"How, oh how, will I keep my little Avi safe in this big scary world? Who will watch over her when she sleeps?"
Avi's mommy was kind and beautiful, clever and brave and loved Avi more than anything else in the whole wide world. So she thought and thought, until her thinker was sore, and then she rocked Avi and thought some more. After all that thinking, suddenly she had a wonderful idea!
"I know!" she whispered, holding Avi close,
"I will tell my good friend auntie Sassy that my Avi has been born! I will tell her that the world is very big, and Avi is very small. Auntie Sassy is clever, almost as clever as me. She will help me protect my Avi.”
Now mommy’s friend auntie Sassy was round and happy. She had twinkling eyes and mad curly hair that changed colour from time to time. Maybe she was just a little bit magic. She was also pretty smart because she had read lots of books. She read about cabbages, she read about kings and she also read about everything that was in between. Avi’s mommy was sure auntie Sassy could help her.
So Avi’s mommy called her good friend auntie Sassy and told her the good news.
“My Avi is born! I’m so happy I could sing!! But the world is very big, and Avi is very small. Can you help me protect my little girl?? Can you find someone to watch over her while she sleeps??”
“Hooray!” said auntie Sassy. “Avi is born!”
“Of course I will help you! I know just the thing!”
After Avi’s mommy hung up the phone, auntie Sassy put on her thinking hat. Auntie Sassy’s thinking hat was big and pink and floppy, and covered most of her face. But she was determined to find Avi a best friend. The very best of the best of the best. So she thought, and she thought and finally she said,
“Avi’s best friend is not in my head. I must read a book to find him!”
So she picked up her books and she read and read. She read in the morning, she read at night, she read during lunch, she read before bed time and even after turning off the lights. And she searched and she searched for the best of the best friend for Avi, the love of her mommy’s life.
“A Griffin? No! Too grumpy!”
“A Unicorn? No! Too pointy!”
“Maybe a Lion? No, no! Too scary!”
“A fish is too wet, a snake is too slippery and a monkey? A monkey is much too naughty!”
So she read, and she searched until one day, finally, she found the best of the best of the best.
“Wait!” said auntie Sassy, “Wait just a minute!”.
“What if …No! It will never work! But why not? Let me look at my book!”
“YES!” She yelled! “I have it!!!” She danced.
“I have finally found Avi a friend! The best of the best of the very best!” She sang.
She was so happy she scared Sweet Pea the dog, who jumped up and joined the fun and sang in time with auntie Sassy!
“Woof! Woof! We did it! Woof! Woof! I’m so happy!!”
“See Sweet Pea!” said auntie Sassy.
“I have found Avi the perfect best friend. He is the best of the best of the very, very best. Avi’s best friend will be a Dragon. Because Dragons are wonderful, Dragons are clever. Dragons are beautiful, strong, loyal and brave. And the very best thing of all? The thing that makes Dragons the best of the best of the very, very best? Dragons are magic. And their magic can keep anybody safe! Nothing in the big world could hurt Avi with her big, strong dragon friend to keep her safe!”
So auntie Sassy went on a quest to
find Avi her Dragon. She fought the loud and nasty flat band monster who howled
and wailed until she smacked it for being naughty. Then she walked to the
country of Outside the Gate, where she found a great TUK TUK and asked it to
take her to the far away land of Odal where she knew Dragons lived. The great
TUK TUK carried her past the road of Base Line and the horrible junction of
Bo-Rella where the wicked traffic beast lived. Auntie Sassy yelled,
“SHOO SHOO SHOO!!!”
and waved her arms around and chased
away the wicked traffic beast and finally reached the land of Odal.
She thanked the great TUK TUK and
went into the land of Odal where she walked and she walked and then walked some
more. She walked past the valley of toy Nico dogs, the valley of jewels, the
French hotel and the house of tea and fish. She dodged a pop tart and ran away
from a gummy worm. Then she climbed the mountain of Wood St. Aircase and on the
very top of the mountain she found Avi’s dragon.
“Welcome
auntie Sassy.” said the Dragon.
“I have been
waiting for you.”
The Dragon knew
why auntie Sassy had come to see him. He was very clever and magic after all.
“Dear
Dragon,” asked auntie Sassy,
“Will you be
Avi’s bestest best friend in the whole wide world? You see, Avi is very small
and the world is very big. You are very big, and for you, the world is
very small. Will you help Avi's mommy protect her and keep her safe? Will you watch over her while she sleeps?”
“Yes!” Said the
Dragon,
“I will be Avi’s
bestest best friend. I will guard her and protect her. Nothing will hurt her
when she is with me.”
Auntie Sassy
clapped her hands and sang “Hooray!”
“Come with
me Dragon” she said. “I will take you to your new bestest best friend.”
“Wait.” Said
the Dragon,
“I am much
too big to see Avi like this. The great TUK TUK cannot carry me. And Avi will be
afraid of my long claws and sharp teeth.”
So the Dragon
used his magic and grew smaller and smaller. First he was the size of a house.
“Too big!”
he said.
Then he
became the size of a mouse!
“Too small!”
he said.
Finally he
became smaller than a house but bigger than a mouse.
“Just right!”
He said with a smile.
"Now, my skin
is too rough, my body is too hard. Little Avi will not like that and I will not
be able to make her laugh."
So first he became soft, and then he became squishy.
Finally he became cuddly so Avi could hug him while she slept.
“I am ready.”
Said the Dragon. “Take me to my new bestest best friend.”
Auntie Sassy
smiled and picked up the Dragon carefully. She took him to the land of the Nine Wells, where Avi and her mommy were waiting.
Avi’s mommy
was very happy to see auntie Sassy and hugged her and whispered because Avi was
asleep, tired after her long journey to the real world.
“Thank you Sassy.
I knew you would find someone to protect my Avi and watch over her while she sleeps.”
Auntie Sassy
smiled and said to Avi’s mommy,
“This is
Dragon. He will be Avi’s bestest best friend for ever and for always. He will
guard her and protect her and always keep her safe. And never ever let anything
bad happen to her.”
Avi’s mommy
picked up Dragon and gave him a soft kiss on his head. She gave him a little
bit of her mommy magic so he would also always love Avi as much as she did.
Then she
carefully put Dragon in the cot right next to Avi, so that he could watch over her while she slept. And that is where he has been ever since.
The End.
