![\"\"](\"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Yazzthe-Dragon-1024x1024.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\u201cYazzy<\/strong>, you smell like outside go change.\u201d Yazzy looked up at her mom grinning, one of her afro puffs was tilting to one side, she had a smear of dirt across her forehead and her trusty bear under her arm in a headlock. \u201cMommy, look Shanny nose.\u201d She held up her teddy with tears in her big brown eyes, \u201cMommy fix?\u201d Althea smiled and took the bear into her arms, \u201coh no poor Shanny. I will admit him, go wash up.\u201d Yazzy brightened and turned to run to her room.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yazmine Era McClure was the spitting image of her paternal grandmother Era down to her stocky frame and crooked pinky toes. When she was born, nothing had gone to plan. Althea went into labor while watching her husband and his brothers dancing around a bonfire under a new moon to encourage Yaz\u2019s birth. It worked all right, when the first real contraction took her in a vice grip and doubled her over when she looked up to tell her husband for a split second all she saw was fire, heavens, and those beautiful Black men\u00a0 in their red and white outfits, she heard his <\/em>voice, \u201cmy child shall breathe fire, be born the-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYazid!\u201d When Althea came to her senses with the next contraction the spell was broken and Yaz sr as she took to calling him leapt into action. Before dawn the next morning, Yazid was holding the tiniest, most beautiful little thing, \u201cAlthea, look what you did.\u201d She smiled at him blearily, \u201cyou helped a little babe.\u201d They giggled together; the family hadn\u2019t even had time to arrive before Yazzy made her entrance. A few hours later aunts, uncles, cousins, play cousins and everybody came to welcome Yazmine Era McClure into the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yazzy emerged from her room wearing her \u2018scrubs\u2019, a pair of old soft mint green pajamas she\u2019d decided were her nurse clothes. Althea already had the poor raggedy old bear laid on the table on a cloth, she had her sewing kit out, \u201cready Nurse McClure?\u201d Yazzy got them each a mask from the dispenser by the backdoor and stood at her mother\u2019s elbow, \u201cyes ma\u2019am.\u201d Althea talked while she worked, she\u2019d been a medic in the army and Yazzy loved getting to be her nurse.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The old bear was so ugly, Era McClure Yaz\u2019s grandmother had given it to her at birth. Even then poor old Shazzy wasn\u2019t cute. Era told Althea she\u2019d had the bear since Yaz was little but he\u2019d never taken to it, she\u2019d thought it an odd thing to say at the time but forgot about it quickly. Era was eccentric and beloved, \u201cneedle.\u201d Yazzy carefully plucked the needle from where it sat and waited for her new favorite part, \u201cnow Dr. Mommy?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Althea and Yazzy spent the next few hours tending to Shazzy. Althea got his nose sewn back on and gave him a good spot cleaning. When Yazzy heard her father come in she ran to meet him and Althea sniffed the bear, she\u2019d never mentioned it but he always smelled like smoke to her but not in a dangerous or unpleasant way. When she closed her eyes she saw flames dancing on the back of her eyelids, images of her husband shirtless, sweating and gorgeous whirling around a fire as the flames licked in a black velvet sky. It was always the same vision, the same dream.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Summers, the McClure\u2019s spent in Louisiana way out in Vernon Parish a ways from Leesville at the McClure ancestral home. Yazzy and Yaz sr spent hours outside together, they ventured around the property he\u2019d grown up on. He taught her how to care for the land, which snakes she could bother, how to split wood and other more secret things. Althea was never a very spiritual person, she had the kind of vague faith that left her feeling good and supported but she had no desire to get deep into any worship. The McClure\u2019s were deeply spiritual in ways that made no sense to Althea but she loved it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Occasionally when they went into town, Althea would hear murmurs about the McClures. Little old ladies would smile and suck their teeth, \u201coh baby, you a McClure now.\u201d She had no idea what they ever meant, once a woman in the grocery store was cooing over Yazzy, then leaned close to Althea to murmur, \u201coh she got that McClure lagniappe, eh baby?\u201d Althea just smiled.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMommy!\u201d Yazzy\u2019s scream yanked Althea out of her daze, she\u2019d been sitting on the back porch listening to Yazzy play while she shucked peas. Yazzy\u2019s voice sounded wet with panic, Althea threw the bowl and grabbed the shotgun from where it leaned against the house, she\u2019d learned the hard way to keep it in reach, she only hoped it wasn\u2019t an animal. As she ran around the shed in the watch yard Yazzy stood there alone, her bear Shazzy held in a death grip.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Althea was confused, Yazzy was whimpering with fat tears rolling down her dirty brown cheeks. \u201cYazzy, baby what-\u201d Yaz didn\u2019t turn, she stood as if paralyzed staring toward the long driveway, she started to mumble still staring off at nothing. Every hair on Althea\u2019s body stood up off of her sweat sticky skin and her skin crawled, \u201cdrum king, mighty, drum- mighty father, m-\u201d Althea shook the paralysis off and with the shotgun held awkwardly under her right arm she swooped Yazzy up with her left and ran back inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last Friday of summer during the last waning moon, the whole week Yaz sr, his brothers and their aunties had been preparing for a family event. Althea and baby Yazzy were tasked with the cooking. They followed a recipe off the back of an ancient envelope, Yazzy was delighted. \u201cMommy that\u2019s grandma\u2019s writing. Nana Era.