Life Brush

 

            Sam brought out his painting supplies as he thought about what he was going to paint. As he got things all set up, he realized that he had forgotten an important piece of equipment.

            “Hey Grandma, do you have any paintbrushes I could use?” he called out to her. She was working over in the garden in the back of the house. He could see that she couldn’t hear him, so he started to look around.

            Grandma was always telling him not to mess with her stuff, but he knew she had some paintbrushes somewhere. He looked around in her office and couldn’t see any with her other art supplies. He looked in the closet and saw an old box that was simply labelled, “Art.”

            Sam carefully pulled down the box and peered inside. There were professional quality art supplies in here. Sam had taken enough art classes to know that when he saw the bright purple paintbrush, that it was very high quality. It was a medium size round paintbrush, perfect for his current project.

            Now that he had something to paint with, Sam went back to where he had set up his easel and his other supplies, and he started to paint. He wasn’t sure if he was just having a good paint day, or Grandma’s brush made him paint better, but he was able to finish his artwork much more quickly than he ever had before.

            He stepped back to admire his work. He had finished while Grandma was still out in the garden. The dragon that Sam had painted next to a beautiful silver tree really turned out amazing. The blue-green of its scales seemed to sparkle, and its wings looked magnificent. He moved his eyes to the dragon’s face and realized that there was steam coming from its nostrils.

            “Hmm,” Sam said, perplexed. “I don’t remember painting that.” Then something happened that really surprised Sam. The dragon moved and flapped its wings.

            Sam startled back from the painting with a gasp. “What?” he breathed, shocked. The dragon’s eyes focused on Sam as it started to lift up off of the ground in the painting, and then up off of the canvas itself.

            Before Sam could even process what was happening, he found himself standing nose to nose with the dragon. Sam hardly dared to breathe, and then the dragon spoke.

            “Thank you for breathing life into me,” it said, and then it fell unmistakably into a bow.

            “Umm, what?” was all Sam could say.

            Now the dragon looked a little confused as he said, “You created me from the life brush. I now owe you my life and will do whatever I can to serve you.” He paused then and said a little more hesitantly. “You are the one who painted me, aren’t you?”

            Sam looked down at the purple paintbrush in his hand as he said, “Well, yes, but I had no idea…How is this even happening? Am I dreaming?”

            Grandma chose that moment to come back into the house from her work in the garden. She held a bouquet of flowers and went straight into the kitchen as she called, “Are you doing all right in here, Sam? You should come out to the garden with me. It’s such a gorgeous day outside.”

            “Uh, Grandma?” he asked softly.

            Grandma must have heard something in his voice, because she finally focused her attention on him, and her eyes went wide. She saw the paintbrush in his hand and the dragon in her living room. Very slowly she asked, “What have you done, Sam?”

            Sam felt his face grow hot as he tried to explain. “I forgot to bring my paintbrushes, so I went to find one in your office. I found this one in a box that said “Art” on it.”

            Grandma took a deep breath and then asked, “I believe that I’ve asked you not to go through my things?”

            Sam felt Grandma’s eyes cut into him as he said lamely, “It was just a paintbrush.” Obviously, it wasn’t just a paintbrush. There was silence for a moment between the three of them – Sam, Grandma, and the dragon, who still stood right next to Sam.

            Then, Grandma’s cat, Rufus, strolled in and looked around. He walked right over to Grandma and said, “It looks like Sam’s got your magic gene.”

            Another layer of shock fell over Sam. “What?!!” He stared down at Rufus, who he had thought was a completely normal cat. Up until now.

            Grandma gave a great big sigh and said, “This will take some explaining. Sam, let’s move to the couch and sit down. Bring your dragon.”

            Sam walked over to the couch, and the dragon followed him. He flopped onto the couch and the dragon sat down beside him. For the next hour, Grandma told him about how some people in her family had magic. She hadn’t been sure that Sam had any magic, so she was always looking for clues. She began to suspect recently that he might have magic, so that’s why she had invited him to stay with her for the summer.

            Grandma then talked about the paintbrush that Sam had used on the dragon, or what she called, The Life Brush. She said that it was used to create a life-long magic partner for those who had magical powers.

            “Wait,” Sam interrupted. “Are you saying that this dragon will be with me for life?”

            Grandma gave a little laugh as she said, “Yes, but usually we create normal looking animals for our partners.” She saw Sam turn white and then quickly added, “I’ll teach you how to use your magic to disguise your dragon. You’ll have to change him into something like a dog or a cat whenever anyone else is around.”

            As the shock of what Grandma was saying started to sink in, Sam began to feel something else. “So, I can actually do magic?” he asked with excitement. He looked at his dragon and started to think about all the possibilities.

            From that day on, Sam learned all he could about magic. He never got tired of working with his dragon, Dorian. Grandma taught them everything she knew. Sam and Dorian became very successful magicians, even if they had an unusual start. Sam never met another magician with a dragon for a partner, and he felt proud that he was truly unique.