Theo’s Traveling Tap

“Boom, boom, boom!” went the dragon hatchlings. “Tap,” went Theo’s drum.

The hatchlings marched in a grassy clearing among the Dragon Mountains. Their little wings bounced. Their tails swished. They clapped their claws and stomped their feet.

“Boom, boom, boom!” called Brindle, who wore a yellow scarf around her neck.

“March, march, march!” answered Pip and Nudge.

Theo stood beside a flat stone, holding a tiny drum made from a hollowed-out stump and a circle of smooth hide. He wanted to march with the others more than anything.

“May I join your game?” he asked.

“Of course!” said Brindle. “We need one more marcher.”

Theo’s face brightened. He tapped his drum. “Tap, tap, tap.”

“Ready?” called Brindle. “Boom, boom, boom!”

The hatchlings clapped and stomped. Their feet made the grass tremble. Theo tapped along, but his little drum sounded like a mouse nibbling a cracker beside a row of thunderclouds.

“Tap, tap,” he tried.

“Boom, boom!” went the others.

Theo marched beside Pip. He lifted his knees high. He swished his tail on the beat. Still, nobody heard his drum.

“Wait!” said Nudge. “I think Theo missed the beat.”

“I’m right here,” Theo said. “I’m tapping!”

Brindle stopped. “We can’t hear you over all our clapping.”

Theo looked down at his drum. He didn’t want to make a louder sound by shouting. He wanted the others to hear the beat he had made.

“Maybe I should clap instead,” he said.

“Try it!” said Pip.

Theo clapped, but his small claws made a quiet click. The hatchlings’ stomps swallowed that sound, too.

The game started again. “Boom, boom, boom!” went the group. “Tap,” went Theo. He tried marching faster, then slower, but his beat still disappeared.

At the edge of the clearing lay a long, hollow log. It had rolled down from the mountain long ago and rested among the grass. When the hatchlings stomped, the log gave a low, rumbly “brrr-oom.”

Theo paused. He tipped his head toward it.

“Did you hear that?” he asked.

“Hear what?” said Brindle.

Theo stepped toward the log, carrying his drum. He wondered if the old wood had a secret way to listen.

Theo knelt beside the hollow log. One end was open, and the other was tucked under a tuft of grass.

“Hello?” he whispered into it.

“Hello-o-o,” answered the log.

Theo’s eyes widened. He tapped the side of the log with one claw. “Tok.”

“Tok,” the log replied, sending the sound out through its open end.

Theo held his drum near the opening. “Tap.”

“Tap,” came the answer—clear and round, as if the log had carried Theo’s tiny beat across the clearing.

“Brindle!” Theo called. “Come listen!”

The hatchlings gathered around. Pip pressed an ear to the log. Nudge leaned so close that his nose went inside.

“Tap,” Theo played.

“Tap,” said the log.

“It’s your beat!” cried Pip.

“It traveled!” said Nudge, backing out with a grass seed on his nose.

Theo smiled. “Could we march with the log beside us?”

“Let’s try,” said Brindle. “Everybody, quiet claws!”

The hatchlings held their feet still. Theo tapped the drum beside the open end.

“Tap, tap, tap.”

“Tap, tap, tap,” carried the log.

They began to march. Theo led, and the hatchlings followed. But when they added their claps and stomps, the little taps disappeared again.

Brindle stopped. “We’re being too loud for Theo’s beat.”

“Could we make room for it?” Theo asked. His voice wobbled a little, but he kept his drum in place. “Maybe we can stomp after my tap.”

Pip tried first. “Tap… boom!”

Nudge copied him. “Tap… boom!”

Brindle clapped once after each tap. “Tap… clap!”

The sound rolled through the log and out across the grass. The hatchlings listened closely, then joined in, one by one.

“Tap… boom!”

“Tap… clap!”

“Tap… boom!”

Their feet and claws found a new pattern. No beat had to push another away. Theo’s drum began the sound, the log carried it, and the hatchlings answered.

“Now we have a marching song!” Brindle cheered.

Theo stood tall. “Shall we try our refrain?”

“Boom, tap, boom—march along!” called the hatchlings.

Theo led them around the clearing, and every little dragon kept the beat.

“Boom, tap, boom—march along!” sang the hatchlings as they circled the grassy clearing.

Theo walked at the front, carrying his drum beside the hollow log. Each time he tapped, the wood sent his beat out where everyone could hear it.

“Tap… boom!” went Theo and Pip.

“Tap… clap!” answered Brindle.

Nudge added a gentle tail swish. “Tap… swish!”

The hatchlings laughed. They tried the pattern with tiny steps, then with long, wiggly steps. One marched in a circle. Another marched backward until Brindle gently turned him around.

“Careful, Nudge,” she said. “The mountain isn’t going anywhere.”

“I know,” Nudge replied. “I’m just showing it my tail.”

Theo tapped, and the log carried the sound. The others waited for his beat before adding their own. They marched together past a patch of clover, around the flat stone, and back to the place where the game had begun.

“Let’s do one last round,” said Brindle.

“Together,” Theo said.

They began their refrain again. “Boom, tap, boom—march along!”

This time, the rhythm was not loud or fast. The hatchlings’ claps were small. Their stomps made soft dimples in the grass. Theo’s taps traveled through the log, steady as a friendly knock.

“Boom, tap, boom,” they sang.

When the round ended, Pip yawned so widely that his little wings lifted.

“That was a fine game,” Brindle said. “Theo, you led us beautifully.”

Theo tucked his drum under one wing. “You listened beautifully.”

The hatchlings walked out of the clearing together, following a winding trail between the Dragon Mountains. The hollow log stayed behind in the grass, holding the last of their music for a moment before the sound faded away.

“Boom, tap, boom,” they hummed as they went.

Their steps grew slower. Their voices grew quieter. By the time they reached their cozy sleeping caves, the refrain was only a murmur shared between friends.

“Boom… tap… boom,” they whispered, marching the last few steps side by side. Then each young dragon curled up, warm and still, while Theo’s little drum rested close beside him.