Storiesonline.net
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                             The Sea's Gift
                             by Dual Writer

Copyright© 2009 by Dual Writer


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Description: A silly story of how a couple of diving bums (a young man and woman in this case) find an unknown species of dragons. The story is fun, about how some interesting dragons affect many on their way to influencing the attitudes of many. What would you do if you met a real live dragon? You won't be titillated or shocked by this one, So close to PG it's a small p.

Codes: fant humor
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Chapter 1



These are strange times. The economy sucks to the point that it's almost a depression but in reality it's only a deep recession. We, the U.S. has a black or at least a half black president that is strutting around acting like he knows what he's doing. Too bad he wants nationalize industry, especially the fuel companies and now he's declared that everyone must be some kind of union member.

Seventy percent of the Earth's population wants to make glass out of the entire Middle East and the religious zealots that live there. The next twenty percent want to find a place where they can hide and the last ten percent are the zealots who wish kill the other ninety percent.

The idiots that were preaching global warming are now hunting for a way to get warm as the global temperature is now a whole two degrees colder than ever before. The glaciers are getting larger in some areas but still melting in others. The funny thing though is the ice shelf at the North Pole is now much larger on the side away from Alaska.

Good ole' Alaska. The governor there, a crazy lady with bigger balls than almost the entire congress put together, decided to drill for oil on federal land whether they allowed it or not. Well duh, Scary Sarah struck oil all right. The wells up there are gushing out so much oil, even the two new pipelines can't keep up with it. They keep trying to cap off the well but can't. Now instead of a big valley, they have a huge lake of oil. It'll take even the U.S. to use up all the oil.

As all this craziness was happening something really strange happened. A guy from Corpus Christi, Texas was diving around one of the older oil platforms and found some unique creatures. They were pink, glowed in the dark and seemed to be friendly. They followed him a little ways up as he slowly went up from the two hundred feet that he had been at. They only came up about a hundred feet then they all swam away from him.

Well he went back down two days later and encountered the little pink critters again. This time he brought a powerful light so he could see them better than the dull illumination of their glow. When he switched on the light, all of them scattered immediately. He left the light on and they began coming closer to it until they were in the light, near him.

Surprise, they looked like miniature dragons. You know, the dragons that cartoon artist draw all the time. The difference was, these little ones didn't have the point ridges down their back and tail. They did have the sharp features of the dragon head and face though. The diver had brought an underwater camera with him and took several pictures, knowing that he would need proof of what he was seeing.

This time as he began ascending again, going up very slowly to keep from getting the bends, the little guys kept following him all the way to the surface. When his head came out of the water, eight little dragon heads appeared around him. They were looking all around quickly. Spinning in circles then "pop" they all disappeared back into the water.

Wow, pink glow-in-the-dark miniature dragons. Now, how do you tell the world what you have discovered? If people believe him will they hurry to dive down there and disrupt the creatures? Would they harm the little guys?

It was a dilemma that the guy from Corpus Christi, Texas had to figure out before he went public with his find.

The man's name was Charles Johnson. Some people called him Chuck. His occupation was a diver for the oil companies. He wasn't employed by any one of them but sub-contracted to all of them. Chuck was one of the best when it came to underwater welding. Platforms were always needing someone to go down to ridiculous depths to replace a large piece of steel on a structure. Most of the time Chuck could do it by himself but sometimes he had to have help. He usually used a lady who was an expert diver but was also big and strong. Even though moving a two-ton piece of steel around under water is fairly easy when it is suspended, Chuck often needed a hand to get the piece in place so he could weld it.

Chuck's helper was Susan Francis Unice (please note the lack of an E as in Eunice) with a last name of Nardelli. Or as Chuck would commonly and fondly called her, "Fun." If Chuck called her Francis she was usually pissed off at him for a week. He could call her Susan or Sue or Fran or Franny but never Francis. She would answer to Unice or a "Hey Nardelli" but never Francis. That's how she became "Fun" to Chuck.

Anyway, Chuck decided to tell Fun about the little pink dragons and see if she might want to go see them.

"Hey Fun, want to go diving. I want to show you something way down deep. Here, look at these pictures that I took, you won't believe it." Chuck handed the small storage device to Fun so she could plug it into her PC.

The first picture was the surprised looking face of a pink dragon. "Where did you take this, Toys-R-Us?"

"Keep looking lady. And then you tell me where I took them."

Fun began flipping through the pictures until she had looked at all fifty of them. The location had to be some where near the old platform base the two had worked on several times so it was easy to know where the pictures were taken. The bright light Chuck had used was able to light an area out to about twenty feet.

"What in the hell are those things? Are you playing a joke on me? Did you take some toys down there to take these pictures?"

"I know you don't believe me but you have to come down with me to see these things. They're not aggressive and seem to be curious about me too. If you're over that runny nose you had, let's go down this afternoon, Okay?"

"I'm fine; I've had two little jobs inspecting yacht bottoms. I haven't been down deep for a couple of weeks so we'll have to get some nitrox tanks (enriched oxygen) if we're going to stay down long. Let me get my equipment and my camera. I'll bring my light too. Do you still have your really bright lamp that fit on your head gear?"

"Thanks Fun, you're not going to believe it until you see them. So far I haven't touched them but they keep getting closer to me. I hope they're still there when we get down."

The two friends loaded up Fun's gear then went to the dive supply for the special deep dive air. Chuck said he was stocking up as he filled four more bottles with the mixture needed to go deep.

Chuck had an old thirty-five foot cabin cruiser that he had converted to a dive boat. He also used it as his office and home. It was nice below deck but not very big. It didn't matter because Chuck was just Chuck. He didn't socialize that much and his best friend and sort of girlfriend, Fun, had a small cottage in one of the Padre Islands older communities far from the tourists that flock there.

The friends took the boat out to the dormant oil platform. The oil company had shut this one down for a while. They had shut it down for a hurricane that was supposed to hit and decided to keep it shut down for a while. Since the Alaskan oil was so plentiful, it was too expensive to open the platform back up right now. It was anticipated though that the U.S. would begin selling oil to China and India soon so the platform would probably re-open.

They tied off on two platform trusses so the boat would stay stable and not float into the steel beam. As the two put on their suits and gear Chuck said, "Let's take the extra tanks down to about a hundred feet or so and put them in a net. That way if we stay down too long we can get them on the way up. When you see these things, you're going to want to do more that look and surface, trust me."

They loaded up with their lights, cameras and a net with two more tanks then eased into the water from the platform on the rear of the boat. They slowly descended until Chuck motioned that he was going to tie the net to the truss they were using as a guide to go down.

They both had the small high intensity head lamps on as they went down. All of a sudden at about a hundred and forty feet, little pink dragons came swimming by. They darted around the two drivers until a large group of them were behind Chuck. They were peaking out from behind him at Fun.

Susan Francis Unice Nardelli almost drowned right there. She was so surprised she blew her mouthpiece out of her mouth and began swallowing seawater. Fun was experienced enough to quickly recover, forcing the seawater out of her mouth then reinserting her mouthpiece. It took her several breaths to become stable again then she reached out to Chuck.

"Bam!" Four of the little critters swam out from behind Chuck and butted their heads into Fun's stomach forcing her away from him.

Chuck began waving his arms and reached for Fun. He brought her to him in an embrace. He was hugging her to him as she recovered from being struck so hard.

The little pink critters began swimming in circles around the two until they all clustered near the two divers heads, staring at them. One of the pink dragons kept darting down then coming back to the group. Finally after doing that for over ten times, Chuck and Fun descended too, going all the way to the bottom.

All of the little pink dragons were swimming back and forth while the two divers arranged their big lights so they could take pictures. First Fun took several pictures of the little fellows when they would stop. Chuck however had his digital video camera going taking pictures of the dragons swimming around.

Just as he was panning toward on of the platform anchors, a larger shape flashed by. It appeared to be yellow and about twice the size of the pink things. Chuck held his camera still and kept it pointed in the same direction.

A group of little pink dragons darted out of the lights beam then came back into view slowly. They looked as if they were herding three of the larger yellow,,,,,,,,, dragons? Yep, it was a bright yellow dragon that was about three foot tall. This one had rounded bumps on its back and tail. As the group came closer to the divers, you could see that the yellow dragons were afraid. They were cautious and hesitant as they came nearer and nearer to the divers.

Almost as if to show the yellow dragon there was nothing to fear, one of the little pink dragons swam up and sat on Chucks shoulder. Another one swam a little slower up to Fun and sat on her shoulder. Then about a dozen of the little pink critters clustered around the two divers as the yellow ones tried to define what Chuck and Fun were.

Chuck's wrist band began buzzing. It was time for the two divers to begin to surface. The depth would require over thirty minutes to reach the surface so they turned off the big lights and began to slowly ascend, stopping every twenty to twenty-five feet to equalize. By the time they reached the net with the fresh tanks, Fun's wristband had a flashing red light indicating she was on reserve on her tank.

They pulled out the first tank and hooked it up for Fun then they repeated the process with a tank for Chuck. The little pink dragons were still clustered around them and swam in and out of the net opening and now rubbing on the two divers continuously. The larger yellow dragons were still following but were about five to ten feet away. Thirty minutes later the two divers slowly surfaced and put their gear up on the big platform on the rear of the boat. When they had done this the little pink dragons were doing their spinning around routine again looking everywhere.

STOP

The yellow dragons stuck their heads above water and began looking around frantically. They were still afraid of the divers but were following the pink ones. Fun took off her flippers and flopped them onto the platform then pulled the ladder down and began climbing up onto the platform. As soon as she turned and sat on the platform, a little pink dragon seemingly flew from the water and sat next to Fun. Several other pink dragons then burst from the water and landed on several places on the boat. A yellow dragon flew from the water and landed on the boat about ten feet from the stern then slowly walked toward the group at the rear.

Now that you could see the dragons in daylight, you could see small wings on their backs. The yellow guys had bigger wings. Fun now had a small pink dragon sitting on her lap. It was staring at Fun as if trying to talk to her. The dragon used its tail to balance itself and leaned back on the tail and rear legs so it would sit up. The little critter had front paws that only had four claws that resembled fingers. One of the claws was like a thumb and the other three were like fingers. As if to prove what the divers were thinking, the little dragon began touching the gear still hanging from Fun's neck.

Chuck jumped from being goosed in the rear. Since he was still in the water watching what was happening with Fun, one of the yellow dragons had come up behind him and butted him in the butt. When Chuck spun around, the bigger yellow dragon almost looked like he had a smile on his face. Thinking that perhaps the dragon wanted to play, Chuck pulled his flippers off and tossed them into the back of the boat. Once he had climbed up on the platform, he took off his tanks and weight belt and stowed them in the back of the boat. He took Fun's equipment and put them there as well.

Chuck dug around in his big equipment locker and came out with a big ball that was about eight inches around. It actually was a float but it looked like a ball. Chuck held it out so the yellow dragon could see the ball then threw it about thirty feet out from the boat.

Instantly the yellow dragon skimmed across the water to intercept the ball. Once it reached the ball, it didn't know what to do with it. Chuck began calling, "Bring it here, bring it back to me," gesturing to the yellow dragon. While the big dragon was trying to figure out what to do, a little pink dragon darted out to the ball, scooped it up and brought it to Chuck, hovering in front of him holding the ball.

Chuck gently took the ball noticing that the yellow dragon was up near the boat again. He tossed the ball out a little ways again but this time the yellow dragon came out of the water, intercepted the ball and instantly flew back in front of Chuck with it. When Chuck took the ball the dragon flew around Chuck two or three times then gently settled on his shoulder.

Chuck staggered from the weight. This may have been a little dragon, only three feet tall but damn, he was heavy.

Fun said, "What are we going to do with them. They seem to like being with us."

"I don't know but look out there, Isn't that a larger bright orange dragon head sticking out of the water?"

"Holy smokes Chuck look at all of the yellow dragons sitting in the water now. There must be hundreds of them."

"I know Fun; there must be several hundred pink ones too. Wow! Would you look at that?" Chuck pointed where several more orange heads were appearing above the water.

A couple of pink dragons flew out to the orange ones and it looked like they were having a conversation then they slowly led the bigger orange dragons toward the boat. One of the Orange dragons popped from the water and soared into the air a hundred or so feet up in the air then swooped down near Fun and I to land on the water. It was very disconcerting as they could sit on top of the water as if they were on a platform. Actually their wings were keeping them at exactly that level.

Fun got up, pulled the ladder up then climbed into the boat. "What are we going to do with our new friends? Who's going to believe us? What will the scientist do? Will they want to dissect one of them?"

"I don't know Franny, this is more than I can handle," Chuck said as he sat on the gunwale of the boat.

The large orange dragon flew up and settled on the side of the boat near Chuck. You could see that it was about five feet tall. The ridges on its back and tale were sharper than the yellow dragons. The eyes on the orange dragon near Chuck appeared to be a beautiful brown and looked at him very expressively.

A pink dragon was now on the gunwale next to Chuck sitting up on its back legs with its tail balancing him. The critter leaned forward and flicked his tongue at Chuck's hand.

Fun said, "Careful there, he's tasting you I think."

After the tongue had touched my hand a couple of times, it stuck his nose onto my skin then bounced his nose up the neoprene arm of my suit. The big orange dragon was edging closer so I thought he wanted to smell me and taste me too. When I stuck my hand out to him, his eyes got real big and he opened his mouth, making a low screech. The part that got my attention was the flame that came from his mouth. My hand wasn't burned but I did feel the heat.

About a dozen pink dragons buzzed the big orange one that belched fire at me. They buzzed and bumped him until they made him jump into the water. Once the orange dragon was in the water or rather sitting on top of it, the little pink guys were hovering in front of me as if in a protective mode.

"You have some buddies Chuck. how about that, a genuine fire breathing dragon."

"I don't think he was being mean, I think I startled him and scared the fire out of him."

Fun said, "I didn't see what you did, I was too interested in that giant thing sticking its head out of the water over there." She was pointing out now over a sea of pink, yellow and orange dragons that appeared to be sitting on the water.

"Oh shit, I wonder if that's big brother or Momma." I asked looking at the huge head looking at us."

The head slowly came out of the water revealing a big bright lime green neck then a bright lime green body with big wings and a long, long tail. The dragon must be fifty foot from nose to the tip of its tale and probably was about twenty-five feet tall. As it rose from the water, there was a large purple dragon sitting on the tale of the big one. It looked to be about nine or ten foot tall.

Once up on the water in what again looked like a sitting position, several more purple heads popped up around where the green dragon was. A bunch of small pink dragons flew around the huge green dragon and some flew around some of the bright purple dragons. Until it looked like they were convinced to come closer. All of them edged closer and closer until the boat was surrounded by pink, yellow, orange, and purple dragons with a giant green one leaning down to stare at Fun and I.

"Don't make any rapid moves. If the five foot orange one can shoot flames out of its mouth when it's startled, I don't want to know what the green one can do."

Fun who never, ever said a cuss word, said, "No shit!"

I went to one of the storage lockers and brought out a couple of lawn chairs. I opened both of them and Fun sat in one while I went below to grab a couple of cold beers. When I brought them up, a very large, very bright purple dragon was trying to sit in the other chair.

"Umm, hey Barney, that's my chair. You can fly and land where ever you want so how about hovering over there," pointing at the rear of the boat.

The purple dragon actually acted like he could understand me and settled on the rear railing.

Fun and I popped the tops of our beers and took a drink. We both exclaimed a satisfying ahhh feeling the cold brew go down. Several little pink dragons came flying up to us flicking their tongues out to see what we had. As soon as their noses or tongues got a scent of the beer, they wrinkled their noses and flew away.

Fun said, "At least the beer is safe for right now."

All of them were just staring at us. The different sizes were strange but were definitely distinguishable. Fun and I carried on a conversation for at least a half hour until she said, "I'm hungry. How about a sandwich? Do you think these guys will understand eating?"

"I don't know Franny, but I'm hungry too. Let's have a sandwich and another beer. We'll go in soon and go out for dinner."

While Fun was in the tiny galley on the boat, I noticed that the various dragons would dive into the water, be gone a while then pop back up to stare at the boat. The purple guys made a bigger splash than the others but I noticed they did the disappearing act then reappeared a little later. The more you looked at them the more you realized that they were all just enough different to tell them apart.

Fun said from behind me, "Turn around and look toward the front of the boat."

When I turned around to look, I was so startled I fell out of the chair. A dozen little pink dragons and a couple of yellow ones pulled me up and held me up standing as I gawked at about six more huge bright green dragons. They were all right in front of the boat, sitting on the water, leaning over to get a look at Fun and me.

Fun was laughing at me for having been so startled. "I would think that you would be used to these guys by now. What are six more big ones when there are probably a thousand pink, yellow, orange and purple ones around right now?"

One of the yellow dragons who had been holding me held my arm up and flew beneath it so my arm was actually over its back. Fun said, "I think that one likes you. I think my best friend is the Barney looking guy here."

"Here, take your sandwich and beer. I'm starved."

When I took my sandwich I instinctively took a big bite. A large tongue shot out of the big green dragons mouth and smacked my hand. I didn't drop the sandwich or spit out the bite but began chewing. The big green one in front of me appeared to understand and grunted a few times. Several pink, yellow, orange and purple dragons dove into the water. As I was taking my second bite, about two dozen dragons of different colors burst from the water. They were all carrying various types of seaweed. They appeared to be sharing it with the others and all of them that had a bite of seaweed in the mouth, chewed it up and swallowed.

Then the most startling thing of the day happened. The big green dragon nearest us behind the boat made a grunting noise. It wasn't very loud but the more the dragon worked its mouth, the louder it became. Finally it sounded like, "We eat too." A purple Barney dragon swooped up to Fun and I and repeated it, "We eat too." Very understandable. Fun and I both looked at the Orange dragons and they just grunted. The Yellow ones had a low pitched squeak and the pink ones had a chattering squeak that sounded sometimes excited and sometimes like laughter.

Fun asked, "Now what do we do with these guys?"

Our bright green monster leaned toward us and said, "We learn from you, teach us. Tell me about you. Let us learn from you."

"Tell you what. We didn't plan on staying out here tonight so we have to go back to shore. We'll pack up some food so we can stay out here with you a day or so then come back. We'll come right here. Do we have to come down to get you or will you know when we are here."

"Little one will go with you. When you come back, he'll come down and get us. You do not live under water well and go up and down to slow for us."

Fun said, "You've got us pegged but what do we do with one of you. Do you live in water? What do I feed it? Can I put it in a cage so it'll be safe?"

The big bright lime green dragon looked as if it smiled, "We live everywhere and anywhere. We need water like you need that smelly stuff you drank. We eat food from the sea or food from land. We don't usually eat things. Like I don't eat these little ones and they don't eat me. We eat other things that swim but we like grass from the sea or land best."

I was confused, "Where did learn to speak?" I asked this gesturing with my hands.

"You teach me with your hands and mouth. Other places speak too but have different sounds for different things."

Fun said, "He means different words, different languages."

A little pink dragon was now perched on Fun's shoulder with its head lying on top of her head. When another landed on my shoulder, the big green dragon said, "Only one will go this time. Come back tomorrow and more will go with you next time."

The big green dragon made a series whistling noises and every one of the dragons except the one on Fun's shoulder disappeared into the water.

