Once the excitement was over, I returned hastily to the tree. Everyone had left and the glade was empty. "You're safe, you're safe," I chanted gleefully dancing around the tree. "Come out, Diva and Flambo. Come out now," I sang at the top of my voice, Let's celebrate..."

At first nothing much happened. Then a ball of green light appeared. It was the same mystic light I saw when Diva first showed herself to me. Then a wisp of smoke hovered and almost took the shape of my dragon friend. The light-ball remained above the smokey cloud. Both came towards me and began to frolic. The light and smoke moved merrily, first up above me, then down nearer the ground, and finally all around my legs.

"Come on dragon, I want to see you. You too, little tree sprite. I miss seeing my two good friends. You certainly are playful today. Now let me see you. Are you having trouble finding your... what do you call it... inception scale?"

I ran excitedly around, trying to catch up with them. Suddenly a whoosh came low and moved in between my legs. Then it lifted me, as the smoky cloud expanded. I found myself sitting on what seemed to be the wide billowy packet of dusky warm air. It was like riding a cloud.

"Oh, this is fun. I know it's you, Flambo. You are my magic carpet," I squealed, laughing with exhilaration. "Why don't you show yourself?"

Responding to my cries of joy, my cloud-steed went up, up, up until the ground was far below. Then it began a galloping motion with undulating humps. My stomach had more than butterflies in it. I think whatever it was wanted out. For a moment or two my face turned as green as Flambo's scales usually looked. Then that queasy feeling left, and the ride became more exciting than anything I had ever done before.

"More, more," I cried. My dragon-cloud lifted me higher and higher, humping all the time. For a moment I left my seat and sailed free, then my faithful mount caught me as I fell. All this while the energy force remained more cloud-like than real, never becoming solid and hard to the touch.

"Go Flambo go!" I yelled again.

My mind knew it was my dragon friend, but it was more essence and dusky smoke than the Lung-mei I knew before. That's right; I never saw them. What they showed me was only a light ball and a smokey essence, but nonetheless I felt them. They were as real in my mind as though they appeared in their old assumed shape.

Life really was a celebration. Never had I felt so good and so happy with myself. Deposited on my feet, I found my friends taking shape again. There they were with expressions on their faces that I could actually see!

"Thanks to you I am safe. You saved the old saga," the tree sprite said, her face glowing.

"Yes indeed. You did a good job of protecting us," Flambo puffed.

"What would have happened if they cut you down? Would you have died or remain only a stump?" I asked.

"No, silly," smiled the tree sprite at the idea. "Have to look for another tree to occupy. They start out as seeds. I would enter as part of what humans call "germination".

"Germination? What's that," I had to ask.

"When a seed gets the message from nature to become a sprout, that's when nature's magic starts. You see, we exist in your world as nature's spirits. It is only when we move into the seed and sprout that we become real in the sense of taking on a body in the physical world. This time around I wanted to experience living as a saga tree. My first time, I occupied a tall mangrove in the swamp. Life was good. I didn't stand as tall as some, but was I ever strong. When people in the town of Sibu started building, they cut me down to serve as a piling under a house.

"They cut and cut till there were no trees left around that city. That was when I left the swamps and moved inland. I wanted some form of permanence. I came up-river and found a saga seed on the ground and ready to germinate.

"After entering it, a sprout was formed, roots put their tendriles down into this river bank. The rest is history. Obviously, when I grow very old, or the lightning gets me, I will fall and die. Then my spirit will be looking for a new host tree. That's the way it is. We believe whole-heartedly in recycling."

"But we're expanding so fast. Last time I went to Sibu, I could not believe the many new houses going up, as well as roads and factories. There will be no room for new trees. Mankind will burn or use up all the wood for building material and paper. What happens to you when there are no more tree seeds left to receive your spirit?" I asked Diva, curiously.

"Then tree spirits will become like us, extinct," the dragon said.

"It's a trade-off," Diva informed us. "When trees become extinct, mankind joins us in their own extinction. Then we join each other in the spirit world. I think your higher-self knows this already. There are other deminsions besides the three you humans know so well."

"Oh, I am sorry we humans are so inconsiderate about such things. We should be able to live together with all of nature's life forms. You know, not consider ourselves superior, when we are actually rather thoughtless."

"It would be smart for man not to declare war on nature," observed the dragon. "I can speak from experience."

"You are rather all alone in this world," I sympathized. "But you do have me. I will be your champion."

