Dragonfly Dreams, Part Eight

Frank Mason was alone. All around him the village slept. Both Chuck and Harry had been shown to separate huts…after Harry had changed back from a horse to a human. Oddly enough, none of the villagers seemed to notice or care when it happened. Obviously, they had seen such things before. Frank wondered if people back in the United States would act the same. He chuckled to himself…picturing Harry doing one of his changing acts in downtown New York.

The moon was pregnant with light overhead…an orb of mystery and illusion. Frank stared at the full moon and breathed in deeply. The sweet scents of the jungle wafted in on a midnight current. He felt at peace. He needed that. He hadn’t felt peaceful since this entire crazy adventure had started.

In the distance, he could hear the calling of an animal…prowling the dark undergrowth for its next meal. It sounded like a wild dog of some sort. He contemplated returning to his hut but then decided against it. The animal sounded far away…and he felt safe enough in the village. He took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a long drag. The nicotine flooding his system woke him up a little more and made everything seem sharper in the moonlight. He had tried to quit smoking once but that had been years ago. Now….he was glad that he hadn’t.

A low buzzing sound made him take notice. It seemed to be coming from the jungle. It wasn’t very loud, but it caught his ear…probably because of the relative quiet that had descended upon the sleeping village. He put the sound out of mind, took another pull on his cigarette, and started to turn back toward his hut. And then he saw it. It was the largest insect that he had ever seen in his life.

The wingspan of the thing had to be at least 3 feet wide. The wings sparkled like rare jewels in the bright light of the moon….all deep purples and greens. A golden body completed the look of some mysterious treasure that had come to life. But Frank recognized the shape of the creature in an instant. It was a dragonfly. Of course, it was a monster of an insect…but it was a dragonfly nonetheless. However, the thing that disturbed him was the fact that it was headed straight for him!

Turning quickly, he started to run toward the safety of his hut. Why had he decided to come out in the first place? He should have known that something bad was more than likely going to happen. Hadn’t it been that way all day?

His feet felt like he was wearing shoes made of lead. His legs felt heavy and thick….and they didn’t want to work properly. The buzzing behind him grew louder and louder.

Frank looked over his shoulder and saw that he had been wrong about the size of the dragonfly. It didn’t have a 3 foot wingspan….they had to be at least 5 feet wide! He wanted to give a yelp in terror, but his throat wouldn’t work right. So instead, he just gave a little gasp. He saw the things mandibles working quickly. It wanted to chew right into him. He had to get away!

And he almost made it. He was just inches from his door when he felt the things pinchers dig into his shirt. His feet lifted off of the ground and he started rising higher and higher into the air. The dragonfly was so big that it was actually lifting him off of the ground! Soon he found himself impossibly high in the air. All that he could hear was the rapid beating of the things wings. He wondered if it was planning on dropping him and then eating his dead flesh. He shuddered at the thought.

But it seemed as though the dragonfly did not want to harm him…at least, not at the moment. It started flying away from the village with Frank dangling helplessly in its giant claws. Over the jungle, they swept through the moonlight and entered a world that was both strangely familiar but all too alien to Frank at the same time. The wind rushed cold and clean over his face, and he found himself relishing the feel…even though he was frightened out of his wits at the same time.

Just then, a light appeared in the darkness of the jungle. It looked like a fire, but from this height, Frank found it impossible to tell. Just as he was thinking this, the dragonfly began to descend. The ground came rushing up toward him at an alarming rate. But then, right before he crashed…the dragonfly pulled up and he landed gently on the ground. He felt a heavy weight on his back…and he knew that the dragonfly was still there….that it hadn’t flown away. He could feel it rustling down the entire length of him. He hated the feel of the creature, but he knew better than to fight it. Also…he was curious about the voices that he was hearing coming from the large tent that was right in front of him. One of the voices sounded very familiar.

“I don’t care what he says!” an angry female voice was yelling to someone, “I paid him a lot of money…and he is going to show me where the Sapphire Waterfalls are located. Tell him that I will double his money.”

It was Janet Jones! She was inside the tent…and she was arguing with someone!

Frank heard another voice…also female…speaking in Spanish. Then there was a reply. The voice was obviously male this time, but it was the voice of an old man, tired and broken.

“He says that some things are more important than money Senora,” the second female voice said slowly. The girl was obviously afraid.

Then Frank heard the click of a gun.

“Then tell him that if he doesn’t show me,” Janet Jones was saying, “That I will kill you in front of him…but that I will leave him alive to think about his decision for whatever time he has left.”

“NO SENORA!” the girl’s voice cried out, “PLEASE!”

Then the girl started rattling off in Spanish. Frank wanted to get closer to the tent so that he could see what was going on. The voices were all mixing together….shouting and pleading . Frank crept closer and peeked through a crack in the door flap. It was Janet Jones! She was pointing her pistol to the head of a young Brazilian girl….she couldn’t be more than 14. An old man was gesturing wildly and crying out.

“HE SAYS OKAY!” the girl cried out, “YOU WIN! HE WILL SHOW YOU THE WATERFALL.”

“That’s better,” Janet Jones smiled, dropping the pistol but keeping it at hand so that she could wield it when necessary.

“But Senora,” the girl looked toward the floor.

“WHAT!” Janet snapped.

“He says that you won’t like what you find there,” the girl looked up, her eyes fearful and large.

“Hmmmph,” Janet Jones pulled out a booklet and made some notes in it with a stub of a yellow pencil, “Tell him that I’ll decide that…not him. Who do you two think you are anyway? I hired you all as guides and translators….not to tell me what to do!”

Just then, the dragonfly shuffled on Frank’s back and made a buzzing sound. Janet looked toward the flap. Frank stepped back into the shadows…but it was too late. He heard the click of the gun once more.

“Someone’s out there,” he heard her say, “But they won’t be alive for long.”

Until next week….class dismissed.