Fun and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. I looked at the little guy on her shoulder and said, "I wonder if he will talk too?"

The little guy made a high pitched sound. When I acted like I didn't understand him he squeaked louder, "Will soon, must learn."

Fun and I cleaned up and stowed the equipment on the boat and went into the Padre Island dock so Fun could get some clothes. I needed a shower too so when we got to the dock, Fun said, "let me run get my neighbors little dog carrier so we can put this critter in it. No one will see it while we going to the house."

As she said that, the little pink dragon went poof. It was gone. Fun and I looked at each other for a full minute. Fun asked me, "Was this all a dream? Was there really a little pink dragon?"

I felt a weight on my shoulder then Fun stepped back startled. "It just appeared on your shoulder. Can dragons become invisible?"

A squeaky voice from my shoulder said "Yes" as the dragon's head bobbed up and down.

"That takes care of that. Come on Fran, let's go get cleaned up. I'm going to take you out for a nice supper tonight. We'll get a big salad for our little buddy here. Okay Pinky, become invisible we're on our way home."

We walked from the dock across the beach up to the little cottage that Fun lived in. As soon as we were inside, the weight on my shoulder disappeared but a little pink dragon appeared darting around the little house. The little dragon was looking here and there, perching on the kitchen counter, then through the living room into the bedroom and perching in there then back through the hall into the bathroom.

I said to Fun, "Get your shower first then I'll take one before we go eat."

She looked at me kind of funny, "Get naked. We'll shower together. There's enough room for both of us."

"Umm, you know how I get. I'll embarrass you or me or Pinky here."

"Just shuck 'em and get in the shower," Fun was saying as she dropped her shorts and T-shirt to stand nude in front of me.

Sure enough, it was a struggle to get my shorts off. I was embarrassing myself even if she wasn't.

When we shower it's always fun to wash each other's hair. So far in our relationship we had been naked with each other dozens and dozens of times. We showered together often and even slept in the bed on the boat together a few times but we had never been intimate with each other. I didn't ever try anything with Fun because she was my best friend and I wanted to keep it that way. She didn't act like I should do anything else so I didn't.

While we showered and washed each other's hair, the dragon sat on the shower curtain rod watching us. Occasionally it would fly into the water make a laughing noise then fly back to the rod. Today was somehow different. As I washed Fun's hair from behind her she backed into me and wiggled her bottom on me. It was a good thing she quit or I would have had to wash her some more.

When we got out of the shower to dry off, the dragon was puzzled by the towels. Fran said, "These are towels. We humans like to be dry after we are clean."

The dragon sat on the sink looking at us then he flew at Fun and looked at her face, then settled lower and looked at her average sized chest then lower still to check out her lower regions. Next it did the same with me looking at my face, passing my chest and looking at my obvious male protrusion. In a squeaky voice it came up to Fran's face and said, "You woman". It then flew up to my face and said, "You man."

Fun and I looked at each other and began laughing. The little critter squeaked with us realizing that we were laughing at its discovery and the way it had put it together.

As they left the bathroom to get dressed the critter flew in front of them and settled on the bed. While Chuck and Fun were getting dressed, the little pink dragon squeaked, "Me girl, a woman, female."

Fun said, "You're learning fast."

I asked the pink dragon, "Are you going to come with us invisible or are you going to stay here."

She looked puzzled for a second then asked, "If stay here, what can learn?"

"Hmmm," Fun thought. "How about I turn the television on and you can learn our words while we are out. We'll only be gone an hour or so. I'll put the news on so you can learn what is going on in the world."

I instantly said, "I don't think that's a great idea. How about some comedy re-runs. I'll bet she will enjoy those more."

"Okay, comedy it is, how about I Love Lucy?" Fun turned on her TV and adjusted the volume. The little pink dragon sat on a footstool in front of the set listening intently.

While we were eating, Fun asked, "Do you think she stayed home or do you think she's with us?"

"I'd bet she stayed home. So far the little critters have been pretty nice. If she doesn't show herself to anyone then it really doesn't matter. If she does, then we have a world to explain too."

As we walked back to Fun's cottage both of us felt as if we were being watched. Once we felt the air stir around us but you can't tell when you're walking along a beach.

When we entered the house the little pink dragon was still sitting in the same place watching television. As I was sitting down she flew off the footstool and slammed into the back of my knees causing me to fall back sitting down. As soon as I was sitting the dragon began laughing in her squeaky way.

Fran had gone to the sink and drew a paper cup of water. As she began to take a sip the dragon flew up and tilted the water cup up so it all went down her front. Again the little girl dragon began laughing with a squeak.

"Hey!" Yelled Fun, "Why'd you do that?"

The little dragon was still laughing and said, "It was like that on the TV, why you no laugh?"

I put my hand on my forehead and said, "Oh no, she's been watching slap stick comedy for an hour. How many times do Lucy and Ethel do something to each other, Ricky, and Fred? We may be in trouble."

Fun went to the dragon and while shaking a finger in its face said in a very harsh tone, "Don't do things that hurt people." Then she yelled, "Now stop it."

The startled little dragon blinked, jumped back and a small flame came out of his mouth. She immediately covered her mouth with her front paw/hand whatever and said in a surprised voice, "Oh."

With that, the dragon disappeared. I said, "Please don't leave, we're not mad. We need to teach you what the difference is between comedy and real things."

Fun and I knew the dragon didn't leave because we could hear it sniveling a little, choking from crying. Fran sat down on the couch and patted the cushion next to her saying, "Come sit with me and we can talk, please?"

I could see a small indentation on the cushion next to Fun but still no dragon. Fun put her hand out to touch the dragon but couldn't feel anything. She laid her hand onto the cushion next to the indentation and just sat there smiling. Pretty soon, a little pink dragon appeared next to her.

We talked for a while then Fun said to me, "Stay here tonight. You can sleep with me. I'm sure our mini-dragon is going to sleep with us too so you should be safe."

We went to bed and slept well. When we woke up I looked around for the dragon but didn't see her. I slipped on my shorts and T-shirt then went into the living room. There it was, watching TV again. This time it was watching cartoons. I told the dragon to get invisible and come with me while I walked to the seven eleven for a cup of coffee. Instantly the little one vanished but I could faintly here its wings buzzing as I walked the block to the little store.

I took two giant cups out of the dispenser and began filling both. While I was pouring coffee, a large rude man that was obviously not from around here jostled me to the side so he could get some coffee. I saw a small flame shoot out at the man's hand causing him to drop the carafe back onto the warmer.

"Hey what'd you do that for?" He yelled at me.

"I didn't do anything; I was over here still trying to pour my coffee."

He held up his hand and said, "You burned me. Look, you can see the hair on the back of my hand is burnt. You did that to me."

The clerk from the store walked up and said, "I was watching and Chuck was two feet away from you. Don't try anything funny or I'll have to call the Sheriff. Get your coffee and leave."

When I finished getting my coffee I went up to the counter to pay. Sheryl said, "I should give these to you for free for having to put up with those Yankees that come down here. Staying with Sue huh?"

When I looked at her funny she said, "You know Fun, Fran, Franny."

"Oh, yeah, I stayed last night because we're going out early this morning. I always forget that the name her Mom calls her by is Sue. I've heard her yell out Susan Francis Unice Nardelli, come in here right now. That's probably why I call her either Fun or Fran."

As I left she called out, "See you later Chuck."

When I came into the house Fun was up and dressed. As I handed Franny the big cup of coffee she asked, "Did you take the dragon with you?"

"Yeah I did and the little squirt flamed a guy that pushed me out of the way to get some coffee. When the guy accused me of burning his hand, Sheryl said she saw that I wasn't close to him. She must not have seen the flame."

The dragon reappeared and sat on the footstool in front of Fun who said, "You have to watch out with people. You can't be shooting flames at everyone that disturbs you. No more flames okay? I'll tell you when you need to flame someone."

After we drank our coffee and had a bowl of cereal I asked the dragon if she wanted something to eat. She smiled so Fun took some lettuce from her fridge and tore off some leaves. The dragon ate it down quickly so Fun gave her some more. It ate another four leaves then indicated it was full.

We walked down to the boat then motored to the dive shop for some deep dive refills. With four tanks each we felt like we would be fine if we had to go back down a couple of times. We don't like to go deep two days in a row but we are both in good shape and can do it without harming ourselves.

It took an hour to go back out to the platform. As soon as we began tying up, the water began teaming with pink, orange, yellow and purple dragons. There were hundreds if not thousands of them. The big lime green dragon just appeared on the water and said, "You've treated your new friend well and looked out for her. Thank you. Both of you are welcome to be our friend and visit with us anytime."

I went to edge of the boat and looked the big dragon in the eye, "Okay. I have to ask. How can there be so many of you in these different bright colors and I've never seen you before. Plus other people anywhere haven't seen you either, how come?"

The big green dragon said, "Watch and learn."

It made a high pitched noise and every last dragon disappeared except the one I was talking to. It looked right at me and said, "Now you see me." Poof it was gone, disappeared, evaporated but I heard, "Now you don't."

Fun asked, "Do you mean you've always been here but were invisible?"

Poof the big green dragon was back in the same place. It made a noise and Wow the gulf was full of dragons again including about a dozen of the huge big green ones.

"Why did you show yourselves to us?" I asked.

The big dragon said, "We want to become more visible. The earth is in need of us right now. There are too many people who are being mean to each other. We've seen people killing and hurting others and we don't like it. We want to become people's pets so we can help control what's going on."

"Okay," I said. "So how are you going to use Fun and I to help you do this."

"I want you to help us become pets. We will not talk but be like regular dogs and cats, people's pets. We don't eat a lot but we can be funny. People will like us because we can fly and do silly things. We'll learn what makes people laugh and we'll do those things. Once we are in lots of homes and all over the world as pets, we can begin influencing the activities of mean people."

"You know, you're kind of big to be a pet. Those purple guys are too big too. The orange ones may be acceptable for some people but the ones that will become pets are the pink ones and the yellow ones. They are small like pets."

The big dragon looked thoughtful, "How about using what you call the orange ones and the purple ones to do work. Dragons love to be busy and do menial tasks. We work fast and cheap. You have to feed us similar to how you fed your new friend this morning."

I thought for a while and said, "How about I introduce a bunch of pink and yellow ones as possibly pets to people. You're going to have to teach them not to breathe fire on people, even if their masters are being hurt unless they can do it without anyone seeing them. You have to teach them to stay quiet and not talk. And finally you have to teach them not to disappear. Humans don't understand invisibility."

"We can do all that. Come back next week and we will be ready. Do you want to keep your pet with you? How about taking a yellow one with you too so you can introduce them to the public. Tell them you found us on a small secret island in South America and you will bring more into the U.S. for pets. Your authorities will want to test us for disease so we have to go along with that but we might be able to alter their minds when they try to do that to us in the future. What do you say; will you help us and begin showing us around to your news people?"

Fun and I looked at each other and shrugged. Fun said, "Sure, we'll do this and work with you. The earth needs a little help right now. So are you big guys going to hang out with us too?"

"Yes we will," said our huge dragon friend. "We can do a lot to help sometimes so we will stay invisible but all of us will be around to protect our little friends."

I asked, "Do you guys have names or do we name you?"

"We have names but they won't make sense to you. Name us. What name would you call me by?"

Fun and I both said at the same time, "Mom."

"Why mom?"

"You're like a mother. You're directing and watching everyone around you."

"Okay," the giant lime green dragon said, "I'll be Mom to you two. Now go and introduce your new pets."

"If I need you, how do I get in touch with you?" I asked.

"Easy, just call out for me. Call for Mom, I'll talk to you to find out what you need. Remember, we don't want people to see me yet."

An almost four foot high bright yellow dragon was standing next to Fun. Fun looked at the dragon and asked it, "Are you a male or female?"

Our little pink dragon flew in front of the yellow dragon and jabbered to it for a minute. Then the yellow dragon said very distinctly, "Female."

The little pink one was flying in front of my face asking me, "What will you call me, what is my name, huh? Huh?"

"I'll have to think about that for a while. You deserve a good name that's for sure."

Fun looked at her yellow dragon and said, "Your name will be Flower." Sue leaned over to me and whispered into my ear.

When she rose up I smiled and said to the little pink dragon sitting in a lawn chair, "We're going to call you Pink. I'll bet a lot of the pet dragons will be called pink."

A bunch of yellow and pink dragons came flying from the water carrying a bunch of seaweed. Mom said, "Here is some extra food for your pets before you get some for them."

Fun and I waved at them and said, "See you guys around. We'll see you next week for sure."

The pink and yellow dragons were hopping around the boat like rabbits. They were happy to be going with us.

As we were sailing back in Fun said, "You know, our lives will never be the same again."

"I know but we still have to work to make a living."

Fun said, "Perhaps these little guys or girls that is, can help figure out a way we can make money. You also know that you and I are going to have to be together all the time."

"Huh, how come?"

"You and I will have to be together because we both have pet dragons. Come on, I'm not that hard to be around am I? We like each other a lot. We've been friends for over five years doing things with each other. I leant you the money to get your boat so you could get your business started. You leant me the money for the down payment to buy my house. You and me Chuck, we're meant to be together."

I cut the power to the boat and let it drift. "So you're suggesting that we live together. Do we live on the boat or in your place?"

Fun answered, "Mine's bigger and we do have to take care of a couple of dragons now. I think we'll have to stay at the house. Can you do that?"

"Sure, I can live there. But I keep poking you all the time. Won't you get mad if that keeps happening?"

"Look Chuck, don't be so dense. We both know what you're supposed to do with that thing so why don't we use it for what it was intended?"

I must have looked really sick and pitiful as both dragons came to me and snuggled against me. Fun talked some more, "Oh come on. I know you want to do more with me than wash me and wash my hair. I want to do more with you too. Neither one of us really has any experience but I'll bet we can figure it out. If we need advise, we'll call Mom."

"That's even more embarrassing. I'm a twenty-seven year old man. I'm supposed to know all about that stuff and be experienced."

Fun looked a little shy, "I'm a twenty-seven year old woman that grew up with two sisters that were the dirty legs of Texas. I bet they took on half the county when they were in high school. I had a couple brothers that were pure whore dogs. They chased every girl they could. I know they caught a lot of them too because there were several claims by several girls who claimed they knocked them up. I just never found anyone that I wanted to do that with. Not till now. I want to do that with you."

"You do, really?"

Fun went up to him and hugged him. She gave him a gentle kiss filled with tons of promise and said, "Really."

Chucks mouth was open, working as if he were saying something but nothing was coming out.

Fun said, "You know how we're going to do it the first time too don't you?"

A huge smile began appearing on Chucks face. He went to the cockpit and turned on his depth finder then walked over to the anchor on the bow and pitched it over board. On the way back to the back of the boat he was pulling his T-shirt off.

Fun was doing the same and was completely bare in just a minute. The two helped rig a single tank each then slipped the straps and weight belts on. Together they stepped onto the diving platform, turned on the air and tested their mouthpieces and slipped on their fins. While holding hands, the two stepped into the water to sink to their watery introduction to each other.

Pink and Flower were about to dive into the water. They wanted to watch. To see what humans did. But they looked at each other and went into boat and waited for their new humans to come back up.

A huge dragon appeared by the boat with a couple of purple and orange dragons. "Good decision. Let your humans have some privacy when they need it. You will make them happy. If you must, you can always see them and what they are doing in your vision, in your head. But you should let them have their privacy."

Pink and Flower nodded as the small group of large dragons vanished.

It was at least a half hour before the couple surfaced. They pulled their face masks and mouthpieces off and clinched in a long and meaningful kiss. When they separated they both had grins that were from ear to ear.

While Fun put their gear away, Chuck pulled the anchor, started the engines then started for their home. When Fun joined Chuck at the helm, Pink and Flower joined them hugging the couple's legs.

The acts of the two dragons hugging them made them bust out laughing. Fun said, "We better put on some clothes or we'll be arrested by the water patrol."

They slipped on their shorts and T-shirts while continuing home.

By the time they reached shore it was getting dark so they walked from the boat dock to the cottage without really being seen. No one saw a young couple with an almost four-foot high yellow dragon and about a twenty-two inch high pink dragon that glowed in the dark.

Instead of going out to eat, the couple left their pets in the house and went to the Piggly Wiggly for groceries. They bought a couple of steaks, some potatoes and some asparagus. That was for them. They bought a bunch of collared greens and some lettuce for their pets

They all ate their fill then while the pets slept curled up on the couch together, the couple figured out how to repeat their afternoon discovery in a bed.



-------

Chapter 2



The next morning when the young couple came out of the bedroom, they found the two young dragons watching television. The local morning news was on before the gaudy network morning show came on.

One of the features of the local morning show was a short segment showing a cat or dog from the humane society. They were begging for people to adopt a pet. While Chuck and Fun were fixing a breakfast of oatmeal and toast, their pets were bombarding the two with thoughts.

Fun said, "Do you hear someone talking but no one is making any noise?"

"Is it like someone is trying to tell you something but can't make the words clear?" Chuck asked.

"That's it," answered Fun, "There's someone talking to me but no one is making any noise."

The two colorful dragons were sitting beside the couple as they ate. Flower had a very frustrated look on her face and kept making small noises working her mouth open and closed. Chuck looked over at her and said, "You know, look at Flower, I thinks she's trying to say something too me."

Fun replied, "Well if Flower is trying to talk then Pink is doing the same thing. Look at her, she's moving her mouth but nothing comes out. However, as she moves her mouth, I'm hearing something inside my head."

The couple held each others hand then held a paw that was offered to them by each of the small dragons.

Inside their heads they instantly heard voices. "You two need to take us to the television place where they show animals. I'll bet people would be interested in us there?"

Fun had a startled look on her face, I heard her say, "We can't show you off like that. People would want to find out what you were. Scientists would want to take you apart to see what you're made of."

Flower invaded both Chuck and Fun's mind, "If people try to open us up, we'll disappear. We were told not to breathe fire but I would let no one hurt you or Pink, I think I would break my promise."

Fun said, "See, we have a problem before we even start. I don't want either of you to leave us so we would have to have a place for people to come to adopt one of your kind. Then we would have to have a way to know that the people who take them are kind and loving toward their little dragon."

Pink spoke into their minds, "It's not supposed to be this difficult. You were supposed to just introduce us and people would instantly want to have us as pets. The dragon world wants to join the human world. We're tired of living beneath the sea and hiding from anyone who comes around. We want freedom too."

Chuck said to everyone who would listen, "You are kind of strange. You come in various sizes and a distinct color according to your size. Let's see, when you are playing, you sometime vanish then reappear across the room or on my lap. When you get scared, flames flash from your mouth then smokes curls up from your nostrils. Oh and a very disconcerting thing is to put you on a leash then have you float through the air instead of walking or running with us."

Flower snorted letting little puffs of smoke come from her nose. "So you think we're strange huh. You should see what some of the big dragons can do. You can pull their legs off then stick them back on in a new direction. One time one had his head and tail reversed so his tail stuck up in front and his head followed in the rear. It was really funny. The bigger ones are smart though. They can talk using their mouths better than we can while we can talk better using our minds."

"You talked fine yesterday. What happened?"