"Then you better brace yourself," Flambo replied, fear creeping once again into his voice. "Your uncle Fong is not totally defeated. I can see him coming back down the path, and I don't think he's interested in walking along the river bank."

"His son has told him about seeing you climbing my limbs and most likely using a squirrel hollow for a hiding place," Diva said rapidly.

"Yes, he's back and looking up at us. I think he's bound and determined to get his revenge on you by recovering his antique jar and destroying it," cried the fast disappearing dragon.

"Oh no," I moaned. "What will happen next? I don't want him to find you!" I reached into the hole and felt around for the jar. It came under my fingers, and I brought it out of the hole.

"I'm out of here," whispered Diva, once again becoming a ball of green light and dimming as she entered the bark of the tree.

"Wait. You've got to help me think of a way to hide the jar." But, I was too late. The green light had already disappeared.

I looked at the antique jar and once again made out the dragon image on the side off the glass. Its red eyes glowed, and when I touched the face jutting out in bold relief, my fingers could feel the moisture. The dragon was crying, as it had done the first time I held the jar in my hands.

"I'm sorry, Flambo, I don't know what to do!" and tears came to my own eyes. Tears. The last time I mixed mine with his I was able to save him. I did it once again.

The moment my tears mixed with his, I knew what I must do. I took the little cloth bag holding my favorite round stones used in the stone game and dumped them onto the ground far below. Then I took the jar, put it into the small cloth bag, climbed down the tree, and faced Uncle Fong.

"So... I thought I'd find you here," were his first words, as I hung for a moment from a limb high in the air and then dropped to the soft ground. It's softness saved me hurt, since the gardener had trimmed so much away with his hacking hatchet.

"Now you will return what you took from my bathroom. I know you have that jar. Ah Tu told me all about you. How you hid it somewhere in the tree."

Gathering all my courage, I said, "If you think I have it, you may be correct or may be very wrong, but you will have to follow me if you are interested in what I am about to do."

"What are you talking about? I don't have to do anything. It is you who..." He couldn't finish without catching up to me. I had walked away toward the riverbank.

Reaching into my pocket, I now withdrew my stone bag which actually held the glass jar. Knowing I was doing the right thing, I held the bag up for his inspection. Uncle Fong watched in fascination as I let all inspect what I held in my hand. That troublesome dragon-jar may have been in the bag or not. He would have to peek inside to see but that would not happen. Yes, the bag was in front of his eyes, yet just out of his reach.

"You wanted to destroy an innocent looking jar that might have contained something worthwhile or not. That wasn't your concern, only the fact you wanted to destroy it. Well, if you were right that I took your jar then let me help you. Of course you will never know for sure whether you were right about what happened to your antique jar or not."

"What are you doing?" yelled the frustrated man as he saw me rear back and throw the bag far out into the river. "You...."

Before he could complete his thought, I turned my back on him and walked rather briskly back to the path and passed Old Saga.

"It's alright, Diva. I remembered what Flambo said about his father. The Lung Bai Li were known by our ancestors as water-creatures. They have a power over water, and that is more naturally his home than a tree."

A sudden gust of wind made Old Saga's branches move. The leaves rustled and made a noise that I thought sounded like: "Gone home... gone home... gone home." His relatives had roamed many waters, now it was Flambo's turn.

Yes, I felt good about the crying dragon finally going home. Besides, my biggest problem had been solved, and I was getting tired of tree climbing. With my new found voice there were more important things to do.

When Mr. Tan called Mrs. Chan and asked her to tell me to visit his office, I did. Looking around at all the files and stories he had stuck on his bulletin board that needed following up, I wondered if he needed some help.

As luck would have it, he did. Besides doing my homework, guess what I'm doing now? Whenever I go back to talk to Old Saga, Diva no longer appears. Without Flambo's help, I guess she doesn't have the power. But, I am sure she hears me when I bring her up to date on my activities.

I believe friends are forever. Don't you? Sometimes I wonder how Flambo is doing. Will I ever hear from him again? According to my dragon friend, everything is possible in this celebration of life.

One thing I do know for sure. If my dragon friend ever wants to communicate with me from his watery home, he won't try. I'm sure he won't try, and it won't be because he can't. If he really wants to, he will. That's one lesson he taught me well.

What happens when dragons cry? Mostly, remarkable things; that's what. I know. I was there. We cried together and made magic happen.

AND THAT'S WHEN THE REMAINING IMPERIAL CHINESE DRAGON LAST CRIED.

(c)Copyright 2000 George J. Beimers and Gerturde Hii


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