a dog maybe

There were no clouds to be seen in the perfectly blue tropical sky overhead. Nothing to separate my unfortunate pale flesh from the burning sun as I walked down the streets of Chiang Mai. "There are three seasons in Thailand," my TEFL teacher had once told me, "the hot season, the hot rainy season, and the fucking hot season." Wiping the sweat from my freshly sunburned forehead, I couldn't help but agree. It was the end of April, and the height of the (fucking) hot season. I began to question the wisdom of my choice to venture outside of my cool, dark apartment and its blessed fan. I thought about turning around and heading back. I could always go out tomorrow for a photo shooting expedition, and tomorrow might not be so hot. But hell, I was almost to the temple. I could already see the crumbling remains of of the ancient central stupa jutting out from behind the jumbled shops which lined the road. I trudged onward through the thick air. It occured to me that perhaps intense discomfort and risk of heat stroke was not worth saving twenty baht on the taxi fare, but I quickly dismissed this thought as nonsense.

Finally, I stumbled through the open gates of Wat Chediluang. Milling about in the main square were saffron-clothed monks, Thai worshippers and tourists whose flushed complexions and haggard demeanor suggested that we shared a similarly dismal acclimatization to our host country's environment. I took out my camera and began snapping shots of the standard temple fare, all the while keeping my eyes open for anything that might make an actually intriguing photograph. Walking between the temples, bells and stone naga, I saw something which made me pause. Some sort of creature was laying on one of the stupas. It was white, or at least should have been. Its fur was smudged with sooty spots of black grime and the pitiable pink of open wounds. It was not self-conscious about its decrepit appearance. It lay calmly upon the peeling white paint and regarded me with cool black eyes.

"Hello," I said to the strange beast.
"Hello," it replied in a rasp whisper.
"Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly are you?" I asked.
"I am an ancient dragon."
"You don't look like a dragon."
"Don't be ridiculous. I am a great and mighty dragon. Do you not see my glorious wings?" It arched its scrawny back.
"Do you not see my fearsome claws and my razor-sharp fangs?" It bared its broken and blunt teeth while feebly pawing at the air.
"I could destroy this city with great breaths of liquid fire." It panted from the exertion of speaking.
I remained unconvinced. "But you don't have wings, and you are small and frail."
"THAT IS ABSURD!" the creature attempted to roar. It came out sounding like a scratchy wheeze.
I rolled my eyes.
"Very well," I said, "you are a great and mighty dragon, and it was an honor to meet you. Goodbye."

As I turned to leave, the ancient, great and mighty dragon leaped off of the stupa and into the air. It spread its glorious wings and swooped down upon me, grabbing me with its fearsome claws and lifting me into the air. Up we flew from the temple grounds, higher and higher until the city beneath us was nothing but a patchwork of greys and browns and greens. A 747 flew through the sky nearby. The dragon breathed deeply, then expelled a blast of liquid flame from its razor-studded maw. The stream of flame enveloped the plane, which exploded in a beautiful plume of jet fuel and dragon fire. We flew higher still, until I could see the curves of the Earth and the clouds and the oceans. We flew through space and time and I saw the world shimmer and shift and the cities turn into trees and fire and water and clay. We flew away from Earth through the solar system and into the Sun. The dragon clawed his way through the atomic inferno until we reached the center of the star and saw the glorious Sun Kingdom, a symmetrical three dimensional palace stretching millions of cubic miles and wreathed in white flame and violet flowers. The great dragon waged war on the Sun King's army and devoured the Sun Princess and then we were on our way, out of the sun and through the Milky Way Galaxy, through the empty embrace of space and the scattered chaos of time. We flew into a writhing black hole and saw Hell in all its dimensions, where everything was still and none of the Damned really cared about much at all. We careened through a cosmic crevice out of Hell and into a planar hurricane that whipped pure energy into a swirling froth and stretched millions of years in every direction. The dragon twisted and turned as it flew and I felt the winds of everything and the stillness of nothing touch my face. I caught a glimpse of Heaven to my right, but we didn't go there although it looked very pleasant. We entered a spasming tunnel of light which was collapsing and reforming itself a thousand times every second. Up ahead in the distance I saw April of the year 2006. I saw the face of the planet Earth and the continent of Asia and the country of Thailand and the city of Chiang Mai and the quiet temple Chediluang where the dragon then released me from its talons and I fell to the ground. The great beast returned to its spot on the white stupa and laid down contentedly. I rose to my feet. It was very hot outside that day, and I decided to return to the cool comfort of my room. I could always take pictures of temples another day. I took a taxi back to my apartment. It cost me twenty baht. After showering, I laid down in front of the cool breeze produced by my fan. I fell asleep then, and dreamed of dragons and of nothingness.