Flower and Pink looked at each other and just shrugged. Chuck and Fun heard them say, "It's what we're supposed to do."

The longer Flower and Pink talked to Chuck and Fun the easier it was for them to be understood by their humans.

Fun asked, "Is it good that you talk to your human friends or should you only talk to them when they need it. It's kind of spooky to be talking to you without moving my lips or hearing any sound. I don't even know whether Chuck hears me."

"I hear you fine Fun," Chuck answered but using only his mind. "I guess we've learned how to communicate with each other along with our new pets. Wow! We can communicate without talking out loud."

"Hmmmm," Fun thought out loud. "Are they pets, are they friends, are they now our family? This is going to get confusing."

Flower sat up straight and said, "Thank you for thinking we might be family but we are really just dragons. We're sort of an animal but a little less dependant on humans than most animal pets."

Chuck motioned to Fun, "Want to test the waters, metaphorically speaking that is. How about taking a walk around the island this morning and see how people react."

"They are going to want to pet them or even hold them. They are cute and cuddly looking," Fun said.

Chuck answered, "Worst case is our little friends will keep blinking out of sight or someone gets singed. I say lets give a try."

The young couple pulled out the leashes and collars and offered them to the dragons. Both of the cute little critters put their own collars on then handed the humans the leash. When Chuck opened the front door to go out, Flower actually began hopping or walking along.

The only way to describe how a dragon walks is to say that it appears to be a cross between a big lizard and a frog. One step might be almost a leap that ends with the dragon landing on the front paws then gathering the body under itself with a couple of steps from the back legs then appearing to be ready to leap again. The other way they walked was like a big lizard walked except the tail didn't swish back and forth. The dragon would taken a dozen steps with all four legs, stop, look back and forth, side to side, blow a little smoke out of its mouth or nostrils then take another dozen steps. That is unless it gathers the back legs up under its body to prepare to do one of its frog hop/steps.

As Fun and Chuck walked along with the two dragons Fun said, "After watching these two walk, I understand now why they usually just float long with us."

Some kids were out in their yard playing as Chuck and Fun walked by. One of the little girls about six yelled, "Wow! Look at the funny looking dogs those people have. One is Pink and the other is Yellow."

All of the kids came running up to the dragons and stood near them. A little boy asked, "Can we pet them? Do they bite?"

Fun said, "Be gentle, even though they have coarse skin, they are very sensitive."

The little girl went up to Pink and just hugged the dragon. Pink actually smiled.

A boy went up to Flower and tentatively reached out his hand to touch Flower's neck. When Flower ducked its head so it would easier for the little boy to touch its neck, the little boy jumped back because the animal moved.

"It's alive," the little boy said. "I thought that maybe it was one of those stuffed toys that move on its own."

The little girl was still hugging Pink. She said, "I like you. You look like one of those dragon things in the fairy tale books. Are you a dragon?" The little girl sat down on the ground to look at Pink more closely. When she did, Pink sort of crouched down lower so the little girl would touch her more easily.

Another little boy came over and sat beside the little girl and began trying to pet Pink. Since Pink's neck has little rounded ridges from her head down to the tip of her tail it is a little difficult to pet a dragon. The boy began to trace his finger along the top of the ridges starting at the back of Pinks head. By the time he was only half way down Pinks back, Pink was giggling loudly.

"I think this pink thing is ticklish," the little boy said. "Where did you get them? Is there a pet store that has them?"

The little boy who was trying to be bolder with Flower finally laid his hand on top of Flower's head. Flower smiled and blinked her eyes very slowly indicating she enjoyed the touch. Then the little boy imitated the other boy and ran his finger over the slightly larger ridges on Flowers neck making Flower giggle too.

A woman came out of the house the kids were in front of and said, "Are those things safe? Don't let them hurt the kids. What are you doing with those things anyway? Are they toys, some kind of stuffed animal? Where did they come from?"

Fun said, "These are our pets. We were just taking them for a walk and the children wished to pet them. They don't bite so we let the kids pet them."

The lady cocked her head and said, "They kind of look like miniature dragons." She laughed a little and said, "If they shoot fire from their mouths they could be cocktail table lighters."

You could see one of Flowers eyebrows arch up when she heard the comment but she remained still letting the little boy touch her.

"Well it's time for the kids to come in for lunch. Come Billy you too, your Mom is letting you stay over here today."

As the kids got up to go into the house, Pink actually got up and began following the little girl. Once Pink reached the end of the leash, it then turned and looked at Chuck and Fun with a sad look.

Fun held her arms out for Pink who floated up into Fun's embrace. When Fun set her down, Pink was smiling again.

Fun said, "Well that wasn't too bad. The lady didn't panic or get upset. She didn't even wait around for us to answer any of her questions." She addressed the dragons who had resumed then funny walks, "You two did really good meeting new people."

In our minds we heard both little dragons say, "We like little people. Little people like us too. They are fun. They tickled us. I think we could play with them."

"Come on," Fun said, "let's walk into where the stores are and see what happens."

Stores on a small secondary tourist island are usually made up of drug stores that sell T-shirts and beer. These islands also have convenience stores that sell T-shirts and beer, a gas station that also sells T-shirts and beer. Then there is always the small grocery store, you guessed it, they sell T-shirts and beer. Then of course there is always a T-shirt shop that sells surf boards to people who will never see many waves on the Gulf of Mexico. Oh yeah, there are also the two stores that are ever present on a resort island. The head shop that sells cheap silver (pewter) cast pins and knick-knacks along with incense, water-pipes, rolling papers and of course the latest issue of "Rolling Stone." The other shop is the store with the large three letter sign. "Art." Then underneath it says, "Framing." The windows are full of faded water colors that should never be exposed to the sun. I've never seen anyone in the store. I wonder if

the owner is a ghost. Go figure.

We walked to the grocery store intending to get some greens and lettuce plus some regular food for us. As soon as we entered the store the only lady manning one of the two checkout stands said, "No animals. Come on, you two, you know better. Get those things out of here."

There was a pause then, "Hey, what are those anyway. Are they real?"

Fun and I were caught almost back to the door following the order to leave, with Pink and Flower heading in the same direction.

Fun said, "These are a new type of pet. They come from a secret island off the coast of Mexico. Aren't they cute? They are very well behaved and are fun to have around."

The cashier lady who was actually the store owner's wife said, "They are cute but don't look very cuddly like a cat or dog."

Because we were blocking the doorway, when the door opened and a very heavy set older lady tried to enter, we had to back up a little. "What are you doing with dogs inside the grocery store? Those are the ugliest dogs I've ever scene, my goodness. You young people are so cruel. You've died their fur Pink and Yellow. I'm sure that's not any good for them. I should report you to the S.P.C.A."

Pink and Yellow were both a little shocked at the big ladies vehemence and had reared back on their big tails with their eyes wide and their mouths open. The worrisome thing was the thin curl of smoke rising from our Yellow dragon's nostrils.

Fun acted quickly and picked up Flower and stood back so the lady could come into the store. As soon as she passed the four of us quickly left.

"We need some food for us and these guys," Fun said. "You stay out here with them and I'll go in and get what we need real quick. Go over under that tree and sit on the bench. That way people won't bother you."

She started toward the store then turned back, "I only have about ten dollars, do you have any money?"

I opened my wallet and gave her a bunch of twenties saying, "I got some money for that last welding job I did. It should last us a month or so."

Fun went into the store and Chuck took the two dragons on a leash to the bench. When he sat in the shade, the two dragons floated up to sit next to him. He had not even noticed that the two did their floating thing but a lady jogger came to a stop in front of Chuck.

The jogger asked, "Those are two of the cutest stuffed animals I've ever seen. Where did you get them?"

Chuck thought for a second then answered honestly, "They're not stuffed animals, they're a small animal found on an island off the coast of Mexico. They make good pets."

The jogger looked at them a little bit, "I saw them both just rise off the ground and sit beside you. Are you sure they're real and not some remote control toy."

"Okay, you got me. They're just remote control toys." He put his two arms out and gathered both of the dragons into him until they were hugged into his sides. This would have been the end of it except that Flower giggled from the intimacy.

"Did that thing just giggle?" The lady jogger asked.

"Your ears are playing tricks on you, no one made any noise."

"Can I touch your stuffed animals? Please, they are so cute."

Chuck said with a little frustration in his voice, "I already told you they were not toys but you wouldn't believe me. Go away. If you touch them then you'll know they are not stuffed animals. They are not toys. They are genuine unique pets from a small island off the coast of Mexico."

"Can I pet one of your unique animals then? The pink one is darling."

"Be gentle, their skin is very sensitive."

The lady reached her hand toward Pink who ducked its head to let the lady pet her. The lady was running her hand over the little rounded ridges Pink had on her neck when Pink and the lady giggled. "My goodness, this little guy looks like a miniature dragon. It sure is cute. Is it a good pet?"

"So far they are great pets. We haven't had them very long," Chuck said.

The local police car rolled up and stopped in the street in front of where Chuck was sitting. "Get those funny looking dogs off the bench. That's for humans to sit on not for a couple of ugly, funny looking dogs to be sitting on."

Chuck reached over and picked up Flower and put her on the ground then did the same with Pink. The officer glared at Chuck a second then addressed the lady jogger. "Jill you just go on home. Don't be soliciting out here. I'll run you in if I find out your selling your ass out here again."

"Oh go away Henry," the lady jogger said. "I'm just jogging, getting some exercise. I only stopped to look at these cute little things."

"Well you're not going to score anything off of that dead beat you're talking too. He's nothing but a beach bum that has a boat. Christ, he doesn't even live in a house. He lives on that boat he has."

Fun was walking up from coming from the store. "Henry, you don't know what you're talking about. Chuck lives at my house now. We're a couple and I'll have you know he's a good provider too. You see all these groceries, I didn't steal them and you know they're not cheap. Go away Henry, leave people be."

"Be nice Suzy or I'll tell your old man that you're being strange again out here. The last time I told him he almost had you committed. Well, one thing's for sure, you and Chuck deserve each other. Christ there can't be two stranger beings around than you two." Henry put his police car in gear and gave it enough gas to spin the rear tire then made his siren make a burp sound.

Fun asked the jogger, "Did you meet our new pets Jill? Aren't they cute?"

"I really didn't think they were real Suzy," Jill said. "Chuck kept telling me they were but I didn't believe him. They kind of look like miniature dragons. They do smile a lot though. It's like they understand what we're saying and they're laughing at it."

Fun handed Chuck some of the bags and said, "Let's get this stuff home before some of it melts. See you later Jill."

On the way home Fun told Chuck about the fat lady in the grocery store. She had never quit bitching about the colored dogs that we had. Mary said that lady is always bitching about everything so we just met the wrong person on the wrong day. Mary said she hoped she gets to see our pets outside the store soon as she thinks they were neat looking.

Fun and Chuck were within a couple of hundred yards from Fun's beachside house when the leashes went lax. The two pets had disappeared completely. Chuck and Fun looked around to see if they could see where they went but couldn't see them anywhere. The two continued home then as they approached the door it opened and two impish faces peered around the door's edge, a yellow one on top with a pink one below.

While the couple was putting the food away, the two creatures were being silly. Instead of just floating around like a normal dragon they were both upside down continuously floating right in front of their humans. It's kind of disconcerting to have an inverted dragon face suddenly right in front of you. This continued until all the food was put away except the mustard greens and they were being washed, cut up and put in bowls.

Fun placed the bowls on the table and pulled out the two chairs where the bowls were. "Okay you two, enough playing. Have something to eat then I think you two should take a nap or something. I'm going to fix Chuck and I something two then we'll probably want to lay down a little."

Pink and Flower came floating down to sit upright in the chairs. They both had smiles on their faces as they began making pieces of mustard greens float from the bowl to their mouths.

"What are you doing?" Fun asked. "How are you doing that? No one said you could make things float like that."

"Oh my," Chuck said, "Another thing they best not do when their out in public."

"We can do lots of neat things that you don't know about," came clearly into the couple's minds. "You have to remind us what we can and cannot do in public that's all."

The dragons floated their food into their mouths while Chuck and Fun used spoons to eat some soup. When they were all done, Chuck and Fun went to lie down in the bedroom leaving the two dragons in the living room with the TV on a news channel.

As the couple lay down for a nap (yeah, right) they could hear the channels changing until they heard the theme from a Bonanza re-run. Oh well, an afternoon with Hoss and Joey couldn't be that bad for the sweet dragon minds.

When the couple woke, the TV was still on oldies but they could hear Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez having one of their famous arguments. The canned laughter was being accented by soft dragon giggles. Fun and Chuck got up and talked about whether to take the two strange beings for a walk on the beach.

Chuck looked out the window to see that the beach was pretty empty. It was the off season and only a few tourists came to this end of the island anyway. Most of the tourist stayed on the bigger islands that were easier to get on and off of.

Fun told the two dragons, "Come Flower, Pink, lets go for a walk on the beach. Perhaps if no one is watching you two can go swimming." Chuck and Fun put on swimsuits then walked out to the beach. They had walked down to where the high sea grass covered the sand dunes. This was the area many young lovers went to hide and fool around.

Once hidden from the rest of the beach Fun said, "Take the collars off and have some fun. Watch though, if you see some one coming, get back on the beach and put the collars back on.

Pink and Flower instantly had the collars off and were skimming across the waves. Both took a sharp turn and went straight up in the air then flipped over heading straight down. The two hit the water simultaneously causing a major splash. The couple watched the two dragons frolic and play in and on the water for over a half-hour.

A voice behind them said, "Oh aren't those two so cute. What kind of dogs are they."

Chuck spun around to find a young lady looking out to the gulf. Chucks eyes were wide open and his mouth was equally as open. Fun looked at the lady then back at Chuck almost giggling.

The young lady was nude. She didn't even have a towel over her shoulder. What made her unique was that she was not that tall, probably five two or five three but she might have tipped the scales somewhere around three hundred pounds.

"Close your mouth Chuck. Something's going to fly in and choke you."

The lady was still fascinated by the two dragons as they played in the water.

Fun hollered, "Pink, Flower, we have company."

The two colorful critters dropped into the water and paddled back to shore. Once there, they sat still while Fun put their collars back on.

"Oh please, can I pet them. I've never seen pets like those before. Please let me play with them."

Fun stood up and stepped back, "Sure, go ahead. They don't bite but be gentle with them."

The large lady went to her knees in front of the two little critters and began touching and caressing them. You could see the happiness she was causing and both dragons had distinctive smiles.

The lady turned her head, "Hey Millie, Bob come over here. You have to see these animals. They are darling."

A tall, super thin lady rose from the dunes and grass. Chuck's mouth fell open again. This time the lady must have been almost seven feet tall but probably weighed around a hundred ten pounds. You could tell it was female because there was no protrusion sticking out of the forest of pubic hair but that would be the only way. She was so thin and flat chested it was easy to count all of her ribs.

The walking skeleton came out to where the large naked lady was still on her knees petting the colorful critters.

"Oh June, they are cute. What kind of dogs are they and why would someone dye their coats Pink and Yellow?"

June said, "They don't have hair, touch them, they have rough skin that looks like it's their natural color."

Still in shock over the two diverse women, Chuck was again startled when another head came up to the top of the sea grass. It came toward Chuck and Fun rising above the grass as the person climbed the dune. This guy didn't make five feet but appeared to be proportionate height to weight whatever that would be at four foot ten. It was a guy as he had a protrusion sticking from his sparse pubic hair.

"Sorry about not having our clothes on but the girls like to come out here to sun bathe nude. I'm Bob, the tall one is Millie and the other is June. What kind of animal is that, it looks like they are some kind of dragon?"

Fun was under control so she gave the pitch, "They're a form of dragon and come from an island off the coast of southern Mexico."

Bob went over to the two dragons and kneeled next to June. He reached out and tentatively stroked Flower. Once he had felt her skin, he traced his finger over the rounded ridges down her back.

When you do this to a dragon, they giggle and shiver. Flower did her cute giggle and shivered then ducked her head to get Bob to do it again. June saw what Bob had done and copied his actions on Pink. Pink's higher pitched giggle was immediate. The people were enjoying pleasuring the two dragons.

June asked, "Where can I get one of these? Are they good pets? What do you feed them? Are they easy to housebreak? Are they hard to train? You have to tell me, I just love this little thing."

Millie was now touching the dragon too, making one then the other giggle as she traced her finger all the way down their tales.

Fun said, "They're not readily available yet, they can be good pets, they eat green vegetables, and training is just being with them and telling them what to do. They are very smart. We've never had a problem with house breaking them."

It was at that point that Fun thought, I'll have to ask Chuck how the dragons take care of business. Immediately her head was flooded with Flower's voice, "When we excrete, we make it invisible and make it vanish. That way it doesn't smell and besides who wants to go around stepping in dragon dung."

Fun looked at the three naked people petting the dragons to see if they had heard but apparently they didn't. They were continuing to play with the dragons.

June asked, "When they were in the water it almost looked like they were flying. How do they jump out of the water like that?"

Fun said, "They do actually fly a little. Sometimes they hover just above ground instead of sitting. See their little wings on their backs? A lot of time they will lean back and it looks like they are standing on their tail."

"Oh my," Millie said, "I'd like to see that."

As she said that, Flower, who had been giggling again from being stroked, leaned back standing on her tail. As her feet were all in the air, Flower was waving them around as if running.

Bob said, "Would you be on my TV program. I do a local daily variety and talk show in the morning and would love to have you and your pets on. Please tell me you will. I'm sure my audience would love them."

Fun and Chuck were thinking about it when their minds were flooded again by Flower, "That's what we're supposed to do. That's how you are going to introduce us to the rest of the world."

Chuck said, "We can do that, when would you like us to be on your show."

"Oh, how about tomorrow morning," exclaimed Bob. "I can put those real estate people off till next week. I would much rather have your cute little animals on the show. They are interesting enough, I'd like you to be on first then we'll have you out on stage for the whole show. We can continue to talk to you about them throughout the show."

June said, "Millie, go call the producer to tell him we have something to open tomorrow's show with." Then to no one in particular, "I hope their colors come out. They are so bright sometimes the cameras don't get the color right."

The super tall Millie walked over behind the dune where she bent over and came back up with a cell phone. We saw her mouth move but couldn't hear. When she was done, she appeared to be dressing and put on a pair of shorts and a tank top. When she came out she said, "Okay Bob, you've flashed these folks long enough. Go get your clothes on. June, you should too unless you wish to be an exhibitionist all the way back to Corpus."

June stood causing Chuck to stare again. In his mind he was thinking, "My goodness, would you look at the size of her ah, um I guess it's okay to think breasts, but they are really big."

Fun elbowed Chuck and said, "Quit staring or drooling or whatever you're doing. Is she that fascinating?"

"I've never seen um, ah, that big before."

Fun snickered, "You have but they were never uncovered. She's not very bashful is she?"

Chuck didn't even say anything; he just moved his head up and down meaning he agreed.

Bob came back into view with well-tailored shorts and a nice shirt. June put on a large comfortable shift that hid her charms that fascinated Chuck but also diminished her size substantially. Bob handed Chuck a card and said, "Please be at this address by seven thirty so the make up people can do you two and the color people can see how your animals will come out. Millie is the executive producer and June is our coordinator so they will be around the set. We'll leave word at the front desk for you."

