There Weren't Always Dragons In The Valley

There weren’t always dragons in the valley that lurked among the tall dark pines to destroy anyone who came within their sight. As a very young child, I was told many tales about those red-eyes, evil, fearless, mythical characters that kidnaped children and took them into the woods where they were never seen again. Therefore, I would not wander far from my parents’ front yard or play near the woods or be outside at dark.

As I grew older and became more responsible, I was allowed to ride my bike to the neighborhood grocery store or play down the street with the children who lived in the house next to a valley of dense trees, if I promised to return home before sundown. While riding my bike, as darkness befell upon me, as fast as my legs would peddle, I did not see, hear, nor was chased by a dragon. So, I came to the realization that fire-breathing dragons were just myths that my parents told to keep me close to home and safe. Nor did these harmless fictional dragon tales prepare me for the Human Dragons that I was to encounter in my adult life.

During my early teenage years, while school was closed for the summer, I would wait in my bedroom, fully dressed, until my strict parents were in bed and sound asleep (they both snored, loudly) before I quietly opened and climbed out of my window. Taking the short route through the valley. I would meet my boyfriend who was waiting in his father’s car that he had taken without his dad’s permission.

We would ride into town and join other classmates for an evening of fun. Sometimes we would hang out at the Burger Barn, go to a movie, or drive around town and drink beer that one of the boys, with a fake I.D., had bought from the 7-Eleven.

Before daybreak and before my parents realized that I was gone, my boyfriend would drive me back to our meeting point and wait until I ran across the valley, up the hill, and back into my dark room. I would turn on the light to let him know that I was safely home. This little charade continued until one day, I was surprised by my parents waiting for me.

They realized that the dragon stories had long flown out of the window, so they had to find another way to keep me from making wrong decisions at an early age. My punishment was: no visiting with friends or talking on the telephone for the next two weeks before returning to school. During my confinement, my boyfriend found a new girlfriend who was not as restricted as I was. I thought he loved only me and that we would be together for the rest of our lives. Looking back on those days I realize that she and my ex-boyfriend were Human Dragons which I would encounter in the future, The DRAGON of DECEPTION.

As my body and mind grew into adulthood, I yarned to know more about the world that stretched far beyond my home, neighborhood, and school. Inside my mind, I had already charted what my perfect life would be. After I graduated from college, I would move away from home to live in the big city, get a job, find an apartment, fall in love, get married to a successful caring man, buy a home, and start a family. Being an only child, I would have more than one but less than three children. At what price glory? But it was not the red-eyed fairytale dragons that I once feared, as a youngster, it was the real dragons, the humankind, that I would encounter and the dragons that lived inside of me.

While attending college, I realized that I was not as smart as I thought. I found myself alone, lonely, depressed, and failing my classes. Did I tell my proud parents that I had dropped out of school a year early? No. Did I tell them that I was paying the tuition money that they had sent me, on an apartment, which was so small that the bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom were in the same room? No. I know I was wrong but what could I say to the evil dragons telling me to be deceitful.

Fortunately, I landed a great paying job, with an excellent chance to move up in the company. But I made the mistake of becoming too buddy, buddy with a coworker. Confident that he was truly a good friend, as you say, “had my back” I confided in him about some things that my boss said to me that I thought were inappropriate. The next week, I was fired, and my friend had replaced me. I was humiliated because I did not have the insight into what he was plotting and no one in the office warned me. Would I have listened? Probably not. The red-eyed dragon in me wanted to retaliate, but I had come to the realization that I allowed this person into my personal life. Lesson learned.

Now much older and alone again, I often think about my deceased parents, school friends, whom I have lost contact with, my ex-husband who married my “best friend,” my three children, and grandchildren who occasionally visit. I wish them well and that their dragons will be much kinder to them than mine were to me. I also think about abused children, elderly and spousal abuse, police brutality, parents and children killing each other, and the homeless.

As I drive past a field of dense pine trees, I am reminded of my childhood and the mythical dragons that supposingly lived in the valley. There have been no reports of missing or kidnaped children, I would have to assume that dragons do not exist or if they do, they must be good dragons. When it comes to dragons, I believe I would be safer with them than HUMAM DRAGONS.