Uncle Jack's Farm

"Max, are you coming?" A female voice called up the stairs.

"Yes Mom!" yelled the little boy who was stuffing his backpack with candy.

He grabbed the backpack from the bed and stared at the empty bed next to his.

'Today is the day, Brian! Today I can finally get out of here!' the boy thought with a smile.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" The boy ran over to the desk in the corner of the room and pulled out a piece of paper.

"I drew a picture of that one day at the park, I'm sure you'll remember it when you come back. You know the day I got stung by a bee and you couldn't stop laughing." The little boy smiled as he laid the picture on his brother's bed.

"Where are you staying? Hurry up!" a male voice called now.

"I'm coming!" The boy ran down the stairs with his backpack.

"Come on, get in the car! The amusement park opens at 10am and you have to be at your uncles house by 3pm."

"Max, the letter from the youth welfare office is in the front compartment of your suitcase. Be sure to give it to your uncle, he needs to fill it out and send it off immediately." His mother said as she checked the seat belt for proper fit.

"Yes, I will tell him! HAHAHA MOM, your hair tickles." The boy laughed. He had always liked his mother's long brown hair, even though it always smelled of cigarettes.

"Okay, then we can go!" She said with a smile.

And then it started, his father sat behind the wheel and his mother next to him. As the car pulled out of the yard, Max looked back and into the window of his old room, which he would never return to for the time being. Max rubbed his eyes, but when he looked back in the window, there was nothing there. He could swear his big brother was standing in the window with his picture in his hand.

'No, I must have dreamed that! He's far away from here in this school, mom had told me that so many times!' The boy thought and rubbed his eyes again.

The trip was smooth and they even played some travel games. It was one of those moments Max wished it would last forever, one of the few moments when his parents didn't fight. One of those moments when his father was there and his mother wasn't drunk. Ever since Brian was at this school, his parents would behave like this and would always fight. His father would then say *It's your fault he's gone! Wouldn't you have forgotten him! You should just pick him up!* and his mother said something like *You were at work like always! It wasn't my fault, it was an accident!*

When they arrived at the amusement park, everything was like a beautiful dream. His father had been given a bunny tail by a man in a bunny costume. Max and his mother had to hold their stomachs laughing. His mother bought a lot of sweets and his father tried his luck at a stall throwing a ball at cans. Unfortunately, he never managed to hit all of the cans, he even lifted Max onto the table and made him throw it. Out of pity, the man who ran the stand gave Max a plush tiger as a gift. With the tiger in their arms, they walked through the park for a while until they came to a water slide. It was one of those water slides where you sit in one of those yellow rubber dinghies and Max really wanted to take a ride. Max had to sit in front and got soaking wet, but they got a picture in the end. Max's mom borrowed someone's pen and wrote *The best day of my life* on the picture and gave it to Max.

In order to dry their clothes a bit, they had a lunchtime picnic in a sunny spot on a large meadow. Max's mother Kate used the tiger as a cushion and enjoyed the sun while father Mateo organized something to eat. Time passed way too quickly as they sat there in the sun, joking around and eating. It was still a long way to Uncle Jack's Farm, so they had to go back to the car after lunch. As they pulled back onto the highway, Max stared at the photo of the waterslide and smiled. Unfortunately, his happiness didn't last long, and his parents started quarreling again. But Max was already thinking about his uncle, he had only seen him a few times, mostly when his father needed help or on holidays.

'Uncle Jack is a bit strange!' Max said in his mind as he looked out the window at the landscape passing them by.

Max had heard from his older brother that Uncle Jack had a farm, but he never spoke of it. And when someone talked about raising cows, he always held back, did he really have a farm? Uncle Jack was a happy person and he often talked to the neighbors and people around him, so why not about his farm? All of these questions ran through Max's mind as the car approached a large rest stop. They probably had to refuel.

"When are we there?" Max asked excitedly as he stuck his forehead to the pane.

"We still have to drive for a while!" Mateo replied.

Bored, Max continued to look out the window and fell asleep at some point.

"Hnnnghn... Yaaaaawn. Oh no! I fell asleep! Mom! Are we already there? Hey, why am I lying in a bed? How long have I been asleep?" The boy yawned.

"Morning! You slept through the night!" Said a man with short black hair standing in the doorway.

