The New Year Dragon Dilemma (3 page)

“Then I’m walking,” Ruth Rose said.

“Me too!” Dink said.

Josh grinned. “Gotcha!” he said.

Dink’s father took the kids to the Happy Hamburger, around the corner from the Bayside Hotel. They all had the Happy Special, a burger on sourdough bread with thin slices of pickle.

“Holden is meeting us here to take you to the parade,” Dink’s father said. “I asked him to have you back at the hotel no later than ten o’clock.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Dink said. “Why aren’t you coming with us?”

“I’ve been with people and computer problems all day,” Mr. Duncan said.
“I need some peace and quiet. While you’re at the parade, I’ll put my feet up and read a good book.”

Dink thought about the laptop he’d seen in the snack bar at the aquarium. “Dad, how can you draw a picture on a computer?” he asked. He told his dad and the others about the strange picture he’d seen on the laptop.

“Most computers have an art function,” Mr. Duncan said. “It allows you to sketch and color. What kind of laptop did the man have?”

“I don’t know,” Dink said. “But it looked like a real simple drawing, like a little kid would make. There was a stick-figure person in it.”

Just then Holden walked in. He was wearing his white sweater and jeans. “Hi, everyone,” he said. “You kids ready?”

“Hi, Holden!” they all said.

“I’m sure that Lily will be Miss
Chinatown!” Ruth Rose said. “I just have a feeling! Did she call you yet?”

Holden shook his head. “Nope. But even if she isn’t chosen, I’ll still see her. We made a plan a few days ago. We’re gonna meet at the dragon’s head when the parade ends.”

“I can’t wait to see the dragon!” Dink said.

“And I can’t wait to drive Holden’s pedal-bike thing!” Josh said.

“No way!” Dink’s father said.

“Anyway, we’re walking,” Holden said. “It’ll be too crowded for my Green Machine.”

Dink’s father paid the bill, and they split up. Holden and the kids walked toward Market Street, where the parade would begin. It was getting dark, and lights were coming on in shops and restaurants.

“I read that it takes one hundred
people to carry the dragon in the parade,” Ruth Rose said.

“That’s right,” Holden said. “Wait till you see it! Two hundred legs all dressed in red, walking along under the dragon. The thing looks like the world’s longest centipede!”

The closer they got to Market Street, the more people crowded the way. Finally, at the corner of Market and Second Streets, they saw a string of parked floats. All the floats were built on flat truck beds, decorated with flowers arranged in beautiful shapes. Dink saw a tiger in a jungle, temples, forests, and famous Chinese heroes, all formed by different kinds of blossoms and greenery. The floats glowed from lights hidden among the flowers.

It was mostly dark, but the block was lit with special spotlights. The smell of tasty Chinese food filled the air.
Vendors were selling everything from food to balloons to miniature dragons. Little kids in pajamas held their parents’ hands. Dink noticed a row of blue portapotties under a tree.

“Stand here and we’ll get a great view,” Holden said. They were behind a four-foot-high fence that would keep people out of the path of the parade. “Everything will come right by us!” he said.

“Wow!” said Josh. “How many floats are there?”

“I don’t know, but this is one of the biggest parades in the world,” Holden said.

“Which float will Miss Chinatown ride on?” Ruth Rose asked.

Holden pointed to one covered in blue and white blossoms. In the center was a white swan, at least ten feet tall. “That one,” he said. “She rides on the swan and throws candy to the kids.”

“Cool!” Josh said. “Chocolate, I hope.”

“The whole swan is made of blue and white flowers,” Holden said. “Lily told me there are fifty thousand blossoms on this one float.”

“Guys, look!” Dink said. Off to the side stood a huge warehouse. The doors were open, and a bunch of people were carrying the dragon outside.

“That’s where they keep the dragon
all year,” Holden said. “They create the floats in there, too.”

The dragon was the length of five school buses. It was decorated with colored cloth, buttons, ribbons, glass beads, and all kinds of things that twinkled in the light.

“It’s so pretty!” Ruth Rose said. “I thought it would be a scary dragon.”

“Does it breathe fire?” Josh asked Holden.

