Saved by the dragons

[altivo]

Nanowrimo word count: 27200 (1673 today)
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Reptiles, it seems, are immune to the poppy drug, and it was they, in great numbers who came to save Ricky and his mother and brother by carrying them out of the field of deadly flowers. Philosophizing and more Omar follows. Proof and post in the morning, right now it's Wednesday and I've had all I can manage for the day.

Comments

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I had no idea poppies were deadly. O.O

[altivo]

As Eustace Clarence Scrubb might say, it's an allusion thingummy.

The poppy that is deadly is the opium poppy. As far as I know, the poppies that grow in Flanders are not so toxic, but this is that artistic license thing. The literary allusion in this case is to the work of L. Frank Baum (an Illinois author!) who used the poppy imagery and the deadly sleep in The Wizard of Oz. I believe it appeared again in later books. Those who wandered into the poppy fields fell into an opium trance or sleep from which they would not awaken without outside intervention. The tin man and the scarecrow were immune, not being made of flesh, and they rescued Dorothy, Toto, and the Cowardly Lion the first time it happened by physically carrying them from the field. The same scene appears in the MGM film with Judy Garland that is probably more familiar to most readers than the original book might be.

If I remember correctly, there was another occasion where the flying monkeys did the same. Perhaps they were immune or perhaps because they moved quickly enough, they were not overcome by the poisonous fumes.