A Fable

As told to me by Samantha Ffarnsworth (aka: somebody else)

Susan Crawford

She was a Dragon who lost her sense of direction. It didn’t start out that way. She loved being in the forest, although her coloring put her at a disadvantage. Being a pink dragon with orange polkadots made her stand out in a most alarming way. Some of the sounds around her were very frightening, which made her very nervous so she thought she should try a new world.

Not having any real direction in mind, she headed for the third moon, and instead of turning left, she veered off to the right. Oh my. This was a major mistake.

Shamrock had started out in a normal family… a misogynist father, a loving, strong mother …. And an evil brother. Her best friend was a mystical gnome by the name of Smallsmith who really taught her all she needed to know….. fear of strangers, lack of self-confidence, and the magical ability to disappear. She and Smallsmith did many things together, all informed by their wonderful imaginations. But the best part about Smallsmith was her ability to “know” things.

Sadly, it came time for Smallsmith to leave the friendship, and as a parting gift, she gave Shamrock her ” knowing” ability. This was a very interesting period in Shamrock’s life. She would say to someone something like tomorrow the sky is going to fall, and be laughed at. No one ever said “well you were right”, when the sky did fall. It was a gift, but also a curse. She never knew when to reveal what she knew or keep it to herself and of course she always made the wrong decision. Disasters that should’ve been avoided were always concealed, but when her mother wanted to find her purse, Shamrock could tell her exactly where it was…… and did. None of this endeared her to her family, her neighbors, or the town at large.

As time passed, Shamrock finally realized that she had to redirect her life and put all of these problems behind her. This was one time her “knowing” let her down. Little did she know that when she veered off to the right instead of the left that her life would be taking a terrible turn.

After sailing on oblivious to the encroaching danger, she finally arrived at a small community hidden deep in a dark forest. It looked fairly innocuous, with people going about their business with great normalcy. …. Or so it seemed.

She had actually landed in the middle of a drug culture so powerful it was ruining generations of seemingly normal people. The storekeepers were busily serving customers, the police were happily giving out parking and speeding tickets, the mayor and Council were trying to solve the problem of homelessness by providing affordable housing, and the teachers were oblivious to all the stoned kids in their classes. No one, it seems, was concerned about the fact that the community was inundated with teenagers who were drunk and stoned, getting their contraband from willing drug dealers, and clueless parents who supplied their poison with impunity.

It took Shamrock a while to finally realize what was going on in this charming, seemingly normal community. Of course, all of this time she had been exercising her ability to disappear, not wanting to alarm any of the citizenry. Taking on the form of a rather eccentric, although talented, woman of culture during the day, she decided she needed to clean up the town. At night, cloaked in darkness, she started spying on the liquor stores, checking out certain wealthy residences on the north side of town, and following the teenagers. After much careful sleuthing, she soon discerned who the bad guys were and disappeared them all. This of course, was very disconcerting to the community at large, because some very strange and prominent people were just no longer there.

Feeling satisfied that she had fulfilled her mission in life, Shamrock backtracked to that infamous branch in the road, took the left turn and lived happily ever after.

Susan Crawford has lived in the Gunnison Valley 14 years, having moved here to be with her son and his family. Retired from managing a family business in California, she is a practicing artist, both fine and fabric, and a published writer.