\u201d Althea stroked Yazzy\u2019s braids, \u201cdo you miss your nana?\u201d Era had passed several years before, Yazzy looked confused. \u201cNo Mama she\u2019s here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps it was just a pitfall of being a first time parent or never having been around many kids in life, she thought maybe Yazzy had been talking to some of her Christian cousins about heaven and it made her smile. Yazzy went to get her special mommy\u2019s helper stool and get her apron on. \u201cAlthea baby, you are making the amal\u00e1 de Xang\u00f4?\u201d Althea nodded, \u201cI forgot to ask, um how thick should the cornmeal be?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally it was time. Althea spent most of Friday following carefully written instructions cleansing their home, cleansing Yazzy and herself. She dressed in red and white, Yazzy ran around putting adorable red and white beaded bracelets on everyone. Yaz sr had spent his day in meditation and prayer, everything was ready. \u201cMommy did you finish the vest for Shazzy too? He wants to come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI did my love. And guess what?\u201d Yazzy bounced on her feet, \u201cthere\u2019s more surprises Mommy?\u201d Nothing ever brought Althea more joy than that tone of curious amazement Jazz had, \u201cthere is. Inside your Daddy left you some flowers and some fruits to bring to the bonfire, okay? Do you think you can carry them by yourself?\u201d Yazzy nodded, \u201cyes ma\u2019am. Can you carry Shazzy and make sure he isn\u2019t nervous?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Althea dutifully took her other \u2018child\u2019 and while Yazzy ran inside she held the bear up to talk to it, \u201cwell Shazzy you look so nice tonight, are you ready for the party?\u201d For reasons she\u2019d never know, after she said it she paused just like Jaz did to wait the answer. There weren\u2019t words but, she swore she heard a hearty, gravelly chuckling in her left ear, the side she had set the bear on her shoulder as if she were going to burp him.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Yazzy all those weeks prior she froze for a long minute and turned to stare out at the drive. Nothing there yet, she knew everyone was in the house already except for cousin Scooter, he was running late. Yaz sr came from around the shed grinning, \u201cbaby you look good like this. Wow.\u201d Althea blushed and shuffled her bare feet under her wide white skirt, when he advanced on her and swept her into his arms and kissed her loudly all over her face she laughed, \u201cstop it Yaz, stop.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n By moonrise everyone had eaten, poured libations, and Yaz sr stoked the fire. Althea was admittedly a bit tipsy, she sat a bit off to the side sipping water watching. Yaz never insisted, he never proselytized to her about his Gods, she had no need for the same worship he had, she felt happy and safe just being in the sphere of his faith. Yazzy ran over, drunk on candy and staying up late. \u201cMommy, keep Shazzy company please? Daddy said it is time to dance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Althea held the ugly bear on her shoulder sitting so he could watch too, \u201chave fun honey careful.\u201d Yazzy ran back towards the fire where her uncles, father, aunties everyone else was already in the throes of moonlight and worship ecstasy. Yazzy threw her little arms up, her body swaying to the drumbeats blaring from the speakers they\u2019d set up, Althea felt a little strange, logy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again she heard that deep chuckle in her ear then a voice with a heavy accent. \u201cAhh, let it never be said Shango doesn\u2019t love his children.\u201d She was way drunker than she realized of course, the bear was not talking to her. \u201cJust like her grandmother. Do you know young lady what it is that your precious little one prays for?\u201d Althea couldn\u2019t turn her head to look at the bear, her wide eyes were glued on her family.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Against the wild orange of the flames she watched them whirl, Yazzy had her eyes closed and her back bent, Yaz sr had thrown his shirt off along with the other men and they too spun and she swore tendrils of flames licked out of his mouth toward the sky. It was so dreamy, she wasn\u2019t drunk. Althea was somnolent and loose, relaxed, she felt the cloak of protection, \u201cwhat does she pray for?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe child prays for power like her grandmother.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The voice faded; Althea held the bear inhaling the smokey smell of it. Yazzy was singing loudly, \u201cSangooooo, dragon. Sango. Dragon.\u201d The way she said it, Sango and dragon almost rhymed. Althea tilted her head, Era when Yazzy was still just a toddler would spend hours telling her stories from the diaspora, about religions and gods and it hit her, kings. Yazzy like herself often misheard things.