June squatted down to hug Pink one more time then gave Flower a hug. "Bye little dragons, I'll see you tomorrow."

Fun said, "Let's go get the boat and go out to see Mom and tell her the news. We also need to find out how we should say we're going to bring more little pink and yellow dragons so others can have them as pets. I want to ask her about them talking. They talked to us a lot before we got them home. Since then they have only spoken to us in our heads."

Fun and Chuck went to the boat and motored out toward the off shore platforms that were shut down. When they tied up to one of the beams, Chuck said to his two dragons, "Go get Mom. We want to talk to her."

Flower and Pink were both giggling. Fun and Chuck couldn't understand why until Pink pointed behind the couple and a loud, "Ahem," boomed from behind.

Fun and Chuck jumped from the huge dragon's voice. "Hi Mom," Chuck said, then Fun said, "Hi."

"What can I do for you this fine day? You've only had your new pets a day, what have you or they done?"

Fun said, "I'll bet you already know. How did you know we wanted to see you anyway? Do you have spies or have you been watching invisibly."

A deep loud chuckle rumbled over the water, "You've caught me, all of the above. When your two pets were playing in the water, I came up to watch them then observed you with the other humans and heard the conversation. The TV program will be a good thing. It will be a first. The other thing you were going to ask me is easy. I told them not to talk out loud any longer so they don't scare off humans."

Flower floated up to sit on the boat railing, and then said in an easily understood voice heard in their minds, "The list keeps growing. No flying, No talking out loud or in other peoples heads, No fire breathing, No vanishing. What fun is it going to be as a dragon if all of our magic is gone?"

Mom said, "Would you rather live in the sea and not go play with people who will love you and pet you everyday? What is more important, understanding your humans and what they say or talking to them? So if you vanish all the time, your human will be uncomfortable and think you've run away. And if you go around starting fires, the only place we'll see you is in a zoo with nothing that will burn. You two spend too much time watching silly shows. You should be watching the educational channels so you can learn more human things."

Fun jumped to their defense. "They were very good this morning at the grocery story. They didn't burn up the police car when the officer was rude to them and the lady they were talking too."

"I saw that," Mom said. "Yes they were good but I saw smoke come from your nostrils for a second." Mom pointed at Flower. "You have to control yourself Flower."

Chuck asked, "Well since we know they talk, can't we talk to them out loud when we're alone?"

"You shouldn't. You'll forget at the wrong time and the secret will be forever lost. If you want to talk out loud to your two pets, come out on the water where no one can see or hear you. Your secret will be safe. I gave you and Fun the ability to talk to your pets and to each other using your mind. Other people will not have that ability. Enjoy it and use it wisely."

Fun then asked, "So how do we introduce more of these little sweeties to the population. I was thinking that as soon as we say these guys came from a little island off the coast of Mexico, the health officials will want to do all kinds of tests on Flower and Pink. They could hurt them."

Mom said, "I won't let anyone hurt either of them. I'll figure out something. Just announce that the two of you will open up a pet store. I'll make sure you have help in the store as we'll give you a couple of orange and a couple of purple dragons. They can do all the heavy work and cleaning."

"Okay Mom," Chuck said. "Thanks, I guess we could almost call you when we're at the house except you are rather large to hide."

"I'll talk to you while I'm invisible. As long as I stay invisible I don't take up space and when I'm invisible I can still be heard or I can talk in your heads like your pets."

Chuck nodded, "That'll work."

Fun told Flower and Pink, "Come into the boat so you don't fall in. I guess that's what you want to do anyway. Go play but stay with the boat on the way in. When we get near other boats, get in the boat."

Chuck started the engines and only idled the boat all the way back to the dock. The two dragons were happy with their playtime and were content to do their funny walks to the house. The couple made dinner for themselves and cut up greens for the dragons, they all ate together. When supper and the dishwashing were done, Chuck and Fun went to bed early to get a good night's sleep (yeah right).



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Chapter 3


The time had arrived for Fun and I to show off our new little creatures. This was going to be just a local broadcast but it was guaranteed to catch on in the bigger markets then become national.

A new creature is of interest to just about anyone. Make that creature cute cuddly and funny and the interest level skyrockets.

Fun didn't have a car so Fun and I dressed in what was our better clothes and drove to downtown Corpus Christi in my beat up fifteen year old pickup truck. The truck had some good points. It ran really good. It had good tires. It had an air conditioner that could throw out ice cubes on a humid day. And the best part it was very clean. I took care of the old truck meticulously because this was my date car when I had an excuse to take Fun somewhere.

Pink and Flower were very interested in the truck put kept sticking their heads out the window like dogs. Franny suggested we let them ride in the back but I didn't want people having an accident because of the antics of mini-dragons.

We found a place to park by seven and walked a couple of blocks to the television studio with our curious critters wearing collars and on leashes. When we walked into the building a girl and security guard met us at a desk just inside the door.

I gave the receptionist our names and then the security guard guided us through some doors and down a long hallway. We went into a door marked "Make up and Green Room" which I understood half of.

An ancient lady with more wrinkles than a pug said, "Come sit down sweeties and let me fix you up for the cameras. I'm supposed to tell you that Bob doesn't get up from behind his desk to greet guests. He's self-conscious about his height so after he has his intro and sits down, he stays there. Since you two are going on first, you'll be on the set throughout the whole show, about ninety minutes. There will be water and coffee for you and if you have to get up to use the restroom during commercial breaks. The director will give you the cues."

She introduced herself as Agnes and began on me. She put some kind of dark tan makeup on all the skin that's exposed. Agnes explained that the lights and cameras had a tendency to wash out any natural color a person has. She looked at my hair then just ran her hand across the top of my crew cut. Not much to do there.

While I was being worked on, Pink and Flower were blasting my head with questions about what was she doing to me and was she hurting me. They didn't understand what she said about cameras and lights and would that hurt. I had to keep telling them that everything was going to be fine.

Fun was another story. Agnes worked her over really good complete with some exotic eye makeup. The lady even had to put the tan makeup on the front of Fun right down her cleavage. She was careful not to get any on Fun's nice white blouse. The lady did ask Fun if she would mind putting on a blue blouse as the white one doesn't show well on TV but the blue one looks white on the camera.

Some men came in with a portable camera, lights and a monitor. They had Pink and Flower sit up on a table while they used meters on them to check their color. Our critters were perfect angels to let the men almost crawl over them while they kept checking colors. They were finally satisfied saying they had the right filters to focus on the two so we were ready. Agnes said, "It's a good thing too as I can hear the intro music right now."

We looked up at the monitor in the room and saw Bob walking on stage doing his beginning monologue. Just as he was getting ready to sit, a local famous lady came into the room. She was so easily recognized that Fun and I were awestruck.

"Oh look at those darling little creatures. Are they dogs? I think not. They look more like little dragons. Can I pet them, please?"

Agnes was saying, "Hurry now, Miss, I have to fix you up. You're going to be on soon and we don't have a lot of time."

June and Millie came in the door with June saying, "Come along now, it's time for you all to be back stage for when you're introduced. We need to show you where to walk."

We walked back out into the hall then into some other doors that had cameras and lights everywhere with people pointing and waving as Bob was still giving his monologue. There was even a small gallery that was full of what looked like the local retirement village and on the other end of the scale a local kindergarten group was seated in the audience.

We went back behind some curtains then June pointed out to where Bob was standing and whispered, "You go out from here, walk to the mark on the floor where Bob is standing then to his desk. He's not going to stand so you two must lean over the desk and shake his hand. Since there is two of you and your dragons, Fun or Franny whichever you want to be called, you sit in the chair next to the desk and you Chuck, sit on the couch next to Fun."

June looked at the two critters and said, "It's probably best they stay on the floor if that's all right."

Bob went back to his desk and right away he said, "Two of my cohorts and I were out on the South Island yesterday getting some sun when we met two fascinating people with two even more fascinating pets. I think this is a scoop ladies and gentlemen. Let me introduce to you Fun and Chuck with their pets Pink and Flower."

We walked out from the curtain to the spot on the floor then over to Bob. Fun shook his hand then I leaned over the desk and shook his too. The audience applauded plus some canned applause was added to make the crowd sound larger. There were many oohs and aahs from the audience as our little friends did their strange walk across the stage.

Fun sat in the chair next to Bob's desk and I sat on the couch next to Franny. She had Pinks leash and I had Flowers. They looked at me and asked in my mind where they should be and I said aloud, "Why don't you two sit right in front of us so people can see you."

They sat very still and straight looking regal even though their bright colors were festive.

Bob said, "I guess that there isn't much trouble figuring out which one is Pink and which one is Flower." The audience was laughing and tittering along with some canned laughter.

"So tell me, just what kind of animals are these and where did they come from?"

Fun began, "These are actually very small dragons. As you can see they have the ridges on their backs, down their tales like big dragons but the ridges are not as pronounced. Their tail is a balancing point for them as they sometimes lean back on it and wave their feet in the air when they are excited."

Fun looked at me so I would continue. "We found these guys and many like them on a small island off the coast of southern Mexico. They mostly live in the water and their diet is seaweed or greens such as dark green lettuce or mustard greens."

Bob said, "Yesterday when I saw them they were playing in the water and I saw them do what looked like flying. Were they really flying?"

Fun looked at me so I said, "If you look right here on their backs, they have small wings that are very powerful. Let me show you, 'Pink' fly up here and sit on Bob's desk."

Pink began hovering and rose from the floor to sit right on the desk next to Fun.

Fun said, "They love to have you trace their ridges gently with your finger. Let me show you."

Franny traced her finger down Pink's ridges all the way to the tale. This made Pink giggle. It was so cute it received a collective "Ahhhh" from the audience.

Fun said, "Flower, come up here too so Bob can pet you."

The yellow dragon leaped from the floor did a little circle and landed right in the middle of the desk. Flower's face was smiling and she was anxious to be petted.

Bob gently ran his finger down the more pronounced ridges and had not reached the middle of Flower's back before she was giggling and shivering.

"Isn't that something," said Bob as he looked closely at Flower. "They have very smooth skin but it feels tough. Chuck says it's very sensitive and I have to be gentle." He asked then, "Are they easy to train?"

Fun said, "Very easy. They understand quickly when you direct them to do things and obey very well. They do get into mischief often and try to imitate silly things that people do."

Bob asked, "Are they difficult to take care of?"

I said, "Not at all. We cut up their greens for them in smaller bites so its easier for them to eat. But other than that, that's all you have to do. They do need exercise so they need to go outside to walk, fly and most of all swim."

Bob then asked the question that Mom had given us an answer to, "Where can people see these guys and where can they get a pet like this of their own?"

"We don't have a store yet but we will have a store soon," I repeated what Mom had told me to say. "We have to bring some more here first. We will advertise and hopefully many people will enjoy having them as pets."

Bob said, "If you don't mind, can a couple of the little kids come down to the stage and play with the two little dragons?"

Fun said, "Sure, Pink, Flower, get on the floor so the little kids can play with you."

Both dragons floated to the floor and were obviously excited as they both leaned back on their tails waving their feet in the air. This caused the audience to laugh and applaud mixed with the canned laughter.

Four little girls came down to the set and sat on the floor in front of the dragons. Fun showed them how to touch them and how to run their finger down their backs. In seconds, the dragons were giggling and the little girls were laughing.

Bob said, "We'll be back in a minute, stay tuned for the most famous lady in Corpus Christi and more of these darling little creatures."

Suddenly there was a frenzy of activity. Stage hands grabbed the little girls and carried them back to the audience much to the objection of the little girls. Flower was concerned and smoke began coming from her nostrils. Fun and I heard Pink say quickly, "Stop that. No smoke, no fire. You have to be good. That's what these people do."

The two dragons came over and sat between Fun and my feet. They weren't very happy with the way the little kids were treated.

Fun and I each had a hand on them as Agnes came running out and touched up our makeup. It didn't feel like we needed it but I guess they thought so.

Millie asked Fun to move down onto the couch with me as the next guest would use the chair by Bob's desk.

Suddenly all the extra people vanished or stepped back to the other side of the big cameras.

Bob said, "We're back with Chuck Johnson and Franny or Fun Nardelli. Before we have our next guest out, I have to ask how you came to be known as Fun. Your identification said your name was Susan Francis Unice, kind of an unusual spelling without the E, Nardelli. I don't get it. Where does Fun come from?"

Fun blushed and said "Chuck started that, mom calls me Susan, a lot of my friends call me Fran or Franny but Chuck used the initials of Fran Unice Nardelli and has called me Fun for many, many years."

"Well that's an unusual nickname," Bob said. "I'll bet you are a lot of fun to be around."

Bob swiveled in his chair and said, "Now a treat ladies and gentlemen, we have the most famous lady in all of Corpus Christi with us. She is the lady with the new platinum album out right now and has headlined at the Grand Ole Oprey many times. Let us welcome, Sally Forth."

The lady from the make up room came strutting out from the curtains but this time she was dressed in some glittery western gear with a guitar around her neck. She went past the spot on the floor, shook hands with Bob then went back to the spot.

Music began coming from some speaker right in front of the stage with Sally strumming on her guitar. She sang one of her popular ballads for the audience. I think she was supposed to be lip syncing but she sang with a beautiful strong voice. The music was soothing to our critters and they leaned back on our legs smiling.

When the song was over, Sally bowed a couple of times to the real and canned applause. Of course Fun and I were applauding and I was whistling loudly in appreciation.

Sally came back and shook our hands saying, "Thank you for your loud appreciation of that song. If I had known you would like it so much, I would have done another."

Bob said, "That would be wonderful Sally but one is enough this morning."

As soon as Sally sat down, she was reaching over to pet Flower who was sitting closest. While she petted Flower, Pink did his hop over to be in front of Sally to get her other hand.

Bob said, "Well I guess we know where Sally's interest is. They are cute aren't they Sally."

"Oh Bob, I just have to have one of these little creatures. They are so cute, so darling. I just love them."

Sally looked at Pink and said, "Come up on my lap." Sally patted her lap.

Pink looked back at Fun and I. We nodded and Pink's little wings went into action and she floated right up to be at eye level with Sally. Flower didn't want to get left out and apparently wanted to show off so she floated up, flipped over and was flying in front of Sally inverted.

This caused the audience to laugh loud enough that no canned laughter was needed.

Fun said to them, "Settle down you two. Flower sit on the chair arm and Pink settle on Sally's lap. Be good okay?"

The two creatures acted as if they understood perfectly and sat immediately. While Bob carried on his interview with Sally, she petted and caressed the two critters.

When Bob said, "I know you have to leave Sally so say goodbye to your fans and come back to see us when you're in town. Give it up for Sally Forth everyone."

As the audience applauded and the stage obvious assumed the commercial break mode, Sally said, "I ain't goin' anywhere but sitting right here next to Fun and Chuck with these darlin' little critters. You don't mind do you Bob?"

"Not at all Sally. Your contracts always say you'll only be on for fourteen minutes and then leave. I was just trying to do what I'm supposed to do."

"I won't charge you extra. I just want to play with these two adorable dragons." Sally got down on the floor sitting cross-legged with the dragons in front of her. She looked back up at Fun and patted the floor next to her and Fun moved down next to her. The two ladies were making the dragons giggle and whistle.

Make up was touched up but Sally waved Agnes off saying she was fine. Then all the stagehands vanished and Bob began again. This time he had some guy that was a local author who had written a history of local folklore. If the guy had been anymore boring he would have beat out growing grass.

When he was done, instead of him moving to the couch, the director hustled him off the set. Fun and Sally were still playing with the critters on the floor.

The last guest or in this case guests, were the little kids that were in the audience. They came down to the set all together so they could sing a special song for Bob and give him some commemorative pictures. The little kids wanted to play with Pink and Flower but the director finally was able to assemble the little ones.

When they began singing a familiar song, Sally got up and sat down with the kids and sang with them. It was very sweet. The best part was that while they were singing, Flower and Pink floated over to sit in front of Sally cocking their heads as if they enjoyed her singing.

Thank goodness the last song ended the show and Bob gave a quick close with mention of who was going to be on tomorrow. The set relaxed. The song ended and the little kids crowded around the dragons with Sally.

Soon the teacher/director, parents and grand parents were trying to move the kids away from the captivating pets. Pink and Flower loved the attention but understood the kids had to leave.

Agnes came out and began taking the makeup off my face and neck. Next she did Fun then Sally. Sally said, "You almost have to take a shower to get everything off. There's just too much of it."

We were getting ready to leave when Sally said, "I have to have your phone number. I want one of those things for a pet, maybe one of each. Are they all pink and yellow like that?"

I volunteered, "There are orange ones that are about five to six feet tall and then there is purple Barney ones that are nine to ten feet tall. The big ones can be taught to do things and can be like helper pets."

"Oh my, that does sound interesting. Here, take this card." I wrote my private number and cell number on the back.

"When you have one to sell, call me. I think I would like a yellow one too. I think if they both came to live with me at the same time it would be better. Do they get along with other animals?"

"We know they tease cats but so far we haven't seen how they interact with dogs."

Sally said, "Okay then. Get me one each and call me. I live out on the Island so I have a whole Gulf for them to play in. I might have to let them in the swimming pools too when I travel. I don't think I could leave them at home when I'm on tour. They are just so sweet."

Millie came out with two checks for us. "You two get paid for today. You each get a hundred and fifty dollars. We'll send you guys a 1099 so be sure to report it on your taxes."

June came out too and asked, "Can we call you guys again. I think you'll make great repeat guests. I heard you say something about orange and purple dragons that were bigger so be sure to let us know. We will probably call you soon anyway. You've lit up the switchboard with questions."

Fun and I put the collars on Pink and Flower and headed out. The two critters decided that they would just float along instead of their leap crawl walk. Instead of floating in the sitting position, the two looked as if they were walking as they floated along with their feet just off the floor and their heads held high. Their big thick tails were curled up most of the time but sometimes straight back.

The sidewalks were busier now and people kept stopping or pointing at the strange pets as we headed for the truck. Once in the truck, Fun and I let out a breath of relief. The TV interview had gone well and now our little dragons were on the way to becoming famous. We also had a couple of extra dollars in our pockets too. That will help with the groceries and gas.

Once back at Fun's house, Franny said, "Let's go out and talk to Mom about the show. I'll bet she knows all about it. But let's go talk to her anyway."

A large voice said, "You don't have to go out there unless you want to. I'm right here with you. Let's talk in our heads because I'm so loud."

Fun said, "I think that went very well don't you Mom?"

"Very well Fun, your little pets won over the crowd and that lady very well. I guess our next step will be for the two of you to take a trip and come back with some more pink and yellow dragons. You'll need to get a place to sell them too. You will probably need a couple of orange dragons to help you keep up the shop and if there's any heavy lifting you could use a Purple one."

I said thinking of the logistics, "That's a lot of seaweed or mustard greens. I'll bet those big guys eat a lot."

Mom said, "Not much more than the little ones. Once they're grown, they don't require a whole lot of food. They are good about not over eating but sometimes one will be a pig and get fat on you. You have to send them back to the water so he can swim it off."

Sue and I began counting our money to see how much we had in order to rent a storefront. Since it was the off season, we might be able to rent some place like the art store to sell our pets. Fun and I both thought it would be a good idea to have the store close to the house. If people wanted one of our pets, they would drive out here to get one.

