shell. Just then, I thought I heard a little, tiny roar. Meema called out to turn off the light and go to sleep. So I did.
In the morning, I thought I heard the little roar again. I looked out the bedroom window and the garden shed door was open. I went to have a look. There it was a real baby dragon.
I had to hide it before Meema saw it. I picked it up. It was very friendly. I hid it in my toys in the cupboard in the bedroom and went and had breakfast.
I could hear a snoring noise. I raced down and the little dragon was fast asleep. I nudged him a little bit but nothing happened. “What’s that noise?” shouted Meema. “Nothing,” I said. I quickly rolled the little dragon over and it stopped snoring but it had grown a lot.
I wrapped the dragon in a towel and took it back to the beach but it kept following me home. I sat down to think of what to do when I heard a noise. It was like a mother dragon’s roar. I knew she wanted her baby back. I searched for where the noise was coming from. After one hour, I found the mother dragon. She didn’t look friendly but she was. She jumped when she saw me. I didn’t know what was going on. Another two baby dragons were with the mother and puffed smoke out their noses when they saw their brother.
The little dragons ran at me and purred. They jumped all over me. I didn’t want to leave. They were biting my shoes and my pants. I turned to go home. I looked back to wave goodbye and the dragons all looked sad.
When I got home, Meema was furious. “Where have you been?” she cried. “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you,” I said.