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n As her understanding dawned, she looked up to see Yaz sr holding Yazzy over his head, her little head was tilted back and as she opened her mouth a pillar of fire shot into the night, she roared at the sky. Her sweet little voice had every bit of bass she could gather from her little body, \u201cyou who defeat your enemies breathing fire through your mouth, today I ask you to conquer victory for me-\u201d and the sky roared back. Above them clouds raced over the moon and the sky roared back.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Althea stood as the air went still around them, everything was silence even the fire seemed to freeze. The bear still in Althea\u2019s arm got warm, she heard the chuckle again then pure pregnant silence. Above the sky shook with thunder that Althea felt in her bowels, she clutched the bear, unable to catch her breath or take her eyes off of her husband and daughter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yazid\u2019s face turned up to the sky as the lightening frosted he and Yazmine in pure silver, Althea\u2019s heart felt like it jerked in her chest then started to thump to the beat of the drum music still playing. That time the chuckle turned to a deep belly laugh so full of what Althea could only think of as the most comfortably masculine sound of amused consternation, \u201cdragons, there are no dragons in Africa and yet-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Althea didn\u2019t understand but her blood understood. Yaz started to sing in his clear strong baritone, in his arms Yazzy\u2019s little face was suffused with a joy bigger and brighter than the next flash of lightening. Althea heard him in her left ear again, Shazzy\u2019s ear fluff tickled as she listened, \u201cdragons.\u201d Then that same bemused chuckle, Althea didn\u2019t feel drunk still, part of her brain was gibbering about madness and PTSD, she thought briefly of one of her guys from her unit who\u2019d lost his shit and almost killed someone, that part of her brain said to fear but she had none.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around the fire Yazid held Yazmine in his arms, from where she sat Althea could see the glassy gleam in their eyes, she\u2019d seen it in them at other times, other celebrations in the family. Much as she wanted to remain agnostic about it, she couldn\u2019t. Around them things moved in the darkness; Althea was so caught up in the whirling flaming joy of watching her family communicate with their gods she didn\u2019t see the flicker in the dark.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scooter finally arrived, he came running from the house in his white pants his locs piled atop his head, but he skidded to a stop next to Althea, \u201cAl, yo come on. We got problems.\u201d He put his fingers in his mouth and whistled so loud Althea almost dropped Shazzy, \u201cyou Yazid! Pierre! Come on y\u2019all.\u201d What had been a cozy moment of communing with the spirit world turned in a way that made Althea feel cold inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The strange magic in the air shifted, the next crack of thunder revealed what was coming. For years Era told Althea stories about the area they lived on, tales to rival those about creatures in the woods like Dullahans and the rougarou, swamp monsters, haints and all types of fantastical things. Althea loved the tales, Yazzy loved them and often after Era passed Yazzy would tell the tales to her mother. They were tales. Stories.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Between thunderclaps Althea heard it, rustling and murmuring. She had no idea she had Shazzy in a death grip, holding his battered old face against her neck, all her training and instincts were gone. Nothing prepared her for what was happening. Yaz set Yazzy down and nudged her toward her mother, he and the others all ran around grabbing shovels and anything else they could swing. \u201cBaby get in the house.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yazzy easily squirmed away from Althea, a scowl on her little face. \u201cMommy hold Shazzy plese.\u201d Scowling Yazzy turned to face not the wood but the driveway, Althea felt herself turning in slow motion, the part of her brain still screaming struggling to force herself back to reality. Reality told her no her precious little baby did not blow fire, the teddy bear in her arms wasn\u2019t whispering against her neck in what her soul said was Yoruba, there were absolutely not a gang of blurry things marching up the driveway.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Althea squeezed Shazzy harder, the bear in her arms got hot and she heard Jazzy\u2019s little voice rise above the growing din of howls from the things coming out of the woods, the family all fighting at the treeline, she did not hear her daughter screaming. \u201cShango! Protect us glorious father! Allez! Allez!\u201d Overhead the sky got darker yet, thunder clapped so hard Althea dropped, arms over her head.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under her the bear cushioned her face before it hit the ground, she could hear that voice again. Just a whisper, \u201cshhh shhh my child. See. See what you have wrought upon this world.\u201d Althea looked up, Yazzy stood feet apart, staring down the approaching hoard of creatures. As they coalesced into solid forms Althea could see the outlines of the hoods, hear the chants.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yazid stood over the rapidly decaying corpse of some kind of half human thing made of dust and filth, he turned to head inside and saw Yazmine take her battle stance. Panic cold as fingers touching his bones took him and he tried to run to her. \u201cScooter! Scooter get her! Get her!\u201d Scooter turned but something shot a hand out from the bushes and grabbed his ankle in an iron grip, he fell hard.