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.