Dragons is a short, extremely sweet story of two boys from very different places, how they meet, lose each other, and then find each other again.
Funny how one small act of kindness can leave an impression that can stay with a person for years, and this is the basis of this story. It is also the story of how one person, due to circumstances beyond his control, can view his life as totally changed, totally ruined, when those around him can ignore the relative small distortion of body, to see through into the heart and soul of a person.
I loved this story. It made me laugh, and even more so, it made me weep. It is touching, and emotional. Jaycee Edwards has brought two boys together in a moment of sweet kindness, and then taken them away from each other again, only to meet and find the bond that so many of us wish we could find.
Joey is a boy with cancer, feeling like the results of his radiation and surgery have left him scarred and different, and therefore unlovable, just as I imagine many women with mastectomies would feel. He therefore escapes into a world where feelings and emotions are secondary to pleasure, where no long-term relationships happen.
Will is a volunteer at the hospital that Joey is being treated, and first sets eyes on him while pushing the gift cart through the radiation department. They see each other several times, but then, as things go, the treatments are over and Joey disappears. They meet again five years later, and thus begins the story of their relationship building.
For a short story, I found this well written and very enjoyable. The characters are developed quickly, and to an extent that you immediately feel compassion for them. It is very emotional. I could empathize with Joey, and couldn’t help feeling a very warm feeling for Will. I didn’t feel like the story was rushed, and thought it was as well written as a short story like Dragons could be.
A chance encounter in a hospital waiting room between twenty-two year old Will Messina and sixteen year old Josiah Pinkerton ends with a gift of a stuffed dragon off the hospital gift cart and a memory neither of them can shake.
Five years later, when a lonely, buttoned-up Will ventures into a gay club, he spots a pale, leather-clad specter with violet eyes tracking his every move. Will realizes he’s being watched by the grown version of the boy who’s haunted his thoughts for years.
Joey recognizes Will, but he’s no longer the sweet, brown-eyed boy worthy of Will’s attention. He’s damaged and defective and lives in a different world than Will now. When his childhood crush makes his way across the bar, Joey doesn’t have time to decide whether to be enchanted or dismayed because, unless he turns and runs, those worlds are about to collide.