Regardless of all that, I really like this story. Here you go:
OLIVIA AND THE SHINING ARMOR
(a sequel to Olivia’s Hats)
©2001 by Tom Hayes
Olivia lived with her family in a very nice house at the end of a quiet street. But there was something quite special about this house. It had something that no other house had.
In an extra room at the back of the house was a huge closet. That closet was packed FULL of hats. And these hats were not ordinary hats -- not ordinary hats at all.
Olivia’s house had once belonged to a magician, and the hats had belonged to him. And every time Olivia placed one of those hats on her head, something very unusual happened.
She might find herself digging for dinosaur bones. Or in the middle of a baking contest. Or even far beneath the sea. All she knew for sure was that if she put on a hat, there would be a loud PHWOMP! And she would find herself in the middle of some new adventure.
One Saturday morning, Olivia decided it was time to check out the closet once again. She went back to the extra room, opened up the closet door, and looked at all the racks and hooks and boxes and crates. No matter when she came to the closet, there was always something special that she had never noticed before. This time, far back in one dark corner, she noticed a glint of something shiny from between two large cardboard boxes.
Olivia went over to investigate. There, behind the cardboard boxes, was a hatbox. A very unusual looking hatbox. It wasn’t made of wood or cardboard or paper. It was made of metal. It was held together with big rivets and decorated with a gigantic metal bow. Somehow Olivia managed to take off the heavy lid. There inside the box was a knight’s helmet! It was made of a silvery metal and decorated in gold. On top of the helmet was a gold dragon. And the visor was made to look like a dragon’s mouth, so that the knight inside was peeking out from between the dragon’s teeth. It was the most amazing helmet Olivia had ever seen. Without another thought, she placed the helmet on her head.
PHWOMP! Suddenly Olivia found herself in a clearing in some dark woods. She opened her visor to take a better look around. (She knew that if she took off her helmet she would find herself back in the closet at home again, and that wouldn’t do at all.) She turned around and through the trees she dimly saw what looked like some sort of low cliff or hillside. There was a cave. She started to walk towards the cave, and she realized that her clothes had changed into a suit of armor that matched her helmet! There were gold dragons on her chest plate, dragon scales on her metal sleeves, and her boots were decorated with sharp golden talons. She began clanking her way towards the cave again.
Just as Olivia was getting close to the entrance of the cave, she heard a loud, deep booming voice from inside say, “I HEAR YOU OUT THERE AND I’M NOT COMING OUT! YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT IT!” Olivia had no idea who the voice belonged to or what it was talking about.
“I have no idea who you are or what you’re talking about!” she said.
“HAH!” said the voice. “I SUPPOSE YOU THINK I’M FOOLISH ENOUGH TO FALL FOR THAT OLD TRICK? WELL, I’M NOT!” it said.
“Truly,” said Olivia, “I don’t know what you mean. My name is Olivia, and I just got here.”
“I’M NOT BLIND, YOU KNOW!” said the voice. ‘YOU SAY YOUR NAME IS ‘OLIVIA’ BUT YOU LOOK MORE LIKE ‘SIR OLIVIA’ TO ME!!!”
Olivia didn’t know what to say to that. She was trying to decide what to say next when a little old man dressed in wizard’s robes and a large pointed hat came rushing into the clearing in front of the cave.
(A note for the illustrator: This is the same old man as in the other Olivia’s Hats stories.)
“There you are, Sir Olivia!” he gasped.
“I KNEW IT!” grumbled the voice from inside the cave.
“Haven’t you slain the dragon yet?” the old wizard asked.
“D-dragon?” asked Olivia.
“SLAIN?!?” roared the voice.
“Why of course!” said the little old man. “You are the champion of our kingdom. It is your job to rid us of this evil dragon!”
“I’M NOT EVIL!” bellowed the voice.
“Of course you are. You’re a dragon!” said the wizard.
Well, Olivia was a little confused by what was happening, but even so, she knew that what she had just heard was WRONG. She turned to the old wizard and said in her sternest voice, “Wait just one moment. You and I have been friends for a long time, Sir Wizard. You have always been there to help me no matter what hat I tried on or what adventure I found myself in. But what you just said was wrong. Nobody is evil just because of how they look or what they are.”
The old wizard looked puzzled.
Olivia said, “Just because I’m a girl, does that mean that I couldn’t be a knight? Does being old make you a poor wizard? Of course not! So why does being a dragon mean he has to be evil? It’s very, very wrong to say that everybody or everything has to be one thing only.”
Olivia suddenly had a thought. “What, exactly, is this dragon supposed to have done?” she asked.
The old wizard removed his pointy hat and scratched his wispy gray head. He thought. Finally he said, “Well, he’s been really loud and scary. The people are very frightened.”