"Huuuh? Does that mean mum and dad are already gone?" the boy asked in surprise.

"Yes, you slept like a baby! Don't worry, you can call them later." The man said as he poked around in a bowl with his spoon.

"Oh okay."

"Since you've been asleep for so long, I'm a bit behind, so you have to help me. This is your room, by the way, and the bathroom over there is also yours, you can use it. Get ready quickly and then come down and eat something first!" The man explained and pointed to a door in the room and then down the hallway with his spoon.

"Wow, I have a private bathroom? I have to share one with my brother at home, but since he's away for a while I've got it all to myself!" the boy said excitedly.

*cough* *cough* The man choked on his cereal and looked angry and sad at the same time for a brief moment.

"Uhmm... well then that's a luxury for you! Hahaha!" laughed the man.

'They didn't tell him? That his brother... *sigh* I guess I have to tell him. But not today' the man thought as he walked down the aisle.

Max hurried, got some things out of his suitcase, got dressed and quickly brushed his teeth. When Max arrived in the kitchen, the smell of melted cheese made his mouth water. On the table were two sandwiches and a glass of juice. Max now realized how hungry he was and when he sat down, he devoured the first sandwich immediately.

"Wow, Uncle Jack, that tastes really good!" said the boy as he grabbed the second sandwich.

"You think? Thank you, I made these with magic!" The man smiled.

"Huuuuh, magic? Then you have to... teach me that too!" Said the boy as he took big gulps from the glass.

"You wanna learn magic to make sandwiches? HAHAHA!" joked Jack.

"Wouldn't that be super cool? Then I could always eat yummy sandwiches! I'm done, if it's up to me we can start work." The boy said as he put his empty glass on the table.

"Wonderful! Then follow me and we'll start working on the farm!" Jack said with a smile as he left the room.

"I'll just bring the pla… huh? Where's the plate and the glass?" Max asked in surprise as he was just about to put everything in the sink.

"As I said before... MAGIC!"

'Magic.' Max murmured as he stared wide-eyed at the table where his breakfast had been a short while ago.

"YOU... YOU... MUST TEACH ME THAT!" Max yelled in astonishment.

"Hahaha, first things first, come follow me."

Max followed his uncle down into the basement. Everything here looked old and unused, there were even huge accumulations of cobwebs. Jack stopped in front of an old wooden door that looked like it was going to crumble very soon.

"Now it's important, that you don't scream, when you walk in!" Jack said, raising a finger.

This statement gave Max a strange feeling and he took a step back.

"What... what exactly is in there?" Max asked cautiously.

"Just follow me!"

"HUUUUUUUUH? UNCLE??? UNCLEEEEEE?" What Max saw startled him so much that he took a few steps back and fell on his butt.

Without opening the door, Uncle Jack just walked right through! Max rubbed his eyes, he couldn't believe what happened there.

"You coming?" Jack called.

"Y...yeah. I'm coming!" Max answered and got up.

Max took a deep breath and let it out again, he closed his eyes and walked toward the door.

*Bumm*

"Ouch!" Max's head banged against the old wooden door.

"You have to turn the doorknob and then go through! HAHA sorry! I should have told you that!" Uncle Jack apologized.

'THIS... I'll pay him back!' Max scolded in his thoughts.

Max turned the old doorknob and touched the door with his other hand to see if he could go through now. To his surprise, his hand just went through and Max walked through the door.

"What kind of magic is..." Just as Max stepped through the door, he wanted to ask what kind of magic that was, but what he saw left him speechless.

Blue sky and a wide meadow as far as Max could see, behind him was a gigantic stable and a fenced area. Before Max could say anything, the huge stable door magically opened. When the smell of fresh hay wafted towards Max, he got scared and hid behind his uncle. There weren't any horses, cows or sheep, which explained why his uncle never spoke of it.

In the different stables were lizard-like figures of different colors and shapes.

"Impressive, isn't it? Welcome to The Smith Dragon Farm! We've got them all! Western Dragons, Eastern Dragons, Wyverns, Drakes, Elemental Dragons, all kinds of hybrid dragons, wyverns and even a phoenix! But please, don't get too close to the phoenix, she's a bit strange." Uncle Jack yelled as he spread his arms.