When I lifted my roof tiles from a pile on my porch, I was slightly startled by a little speckled brown and white dragon. His movements were like the little flashes you see when watching scratchy old black and white silent movie shots. He adjusted his position and waited a few seconds before flickering across my red tiles onto some pine mulch. Before he vanished, he moved his diamond-shaped head and thrashed his tail once and then seemed to dissolve into his surroundings. He was rather regal and majestic and had a class of his own. I imagined his kingdom was great and his rule was powerful and dignified. I squashed the three little cockroaches that he had allowed to share his space. They were fat and oozed a white jelly from their bellies. Thinking of a stories I read as a child, the jelly was like the evils of the world, released from Pandora's jar, while the quiet, little wild dragon was more like the breath from the spirit of Hope...the only thing that remained in the jar.
