The Gifts of the Joey


Joey couldn’t believe his luck. He got both things that he wanted on the December gift-giving day holiday. A dragon and a droid! His parents must really love him, whoever they were. He couldn’t wait to show them off to his friends at school, once the two-week snow school break ended.

He should have been able to show them on the 3-D vid, but the stupid Norfolk power grid was down. Again. The back up solar powered battery could not generate enough power. It had just enough to keep the house warm and the food cold, until he needed to heat it up, too.

He couldn’t do much with the droid, because the stupid thing needed to charge. But he could play with the dragon. He had had robo-pets before, but this would be his first live pet.

The dragon made some noises in its cage. “Shit,” he thought. “What could that mean? Was it hungry? Thirsty? Tired? Did it need to go for a walk?” He looked around at all the packaging and wrapping paper he had thrown around that morning. “Didn’t it come with an owner’s manual?” He couldn’t find it, if there had been one. Maybe if he let the dragon out, it would show him what it needed.

He opened the cage. The dragon stuck its head out. Fire shot from its mouth, hitting Joey with full force. He was dead and cooked before he could do anything about it. The dragon walked up and chewed on Joey’s arm, with a smile on its face.

 

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