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only person not panicking was Yazmine. She knew exactly what was happening. When Grandma Era had been dying, Yazzy spent hours in her bed with her listening to her stories. They\u2019d had many conversations about possibility, gods, magic and monsters. \u201cNana is Shango a dragon?\u201d Era\u2019s eyebrows lifted, \u201cwhat do you mean?\u201d They had been sitting up in Era\u2019s bed, Era braiding Yazzy\u2019s hair while she colored a book about the Orishas. \u201cA dragon?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSee Nana,\u201d Yazzy read slowly, \u201cShango\u2019s elements are thunder and li-li-lightening and fire. That\u2019s dragon stuff. He\u2019s a dragon like toothless but big.\u201d Yaz had been 6 and Era didn\u2019t have the heart to try and convince her otherwise. Yazzy knew what to do, she read a lot of dragon stories. She knew that lots of people said they were bad, like they said about Black people, and she knew that was wrong, so they had to be wrong about dragons.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yaz talked to Shango a lot, she sang to him while she played, she told her bear Shazzy every story she knew about him. Overhead and everywhere they all heard the voice, deep as the night was terrifying, \u201cfight for your place little warrior.\u201d Yazmine needed nothing else, when the first hooded robed thing reached for her, it snagged long skeletal fingers in her hair and she howled in pure rage.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yazzy rarely had tantrums, she was rarely overly crabby, she was a perky happy child. For the first time in her life she understood anger. She understood why her daddy had punched a man in the face one time when he\u2019d frightened her and her mother in a grocery store, she got it. She stumbled back and started screaming, \u201cdon\u2019t touch me get off our land. My father God of fire give me courage to protect our house and defend our souls. Cover us in-\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yazid finally got to Althea and pulled her to her feet, for some reason she turned Shazzy in her arms so he could watch too. Yazmine inhaled and thundered, \u201ccover us in fire!\u201d Naturally, given that she was the child of an anime lover, her father she did the thing that made sense. Feet spread wide apart she lifted her arms and stood there screaming.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n A pillar of flames shot out of her mouth followed by fire from her hands,\u00a0Yaz could say nothing. Althea inexplicably started cackling, clutching Shazzy to her chest, laughing so hard tears rolled down her cheeks, her mouth wide open. She sang just like Yaz did, \u201cSango, dragon\u2026.sango, dragon.\u201d The white robed undead couldn\u2019t run fast enough. With the will of a 7 year old girl with a new toy, Yazzy kept screaming fire at the things until they all burnt.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the last fell the air went dead still. Nothing moved all they could hear was Yazzy panting the adults couldn\u2019t move. Yaz shook herself like a puppy, spat, cleared her throat and turned grinning. Overhead there was a last massive clap of thunder and lightning so bright it took Althea\u2019s breath, in the moment the world was lit up that way they all heard it. Deep laughter, the laugh of a delighted father watching his little girl punch the boy who tugged her hair in the face, the delight of a father hearing his most precious baby tell someone to fuck off for the first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The words came from Shazzy. \u201cOnly in America does a child reshape her god. Ashe.\u201d The sky cleared, a breeze came through cool and sweet. The corpses of the monsters disentegrated and blew away, the rancid stink of their rot went with it on that sweet cool breeze. In Althea\u2019s arms Shazzy seemed to cool down, Yazzy ran over with her arms up, \u201cthank you for babysitting Mommy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Behind them the speakers came back to life, Yazzy squealed and holding her precious Shazzy she started to dance and sing again, \u201cSaaaaaaaaaaaaaango, draaaaaaaaaaaaagon. Dragon dragon dragon.\u201d Althea wobbled on her feet for a moment, realized she was dead sober and when Yazid touched her back and mumured something she just shrugged, she kissed him then threw up her arms to dance with Yazzy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n After a moment everyone else joined in, chanting and singing to the beat of the drums. \u201cSango, Sango Dragon dragon, Sango dragon\u2026.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Concept practice Note this is a pure first draft. No editing. Hardly a spell check. This is the raw thing. And maybe the first in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,29],"tags":[36,37,38,20],"class_list":["post-380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-short-fiction-1k-words","tag-black-folk-horror","tag-folk-horror","tag-ghost-stories","tag-writing-exercise"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","gbox-medium":"","gbox-large":"","gbox-vertical":"","gbox-horizontal":"","gbox-hlarge":"","slider-bg":"","card-grid":"","card-list":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"Shanz","author_link":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/?author=1"},"category_info":"fiction<\/a> short fiction (+1k words)<\/a>","tag_info":"short fiction (+1k words)","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=380"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":382,"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380\/revisions\/382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shannonbarber.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}