We took our pets and walked into the shopping area. On a side street behind a T-shirt shop, there was an empty shop with a for rent sign. It said to see the manager of the T-shirt shop so we went to see him.

"You can't bring pets in here," the man said as we walked in.

A lady that was with him said, "Oh Henry, those are the little critters I was telling you about that I saw on TV this morning. Aren't they cute? They are just adorable."

"What can I do for you? Don't let them piss on the floor, okay?"

"They are very good about where they go, completely housebroken." I paused for a second, "We're interested in renting the store behind you. We need a place to sell these."

"I don't know about a pet store. Dogs and Cats are so smelly and you have to have fish and lizards and snakes. I don't know about a pet store."

"Henry," I said, "we're only going to sell our miniature dragons, no other type of pets. These guys don't make a mess and I promise they won't do their duty on the floor."

"The rent is not that much this time of year. Why don't I rent you the place for three months at two hundred a month? I'll throw in the electricity during this time. If you're still here when the season starts, the rent is six hundred a month plus electricity. The longer you stay, the less the whole rent will be. We'll work something out if you're still in business. Now make sure they don't make the place smell as your place is just through that wall."

Fun and I looked at each other and I dug out two hundred from my wallet. Henry said, "You two are island people so I won't charge you a deposit. Just take care of the building for me. There's good ventilation if you open the top of the doors on the front and back doors but I wouldn't leave them open when you go home. You might need to let the air conditioning run at night when it's warm."

Henry gave us some keys and we walked next door with him to look at the building. It wasn't very big but it looked perfect for what we were going to do. I asked Henry if I needed a business license and he said the only thing I really needed was a tax I.D. number and a state sales tax number. When I looked at Fun about it she just said, "We'll take care of it this afternoon."

We shook hands on the deal then went back next door to sign an agreement and give Henry the money. This is a great deal even if it was a tiny place on a side street. I didn't think we needed a fancy place with a big sign. When people found out how neat our pets were, they would beat a path to our door.

The happiness Fun and I displayed caused our two little playmates to be funny. They floated all the way home, sometimes upside down, sometimes sideways and once they did a synchronized frog leap lizard crawl while four feet in the air.

At the house I said, "No time like the present. Let's take a trip across the Gulf down to those small islands off Mexico. You know the ones that are always being washed away when Hurricanes hit, the uninhabited ones.

It was settled, Fun packed up some clothes and we packed a bunch of food then went down to the boat. After filling the fuel tanks we were off.

About fifty miles out, Mom appeared. "Why are you going all the way to Mexico?" She asked.

"If we don't go down there people will know that we didn't get our pets from there," I said defending our trip.

"True," Mom said, "but you don't have to waste fuel going down there and back. You said you don't have a lot of money right now so don't spend it."

Fun interrupted, "If we just hang around our here, someone may see us and again discover our secret."

Mom said, "I'll take care of that, if some one comes along, I'll just make you invisible like we are. It's easy you know, I just think us into another space in time. It's like we see everything that's happening but we're in a place no one else can see us. Want to see?"

Fun looked at me nervously, "Does it hurt?"

Mom laughed, "I would never hurt you two."

'Poof'

"Nothing looks any different to me," Fun said.

"Where did you go Fun? I can't see you," I said surprised that she just vanished.

"You can't see me, you really can't?"

'Poof'

"There you are. That's eerie, you just disappeared but I could still hear you. Strange."

'Poof'

"Chuck, Chuck, what happened, where did you go?" Fun asked panicked.

"I'm right here Franny, right where I was," moving to wrap my arms around her.

Strange, my arms just passed right through her. Hmmm, now I'm the one that's invisible.

'Poof'

Suddenly I was holding Fun in my arms. "There you are Chuck. That was scary, you just vanished but I could still hear you."

"I tried to hold you to make you feel better but my arms just passed right through you. I couldn't get hold of you."

We both turned to Mom, "Okay, so how do we make the boat disappear too?"

"Easy," said Mom, "If you think of the whole object to disappear, it will. To get it back, you picture the object in your mind and think materialize."

"If we think that we are invisible and we make the boat invisible will we still be on the boat?"

Mom thought for a second. "Probably, try it to see. One of you think of yourself as invisible as well as the boat, the other just watch."

Fun said, "Let me do it."

'Poof'

'Splash'

I no sooner hit the water than two large purple dragons were tugging me out of the water but almost pulling me apart trying to take me from the other.

Mom whistled loudly and they both let go sending me right back into the water.

This time Pink and Fun had me scooped out of the water and were holding me.

One of the large purple dragons came over to me and looked expressively at me moving his mouth. Then the other one who had been pulling me apart joined the first and moved his mouth as well. Pink was squeaking just before my mind was flooded with, "I'm sorry, I wanted to be the first to help you."

Another voice in my head went, "I'm sorry too. I wanted to be first."

Mom said to me, "Well now you know that if the boat is invisible you won't be on it if you're not invisible with it."

I called to Fun, "Can you hear me when you're invisible?"

Fun's voice came into my head, "I can hear you but the only way I can talk to you right now is in my head."

I asked, "Are you still on the boat?"

"I'm on the boat just as if I were visible. Sorry about dumping you into the water, I didn't know that would happen."

Fun stated, "I see you have two new Purple friends. It was funny the way they almost pulled you apart. I'm surprised our two little friends are able to carry you. They must be really strong. There's a lot to learn about our little and not so little friends."

Flower who was holding me up while Pink was underneath me as I sat on his head suddenly lifted me high into the air then sat me on Mom's back. I was sitting on the bottom of one of her broad pointed ridges that went from her head to the tip of her tail.

"Is this more comfortable Chuck?" Mom asked.

"Comfortable but scary Mom, you're so big that you can easily scare someone. If you're mad, I'll bet you shoot huge flames from your mouth."

Mom laughed then raised her head pointing straight up, "Whoosh" I huge tentacle of flame shot from her mouth hundreds of feet into the air."

That must have been some form of permission signal as just about every dragon present, raised their head and fire shot from their mouths. There was so much flame; the air around us became noticeably warmer. The sight was enough to make me shiver.

'Poof' the boat and Fun reappeared. "Wow, that is impressive," Fun said.

Mom squeaked and one of the Purple dragons scooped me from Mom's back and set me down gently onto the boat. Mom looked around and said, "You must become invisible now. A boat is coming and will be in sight soon."

Fun and I thought invisible but didn't know whether we were invisible. I asked Mom, "How do we know when the boat is invisible?"

"When you are invisible and the boat isn't, it will have a little different color to it that it usually does to you," Mom said. "If you can touch the boat while you are invisible, then it is too. If your hand passes through it, it's not."

This was pretty straight forward but still pretty confusing. We looked at the horizon to see one of those fast cigarette boats heading out into the Gulf the way we were going to have been going. The Gulf was pretty calm so the boat was planing up on top of the water probably going fifty to sixty miles an hour.

Franny said, "I wonder where they're going in such a hurry?"

I answered, "Probably dopers making a run. There must be a boat making a drop out here."

Mom said, "Do you want to find out?"

Fun said, "Yeah but if those guys are dope runners, they are pretty mean."

"They can't hurt you if they can't see you," Mom said.

"Yeah but my boat can't keep up with them."

Mom said with a happy giggle, "We can keep up easily and you can ride on my back. All of us are invisible so let's have an adventure while no one can see you."

"Let me throw out an anchor so the boat won't drift."

Mom said, "I'll have one of my Orange dragons stay with the boat. It will keep the boat right where it is."

With that, the two Purple dragons scooped Fun and I up and put us on Mom's back as she was rising from the water. She said, "Hang on; we're going to catch that boat."

In seconds we were flying parallel with the long powerful boat. Since we were now a lot higher we could see a trawler in the distance that we were headed toward. In minutes the long boat was pulling up alongside the trawler with occupants on both vessels busily tying off ropes to moor the boats together. Just as Fun and I had suspected, men from the trawler began handing large bundles to the men in the cigarette boat. I couldn't let this go unpunished but couldn't do much while I was invisible. I had an idea.

I mentally asked Flower if he could carry me down to the cigarette boat and put me by the motor well behind the seats. The activity was all in front and no one would be able to see me from there.

Flower lifted and I was carried down to the motor well area. After looking to be sure I couldn't be seen, I materialized then opened the well and looked at the huge engines. There were two giant diesels so I did the only thing I could think of. I took each of the engines starter solenoids. If they couldn't start the engines, they couldn't go anywhere.

I became invisible again and had Flower take me to the trawler where I walked past the men taking bundles out of the hold and went below to the engine room. There, I did the same thing, materialized then removed the big starter solenoids for both engines. I looked around to make sure they didn't have any spares then became invisible and walked back up on deck.

Flower took me back to Mom's back then I asked Mom, "Take us back too our boat so I can make a call. These guys aren't going anywhere."

When we were back on our boat, I materialized myself and the boat then called the Coast Guard. I gave the approximate co-ordinates of where the two boats were and acted like I was having radio problems. I wouldn't give them my boat or my name. No sense letting anyone know who I was in case it was to leak out later.

When we became invisible again, I told Fun. "I've always wanted to rat on those guys when I've seen them but this time no one knows where we are and in fact will believe we were on our way to our secret island. I think it's time for something to eat, how about you?"

"Sounds good but can we do that being invisible?" Fun asked remembering how things didn't work well when we were invisible.

"Well, we'll see. If the boat was visible, we couldn't but since the boat and everything on it is invisible too, we should be able to do things, see, I can lift this chair and move the fishing rods." I turned to Mom and said, "You guys should go get something to eat while Fun and I eat okay? Sun, Flower go eat. We'll make something here unless you would rather just have the greens we brought along."

The little dragons flew straight up into the air then went straight down to make big splashes into the water while diving for food. A few of the dragons remained on the surface but most of them submerged, taking the hint to go eat.

While we were fixing some food, first a helicopter flew over then the local Coast Guard Cutter went by. It was neat that we were totally invisible to people. This new ability could be used for good but we needed to make sure people were not taught or given the ability to do this as they could use it for bad as well.

Fun and I stayed out in the Gulf for four days, about the time it would take for us to go our secret island to get some more dragons. This time we decided to bring in six additional yellow dragons and a dozen little pink ones. We also wanted to bring two orange and a purple dragon to help out in the store.

We materialized and rode the boat into our dock which was close to our house. We decided to get the keys to the shop and take all of our critters there. Since it was two o'clock in the morning, we went to the house, picked up a bunch of cleaning equipment and some old paint that was left over when Fun had painted her shutters.

At the store, the first thing to do was to clean it thoroughly. We gave all the different critters rags to dust and wash windows and to the big ones, brooms and mops to wash the floors. Fun began putting a sign on the outside of the big front window. She did a very professional job writing, 'Fun Dragons.'

By four o'clock in the morning, the place looked pretty good except we needed some inside decorations. None of the dragons understood so we said we needed to make the walls look like it was where they lived. We needed to have a separate area where the little dragons would be because people could become afraid. They would know quickly that there was no danger but we needed to have a separation in the beginning.

Fun said, "I'm really tired. How about let's get some sleep then work on this again in later."

I asked the big Purple dragon, "Will you all be okay if we leave you in here. Will you stay here and not scare people?"

They all spoke back to us mentally, (quite a racket, ) that they would stay quiet and not get into any mischief.

Sun, Flower, Pink and I all went home to sleep for a few hours. Typically, Flower and Pink turned on the TV while Fun and I lay down for forty winks.

Around nine-thirty I woke to hear our two dragons laughing at a sitcom then I woke Fun to ask if she wanted to get started. Fun said, "Let's do it but you have to call Sally Forth to let her know we have dragons to sell. We are going to need a phone at the store too. The extra money we got from the TV show should take care of it along with what we need for decorations."

As soon as we all had breakfast we walked down to the store area and while I went to open the store, Fun went by the grocery for a large bunch of greens and dark lettuce.

When I opened the door and turned on the light, I couldn't believe it. The little shop had turned into a regular seascape with decorative seaweed in big clumps, big sea shells, dried star fish, a giant ships wheel was on the wall, an old ships compass and sand was everywhere. In both of the back corners were small palm trees that gave the place character too. I liked it but wasn't sure about the sand. The place really looked good.

All twenty-one of the dragons were sitting in rows between the palm trees. In front of that area was a small picket fence that would keep people away from the dragons.

As soon as I said, "The place looks really good." All of the critters began jabbering at once. They were excited that they had pleased Fun and I.

Fun walked in the door and just stopped, she was stunned that the place was now decorated. "Wow, how did you guys do all of this?"

From the large purple Barney we heard in our heads, "You said it needed to look like our home so we made it as close as possible. We went to the Gulf and brought things back that we knew were there. We'll have to change the sea grass often but no one will know. We can just use the sand dune grass instead of real sea grass. Do you really like it?"

"This is great, it really looks good. All of this sand is a little strange but I guess it fits. Are you all comfortable and if not what do we need?"

One of the Yellow dragons said, "There isn't enough water. We don't drink much but we like to play in water too. Is there something that we could have that has lots of water?"

I said to Fun, "I'll run over to Wal-Mart and get a kiddy pool. I'll get one of those ten foot round ones that are about three feet deep. That should do it."

Fun said, "Get a hose and some buckets so it's easy to fill and if we have to empty it out to clean it we can."

It took me forty-five minutes to go to a Wal-Mart and come back. While I was driving I heard Sally's new song and wondered if she would come out today. I thought that I might call June about our store and see if she wanted to come out.

I stopped at the mobile phone store and did what I said I would never do. I bought a cell phone. This was going to be expensive but it would give us a phone until we could get one in the store. I didn't go whole hog but bought one of the cheap ones with only two hundred minutes. When I used those up, I could call in and get some more.

Fun and I set up the pool and filled it. The entire time the various critters were splashing and having fun in the water. Moving things around was really easy too. All I had to do was to think about where I needed to move something heavy and the orange dragons or the big purple Barney would have it moved. Just my thoughts were enough to get them going. I guess since I spoke to them in my mind, they could just listen to my thoughts and take care of it.

I called June and told her about our new store and our new supply of pets. She became very excited and asked if she could bring a TV crew to the store to film us for a news spot. Fun and I said sure, we would love to have her. We told her that Sally Forth was coming out as she wanted one for herself.

Fun said, "They need entertainment. Go over to Luke's and see if he has a TV that he can sell us cheap. I ordered cable so these guys can watch cartoons and sitcoms all night. They need something; they don't really sleep but sit still to regenerate. Apparently they ate while they were gathering last night because none are hungry this morning. I suppose we'll need a refrigerator too so we can keep their food from spoiling. Luke may have one of those too."

Luke was our local Mr. Fixit. He repaired TV's and appliances for the island people and ran a second hand shop as well. He nodded at my requests then helped me load up an old heavy twenty-five inch TV and a refrigerator. He told me that I could pay him ten a week for the two items and he would be fine. I told him that I should be able to pay all of it soon, or at least I hoped so.

When I got back to the store I put the TV on a back counter where the critters could see the screen then I looked at the fridge trying to figure out where I could get a dolly to get it inside.

The big purple dragon and the two orange dragons were right there. They lifted the big fridge easily and instantly it was inside, in the back room. I plugged it in to let it cool down.

Fun said, "How about that, two o'clock on our first day and we are ready for business. I guess we'll have to advertise now."

"I told Fun that June was coming with a camera crew to show our store so we should paint our hours on the front of the store so the cameras will see it." She nodded and went off for her paint and brushes.

At four o'clock Sally Forth walked in the door with a jingle from the bell attached to the door. Right behind her was June, Millie and even Bob along with the lady who is on the evening news. June said, "We have to hurry, hurry so we can get Sue back to the Studio for the five o'clock news. It took forever to get out here today. The drawbridge was stuck and we couldn't get across. Sue wants to use a bit on your shop for the five, six and ten o'clock news so you should get some business out of it. Oh boy, let me play with these little critters."

While June was having the cameraman get a shot of the front of the store complete with our hours and name, Fun was showing Sally the new dragons we had brought back. Sally asked us how much they were. Fun looked at me and I looked at Fun. "We don't know," Fun said, "we didn't think about that. How much should we charge?"

Sally looked at us funny then said, "Let these people get out of here then we'll talk. I'm going to play with this little pink guy; I think he's going to be mine."

The TV people interviewed Fun then me. Sue was playing in the sand with the Pink and Yellow dragons along with the recognizable Bob and the nationally famous Sally Forth. Millie said, "That should do it, we have to run or you'll never get back in time to even begin to show this on the five o'clock broadcast.

I noticed that the whole time the TV people were in the store the two orange dragons were sitting at the rear wall on each side of the big purple one. If you didn't know better, you would have thought they were stuffed animals. I suppose that was a good idea as dragons that big could be scary.

Sally talked to us, "You two kids have had to make trips out to this secret island of yours and bring these guys back. Soon, probably tomorrow health officials are going to be out here to test these guys and that's going to cost you some money. They'll probably want you to have some kind of special permits and who knows what until then know the little guys are safe. I think you need to charge a lot. Let's say three hundred fifty or four hundred for the little guys and five hundred for the yellow ones. That's a lot but these are limited to what you two can go get at a time until others find the island you're keeping secret."

Fun looked at me and said, "I guess we will have a lot of hassle for a while. Okay Sally, you give us what you think and we'll worry about the health people tomorrow."

Sally whipped out her purse and counted out four hundred dollar bills then said, "You know you have to collect sales tax, how much is six and a quarter times four hundred. Hmmm, that's another twenty five. Make sure you guys pay all of your taxes and save your receipts. Taxes are going to hurt later."

Fun looked at the money in her hand then at the little pink dragon in Sally's arms. Fun stroked the little dragon and then with almost a tear in her eye said, "Goodbye little fellow. I'm sure you're going to have a good home."

Sally said, "If he gets lonely, I'll bring him out to visit with his friends. Now I need to get some greens and lettuce for my little buddy."

As soon as Sally was out the door, Fun and I both called "Mom."

"What can I do for you two," Mom said in our heads.

Fun thought the words to Mom, "Was that okay? Was it okay to sell the little guy, I felt bad to see it go."

"That's the idea Fun. As soon as many, many people have a dragon, the world will be a better place."

I thought about the coming health inspector, "What are we going to do about the health inspector when he shows up."

"Let's see what he does. If he's not co-operative, I'll help his mind a little and make him a nicer person. I'll help him give you all of the necessary papers you'll need. Don't worry; we'll get this taken care."

At that moment, the cable guy came in and said, "I hooked up the connection to the store. I'll give you a cable that will go to your set unless you're getting one of the big remotes. I told him we would try it without the cable box at first so he connected the TV and turned it on. Using the remote that came with the TV, he flipped through a bunch of channels and finally landed on channel Kris-TV. The five o'clock news was just starting and it was announced that Sue was not back from a location shot but was due into the station momentarily.

While the cable guy was there, Sally came back in carrying her little guy. She said she wanted to come back and look at the yellow ones two because her little guy might get lonely when she has to go on tour or perform.

The cable guy had some papers for us to sign. We thanked him as he was leaving then along with the dragons, we sat back to watch the news. Flower and Pink perched on our lap's just like at home. The police and Coast Guard were still crowing about the big drug bust that they had made, capturing two big boats and thousands of pounds of drugs. As that was being said, Sue and I laughed. The dragons all laughed with us.

