Saturday, 12th May, 1956
Never would Carl get the idea himself. This is something he figures that Ellie would have, she's the crazier of them. But now, when the idea have been presented to him by this sudden appearance of a batch with newly hatched dragons, he can feel himself proud that he have gotten it. Yes, it might be a bit on the abnormal side, but this might be the one thing that can mend the big, black hole that is in their life. Something to care for, like the child that they never have been able to produce.
"Are you sure that you can handle a dragon?" the zookeeper, Mr. Fredricksen's colleague from work, asks. "The personality of a dragon as newly hatched as this one can be anything from very calm to extremely aggressive. Her personality have not been evaluated to the fullest yet, even though that some things can be assumed for a Nightfury."
"Of course I'm sure, or else I wouldn't have come here." The small dragon quavers in the small cat carrier, as she presses herself into the farthest corner she can get to. Carl feel sorry for this small dragon; her mother died shortly after this small dragon have emerged from the egg. A sudden illness, as far as Mr. Fredricksen have been told, that have taken a turn for the worse in the most untimed of periods.
One by one the brood of small dragon-hatchlings have been taken care of by many different people. Some of them have been volunteers, others have been different zookeepers. In the end there have been only the little runt left; the smallest, the sickest and the one with the most problems.
"Poor little thing," Carl's colleague says as the two observes the creature in the carrier thru the grid entry in the front. "She have extremely dry skin, so you can surely understand the eczema. It is worst on her wings, her feet and the appendages on her head."
Mr. Fredricksen can see the bandages that have been wrapped around her chest the best from the dim interior of the carrier; it traps her small wings closely to her frame, which have been folded closely to her back. Most of the rest of her is hiding under a smaller blanket that have been put in there with her to give the small dragon comfort and a sense of security. He can imagine that same kind of bandage is around her head and her feet as well.
"Nothing that ointment can't fix, surely?" Carl asks and looks up at the zookeeper with hope in his mind, as they both straightens up.
"Yes, it will. But there is one small problem: she is very timid."
"That is only to be expected, I supposed," Mr. Fredricksen waves away. "Most children are shy to strangers." But then he gives it another thought, and he finds himself remembering that puppies usually are quite outgoing to anyone and everyone. Maybe timid behavior to strangers only goes for human children. Then he shakes his head, as he feels stupid. Can he really compare kids of different species; all kinds of animals have different standards.
"Well, getting the ointment on can get problematic when she refuse to get touched," argues the colleague. "When we tried to get a hold of her before she led a chase around the whole room. We had to give her light sedatives just to get her calm enough to treat the eczema."
"It's that bad?" Carl can see the problem in that; how is he and Ellie going to put new salver and bandages on the young dragon if she don't want anything else than to be left alone? "Well, let me and Ellie try to warm her up, and we'll see what we can do from there."
"Of course."
Mr. Fredricksen takes the cat carrier from the table, and thanks the zookeeper when the colleague hands him two dog bowls and some toys in a bag. When Carl gets to the exit he gets his coat over his arm and puts his hat on his head before he turns to face his friend. "Do she have any name, by the way?"
"Annabelle."
It didn't take long for Carl to come home to his and Ellie's house; not much traffic tend to be out in the middle of a Saturday. When it comes to the weekend he figures that a majority of the human population thinks on the same thing: to rest from the workload that have been the rest of the week.
As he takes the cat carrier out of the car he minds not to rock it too much or too fiercely. He haven't heard one single sound from the Nightfury, and he don't know if that is something he should worry about.
"Ellie?" he calls when he comes in thru the front door. "I'm home, honey!"
There is no answer, and as he comes into the living-room he gets the answer to why. On a small note that is lying on Carl's armchair by the big windows there is Ellie's swirling handwriting. On it she explains that she is currently on a short visit to her mother, but that she is to be back around three on the afternoon. Carl looks up at the cuckoo clock on the wall to see that it is currently half past one; Ellie is to come home in about one and a half hours.
Carl gets a knot in his stomach. He feels deep down that he knows the reason for Ellie to visit her mother. It is about the sad news that she isn't able to bear any children. When the both of them have prepared a room for a child and everything, the devastating crash this discovery sends all their plans for adding another member into their family into the ground. It takes a toll on them both, but maybe the most for Ellie.
Mr. Fredricksen places down the cat carrier onto the floor, with the back of the toys and the bowls beside it. Annabelle is still to make a sound, and when he bends down on all four to peer in on the small dragon he sees that she is still to move out from the blanket. If anything, she have hidden more of herself under the fabric. Carl can still see her, though; the tip of her nose is peeking out from under the blanket.
"Hello there," he tries with a soft voice. "My name is Carl."
There is no reaction.
