Henri-Pierre Cailloux slowly put down his tools on the bench and sighed. The clock struck midnight.
He wound up the mechanism and watched as the wooden toy flapped it’s wings gently. He closed his eyes and listened to the whirring and ticking. A satisfied smile spread over his face. Everything in perfect working order.
This would be the last toy he would make. The new superstore had moved in across the street. Henri-Pierre watched each day as families flocked to it. They left with armfuls of plastic toys, based on the latest craze, brightly-coloured and mass-produced.
His loyal customers grew old or moved away. The demand for hand-crafted, unique wooden toys disappeared.
Achingly, he stood and stretched his back and neck. He removed his eye-glass and extinguished the lamp. He left the workshop and walked up the creaking old staircase.
Henri-Pierre lay down in his bed for the last time and fell into a peaceful sleep.
In the workshop the ticking clockwork of the dragon unwound until the wings stopped moving. The last cog ticked to a halt.
The eyes of the dragon glowed a deep red, the wings slowly spread.

Written as part of Sunday Photo Fiction. Write a story of around 200 words based on the photo prompt given (above). Hosted by Al Forbes. For more details visit HERE.
To read more stories based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.
This month I am participating in the A TO Z CHALLENGE 2017 – a post each day based on the letters of the alphabet and theme. Find out more about it HERE. As this challenge will take up a lot of my blogging time I may not get round to commenting on everyone’s posts, but I hope to find time to read all your stories as usual, and still be able to participate in Sunday Photo Fiction each week.
AW come on….. Do NOT leave us here!! Happy Easter Iain
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Happy Easter! 🙂
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Sad tale of ‘progress’, nicely done, with enough of a twist to keep us guessing
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Thanks CE
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It is like Pinocchio… The toy that came to life! Fantastic story 🙂
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Thanks Angie, Pinocchio as a dragon 🙂
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This is awfully sad – but exquisite too.
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I suspect just about every story written for this prompt will include the dragon coming alive.
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Much more dramatic when they’re alive.
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I took a different approach. Let me know what you think.
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A sign of the times, then we want to go back to the ‘older’ ways. Nicely done.
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Thanks Sally
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A twist on a Velveteen Rabbit?
That dragon is real in ways the Superstore should dread!
😉
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No telling if it’s a friendly or angry dragon… 🙂 Thanks Liz
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Hey I have almost that exact picture on my phone! It’s from the Wicked set in the Gershwin Theater.
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Ah okay, that makes sense! I guess Jade, who provided the prompt photo, is a Wicked fan 🙂
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Aww, I used to love handmade toys. I wouldn’t mind a dragon either. It’ll be so cool to ride one. It’ll probably chomp my head off in one go or might just end up being an extremely friendly dragon 😉 Although you seem to have a knack of stopping a story right at an interesting point!
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I hadn’t really decided if it was a friendly or a nasty dragon. I think nice in the end 🙂
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Could be like Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.
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Sad, but lovely.
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Thank you.
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Great job!
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Thanks Joy 🙂
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Very poignant, Iain. I would have bought it!
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Thank you, glad you liked it 🙂
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Great story! There’s this wonderful melancholy mood over the whole piece.
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Thank you, always appreciated 🙂
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Talk about mourning for the good old days. Nicely done. Lain.
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Thanks Neel
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This is a great story. Sad but beautiful.
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Thank you, very kind.
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Winding down your own life — fantastic concept.
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Thank you Sue.
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You’re welcome, Iain.
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I like that. The sadness and something new there. Very good
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Thank you.
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