After a commercial break, Sue was now at her place next to the male anchorman. She immediately began talking about the little creatures that had been on Bob's morning show a few days before and how there was now a shop out on the island where they could be found. They showed the front of the shop with the sign and hours then they showed our unique interior decorations with all of the dragons buzzing around. Some were in the pool, some were sitting on top of the water, others were flying upside down and all the while, there were shots of Sue, Sally and Bob down on the sand playing with the cute little pink and yellow dragons. The two orange dragons were on each side of the purple one and they did look like big stuffed animals on the TV.

It was only a couple of minutes but that was better than a paid spot and a heck of lot cheaper.

Sally said, "Oh look, I got on TV again without having to sing. I just love it that people get to see me just being a regular person."

Fun said, "When Sally gets done, let's lock up and go home. I'm tired and want to get to bed early. I'll bet we're going to be busy tomorrow, what do you think?"

"You're right Franny, tomorrow will be killer." I looked at the dragons and said, "We'll cut up a bunch of greens for you guys and leave the TV on for you. You should be fine."

We didn't make it finishing cutting up the greens when Henry the landlord came in. Henry said, "Wow! You guys did some decorating really fast. And look at those little guys. They are really cute. I just saw you on TV and had to come over."

Luke walked in to the jingle of the door, "I saw you guys on TV with that Sally Forth lady. Was she really out here? Oh Miss Forth, you're still here, wow, it's nice to meet you."

Just then Mary the grocery store's owner's wife and Jill the soliciting jogger came through the door following Luke. Mary said, "Jill just said our little community was on TV and that you're the cause. Oh my, would you look at all these cute little what ever they are things. They look like miniature dragons."

Pink recognized Jill and floated up to smile at her face to face. Jill put out her arms up to hug Pink but the little devil darted straight down and Jill's arms closed on air. Pink then rose back up face to face with Jill giggling.

Another Henry came through the door. This time it was the Henry wearing the police uniform. "So you opened up here. Did you get your occupancy license?"

The landlord Henry said, "Don't need one Henry; they're opening under mine for right now. I'm taking care of all their business stuff till they find out whether they can make it."

"I don't know about that. Don't make a difference though, the state health inspector will be here tomorrow to check out these creatures you have to make sure they are healthy. Don't be selling any till you get their permission."

Sally Forth began laughing, "You sure are a pompous policeman. Do you always try to intimidate people?"

"Anybody I want to. Are you a friend of Jill's, another working girl? If I catch you soliciting in my area, I'll run you in. I don't care how good you look. If you're a whore, you get locked up."

Henry, Mary, and Jill gasped that the ignorant policeman would call Sally Forth a prostitute.

Sally raised an eyebrow and said, "You should watch your step. I pay your salary with my taxes and I don't like being called names. Now you apologize to Jill, Mary and I then you can just leave."

"Who're you tellin' to leave? If you're obstructing justice, I'll lock you up so fast you won't know what happened."

Mary's husband Joe came in the store with the ding a ling from the bell. He could sense there was some kind of turmoil and asked, "What's going on Henry, have you upset people again. You know you need one of those Dale Carnegie courses, "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

Henry the cop started sputtering, "I don't need nothing from nobody Joe. I'm just doing my job. I come by to see if the retards, Chuck and Susan, have a business license then all these people began bitching at me, obstructing my job. I'm about ready to haul them all in for obstructing justice."

"Well tell you what Henry," Joe said, "how about me taking you over to the store and get you an ice cream bar. That's always made you feel better. Come on, let's go unlock the door and get you an ice cream."

Joe knew what he was doing. Henry became a docile kid and left with Joe to get his ice cream. Sally was the first to talk, "Good thing that guy didn't start something, you're big purple guy moved from that back wall to right where that dumb cop was standing. I don't know what it means but there was some smoke coming out of his nostrils."

No one had even noticed Barney moving from between the two perfectly still orange dragons. I went over to the big purple dragon and brought his head down so we could look eye to eye. "You know what Mom's been teaching you. Now be good or you'll have to go back."

My mind was flooded with, "I'm sorry, that man acted mean and I thought he was going to hurt someone here. I won't let that happen."

Fun came over and gave the big purple guy a hug and said, "You did okay, you just stay calm and let us take care of things."

Mary said, "I guess I best go rescue Joe from that Henry. I'll see you folks tomorrow since you're going to be my daytime neighbors. Actually you're my night time neighbors too as we just live a couple of doors from you Susan."

Jill smiled and said to the critters as she left, "You all are so sweet. I'll come by to visit with the little ones again. Perhaps you might need me to help out at the store?"

Fun said, "We'll see Jill, perhaps we will."

Henry looked at Fun and I then at Sally Forth, "It's been my lucky day. I've met the best woman singer in the country and I know Susan and Chuck are going to be good tenants. I'll see you guys later."

I turned to Sally, "Sorry you had to get hit with all of the people and that crazy policeman. Now you were saying something about a yellow dragon?"

"I was," said Sally in a little girls' voice. "When you two were on Bob's show, the two little dragons seemed to be friends and seemed to take comfort with each other. I thought that perhaps I either needed another pink one or a yellow one. What do you think?"

Fun said, "You know, we were kind of at loose ends too but these two sort of came together for us while we were getting to know all of them. Let's see if he has a counter part among the yellow ones."

I heard Fun in my mind talking to all the dragons. She was asking if the pink one had a favorite yellow one or if one of the yellow ones wanted to pal around with the little pink guy Sally selected. The little pink guy in Sally's arms said, "It would be nice to have someone to talk to but I've never had a close friend that was yellow before."

One of the smaller yellow dragons came floating over and looked right at the little pink guy in Sally's arms. Fun and I heard the conversation, "I'd like to be your friend. We could have lots of fun like the two that are with Fun and Chuck. Reach out and touch my hand, the lady will take us both then."

The little pink guy and the yellow dragon touched hands. Sally said, "Oh, they are friends. I'm so happy I came back for him. Will the same amount plus a couple of hundred be okay?"

I hurried to say, "Sally it will be wonderful. You don't have to pay tonight if don't have enough. We'll be here tomorrow and most every day from now on."

Sally laughed, "I have enough, I went to the bank before I came out as I didn't know how much you guys were going to want for your creatures. I was thinking a thousand or maybe even more. I think four hundred for the little ones and six for the bigger ones are good. I don't know what you're going to do with those big orange ones and that purple guy. You could always rent him out for kids' birthday parties. He looks just like that Barney character on TV."

Sally counted out her money and we gave her some extra greens so she wouldn't have to worry about buying food. Fun went through another emotional moment when the yellow guy also left with Sally.

Fun said, "Hurry, lock the door and shut off the lights before someone else comes in. Let's get out of here."

Since we had the truck, we drove home to collapse on the couch. I said to Fun, "We should have ordered a pizza. I guess we'll just make whatever we have."

Fun said, "I'll call Wong's and you can run up there real quick. I'll order a bunch so we can have some for breakfast too. If you leave now, it'll be ready by the time you get there."

I drove up to the next larger tourist area. They had a Pizza Hut, a Dairy Queen, and Wong's along with a Walgreen's and dozens of T-shirt and beer places. The order was ready so I picked that up plus a six pack then headed home. I saw the ever-present police car driving around telling me that Henry was still on duty tonight.

Pink and Flower were happily eating their greens while Fun and I scarfed up Chinese. Soon, the after eating lethargy set in sending Fun and I to bed, to sleep of course. It had been a busy day.

Edited by "Jacques1031"



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Chapter 4


Fun and I woke early to the sounds of cartons playing on the TV in the living room. When we went through to the kitchen, Pink and Flower were sitting together with Pink leaning up against Flower as if they were both sleeping.

Fun and I went over to look at them and sure enough, both had their eyes closed, breathing regularly. Strange, because Mom said hey didn't really sleep. We decided to leave them alone and went into the kitchen to make coffee and breakfast.

I thought in my mind, "Mom, Pink and Flower look like they're asleep, how come?"

Fun and my minds were filled with, "I think yesterday must have been a very emotional and tiring day for them. We dragons do sleep sometimes but only if we have had an unusually busy or emotional day."

Fun asked in her mind, "How long will they sleep, do we need to let them sleep a long time?"

"Oh no," Mom said with a chuckle. "The two of them will wake soon but watch out, when dragons sleep, they wake up very hungry. Hope you have lots of greens in the refrigerator."

Fun and I got out a bunch of greens and lettuce, cutting it up into small pieces. We put two large bowls on the table so our critters could eat as soon as they woke up.

While Fun and I were eating some cereal we heard yawning and some giggles in the living room. First a pink dragon head peeked around the door jam at us then a yellow dragon came floating in toward the table.

Fun and I heard in our minds from Pink, "I'm very hungry. Let's eat."

Flower added, "When we sleep, we get very hungry."

Just as the two were floating to the table, you could see a pained expression appear on their faces then "poof" they were gone.

About the time Fun and I were becoming apprehensive about the two disappearing "poof" they re-appeared with relieved expressions on their faces.

Fun asked, "Where did you go?"

Flower blushed, "We had to ah, ah, relieve ourselves. We had to go out into the ocean real quick and come back."

Fun commented, "At least they walk themselves and even keep the place tidy."

The two dragons ate all of the greens we had cut up down to the last bite but were smiling, rubbing their tummies. Pink said, "Ah, hits the spot. I was really hungry."

Fun and I cleaned up and dressed for the store then casually walked to the store in the bright morning sun.

We entered our new store at seven thirty to find all of the critters happily floating around in the air or in the pool. Fun and I looked into the fridge to cut up some greens to find most of them gone. A big orange dragon came floating up and said, "Several of us slept last night and we were very hungry this morning so we had most all of the food."

Fun said, "I'll run next door to get some more. We need to keep enough on hand that there is always enough."

The big purple dragon came up to us and said, "If they get too hungry, they can just go out into the gulf for some sea grass. They're just being lazy. They have to go out there anyway to relieve themselves so they might as well eat while they are out there."

I made the suggestion, "You know we should probably have you guys go out a couple at a time throughout the day so no one seas that you are missing. As long as you stay invisible, it shouldn't make a difference but only a couple at a time. You all can eat a little while you're out there as well. We'll have plenty of food here but consider eating some natural food while you're out there. It will keep you healthy."

All of the pink and yellow dragons had clustered around me as I was instructing. As soon as I finished, they all began talking at once. I had the dejavu feeling of what it must be like to teach a bunch of grade school kids.

At eight fifteen, the uniformed Henry and another uniformed man came in the door, banging it heavily when closing it. Henry said loudly, "Now I'll have you two retards put in your place. This man is going to shut you down for having wild animals caged up."

The uniformed man said, "I am Fred Henning of the fish and game commission. We have jurisdiction over all wild things and have certain requirements that you will have to meet to sell any wild animal."

Fun said, "Our pets are really not wild animals. They live peacefully on a small island off Southern Mexico. They enjoy being with people and seem to love to be good company to humans."

"Nevertheless, I have to take some blood samples and some saliva swabs for testing. Let me get started, I'll tag each one as I go with this metal tag. I'll just shoot it though their skin so we can tell them apart."

In our minds Fun and I heard Mom say, "I don't think so Fred, I think you and Henry need to take a nap."

All of a sudden Henry and Fred were both perfectly still, right in the midst of whatever movement they had been doing. Fun reached up and pinched one of Henry's ears saying, "That's for being such a putz Henry. Why do you just have to be so mean all the time?"

Mom said to us, "I'm going to give them some memories that they have completed all of their tests and the fish and game person is going to declare your pets safe. He will write it up in his reports later so there is a public record. Do you wish for me to give Henry some memories?"

Fun giggled, "I would love to give him some bad memories but I'm not mean like he is. Can you do something that makes him do something embarrassing every time he's being wrongfully mean? He has to be a policeman and sometimes people think that is being mean,  but he has to protect the people."

There was a long pause then Mom said, "How about for now every time he gets mean with someone for no reason he stutters. That will embarrass him enough to make him quit talking anyway."

Fun said, "Perfect, maybe he'll learn some humility."

Henry and Fred both began to move just as if they had never paused. Fred said, "That will take care of it. You have some great pets. If I had enough money I swear I'd get one of those yellow ones right now. Perhaps I can save up enough to get one. I think they would be a great friend."

Fred turned away and said, "Come on Henry, let's go see that nasty pet store down on the far south end, they need to be as clean as this one is."

Henry looked a little confused especially since one of the little pink dragons kept coming up under his hand so Henry was touching him. Henry patted the little guy on the head and left with Fred.

Fun exclaimed as soon as the two were out the door, "Mom that was perfect. How did you do that?"

"A dragon secret Fun, we can do many things and some are just for us to do. It looks like people are parking in front of your store so you're going to be busy. I'll watch and check in on you later."

A large family came through the door. They had three kids and four adults. It soon became apparent that this represented three generations of the family.

The oldest gentleman came in and just watched as all the rest of the family oohed and ahed over the dragons. Fun and I were busy teaching them not to be to firm in their stroking but to gently stroke them and to talk to them naturally.

Amazingly one of the pink dragons was all over the two little girls doing funny tricks and playing with them. The older women noticed and began showing the dragon an equal an amount of attention. The middle generation Dad was taken by one of the orange dragons. He was standing in front of it talking to it as if it were another human. The orange dragon seemed to really enjoy the company and appeared to respond to the man's chatter.

"Funny isn't it?" The older man said. "The guy hardly ever talks at home. Of course with the kids and these women he can't get a word in edge wise anyway. But look at him; he's carrying on a conversation with a six foot tall orange dragon. How strange. Now for me, give me one of those big purple guys, I'll bet he's smart and can probably help out around the house. I'll bet he's really strong too."

The older man walked over to the almost ten foot tall purple dragon and smiled at it. The big dragon smiled back. "Hey this thing even smiles at me. My goodness, I'll bet they can be great friends to have around, better than a dog even."

Now the women and the little kids were also entertaining a yellow dragon that seemed to pair up with the pink one. The older woman stood up and came to me, "Um, just how much are these things. They are so unusual, they must be a fortune."

"Not bad," I answered. "The pink ones are three fifty, the yellow are four. If you really want an orange one you can have one for seven fifty and the big Purple guy is a thousand."

"My, my, that isn't as much as I thought. John honey, did you hear how much they want for these?"

The older man still talking to the big Purple dragon said, "Yep, pretty good prices. Let me ask these folks a little about them."

The older gentleman, the older woman and the children's' father came over and asked all of the usual questions. I gave them the information and the history of the dragons. After a lengthy question and answer session the older gentleman asked, "You wouldn't take credit cards would you?"

He could tell from the look on our faces that we didn't but I said, "Let me go next door and see if he'll take your card for you."

The landlord was just opening the T-shirt shop when I walked in. "Henry, I have a pretty big sale and the guy wants to use a credit card, can you take a card for me?"

"Sure can, but you oughta make sure the guy has lots of I.D. or maybe he could just go next door to the bank annex and get cash. They're used to travelers."

"Let me go see," I said leaving quickly as I had not thought all of it through yet.

"Excuse me sir, but there is a First National Bank annex right next door that you could get cash at, would that be okay?"

"Sure would, let's get a total on what we want then I'll go get some money."

The older woman said, "We want two of the pink ones and one yellow one. I think Doris' husband wants that orange one and you George, I'll bet you want that monster purple dragon."

"Yep," George said, "Let's see two times three fifty plus four hundred is eleven hundred. Then add a seven fifty and a thousand and that makes twenty-eight fifty. Do you have to collect sales tax?"

Fun had gotten up to be a part of the conversation but was standing there mute, in shock over how much money these people were willing to spend. She came out of her stupor and said, "Are you sure you want to get so many at once. Don't you think you should learn a little more about them with a small one first."

The grandmother said, "They are all good with animals and should be fine. If we can't handle them, we'll bring them back and give them to you. They seem to be real happy here."

I commented, "They are just very happy critters. Show them attention and they will do anything you want them to do."

The older man came back from the bank and paid Fun the money then he said, "Good thing we have that big Van, otherwise it would take two trips to get all of these guys home. Come on folks, let's get these guys home so we can play with them."

In seconds, our inventory of dragons was reduced by two big ones and three little ones. Wow, we had already sold seven of the dragons we had brought back with us.

In our heads Mom said, "Here come some more people, get ready."

Three separate couples and one threesome came in to look at our critters. In very little time the threesome picked out a pink dragon they really liked and one couple bought a pink one. One other couple said they wanted a pink one and a yellow one but they would need to get enough money to pay for it.

As the last of that group was leaving, Jill came in, "Hey guys, how's it going?"

Fun told Jill about how nice Henry had been this morning and that we had sold several dragons. She mentioned to Jill, "Were you serious about working for us? We need to make a quick trip to get more dragons and would need you for a couple of days."

"I'd love too. I'll even work for nothing to play with these guys."

I smiled at Jill, "We can pay you Jill, we're getting paid for the dragons so we have enough to pay you what you're worth."

Jill said in a sexy voice, "Whatcha' think I'm worth big boy, want a sample to find out?"

"Now, now Jill," Fun was teasing. "Don't be trying to steal my boyfriend from me."

Jill laughed and said, "Not a chance Franny, I love your guy like a brother but that's the only way I'll love him."

"Good," Fun laughed.

Fun and Jill had an extended conversation about how to run the store while we were gone. She said, "We have to get some business stuff done real quick before we leave so if you can watch the store, we can get it done."

Fun and I went next door to Henry and asked him, "Henry, is your brother still a lawyer with an office over the grocery?"

"Yeah, he's there. He doesn't do much more than drink but he's there. He's good with drunk driving or getting into a fight but not much else. What do you need?"

"We need to set up a corporation for tax stuff and a sales tax number," I said fearing this was going to require trips to Austin.

"No problem," he said then yelled, "Hey Janny, gotta take the kids over to the bank so they can get their sales tax number and go see Sam about a corporation. Be back in thirty."

Henry knew his stuff. The bank branch vice president acted as a state tax official and issued us a sales tax number and certificate. He helped us open a bank account in the name of "Fun Dragons."

Next was Henry's brother. The guy's office smelled like a bar room. He was coherent enough to fill out all of the forms and said, "I'll have your federal I.D. back in a week. Make sure you keep good records now and give receipts to your customers. You can get Margie to keep your books if you want; she does it for a lot of the people around here and doesn't charge a lot."

Almost exactly thirty minutes after leaving the T-shirt shop we were walking back into it. We thanked Henry while noticing he had an unusual amount of traffic in his store for the off season.

We walked back into Fun Dragons to find Jill swamped with customers. It took all three of us to help everyone and when we were through we only had one yellow, two pink and one orange dragon left. Jill looked shell shocked. She said, "Quick, get the money out of the freezer. I'm not used to having that much money in my hands at one time. You're going to have to leave soon to get more dragons because people really like them and are willing to pay the money."

Fun said, "Let's lock up early and hang a "Temporarily Sold out" sign on the door. We'll take these guys home and leave them there while we're gone."

Jill said, "Leave them here, I'll sell out then take orders. I'll keep this cute one just for me to play with and to show people."

