Date:         Sat, 9 Nov 1996 21:13:16 -0600
From: RainiMadden <rainim@CONCENTRIC.NET>
Subject:      INT: Lancomb's Adventure

Reserved:
        Chris Vaughan:
                Lancomb
                Aderyn
                Sanchez
        Raini Madden:
                Lyriss
                Mathen


     Lyriss took a deep breath. "If you don't mind, Mr...?"
     "You can call me Sanchez, Lyreess."
     She smiled at him as he took off his large sombrero and bowed
deeply. "If you don't mind, Mr. Sanchez, I'm a little tired. Do you
think...?" She hesitated as she motioned toward the barn. "Do you think
Lancomb would mind if I waited here for you and Mathen to return with the
truck?"
     Sanchez winked at her. "Eef you offer to read to heem, I don't
theenk he'll mind at all, no."
     She brightened considerably. "Really?"
     Mathen looked a bit concerned. "Are you sure you're okay?"
     "I'm fine," she lied. "You two go on. I'll find something to read to
Lancomb and rest a bit."
     "If you're sure?" Mathen asked again.
     "I'm sure I'd like to stay," she said, telling the truth this time.
     Lyriss shook her head and smiled as she watched her lanky little
brother, so proud of trying to take care of his older sister, and another
tall, lanky man in a huge sombrero walk off together. Then, she turned
and walked back into the barn.
     "You've returned?" Lancomb asked as Lyriss closed the barn door.
     She smiled and walked up to the dragon. "May I read to you while
Sanchez and Mathen go to get a truck?"
     Lancomb didn't smile exactly, but Lyriss noticed a little twinkle in
his eye. "I'd like that," he finally said. "What would you like to read?"
     For the first time, Lyriss noticed the volumes of books lining the
walls of the barn. "Oh, my," she whispered in awe. "What would you like
to hear? And, where would I find it?"
     "Hmmm, I haven't heard Dickens in a long time. It would be easy to
reach...that shelf over there," the dragon said as he pointed a scaly
claw in the direction of a nearby bookcase.
     Lyriss walked over and began to scan the books. "They're all
alphabetized!"
     "Dewey decimal system," Lancomb explained. "One of my quirks."
     She laughed. "I'm sorry to laugh. I just never thought that dragons
would have things like quirks." Then, she started to cough. After a
somewhat lengthy coughing spell, she leaned against the bookcase to catch
her breath.
     "What are you dying of, Lyriss?" the concerned dragon asked gently.
     "Leukemia, but I only seem sick when I let myself get tired," she
smiled at him. "I have a while left to me." She pulled out a book and
went to sit next to the foreleg of the dragon. She looked up before she
began to read. "I won't be a burden. Really, I won't."
     Lancomb moved his foreleg so Lyriss could lean against the inside
crook. "I know," was all the giant dragon said.
     She leaned back as Lancomb laid his head across his other foreleg,
and she began to read, "'A Christmas Carol...Marley was dead, to begin
with. There is no doubt...'"
     And, as soon as she had finished several pages, she dropped off to
sleep, feeling safe in the protection of her new friend...Lancomb.