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Dragons in Wonderland
By Emme Jo Christenson
I'm
going to skip the cliché, "Once upon a time". There's only one place in
the world where work doesn't matter, where time ticks at a different
pace, a playful utopia where a Crimson Queen reigns over her kingdom, a
diverse landscape of pretty and not-worth-a-second glance scenes. A city
comparable to no other destination, seasoned like dashes of cayenne
pepper mixed with lemon pepper, dabbed with clashing hues of cyan and
magenta on a painters' white canvas, if there were someone painting in
the smallest details of the people found there, in this most unusual
place.
The painter, tilting his paint-soaked brush to his canvas,
must then decide what he'll paint first. Perhaps it’ll all begin with a
splotch of serpentine yellow, the exact color of the sun reaching its
highest position of the day, casting all sorts of light and long shadows
on the buildings, with as many witty and not-so witty characteristics
as the people moving along on their way to the most important gathering
of their day.
Under the Crimson Queens’ strictest orders, in the
interest of spirit-raising and good will, but also to make sure no one
owing her a debt has skipped town; the Queen orders a daily head count
of sorts, at each gathering. Each and every citizen of her kingdom, no
matter how big or small, pretty or ugly, healthy or sick is required to
attend, no exceptions.
No one, not even a dragon would purposely be
late, let alone think of missing the most important daily social event
entirely. No one misses the areas largest variety of crumpets and
desserts, dressed and spread down the Crimson Queens' street-long
buffet. Weather, seasons, births, deaths, ages, and body shapes are
about the only things that change in the long line of familiar faces,
odd as some are.
Sometimes, the only way out of this
not-to-be-missed, daily tea party, held at precisely the same time each
day, high noon, is to have an endless amount of curiosity and an
incredible fall, down, way down a rabbit hole, that is, before noon.
There was however; one peculiar dragon who never really had any sense of
time to begin with, if any sense at all. That is precisely, where our
story begins.
"Oh dear! No one, especially our Crimson Queen will believe this excuse."
Author Note:
Some
may believe this is just another fairytale, a myth, or just some silly
fantasy of a land that exists only in my thoughts. I grew up on stories.
I remember the excitement I felt as I wondered what it would be like
getting to live in these characters different worlds that I read about,
how different my experience in their land could feel, how intriguing my
life could be.
At age 13, I'm starting to realize it was those
worlds, those places that inspired me to dream and create my worlds.
Lands that rise like anthills in the cracks of my sidewalks, except mine
have never-ending windows opening my thoughts, inspiring dragons I
draw, characters who seem to know their place on my paper, in my
sketchbooks. This dreamland, the world I'm creating is my new book I'm
working on, Dragons in Wonderland, a place that really exists, if only
momentarily, in my mind––before I can put my thoughts down on paper or
into my computer, and it's calling to me!
Here are my first sketches I came up with when trying to come up
with my Dragons in Wonderland concept, using my characters for the
cast.
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