About Feeding Dragons
by Misa Izanaki
38 pages
/ 14750 words
ISBN: 978-1-60370-785-5, 1-60370-785-9
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc, epub, Sony-optimized pdf
Rian is at the end of his rope when he meets Tai. He's lost what's left of his family, and may be losing his home and his job. He thinks Tai is beautiful, though, and hopes the man might just be what turns his life around.
Crossed wires and confusion lead to Rian rejecting Tai's help, along with everything else Tai wants to give him. Will a chance encounter bring Rian back into Tai's life, and his bed, or has Rian lost his one chance to feed the dragon?
Sample
Rian peeked into the tiny hospital room and hoped that Yumi was awake. She had been sleeping a lot lately, and her appetite wasn’t what it should have been. Rian had asked the nurses about that, but they had no real answers for him. The doctors were the same way. They would just tell him that Yumi was old, and that they would keep an eye on her. Rian sighed. He really wished that he could be there more, or better yet, get Yumi to move back in with him. Not that she would. Hell, the nursing home had been her idea to begin with.
She didn’t want to be a bother. That was Yumi’s attitude toward the whole thing. She didn’t want Rian to have to help her out of bed or to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Sure, it was hard, but Rian never minded any of it. He just figured that she had taken care of him, and now it was his turn to return the favor.
“Rian? What are you doing here?” The elderly Japanese woman smiled and lifted her hand weakly. It was hard to see her like that. To Rian, Yumi had always been the strong, independent woman who took him in and raised him, not this frail old woman who could barely get out of bed anymore.
“I brought you something to eat.” Rian forced a smile and held out the bento box he'd brought with him. No sense in worrying her. “I know how much you hate the food here.”
“What can I say? No one cooks like you do.” Yumi pushed a button on her bed and the mattress shifted so she could sit up more. “You can set it down. I’ll have some, once my appetite comes back.”
Rian sat down beside the bed and set the bento box on the bedside table. “Still not hungry?”
“It comes and goes.” Yumi patted Rian’s shoulder. “It happens when you get old.”
“I guess. Have you talked to the nurses or your doctor?”
“I’m eighty-nine. They have better things to do than worry about me.”
“Yumi…”
“The same goes for you.” Yumi gave Rian that look, the stern one that she always gave him when she meant business. “I’m sure you have better things to do.”
“I like visiting you.”
“You should be going out with people your own age, maybe dating. You do remember how to date don’t you?”