I suggested, "Why not keep the three to show people and you can still sell one pink. We'll stock up and be back in a couple of days so you can fill your orders. You know in addition to your salary we're going to pay you commission right?"

"Commission, really?" Jill exclaimed.

Just make sure you give receipts and keep track of your orders so you can call people when we get back.

It was still before lunch so Fun and I along with Pink and Flower hurried home, put some food together and hurried to the boat. We topped off our fuel and water tanks then took off into the gulf.

We were only out about fifty miles when Mom called to us in our heads, "That should be far enough if you want to shut down out here. Just make yourselves and the boat invisible and relax. You can rest and enjoy yourselves."

Once we were invisible we had a discussion with Mom. I had a good idea that I wanted to run by her. "Mom, what do you think if I buy Bobby Dee's old trailer house and park it in back of Fun's place. We can use it as a way station type of thing. Every time we need more dragons, I'll go get them from the trailer house. I can tell you how many to bring me and you can have them come to the trailer invisible then I'll take them to the store. We can use it like a store room."

Mom asked, "How would you explain how the dragons got there?"

"I'll just tell whoever asks that my silent business partner is making the trips to get more while I stay in port selling them."

"It might work. Go ahead and buy the trailer and try it. If it doesn't work out, you can always sell the trailer. We'll have a couple of orange guys to remodel the trailer for you so if you have to sell it, you'll get your money back."

Fun said, "You know, that gives me an idea. How about I have a couple of orange or purple guys paint my house. The outside needs it real bad. If they were to do that, people would see how well they work and want one for themselves."

We kicked around ideas for two days while we lazed around in the gulf. Our nights were taken up with playing with the dragons and for Fun and I to become more intimately aquatinted.

Back at the store with a big load of dragons, Jill became very excited. "I have orders for twenty pink, twelve yellow, and one orange dragon. You're going to have to turn right around and go get more."

"We've set up a supply line Jill but first I need to go see Bobby Dee about that old trailer house he has for sale," I said making a quick U-turn going right back out of the store. Fun stayed to help Jill with all of the customers.

I drove down to the end of our village to see Bobby Dee. He had built himself a nice little house but still had his trailer sitting there with a For Sale sign on it. When I told Bobby I was interested he busted up laughing, "You, you are going to live on land? No way. I heard you were shacking up with Franny and she's already got a place. You get kicked out already?"

"No Bobby," I explained. "I need the trailer to keep some supplies in. I thought it would be perfect for that."

"About all it's good for. I think I can pull it down there. I'll get Cletus to help set it up. You want it on the back of the lot?"

"How about, so it is perpendicular to the back of the house. That way the door to the trailer will be close to the door to the house."

"I can do that," Bobby said. "It should be close enough to hook up the water, the electrical, and the drain pipe."

Bobby lowered his voice and said, "Give five hundred and I'll plant it in Franny's back yard tomorrow. Is five hundred okay?"

"That would be great. Do I have to register it with the state, you know, pay sales tax and that?"

"Yeah, I'll bring the title so you can go down and make it legal. If you don't ole' Henry will be breathing down your neck till you do wanting to cite you for illegal possession of a trailer house."

"How about the village, do I need to do anything with them?"

"Shoot," Bobby said laughing, "I'm on the council, I'll just make a notation that I'm passing the license to park the trailer at your place to you and Franny."

I gave him his five hundred, shook hands on it and headed back to the store. The street was jammed with cars on both sides. I had to park almost to Gulf Blvd. there was so many cars. I noticed that the little café was jammed as well as the "Island Bar." Henry's place had people milling around in there but there was standing room only in Fun Dragons.

Sitting on a very high shelf was Pink and Flower while people were crowding around the few dragons left to still sell. Fun saw me and waved me over, "Should be keep one of each as sort of demonstrator dragons? Pink and Flower are worn out from being petted and mauled by all the people."

"Let's keep one of each size to show people and to take orders. We might have to work sales that way for a while. It's going to be impossible to keep a supply of critters until we get our supply house in place." I explained that I had made a deal with Bobby Dee and that the trailer would be in place tomorrow.

Jill spoke up waving at some people leaving, "Thank goodness it's five o'clock. I can't believe it, we've sold every dragon you brought plus we've ordered another couple of dozen. Hope your boat stands up to the travel."

It took a while but we were finally able to clear the store. About the time we were locking up Henry from next door came in, "Damn, you guys have given me a second season. I'm almost totally out of everything. I've got a couple of big orders that'll be here tomorrow but you're bringing business out of the woodwork for us. Did you notice the café and the bar are both jammed? You two are going to be the talk of the village the way this is going."

I told the four dragons we were leaving that if they became tired of watching TV they should try to straighten up the store for tomorrow. They were all smiling, happy that we were keeping them longer than the others that just came in and were sold."

Jill accompanied Fun and I over to the Island Bar for a cold one. The traffic was slowing down but it still had more drinkers than normal. A guy came in while we were enjoying our beer and exclaimed, "Darn, got here too late. I was afraid of that. Guess I'll have to come earlier next time. My little girl wants one of those dragons really bad and I hear they're only three fifty for the little pink ones. Do you folks know when they will get more in?"

Fun explained that we owned the store and would have more by day after tomorrow. We would be leaving in a few minutes to go get more and then we should have a regular supply line in place.

The guy gave us his card and asked us to call him when we had one for him.

Jill said, "Well, I guess I'll just take orders for a couple of days again. That works out all right. You two could use a bigger boat."

I said to both Jill and Fun, "You never know how long this fad will last. We could be back out on the rigs next month. You never know."

Fun and I stopped by the store to see the four remaining dragons busily dusting and sweeping up sand to make the place presentable. They sure were good little workers.

Once again, Fun and I gathered some food and went down to the boat with Pink and Flower. Fifty miles or so out we became invisible even before Mom showed up.

Fun and I were sitting on lawn chairs on the back of the boat when Mom's giant head came up right behind the boat. "You two are doing exactly what I had hoped. You've started a huge craving for dragons. The more we get out to people, the happier people will be. Soon we can have some orange and purple dragons patrolling streets to make them safe. It shouldn't take long before people realize how versatile a dragon can be."

Mom and I talked about my supply house idea then said, "You can have a couple of orange dragons run the boat for you. Unless they are followed everyone will think they are making the trip instead of you. That is unless you two like to get away by yourselves often."

"What's next Mom, how do we make the dragons a pet for the rest of the United States?"

"That'll happen when you get back this time. I know that a national show is going to ask you to come on just like the local one. Perhaps we need to find a small island and make it into a dragon paradise so you can take some movies of all the dragons living peacefully, enjoying themselves."

I said, "That's a good idea. Set it up and I'll get a camera. Next time out we'll go to where ever it is you find an abandoned island."

Two days later we were back on shore with a big load of pink, yellow, orange and purple dragons but sent the boat right back out under the command of two orange dragons.

At the house, we inspected the trailer and found that it was all hooked up. It really wasn't in that bad of shape. It just needed a bunch of little things and to be washed and painted. Jill had some do it yourself videos that we planed to show two purple and two orange dragons. All of them watched videos all night long and in the morning they were using the few tools that Franny had to screw loose screws, hammer a piece of siding down, and to repair leaky faucets.

When Fun went to our store, I drove into the city to Home depot with a huge shopping list. After spending a lot of our profits, I was back home watching the dragons rip and tear, remodeling the old trailer. I was even brought into the effort as a steel cross member had rusted out and a new one needed to be welded in. Bobby Dee had a piece of steel the right size so I welded it in place then the dragons immediately painted the entire undercarriage.

I left the workers to go see how the store was doing. I walked this time as there was no reason to get mad at no parking places.

Once again, our little shopping area was jammed. This time however, to further complicate the traffic problem there was a news truck parked in front of the store. I couldn't even get into my own store so I just stood at the back of the crowd to see what was going on.

Sally Forth was in the store with her two dragons. She was just visiting and letting her dragons visit with the ones that were in the store at the moment. People were all trying to push in so they could either see Sally or to try to buy a dragon. The new folks were trying to interview Sally, Fun, Jill, and the customers but no one wanted to take the time for them.

The news lady and the cameraman came out of the store and set up by their van. Both got tall folding stools out and just watched and filmed the madhouse before them.

As time got closer to five, the traffic slowed down and finally there was a small path for me to wedge my way into the store. Fun looked up and blew her hair from her face in the gesture of being bushed. Jill saw me and acted as if she were wiping sweat from her brow. Once again Pink and Flower were high up on the shelves while the few pink and yellow dragons were behind the two purple dragons that were acting like bodyguards.

Fun said, "There were some people who were very rough with the little guys. I thought we were going to have scorched customers but I was able to get them out of the store in time. How's the trailer coming?"

"You won't believe it. The four we have doing the work are really good. I should start a remodeling crew."

Jill said, "Let's get this place cleared out and go get a beer. I deserve one today. This place has been a madhouse."

As we cleared people out, the news people came back in. The morning news lady said, "Wow! I've heard how crazy this place has been but I didn't realize how much. I think we have enough tape for tomorrow but I need to ask you about an offer that's come down. Jay Leno wants you to come out to California to be on his show. He pays your expenses plus a few hundred dollars. I think you should get an agent and get maybe a grand or two for showing up with your dragons. His producers will good money to have something that's really unique."

Fun said, "I've always thought that would be cool to be on national television. Do you really think he wants us to come?"

The news lady said, "I have the offer right here." She pulled out some papers and handed them to Fun. "But get an agent, that way you won't get pushed and pulled all over the place."

We made arrangements to call her in the morning then closed up the store and headed to the bar. As soon as three of us had our beer with Pink and Flower sitting on the bar, a girl with a freshly scrubbed face in jeans and a regular blouse came up to Jill and gave her a hug then turned to Fun.

"You know me Franny, I'm Mindy. Jill said she has been really busy at the store and I thought you might want another worker. If I could get a job like Jill I could support myself fine."

The bartender came over because I had waved at him to order something for our new quest. But he spoke up before I could order, "Get out of here Mindy, you can't solicit in here. You know the deal, now get."

I said, "Come on Ted, is she dressed to do that? She's here to meet us and see if we can hire her to work. She wants a regular job not what you're thinking."

Ted said suspiciously, "She can stay but she better not leave with anyone else but you guys. What'll you have Mindy."

In no time at all we had out second employee. They would be able to help with all the customer traffic we were having. They would also be important together if Fun and I went out to California.

We left and went to our house. I was sent to go for pizza that Fun ordered. While I was gone, the three girls had gotten together to figure out how to run the store while we were gone.

Mindy and Jill were going to give up their individual places and rent an apartment together as neither needed the private place to entertain customers any longer. They were joking that they wouldn't be eating beans and rice this off season so life was looking up.

That night Fun and I talked long into the night about how we were doing more and more than we had ever expected. Mom interrupted us with a, "Okay you two, go to bed, you need your sleep. You will have a big day tomorrow."

Editing by "BarneyR"



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Chapter 5


"Wake up, wake up," multiple voices were sounding off in my head.

Rising up to look at the clock, I was surprised to see it was already a little after seven. I groaned and sat up patting my sleeping beauty next to me on the butt to get her going.

Once I was halfway coherent I looked at where the voices were coming from. Pink and Flower were joined by two orange and two big purple dragons hovering in the air at the end of the bed. This wouldn't be that big of a deal but Fun's bedroom isn't that big. Our two little dragons don't take up a lot of room but the Purple ones are really big.

I projected my thoughts to them, "Okay, okay guys, I'm awake. Go eat and play in the gulf a few minutes while Fun and I get going."

'Poof' they were gone, hopefully invisible, to play in the water and feast on some of the sea grasses.

Fun began stirring as I got up to use the bathroom and get a quick shower. I finished in the tub about the time Fun stepped in with me. After a quick hug and kiss she said, "Wait till you see the living room and kitchen. You're not going to believe it."

Her comment was confusing but I was still too sleepy to think about what she said. I dressed then walked into the kitchen. "Hmmm, what's that smell?"

"Oh shit, that's nice. I guess we didn't say not to do it but they still had a lot to do out in the trailer."

I opened the back door and was shocked to see the trailer completely painted plus there were cute little decorative shutters on each window in a different color. I suppose a white trailer with pink shutters and door goes okay. There is the question of where did they get the pink paint.

Inside the trailer, every room was painted and there was new carpet on the floor. The place was really nice looking inside. All we needed was some furniture and it would be a great place to live.

Back in the kitchen Fun was touching the newly painted cabinets and looking at the new linoleum on the floor. "Where did they get this stuff? How did they get this stuff?"

In the living room the walls and ceiling were painted the same color as before, white. Since there was no change in appearance, there wasn't any real objection to a fresh paint job.

Fun said, "When did they have time to do all of this? When we went to bed last night the six of them were all watching one of those Mr. Fixit videos."

Mom's voice boomed in our heads, "You're little and big friends decided you needed some work done in the house. After they finished the trailer, they went to work in the house. You're lucky they didn't move you out of the bedroom and paint that too."

"Where did they get the pink paint for the trim on the trailer? Where did the carpet and linoleum come from?"

Mom didn't respond so I vocalized a little louder, "Mom, where did the carpet and linoleum come from?"

Mom's normally booming voice came in a near whisper, "I didn't know it but they went to the Home Depot you went to yesterday and did some shopping."

Fun was standing in the kitchen with her fists on her hips, "They can't do that. That's stealing. We can't have dragons spiriting away merchandise from stores in the middle of the night."

"I've already told them that it was wrong to do that but it was already done. I was watching your boat when they were shopping."

I was curious, "Is there something wrong with the boat?"

"No, everything is fine. We forgot to fill the tanks with fuel and they ran out last night. We had to fill the boat up from some tanks that were down in Mexico."

"How did you pay for the fuel, Mom?"

"Umm, we didn't. These tanks were from the place where that trawler came from. Lots of men with guns are all around the place."

I had to ask, "So then, how did you get the fuel?"

You could hear the smile in Mom's voice, "I made the tank invisible then just took it. When I finished filling up the boat I put the tank back on shore."

Fun and I looked at each other with Fun rolling her eyes. "Okay, I guess there's no harm done for that but you have to tell all of your critters that they can't just go get whatever they want. We have to pay for it."

Mom was still talking quietly said, "I'll fix it with the store. It'll be okay. They won't lose money."

Fun said, "Thank you Mom but I don't want to know how, just do it."

We ate our cereal and were ready to go to the store but we were concerned that our six friends had not returned yet. I went out to the trailer to lock the door but opened the door first to see how nice it looked one more time. The six dragons were sitting in a row, all looking a little sheepish.

"What's up guys," I thought in my head.

Flower answered, "We're sorry, we didn't mean to do wrong. We just wanted to do a little more, a little faster last night."

"It's okay guys, Mom is taking care of it. I guess I just need to teach you some of the rules we live by. Did you guys eat?"

They all were smiling now and were nodding their heads up and down. "Then let's go down to the store and get the day started."

Jill and Mindy were already at the store looking at how neat everything was. Mindy couldn't get over the fact that the dragons could do so much.

Mindy isn't a very big girl but was instantly in love with the giant purple dragons. She was running her hands down the large ridges on the store's purple dragon listening to it giggle.

Fun and Jill went over what to say to prospective dragon owners and how much they cost. Fun had me take the receipts that were in the freezer to the bank to deposit. It was some real cold cash.

At the bank, I asked about us taking credit cards and was totally confused by the time they had tried to explain everything. The bank branch manager said he would have a credit card agent come to the store this morning to explain it.

On the way back to the store, I stopped into the grocery for a big basket of greens and dark green lettuce. They were ready for me and had it at the counter waiting. Mary, the grocer's wife and cashier said they were doing a lot of extra business in snacks and things because of the extra people coming to our store.

At the store there was a telephone man there doing something on the wall where our counter is. Fun said, "I ordered a phone. If we get a credit card machine, we have to have a phone line. Besides, we need a phone for inquiries. I thought to myself, 'Guess I didn't need the cell phone after all.'

Fun handed me the piece of paper that had the information about the Jay Leno show and said, call them, see what's up. Give me your cell phone so I can call Millie to ask about an agent.

I was still trying to figure out what to say when Fun said, "Don't worry about it, Bob's agent is going to take care of everything. We only pay him ten percent of what we're paid so it'll be worth it. He says he wants to have a photographer come out to take some publicity photos of us so he can market us. We'll be like a can of peas, on display in his store."

A lady came into the store carrying some boxes. She said she had the credit card machine and would teach us how to use it. When she said she would need a phone jack at the counter, all I could think of was, "One answer creates another problem."

The phone guy was playing with Pink and Flower. When he heard what we would need, he said he would have it installed in a jiffy.

Jill, Mindy, Fun and I listened carefully to the bank lady then we all practiced doing a transaction. Not difficult but different from watching someone else do it. She taught us how to close out each day then had Fun and I sign all the papers.

The landlord, Henry came into the store carrying a book and a large folder. "Here's your corporation papers and your federal I.D. number. I'll have the bookkeeper come by to talk to you guys. Between now and then, just make sure you keep a record of every sale and all of your expenses."

Henry even went over to play with Pink and Flower a minute before he left.

By nine, the store was packed with people who had come from Corpus and the surrounding area to see and possibly buy a pet dragon. Mindy was excited because she sold two pink dragons and said, "Wow, seventy dollars commission already. That's better than trying to find people to sell my specialty to. And it's a heck of lot nicer than taking care of that fat cop almost every day."

The store phone rang and Fun answered, "Fun Dragons." She spoke for a few minutes writing furiously then hung up. "That was the agent, we have to go home and get packed. We're going to be on Jay Leno tonight. We have to put Pink and Flower in pet carriers but we will be on the show tonight. Actually the show is taped about nine here, seven o'clock out there."

We gave some last minute instructions to Jill and Mindy then hurried home with Pink and Flower happily floating along with us. What extra clothes I had was still on my boat so I called to Mom, "Can you bring me the two pair of nice pants and two shirts from the closet on the boat?"

In just a couple of minutes, an orange dragon appeared carrying my clothes. Invisibility has it's benefits. Fun packed a suitcase for us then we headed toward the city. First though we had to stop at Wal-Mart for the two carriers. Pink and Flower were not happy about them but understood. We made them promise they wouldn't cause any trouble with the airport people.

The airport traffic and parking were really confusing. The Corpus Christi airport isn't that big but all those roads with arrows pointing every which way really mess me up. We made it to the ticket counter with the dragons in the carriers with only forty minutes till flight time. Everything had already been paid for so all we had to do was go to where the plane loaded. We said goodbye to our two friends and told them in our minds to talk to us if they became lonely.

Neither Fun nor I had ever flown before so we were both very nervous. When we boarded the hostess looked at our tickets and ushered us into the front part of the plane that had big wide seats. She said it was first class. Even before we took off, the lady served us some coffee. Fun said we should probably have a drink or a beer but we settled for coffee.

A couple of hours later we were standing in the Los Angeles terminal with our pet carriers trying to figure out what to do now. There was a man standing near the door holding up a sign that said, "Dragon people." I asked him about the sign and he asked if we were Charles and Francis. Fun almost hit him and told him to call her Fran or Fun only.