"That's not enough for you to open up, huh? Yeah, I suspected as much."
With that he gets up on his feet again. He scratches his head for just a moment, as he wonders how to proceed next. Then he gets an idea, and heads to the kitchen. After just a minute he is back with a cup plate with a few, small scraps of the codfish that he and Ellie have been planning on eating to dinner.
"See what I have here, Annabelle," he says while he gets down on his stomach in front of the carrier. "Something that I know you love."
It is a common fact that all dragons' eats fish, and Nightfuries are no different. Carl have no idea when just this Nightfury last have eaten, but it must have been quite a few hours ago. But even so, Annabelle don't make a move to get the small piece of cod that Carl holds near the grid.
"Come on, I bet that you are at least a little bit hungry."
Nothing. Not anything at all.
Carl sighs. He guessed already at the zoo that the dragon wouldn't warm up to him the very first day, neither the first week. But he decides that the dragon must eat something, so in good hopes he carefully opens the grid. He puts the cup plate with the codfish on it inside the carrier, then he closes the grid again.
After that he puts a thin blanket over the carrier, to give the dragon some more privacy. Then he decides to sit down and read a book while he await Ellie.
Ellie comes home about ten minutes before three. When Carl comes to greet her he sees that she have been crying, even though she tries to put on a brave face in a try to hide it. He is in that moment dead certain he have been right about her visit to her mother, and his heart sinks to his stomach.
She sees Carl's grim face, and she halts just for a moment to observe him. Then she breaks into a sad smile, and brings up a hand to put on his one cheek in a soothing manner. His worry for her wavers for a bit at this, but don't disappear.
"My dear Carl," Ellie speaks up. "The last thing you should do is to worry for me."
At those words his concern goes away completely, and he smiles back at her. "I know, Ellie. I know." He takes his hand up to rest it on hers, which she still have on his cheek. Her hand is so soft and warm, and he wonders, like many other times, how her hands can be like that. He looks into her eyes, and he can see that they display the same softness and warmth. Even though she is the most adventurous person he knows, that softness and warmth in her eyes never fails to shine thru.
Several seconds must have gone by before Carl remembers about the surprise in the living room. He takes a hold of her hand and brings them both down. He don't let it go, though, but guides her to the living room by the hold.
"I have someone that I like to introduce you to," he explains as he stops in front of the cat carrier, that still have a blanket on it.
"Carl, have you bought a cat?" Ellie questions as she sees the carrier. She looks up at her husband with curiosity.
"See for yourself." With the smile still on his lips he can feel that she surely is going to like what she sees.
Ellie goes down on her all four, and folds up the blanket by the entry. She squints into the dark space within, and after a second she gives a gasp. She turns to look at Carl, surprise evident in her face. But in those warm, soft eyes of hers he sees that she most like the surprise. The smile comes to her only the second after.
"Her name is Annabelle," he explains. "And she needs someone to take care of her."
"How beautiful," she smiles as she looks back into the carrier. Carl gets down beside her and takes a quick look at the cup plate he have placed inside the carrier earlier. To his mild astonishment the fish haven't been touched. Neither have Annabelle moved out from under the fabric of the blanket inside the carrier.
"Strange," he breaths and points at the codfish. "I thought that she should have at least tasted it."
Ellie leans in to get a better look at the blanket at the farthest wall of the carrier. She studies what little can be seen of the Nightfury for several long seconds. Then she slowly opens the entry, and moves the cup plate out of the way. With gentle movements he reaches in and pulls the fabric back where the tip of the nose is to reveal the head.
The eyes are big of fright, and scared whimpers are hear from Annabelle the moment the lights hit them. Ellie's hand pauses, and she puts on a gentle smile. "It's okay, baby," she shushes. "It's alright." With that she lets the blanket go and grabs under the whole little package, Nightfury and fabric and all, to bring everything with big tender out into the living room.
She is not any bigger than a grown cat, even smaller. But that don't stop Annabelle to squirm as much as she can while she is brought out, as she tries to flee the grip around her. But the blanket that have served as her earlier hiding-spot is now aiding to keep the Nightfury from returning to the carrier.
In the proper light of the house light both Carl and Ellie can clearly see the white bandage around the head. "Oh, poor thing," Ellie gasps. "Are you hurt?"
"She have really dry skin," Carl explains. "She have eczema on her wings, feet and on the appendages on her head."
"What a bad thing to have," Ellie mollycoddles, absolutely in love with the young dragon.
"But the zoo keeper said that these things will usually get better, and in some cases disappear completely when she have gotten to the teens or adulthood."
Ellie takes a better grip of the small bundle and hugs it tenderly. "Oh, Carl. She's just perfect the way she is."