Dragon Egg

by Emily Rinkema

I’ve decided not to renew my child’s contract. I just need it to be quieter. I just need there to be no more talking.

It’s not an easy decision, but I know it’s the right decision for us, for me. And besides, he’ll get picked up quickly. He’s kind and coordinated and knowledgeable about so many things. Like Minecraft.

Last year I bought him an XBox to stop him from talking about dinosaurs. He’d come home from school, put on his headphones, pick up the controller, and it was quiet. But then he started talking about Minecraft at dinner. And in the bath. And on the way to the bath. And at breakfast and in the car and in the grocery store and at bedtime. 

He’ll be happier with a different, more patient mom, one who likes things he likes and knows what questions to ask and doesn’t need tequila to get through bathtime. I know through the PTA newsletter that some of his friends are moving on as well. One just accepted a family in Portugal. One is becoming a free agent. One, a sweet looking little girl from his class who loves horses, is being traded for a pair of golden doodles. 

“I’ve already had a half dozen offers,” I tell him at dinner, and he looks pleased. He’s been talking about leaving for a while now. When he’s not talking about Minecraft. He told me he’s hoping for a two-parent home. I’m not going to lie, that hurt a little.

“Do any of them like Minecraft?” he asks.

“Of course,” I say. And then he asks if I know what the rarest item is in Minecraft and why it’s so rare and where it appears and how it can be obtained and even before I can say I don’t know any of that, he tells me. 

I’ll definitely miss him. I imagine there will even be times when I’m sitting alone on the couch quietly reading that I’ll miss his voice. I know I’m going to miss the way he smells, like strawberries and cut grass, like honey and hay. But how hard can it be to find a candle with that scent?

Emily Rinkema lives in northern Vermont, USA. Her writing has most recently appeared in Milk Candy Review, Flash Frog, Ghost Parachute, and Wigleaf, and she won the 2024 Cambridge Prize and the 2024 Lascaux Prize for flash fiction. You can follow her on X, BS, or IG @emilyrinkema.