It was the night of the Harvest Moon, the first full moon of Autumn. Cherries had already been harvested about two months ago. This was the middle of the apple harvest. Tornado season has passed. Now there were the first signs of Autumn, a slight crispness in the air. Leaves on the trees were not quite such a vivid green, and some trees had already adopted their fall colors. Local farmers were busy preparing for the busy harvest season.

Viridian flew among the clouds. Behind her, a corn field flamed and smoked. That feat of knavery had come too easily; she yearned for greater challenges. Oooh, what’s this? She spotted a cherry orchard far below. It was too late in the year for a fire to ruin the crop, but she could delight in destroying the trees. [What’s this ‘delight’? Her pleasure came from lighting things, not from de-light!] Yes, those trees will burn brightly, with a pleasant aroma.

The scaled mischief maker had a busy night. Grain and hay fields burned easily. She ignited two barns which had been painted green instead of the traditional red. An apple orchard, where the fruit was not yet harvested, now smelled like a hundred apple pies which had burned when they were left too long in the oven.

Now she came across a large field of bizarre apparitions. Giant white birds, each standing on one leg, flapping their three massive wings. The birds must still be asleep, for they took no notice of Viridian. How could they so casually flap their wings and yet not sing to welcome the approaching Dawn? The only sound was a quiet whispering.

Viridian wanted to talk to one of the avian giants. She flew down to the height of the white body and called out loudly as she circled it and dodged the ponderous wings. The bird did not respond, but stood there silently, beating the air as if it wanted to fly.

No dragon would tolerate being ignored. She gave a mighty cry and launched a fireball at one wing, hitting it near the shoulder. There was a satisfying cracking sound; part of the wing flew off into the darkness. The injured wing shuddered, broke at the wound, and then fell to the ground. The bird’s body and leg trembled and quickly collapsed with a crashing sound which Viridian found quite copacetic.

The reptilian rascal continued her flight. This had certainly been an enjoyable night. Now she was hungry. Hmmm! She overflew a pasture where some well-fed Guernsey cattle grazed. Yum! Viridian swooped down and captured an especially sleek cow. She then returned to her lair for dinner and a long sleep.

The Dragon Viridian was still asleep in her lair as the sun began to set. Only this morning, she had returned from a two-week hunting trip to Michigan’s ‘Thumb’, just the others ide of Saginaw Bay. It had been a productive trip, with several meals of venison, and others of well-fed livestock. There had been many tender young animals, just a few months old, which had been born that Spring. She had enjoyed dining on foals and calves, but her favorites were the piglets which were under four months old.

Now, she was home, in a near-wilderness area of the Huron National Forest. The time was mid-August, and the air was still warm even hours after sunset. Deer were plentiful in this area, as were small farms with young animals. This was a great place to call home!

Viridian took to the air on her nightly search for a meal. As she soared over the forest, she detected an intriguing aroma – is that the scent of rotting apples? Well, sometimes she would eat apples, but they were more important because deer loved them; these white-tail prey would gather in and near old orchards. She spotted an abandoned orchard by the ruins of a 19th-century farmstead.

In a blur of blue-green scales, Viridian stooped like a gargantuan peregrine and tackled a magnificent buck. Delicious! She decided to indulge in a sweet desert. She strolled among the apple trees, gathering and consuming fallen apples. Soon, she felt a bit woozy, light-headed. It was a pleasant feeling. Of course, being a dragon, she didn’t understand that rotten apples contained ethanol and that she was slightly drunk.

Almost dawn, time to head home. She faltered a bit as she struggled to get airborne. Once aloft, she flew erratically, swooping between the treetops and then climbing to heights not suitable for a dragon. Left and right, up and down. Um, which way is home? Oh, who cares?

It is most unusual for a dragon to fly during the day, especially over areas occupied by humans. Viridian paid no mind to this matter. Without a qualm, she approached a dark, towering cumulonimbus cloud. In mere minutes, she was caught in a strong updraft, and she was lifted to such a height that ice crystals formed on her wings. The updraft failed, and she quickly dropped almost to the treetops. Another updraft, more ice, and the feeling of being in a falling elevator. A third time. Now the winds blew her in a counterclockwise direction.

Viridian was swirled about, and she became quite disoriented and confused. What was happening? Suddenly, the tornado spat her out. She flew, out of control and almost horizontally. At high speed and a shallow angle, she hit the surface of a nearby lake. She bounced, skipping over the water like a rock thrown by a young human. By great good fortune, her trajectory took her directly to crash into an old-fashioned haystack.

Dazed and confused, bruised and battered, Viridian felt she couldn’t move. She just lay where she had landed and soon fell asleep. She awoke hours later, with the feeling that her bed was falling apart. “Hee-haw!!” Through one eye that was only half open, she saw that Shrek’s donkey was tugging tasty hay out from under her. Wait a minute! She couldn’t be in a movie that was over 25 years old! With much effort, she opened both eyes and looked right into the donkey’s face. “Hee-haw!”, the beast bellowed. The awful sound entered her left ear and echoed around her bony skull. Yes, a dragon’s hangover could be worse than death!

Viridian fled the scene of her torment. Somehow, she took flight again. The clean air helped clear her head. At altitude, she found her bearings and started on her way home. Once there, she bathed in the cold water of a nearby river. Ah, that’s better! Then she returned to her lair and fell asleep.