Twisted Tails - "Surf & Turf"

Sadie was not your usual dragon. First off, she was near-sighted which forced her to wear glasses even though that was not a popular look for a fire-breathing death serpent.

Down at the ocean one afternoon, with her glasses perched on her head, knee deep in the water, a cow floated by.

“Moo,” it said.

“Moo to you,” Sadie replied.

“Listen, I can kind of see you’re bigger than I am, said the cow, but I’d appreciate you NOT eating me today. I’m just out for a swim, some decompression, and the last thing I need is to be eaten alive, ya know?”

“Sure, sure. I snacked earlier on some jackrabbits so I’m full anyway. It’s all good.”

“Not for the jackrabbits,” the cow remarked. And they both chuckled.

\ “I’m Lily,” the cow said as she treaded water.

“Sadie,” Sadie responded. “You don’t seem terribly intimidated by me. Is it the glasses?”
“Glasses?” Lily asked. “Oh, you mean, on your head? Honestly, they’re so high up, I didn’t even notice them. I’m far sighted so you’re kind of blur to me. Perhaps that’s why. Are you breathing fire right now? If so, it would just look like blobs of orange to me.”

Sadie felt transformed. To not be seen was a dream to her. Always, all the time, every damn day she was judged by her appearance. When deep down, she was kind. Not to jackrabbits, but a girl’s gottta eat.

“Wow,” Sadie said. “It’s so refreshing to not be seen. Do you wear glasses?”

“Oh, I used to but they got in the way of my swims. No one makes contact lenses for us animals so I gave up and honestly, NOT seeing everything and everyone is a real adventure.”

“I can “see” that,” Sadie joked.

“Oh, yeah, I “see” what you did there,” Lily chuckled. “I’m gonna finish my laps and then on my way back maybe we could chat some more?”

“Sure, that’d be lovely,” Sadie said.

Lily swam off easy as you please through the calm ocean water. Sadie placed her glasses back on her face and just as she was about to take them off and throw them in the sea, inspired by her new cow friend’s wide-eyed optimism, she watched as a shark chomped through Lily’s belly and pulled her under, leaving a pool of cow blood on the water’s surface.

“Huh. At least she didn’t see it coming.”

Then Sadie reached into the lapping waves, cupped the wriggling shark and pulled him to the surface. She blew a blaze into the beast’s face, and from its tail dropped him into her mouth like a tasty barbecue snack. She thought her new friend, Lily, would appreciated that.