“Well, I may not know much,” said Olivia, “but I do know that dragons can’t really HELP being loud and scary looking. They ARE dragons, after all. That still doesn’t make them evil. Has he, um, eaten anybody?”
“No....” said the wizard.
“Has he burned down any houses, or crops, or stolen any animals from the farms?” asked Olivia.
“No....” said the wizard.
“OF COURSE NOT!” bellowed the dragon. “I’M A VEGETARIAN, FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE!”
“Really?” asked Olivia.
“YES!” said the dragon from within the cave. “YOU CAN’T MAKE DRAGON FIRE WHEN YOU EAT MEAT! YOU HAVE TO EAT SPECIAL PLANTS AND HERBS FOR DRAGON FIRE! I THOUGHT EVERYBODY KNEW THAT!”
“I guess we didn’t know that,” said Olivia. “I guess this is what happens when people -- and dragons -- don’t talk to one another and try to get to know each other. I’d really like to get to know YOU,” she said. “Won’t you please come out of your cave so we can start to be friends?”
“DO YOU HAVE A SWORD HIDDEN SOMEWHERE?” asked the dragon. “I DON’T SEE ONE, BUT I THINK THIS MIGHT STILL BE A TRICK!”
“Nope. No sword,” said Olivia. And she did a little twirl around in front of the cave so that the dragon could get a good look at her.
“WELL, ALL RIGHT THEN,” said the dragon, ‘BUT IF THAT WIZARD SO MUCH AS TRIES TO PULL OUT A WAND THERE WILL BE TROUBLE.”
Olivia looked at the wizard. It was a look which clearly said, “Don’t you DARE pull out your wand!!!”
There was a rustling and a scuffling from the cave. Suddenly an enormous golden head poked out. The dragon was the most amazing creature Olivia had ever seen. He leaned over and sniffed her. “NICE ARMOR!” he said. “IT LOOKS LIKE ME!” And sure enough, it did.
The dragon sniffed at the wizard next. The old man trembled, but he let the dragon smell him. “URG,” said the dragon. “YOU SMELL LIKE POTIONS. YUCK.” The old wizard frowned.
“I think you two have a lot to talk about,” said Olivia. “But I think if we really try, we can all help each other and learn from each other. Dragon, wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to worry about knights coming after you any more?”
“IT WOULD INDEED,” said the dragon.
“And Sir Wizard, wouldn’t it be wonderful if the kingdom had a friendly dragon to help it? Think of all the wonderful things he could do for you! He could guard the crops, and scare away enemies. He could make fires for people in the wintertime, and teach us all kinds of things! Dragons are supposed to be very wise, you know,” she said.
“OH, WE ARE,” said the dragon.
“See?” said Olivia. “Probably all we’d have to do in return is leave him alone to gather his special plants and herbs, and make sure he had some privacy.”
“YEAH, THAT WOULD PRETTY MUCH DO IT!” said the dragon.
“You would really do all that for us?” asked the old man. “And all we’d have to do in return is help out with your special plants and leave you alone?”
“WELL, THERE IS ONE MORE THING,” said the dragon. “I HAVE NOTICED THAT YOU HAVE SOME LOVELY CARROTS GROWING ON YOUR FARMS. DO YOU THINK THAT YOU COULD SELL ME SOME OF YOUR EXTRAS? I HAVE A WHOLE HOARD OF DRAGON GOLD IN HERE THAT I DON’T QUITE KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH, AND I REALLY, REALLY LOVE CARROTS.”
“Why, of course!” said the wizard. “I’m sure we could come to some kind of arrangement.”
Olivia went over to the dragon and petted him gently on his great golden snout. “I’m glad I could be your friend,” she said. “I hope I can come see you again.”
“CERTAINLY. ANY TIME!” he said.
“I don’t even know your name!” realized Olivia.
“IT’S OLIVER,” said the dragon. “PLEASED TO MEET YOU, SIR OLIVIA.”
“And I’m very pleased to meet you, too!” said Olivia.
Olivia went over to the old wizard and gave him an awkward hug. (It’s hard to hug somebody when you’re wearing armor.) “Now you be nice and try hard to work things out,” she said, “because I will be back to make sure everyone is still friends!”
“Oh, don’t you worry about that, Sir Olivia,” said the wizard. “I have a feeling that things are going to work out just fine!” Then the wizard turned to the dragon and they began to talk about carrots and herbs. Olivia quietly removed the knight’s helmet.
BAMPH! Olivia was back in the closet once again. She took off the helmet and carefully placed it back in its metal hatbox. She thought about this latest adventure, and decided that it was her most interesting one yet. She was very glad to have made a new friend like Oliver. Yes, this was a helmet which she would try on again some day!
Then Olivia left the closet, closed the door, and went downstairs to see if her Mom would fix her some carrots with her dinner.
The End
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