John opened his eyes as the warm sun rays hit him. It was already morning the next day.
Remembering his daily routine, John got up from his bed. His daily routine includes washing himself a bit before doing his chores. Watering the field and doing a routine check-up were considered a daily exercise for him. After checking that everything is in good condition, he would then go back to his hut to rest.
Just as he was about to take a step forward towards the door, a soft giggle was heard.
To his surprise, a baby boy was sleeping beside him all along in bed. He suddenly remembered the events that occurred last night in his field. Everything felt like a dream.
Leaving the baby with a pillow beside him, John hastily ran outside to look for the dragon. To his dismay, he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. Not even a single dragon's footprint was seen. Its massive size would leave an imprint wherever it goes, but there was none in sight.
Many questions ran through John's mind, "What happened to the dragon? Where'd it gone? Why me? Was I the first person it had seen? What will happen to me if something happens to the baby?"
He was so lost in the thought that he started walking aimlessly without a sense of direction. His mind was preoccupied with last night's event.
John wasn't paying attention to where he was walking and inadvertently knocked his foot to a stone. He screamed in pain. Out of anger, he picked it up and was about to throw it, but noticed it wasn't as heavy as he thought it would be. This puzzled John. Why does a stone, twice the size of his fist, have less weight?
In all the 20 years of farming, John never experienced something like this. With great force, he threw the stone as far as he could. It crashed at a distance. John was astonished at how far he threw the stone.
Not expecting this, he realized he must have gotten stronger somehow.
'Did I acquire brutal strength overnight?' John couldn't suppress his emotions. He was thrilled to have gained a newfound strength. If he was dreaming, he would never want to wake up again. Whatever this may be, he would find it eventually.
He was all smiles when he returned to the hut, but when evening came, it felt ruined. He was so lost in thought that he forgot to do his daily morning routine.
Checking the baby was asleep, he decided to go to the field to do his routine. John used to haul a wooden bucket filled with water and pour the water near the passage. Doing this continuously fills the bellies of all plants and trees within his field, but today was different. Instead of dragging the filled bucket, he flung its content into the passage like it was nothing.
"This newfound strength is helpful. I have to complete this work faster and head back home." With his newly acquired power, excitement doesn't exactly express how he's feeling. At the same moment, a thrilling sensation was running throughout his body.
After doing what supposedly is his morning chore, John had picked up some mangoes on the way back.
John left the sleeping baby to do some work, and when he came back, good heavens, the baby was still asleep.
Although the little guy was sleeping, John was saddened that he cannot provide the baby with a soft cushion for now. The little guy can only sleepover a pillow on John's planked wooden bed.
Without hurrying, John unwrapped the baby from the white cloth. The white rectangular-shaped cloth has two horizontal lines and two vertical lines, drawn joining both the long and short edges of the cloth. Distance between two horizontal lines is less than one fist and the same goes with vertical lines. Thick yellowish colour filled within the square formed by the lines.
John thought it seemed to be markings of some kind. 'What does it mean?'. There are no answers for now. Nevertheless, it holds clues about the child, so he kept it safe. As for who the baby boy is, he should search for it sooner or later.
Since it was dinner time, John felt hungry and the only food he got at present are mangoes. He took one and ate it. Its pleasant taste was the outcome of extensive work and sweat over the field.
Just then, the baby woke up and started crying. John realized that the baby needs something to eat.
Because of hunger, the baby boy started to cry louder.
"I need to feed you." John picked up the baby, trying to ease the child while he kept searching for something to feed the baby.
John mostly eats what he reaps from the field. He crops wheat, a variety of fruits and vegetables, and whatever he can harvest during the change of seasons. Despite being a farmer, John never farmed animals - no goats, cows, and chickens. Farming the field alone takes a toll on him, he won't be able to handle the farming if there are additional domestic animals. So most of his life, John only eats what he crops. Without milk to feed the child, John felt helpless in his search.
Seeing the baby boy continue to cry, he caressed the baby's soft face with his slightly wet hand of mango juice. He ran his finger on the child's face and just right about the child's mouth when his finger accidentally but softly touched the child's lip.
The child's loud cries softly decreased to a stop after having a taste of fruity flavour from John's finger, from accidental touch.
In an attempt to ease the child's cries, John successfully found a way to dwindle it. He realized fruit juice can be an alternative for milk. Since John has mostly ripened mangoes, its juice will quench the baby's hunger.
He peeled mango and only took the fruit's meat. With a fork, he mashed the mango meats in a bowl until its texture became soft and juicy, just enough for the baby to swallow.
He was very careful as he feeds the child in small amounts of mashed mangoes with a spoon.
John did not realize that the sun had already set. Only after he had fed the child, he notices that the sky had already darkened.
Fatigue has caught up with him, but with all the emotions he felt that day, it made him restless the most.
With the arrival of the child, there was no way that John would let the baby sleep in a hardened bed. So with his wit and experience, he made a temporary but sturdy cot which was made out of an unused blanket for the baby, just for a night. John tied the ends of the blanket with a rope and each end was tied to a loop. John made sure that the ropes on each end were long enough to reach walls. Softly so as not to disturb the babe with the loud sound of hammer banging, John nailed two nails on opposite walls before hanging the loops on each nail. The temporary beach cradle has been completed before midnight.
John was determined to build a crib for the child early the next day.
He then lulls the baby to sleep in a way he knew how to. He hummed a tune, and after a while, the baby fell into a trance before closing his eyes. John then carried the child to the swinging cot.
Soon afterwards, John also slept soundly on his wooden bed.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Deep in the night, loud sounds of thuds were heard. John awoke by the heavy booms and quickly took action to safeguard the baby.
The ground shook, similar on the night the dragon brought the child to him.
'Is it happening again? Did it come back?' The thoughts of the beast coming back ran through John's mind. It was too soon.
Even though the shaking had subsided after a while, nevertheless, John still took hold of the baby in his arms as safely as he could. The safety of the child was his priority.
Without a second thought, he never let the child leave in his embrace.
It was too late to check up on things, and John only bothered to look outside from a window. His view was very limited, and there was only a distance he could see.
Soon afterwards, when things seem to have settled, when no more of earth trembling, when he was sure there was no more danger around after checking a few times, John lied down with the child beside him on the bed. The temporary beach cradle he made was deemed useless for the night.
John wasn't able to sleep soundly during that time. Even though his eyes were shut, he was on alert for whatever may happen. It took him some time before he could no longer endure and fell into a daze to rest for the remaining night.
Morning came soon.
When he opened his eyes, John felt a different sensation. He felt as if he were standing on high ground and was looking down.
'What's this feeling? Have I grown in height?' He was already in his early 30s, however, he felt like he was still a kid growing yet in a brisk moment. John felt his body was working strangely. He cannot completely explain, yet he could say something had changed.
He carefully got up to not awaken the baby. He took an unused basket and tied slings to it, and added a cover. This will be used to place the baby inside wherever he goes. John would never leave the baby out of his sight ever again. After which, he went out for his field. To his surprise, everything he cropped has fully grown, even the newly sowed seeds of fruits. It was a bewildering sight. His jaw dropped at whatever miracle this is.
John slapped himself before he could lose himself in thought. 'Today is a good day.' John thought. Whatever did this, might have something to do with the trembling of the earth and the loud thuds before it.
Therefore after, John reaped everything he sowed that day. It was fruitful and many he gained.
After completing the tasks on the field as early as he could, he went back to eat and feed the baby.
As for the rest of the day, John used his time to find sturdy and durable materials, whatever suitable he could find from the forest, to build a crib.