Where to Move Scalaed
After I changed the Waldens’s place of residence from Tennessee to Arizona thanks to a rewatch of Cars with my brothers, my characters lived in an unspecified fictional location. The campsite Melanie found Scald’s egg was made up, and I never said where in the state it was. When I began expanding the backstory, I needed to choose a real town to add a sense of realism. My first pick was Yuma, since Ian Waldens was active duty at the Marine Corps Air Station there. Yuma is quite a long ways from the Grand Canyon, so I needed to get the siblings to come to the solution to move him there somehow. That’s where this scene takes place. Somewhere around Chapter 6, I guess?
I cut this scene when I changed Ian’s occupation to retired Marine and now Grand Canyon Ranger, which allowed me to move the whole fam right next door to the National Park in Page, AZ.
As always, these deleted scenes have not been edited in any way apart from my own self-revision.
Scalaed reached a point at the end of the year where the local wildlife learned of his residence and now steered clear of him by a considerable radius. Hunting too far from his home risked being seen, so it was decided he should relocate—preferably somewhere deeper in the mountains or canyons.
“You need to have a bigger region to hunt, Scalaed.”
Melanie and Jason sat on the ground in front of his cave, a box of cookies between them.
“Yeah, in fact, if we go north, there’s plenty of wildlife preserves,” Jason grinned slyly. “Now that’s a buffet for you right there.”
“Jason,” Melanie droned. “That’s government protected land. Literally the last place he should be.”
“Ah, he can be careful, right Kool-Aid?”
Scalaed rumbled. His voice—if one were to call it that—had deepened tremendously from the squeaky purrs it once was. Now Melanie and Jason could feel it through the rocks and earth.
“No, Scalaed, it’s too dangerous. I’m sure the Department of the Interior or whatever will notice if a dragon started interfering with the preserve.”
Jason read from his phone, “‘Kofa National Wildlife Refuge is over half a million acres and initially established to protect desert bighorn sheep.’ Ooh, sounds yummy.”
“You’re not helping.”
“Fat, juicy sheep, Scalaed.”
“Stop,” Melanie laughed and hit his phone.
“Kofa’s a ginormous region, come on.” Jason groaned. “It’s that or a national forest somewhere, because we live in a state with a horrible biome where the only decent prospects are protected parks.”
Melanie still didn’t like the plan, but Jason made a valid point. She rubbed her face, moaning behind her hands. “But the tourists.”
Jason scrolled down and proudly showed her his screen as he read, “‘No off-road travel allowed, no drones or UAVs, and no exploring caves.’ With those rules, human contact is limited.”
Melanie pursed her lips in thought. Kofa National Wildlife Refuge wasn’t that far away—only about forty miles.
Scalaed warbled sadly.
“Just for a little while,” Melanie replied. “I’ll move to be closer if I have to.”
“Sweet!” Jason pumped his fist. “We ride in a fortnight.” He added dramatically.
Scalaed and Melanie stared at him.
“What? How else are we gonna get there other than flying?”
***
Melanie and Jason spent their lunchtime in the school library. They had been zooming in and out all over google maps on one of the library computers, trying to find a safe home for Scalaed.
“Everything is so far away,” Melanie mumbled, hunched over Jason;s shoulder.
Jason nodded as he scrolled through pictures. “Yeah, you never realize just how huge this state is until you zoom in.”
“Makes sense, Uncle Conrad is like, eight hours away in Rock Point.” Melanie pointed at the screen.
“Does Edmund know that?” Jason eyed her. “That could really crumble the lie you’ve been telling him.”
“No, he doesn’t know. As far as he’s concerned, Uncle Conrad and his dogs live here in Yuma.”
The siblings scrolled through endless options, checking photos of various locations and parks, but nothing felt safe.
“Monument Valley?” Jason had slouched in the swivel chair, knuckles curled into his cheek to support his head.
“No, he needs water.”
Melanie had flopped on her back in a bean bag, arms draped overhead in her hair.
“Grand Canyon.”
“Why are you picking tourist attractions?”
“Only thirty percent of its caves have been explored, and even fewer mapped,” Jason pressed. “He’ll have the Colorado River to drink, plus there’s national forests he can hunt in with bigger game like deer and bison. It’s a gold mine!”
“Except for all the people,” Melanie sat up with a groan.
“There are over seven billion people in the world. There’s gonna be humans no matter where you go.”
“It’s just … that’s so far away.”
“Five and a half hours to drive three hundred miles.”
Melanie fell back into the bean bag and covered her face with a whimper.
“Hey,” Jason was quickly at her side. “You have to trust Scalaed can take care of himself, okay? I mean, clearly his kind has stayed hidden all these years just fine. He’ll survive.”
“You ever wonder where he came from?” Melanie asked as she stared at the ceiling.
“Whispering Pines Campsite.”
“No, goof,” Melanie allowed a smile as she sat up. “Like, is he even from earth?”