“No, but check out the lights,” Holden said. Colored wires twisted into ropes made stripes along the dragon’s body. Lights were wrapped around the ropes, making all two hundred feet of the dragon’s body shine.

Dink thought it looked like a giant magical puppet.

The dragon’s head was taller than Holden. Its mouth was open, showing fangs and a long red tongue. Big glass
eyes glistened. Two dragon horns sprouted from its head.

“We call him Gum Lung,” Holden said. He laughed. “Don’t ask what it means, because I don’t know!”

The men and women who had brought the dragon out of the warehouse began to prepare it for the parade. Some of the people had dragon masks perched on their foreheads. All of them wore bright red pants.

“They’ll climb underneath Gum Lung and walk him once the parade begins,” Holden said. “First there will be fireworks, then Gum Lung comes by, then the floats will drive by. The swan float will be first, carrying Miss Chinatown.”

“I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’s Lily,” Ruth Rose said.

Holden smiled. “Thanks. My fingers have been crossed for a week!” he said.

Suddenly the night exploded with loud bangs. Dink ducked, not knowing what the sounds were. But then he saw an enormous blue shape twinkling in the sky.

It was the fireworks. The parade was beginning!

Dink laughed, but he put his hands over his ears. The fireworks were loud, but all the screaming and clapping were even louder.

Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose were squeezed together next to Holden. They were in the front of the crowd.

“Here comes the dragon!” Ruth Rose said.

Gum Lung came toward them. The one hundred men and women underneath were doing fancy steps, making the dragon appear to be dancing.
The carriers made it slither and wriggle, like a snake. Music blared from speakers.

“This is awesome!” Josh shouted into Dink’s ear. “We need to get one of these dragons for Green Lawn!”

Dink smiled, thinking about the little parades he’d seen back home in Connecticut. The dragon they were watching here would hardly even fit on their Main Street.

As the dragon passed by, one of the carriers stepped out from under its belly. He ran to the front of the dragon and stuck his whole head in its mouth. Everyone laughed and cheered as the man pulled his head out and ran back to his place under the dragon.

“They do that every year to prove the dragon is happy,” Holden explained. “If the dragon was angry, he’d bite the guy’s head off!”

A second person with red legs ran
up and put his head in the dragon’s mouth, then jogged back to his position underneath. He waved to the cheering crowd.

“You want to try that, Josh?” Dink asked.

“No way!” Josh said. “The dragon looks hungry!”

The crowd laughed as a third person came out from underneath the dragon. He or she was short, with a dragon mask on. But instead of running up to the dragon’s head, this person ran toward the back of the dragon.

A few other people noticed, too, and started pointing and laughing.

“Bet he’s heading for the porta-potty!” someone behind Dink joked. The figure disappeared in the darkness behind the dragon’s tail.

The dragon passed. Then the crowd burst into cheers and applause again. “It’s the Miss Chinatown float!” Ruth Rose cried.

Dink felt Josh and Ruth Rose move closer to him. His belly was up against the fence.

The swan float crept slowly forward, only a few feet at a time. Dink knew that a truck was pulling the float, but the truck’s cab had also been covered in blossoms. A small hole allowed the driver to see the road.

“There she is!” someone yelled.

Miss Chinatown, dressed in a gold silk robe, stood behind the swan’s head. Dink recognized the fancy clothing he’d seen on the flyer. A black sash was
wrapped around the girl’s waist. A silk purse hung over her shoulder. She was wearing a white mask, with her hair tucked under a golden crown. In the center of the crown, gleaming under the lights, was a ruby the size of Dink’s fist.

Miss Chinatown held on to a golden rope that came from the swan’s mouth, like a horse’s reins. She waved her other hand at the people.

Dink wondered if the girl wearing the mask was Lily. He turned to say something to Holden. But the person behind Dink was a woman holding the hands of her two children. Holden was nowhere to be seen.

Miss Chinatown reached into her silk bag and pulled out a handful of wrapped candies. She tossed them into the crowd. Everyone tried to catch some.

“More, more!” the crowd cried.

She threw handful after handful of
candies toward the cheering people.

“She looks so beautiful!” Ruth Rose shouted above the noise. “I hope it’s Lily!”

“Me too,” Dink said. “Have you seen Holden?”