The man had a big limousine and put us in the back. There we were able to let Pink and Flower out of the carriers. It was a long drive before we arrived at the studios where the Jay Leno show was being taped. We went through the same stuff we had gone through before Bob's morning show. People were putting make up on Fun and me plus they gave me a sport coat to wear saying it would make me look nicer.

My thought was who cares what I look like, this is all about the dragons. The four of us were sitting in what was called the Green room watching Jay's monologue then a girl with a headset came bustling into the room to lead us to a curtain. She told us the direction to walk out and the spots we were to stop at to wave at the audience then to go over and shake Jay's hand.

Fun got down on a knee and told the dragons, "Be on your good behavior out there. Mom is depending on us to find homes for lots and lots of dragons. Have fun but don't be too wild."

Both Pink and Flower were grinning and nodding their heads in understanding.

Jay announced us while still standing and the lady with the headset pushed us through the curtain. As we walked up to Jay, our two dragons were doing there funny walk but about two feet off the floor. Their little wings were buzzing away.

Jay Leno, made the surprise gesture by taking a step back raising his hands saying, "Wow, what kind of pets are these."

Fun said pointing to Pink, "This is Pink." Pink floated up to be face to face with Jay. "And this is Flower." Flower floated up next to Pink staring at Jay Leno.

Jay tentatively put his hand out and Pink ducked down and came up under his hand so Jay was touching her. "My goodness, this is a friendly little creature." He reached out to Flower who did the same maneuver to get under Jay's other hand.

"Let's sit and talk about these fascinating pets," Jay said taking hold of the two dragons hand and going toward his desk. While Fun sat in the chair next to Jay, the two dragons settled onto Jay's desk looking at him. Jay Leno is a very professional interviewer and asked all of the questions that would be on viewer's minds. Like, "Where do they come from?" "What do they eat?" "Are they difficult to care for?"

When he asked, "How long do they live?" Fun and I were stumped. We both answered that we had no idea but they probably had a long life span.

The next question had us stumped too. "Are you going to open up pet stores all over the United States?"

I said, "Right now we only have the one little store. Since we can only get just so many dragons, that's probably the only store we will have for a while."

Jay said, "You'll have to find enough to stock stores all over the major cities. These little guys sure are cute and I'll bet they are good companions."

When the interview was over, a commercial break came on but Jay said, "Stay back in the Green room. I may bring you out again but I want to talk to you after the show."

In the green room we visited with a movie director before he went on with Jay Leno but were able to watch the show on the monitors. They had a lady attendant that was like a waitress or bartender. She got both of us a beer plus she brought a bowl of pretzels. Pink and Flower were acting silly so the girl was laughing at them and generally being entertained.

After the show, Jay Leno came back into the Green room. Once inside he said he couldn't play with the little dragons on the set but he wanted to now. He played with them for about a half-hour before finally saying, "You better get them out of here before I steal them. Are they very expensive?"

Fun said, "The little pink guys are only three fifty and the yellow ones like Flower are only four hundred. We have two larger sizes an orange one about six foot and purple ones about ten foot tall."

"Wow, ten foot tall? That's a big pet. Aren't you afraid they might hurt you?"

I said, "Not hardly. They become very protective and when they are around, you are very safe. You would be surprised at how protective even these little guys are."

Jay smiled, "I have to get my wife to see these guys. If we had kids, I would have one right now but Mavis rules the home. She decides about pets. I'll let you know if you can send me one."

We were getting ready to leave the studio when a short guy in an ugly sport coat wearing a hat cocked on the side of his head, chewing on a long unlit cigar came up to us with his hand out, "Fran, Chuck, I'm Benny Sleezeman, Bob's and your agent. We need to talk. Let me ride with you back to the hotel so I can tell you what I have arranged."

In the limo Benny began his rapid delivery, "I've got you booked for short local interview at the hotel then Fox is flying you to New York tomorrow to be on their morning show day after tomorrow. Tomorrow evening we have you doing an interview with the curator of the Bronx zoo. All of the interviews are paid for deals. I'm trying to line up some sponsors and commercial deals for you but nothing yet. I'm just getting started."

Pink and Flower were sitting on the set just staring at Benny. Besides being funny looking, he talked so fast you had to stop to listen to him or you wouldn't miss what he said.

Fun and I looked at each other, Fun said, "I don't think we want to do too much of this. We shouldn't be away from the store for too long. The two girls there are going to be so tired of customers, they may quit if we don't get back to help them."

Benny frowned, "Well call them to make sure they can cover you for at least these next two days and we'll get you home then. You have to make money while you can. When you're hot, you're hot."

Back at the hotel Fun and I were talking when Pink's voice came into our heads, "Ask Mom what she thinks. She'll know what's right."

Fun answered, "But Mom is way down in Texas and we are way out in California about to be on our way to New York City."

Flower said, "Call her in you mind, she'll hear you."

I thought real hard, "Mom, should we go to New York? Should we be doing all these things?"

Mom's voice boomed in our heads, "You're doing everything just right. Do the interviews then go back home. I'm sure other shows will call you to be on with them soon. We're going to be able to spread dragons throughout the country very fast. Just keep doing what you're doing. Oh, you better get ready, you have the local interview in just a few minutes."

Benny knocked on our door to take us downstairs to one of the hotel's meeting rooms for the interview. A surprise in the room was Sally Forth. She came up and hugged Fun and I then said, "I didn't bring my little guys with me tonight. They are in the hotel. We should get together so they can play with each other."

When the interview began, Sally was sitting with us with Pink on her lap and Flower on mine. About every minute the two would switch laps between Fun, Sally and me. The last question the newsman asked, "How soon will you have a store out here?"

I told him, "As soon as we can figure a way to transport enough dragons all around the country. You know there isn't an infinite supply of these guys. We might have to wait a while till our supply fills up."

Sally was staying at the same hotel we were so we did get together to let the dragons all play together. Sally was in town to sing on a country and western awards banquet being held that weekend. She said she would see us back on the island soon as she wanted to get some of the bigger dragons to help out on her estate.

Fun and I, along with our two dragons spent the next three days flying to New York, doing continuous interviews then flying back home. We were so happy to drive back onto the island that we thought we never wanted to leave again.

We drove by the store thinking it would be locked up tight but the lights were still on and a crowd was still inside. We found a place to park then as we approached the door we saw a piece of paper over the five pm closing time with a big nine written in.

Mindy and Jill were happily talking to customers, taking credit cards for pink and yellow dragons then watching happy customers leave. When the two girls saw us they squealed and ran to hug us. Mindy said breathlessly, "You won't believe it. We've been selling out and then turning around and there are a dozen more little pink guys and a dozen more of the yellow ones. We keep selling and they keep appearing. Don't know how you are doing it but Jill and I are making so much money we'll probably have to retire to spend any of it. Since we have a continuous supply, we decided to stay open the last two nights."

Fun said, "It's already nine thirty, don't you think you should close soon? My goodness you two must be really tired."

Jill said with a smile, "Sure we're tired but we've taken care of the store for you guys and we're doing ourselves a favor too with all the commission we're making. Let's close and you can buy us a beer."

We closed the store and walked to the Island bar to have a beer. The bartender came over to us and said, "You two girls are being good. I told all the guys that you were not in business any more so to let you two alone. I'm happy to serve you now that you're regular customers. Franny, you and Chuck are doing good for us out here on the island. You've brought us business and you've given us our two sweet girls back to us. Thanks, the beers are me tonight."

The four of us saluted the bartender with our beers then clanked our bottles together in a toast. We sent the girls home and we took our two dragons home. Once inside the house, we all sat on the couch together. Even Pink and Flower let out a big sigh.

I suddenly had a thought and went out back to the trailer house. The lights were on and a TV was playing in the living room. In front of the TV was a dozen pink and yellow dragons with a couple of orange guys in the back. I didn't see any purple ones but that didn't mean one wasn't in a bedroom.

All of them jabbered at me talking at once. I smiled at them and said goodnight then went inside the house. As I entered the kitchen I came face to face with a ten foot purple dragon sitting in the kitchen with a big smile on his face. I said, "You're a little big for the house don't you think?"

The purple dragon got a sad look on his face and looked at the back door. "Okay, you can stay but be careful. You don't fit very well. The house just isn't big enough."

In my head I heard, "Do you want us to build you a bigger house, we can you know. We know how to build all kinds of things."

"We better not do that right away. Perhaps later when we can get a place away from people."

The big dragon smiled and nuzzled me with his big head. I had to ask, "How did you get in, the door isn't big enough for you to get in here?"

"Poof" he vanished and there was a tapping on the back door. I opened it and he said in my head, "I just get invisible and go where I want." I nodded then he did his vanishing act again but appeared in the doorway to the living room.

Fun and I left the big purple dragon and our two dragon friends in the living room watching television while we went to bed. This traveling stuff wears us out.

Editing by BarneyR



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Chapter 6


Fun and I spent the week in the dragon pet store where we were getting more and more customers from even farther distances. We received several telephone calls from people who wanted us to ship a dragon to them. My stock answer was, "We have to meet all prospective owners of our little friends to be sure you are compatible and to insure the size of the dragon you get is correct."

The people who called were understanding but were disappointed. Fun and I discussed all of the various things we had no answers for until Fun said, "We need to take the boat and bring some more dragons in. How about we leave this morning, so we can be back in a couple of days.

Jill and Mindy said they could handle the store while we were gone so Fun and I stocked up on some food and headed out into the gulf in my boat. Once we were out by the closed oil rigs, we shut down and stood together thinking "invisible." We didn't feel a change but somehow we knew we couldn't be seen by anyone.

Fun called out, "Mom? Are you listening? Can we talk?"

Six giant dragon heads rose from the water. One of the dragons had the biggest smile you could ever see. Mom asked, "How are my two humans. Is everything all right?"

I asked first, "Your plan to make the dragons popular is working well but it is really hard for us to fly around the country like that. Fun and I are not people who enjoy being around all the fake smiles and meaningless handshakes."

Mom said, "I'm hoping all of us dragons can change that. We want people to be honest and giving with each other. We think if people can spend a few minutes with even our smallest pink dragon, their attitude will change."

"That's the other thing Mom," Fun said. "How can we get enough dragons spread around the country to do what you want. We only have one little store."

"Oh my," sighed Mom, "I guess you're ready for the next part of our plan. I want you to advertise via some kind of national media for people to open franchise dragon pet stores. At first they'll only sell the pink and yellow dragons but you can pick some to sell the two larger size. First though, you have to have the purple dragons do something that proves their worth. They aren't good beasts of burden but they enjoy working. Perhaps you could have a couple of purple dragons work on a construction project and have them haul heavy items for other workers."

She thought for a second and said, "An orange dragon or two on a high rise building project would be good. The dragons could be for safety as they could catch a falling worker and they too can carry very heavy items."

Fun needed some assurance. "Mom, we're having to deal with so many strange people and go to some really scary places. We're not very comfortable flying around the country the way we have been. Can you help us feel better about doing what you need us to do?"

"You two are not trusting your two best friends. Pink and Flower can and will protect you from all forms of danger. Keep them with you and you'll see."

Pink was hovering next to Fun so they could be face to face. The smile on Pink's face always makes you happy, makes you feel good inside. Flower had come up along side of me tucking her head under my hand and raising herself so my arm was around its body. Flower said to me, "Trust me Chuck. Pink and I will watch out for both you and Fun."

Fun asked, "Mom, you know how blind people use seeing-eye dogs to lead them, wouldn't a dragon be good for something like that? Maybe even an orange dragon so they could help their blind person do things as well as lead them."

"That's a very good idea Fun," Mom exclaimed. "Do you know any blind people that we could practice with?"

I answered quickly, "There is a family in town with a little girl about ten I think. She doesn't have a dog yet but she's about ready for one. I could take a pink dragon to the training school so they can both learn."

Mom said, "You should probably use a yellow dragon. They are a little bigger plus the pink ones are selling so well that I would hate to miss an opportunity to have another funny little pink dragon with a family."

While Mom had been talking to us with the other very large dragons lounging around behind her, hundreds or it could even be thousands of pink, and yellow, and orange, and purple dragons had surfaced. The dragons were involved in various chase games as well as see who could make the biggest splash.

An interesting display was a pink dragon holding up two yellow dragons who were holding three orange dragons who were holding up four big purple dragons. They all quit using their wings at once which should have pushed the pink dragon into the water, it didn't. The little pink guy was laughing and actually threw all of the others up into the air to come splashing down. The little pink guys were strong, I had not realized how strong.

Pink and Flower were dancing around behind us watching all of their friends playing so Fun finally told them to go play. Both our little friends shot up into the air then dove into the water. They loved to play.

Pink and I decided that we might as well see if we could dive and catch some fish. I guess Mom heard our conversations and two very large Mahi Mahi plopped on the deck. There was enough fish for us to eat on for two or three days. Mom was smiling and asked, "I know you like the dolphin fish, are those all right?"

Fun said almost disappointed that we didn't get to dive, "They are perfect Mom, thank you. I cleaned the fish and got them ready to cook. Fun said, let's go swim a while. We can perhaps play with the dragons if they'll let us.

We were going to get our swim suits but realized we were invisible to the rest of the world so we just stripped down and dove in. As soon as we hit the water, we were scooped up in the air by various dragons and tossed back in. They were having as much fun as we were as they kept tossing us between each other then pitching up in the air for us to dive into the water.

Sometimes a little pink guy would be lifting us into the air, the next would be a big purple guy balancing us on his tale. Once an orange dragon took us to the top of the head of one of the other huge dragons and set us up there. Fun and I didn't know what to do and we really didn't know how the other big ones felt about us.

A very loud whisper filled our heads, "Thank you for visiting with me. Let me take you on a ride."

The big dragon lifted out of the water going up into the air at an angle back toward the islands. We were high enough that it was getting cold. As soon as Fun said she was getting cold, the big dragon said, "I apologize, let me fly lower."

We flew over the islands then over Corpus Christi turning around and heading back. The dragon turned sharply to the north saying, "Oh there's one of your big birds, lets fly with it."

The dragon flew right up to it, just in front of it. Fun and I could easily see the pilot and co-pilot through the windscreen. They didn't even flinch, I guess they really couldn't see us. The dragon flew all around the airplane then turned heading back to the gulf. It said, "Your big birds don't play. I've tried to get them to play many times but they just ignore me and keep going mostly in a straight line."

We flew back to our boat and all of the dragons splashing in the water around the boat. There were dozens of dragons sitting on the boat rails and on top of the helm area and on the front deck. When the big dragon sat down in the water next to the boat, he lowered his head to the rear of the boat where Fun and I could just step off his head onto the deck.

I turned around and said, "Thank you for the ride but how did you do that without us feeling the wind? If we were going three hundred miles an hour with that airplane, the wind would normally knock us off."

The big face, even larger than Mom's boomed, "I put a bubble around you so you couldn't fall off. You don't fly without getting in one of your big birds so I had to make you safe."

Mom said, "You've made another friend. All of us are curious about humans and you two are the first to really become acquainted with us in a friendly manner."

I looked around the deck to see if I could tell which pink dragon was ours and which yellow one was Flower. They were the only mixed couple sitting together near the captain's chair. I smiled and asked our friends, "Did you two have a good time. Did you get to play enough? Are you going to go eat soon since you're out in gulf? Are you two going to sleep with us or with all your friends?"

Pink flew into Fun's arms almost knocking her over just as Flower did the same with me. In our heads we heard, "We'll go eat but we want to be with you while you sleep. It's our job to take care of you. We'll be right here. I'll bet we have a couple of hundred helpers to watch over you too."

We ate a great dinner while our buddies dove deep into the gulf to graze on sea grass. We had a pleasant evening listening to the radio. We could pick up FM signals where we were from several stations. We settled on some sixties and seventies rock and roll. The music caused all of the friendly creatures to cavort around the boat doing all sorts of gymnastic tricks.

The next day we made some plans with Mom. We were going to find the family with the blind girl and offer to have a yellow dragon be her guide dog. I guess it would be a guide dragon though. Mom said she had picked out the dragon that she thought would do a good job. The other thing we were going to do is to have our crazy agent find a business manager to help us open ten stores across the United States.

We were going to use a small island far off the coast of Mexico as the island the dragons lived on so other people could verify that an island existed. Mom said they would decorate the island with trees and bushes. She said the most difficult part would be to make a spring for fresh water or at least partially unsalted water so the plants would grow. She said that they would let people get fairly close to the island but as soon as they approached it, all of the dragons would disappear. Soon people would realize that Fun and I were the only ones allowed to go to the island where the dragons lived. Mom hoped the cover story would hold up.

Mom took Fun and I on a flying trip to the Mexican coast. About fifty miles off shore there was a cluster of volcanic islands that were mostly just rock and sand. Right in the middle of the group of islands, hidden from view by the other islands was a fairly large body of land that would be the home of the dragons. It already had some trees on it as well as some grasses along the water line. Fun and I walked around the island discovering some turtles and thousands of various clams and sand crabs.

The water around the island was very deep so it would be perfect for the little guys to dive into and disappear. Of course all they really had to do was to dive into the water and become invisible. Then no matter how much people searched, they couldn't be found.

Mom flew us back to our boat but we were surprised to find another boat just on the other side of the oil platform. Becoming more used to our critters, Fun and I asked a couple of purple dragons to give us a ride to see what the people were doing. We watched them a while realizing they were just fishing around the structure. Mom boomed into our heads, "We scared all of the fish away so they should give up soon. We'll make sure they don't catch anything."

Fun and I sat around on our boat but didn't turn the radio on as we didn't know whether noise would be invisible too. Just before dark, the other boat pulled anchor and headed back to Texas. The direction they were going looked to be more toward the Houston area.

We talked about the whole plan making up some lists of things to do. This was a lot for a couple of bums like Fun and I. We were used to a laid back life on the water earning just enough to exist and to pay our bills. That reminded us, we were going to have to do something with all the money we were making at the pet store. Fun said, "We'll fix up the house a little then we'll find some good causes to help. It will be fun do things like that."

The next day we sailed into our harbor and docked at my rented slip after refueling and topping off our water. Mom had loaded the boat up with a bunch of pink and yellow guys quite a few orange dragons and two purple ones this time. We made quite a sight walking down the sidewalk toward the store. Two sun bronzed gulf bums followed and surrounded by about fifty colorful dragons. Some were doing their silly walk on the ground while some were doing the walk in the air. Others were just flying along as if they were sitting on a chair. It was funny enough that Fun and I laughed almost the whole way.

The store was very crowded as usual. Jill and Mindy were busy helping people decide what size dragon to get. I yelled very loud, "Make way, new dragons are coming through, make a path."

The people separated and watched all of the dragons except the purple ones go into the store. The new group completely filled the sitting area for the dragons. There really wasn't any room for the purple ones. I told the two, "Thank you for staying outside with us. We'll take you home in a little while." I called out in my mind to the dragons, "I want a yellow dragon to come out with me."

Flower came up to my face looking at me quizzically asking "What?" I smiled and said, "We need a yellow one like you to help a little girl see." Flower understood and said, "I'll get the one that Mom said should do the job."

They came flying out of the store. Fun had talked to Jill and Mindy making sure they were okay then we along with two purple, two yellow and a pink dragon walked over to the grocery store. I had the dragons line up outside and asked them to stay right there.

Fun and I went into the store and asked the owner's wife, "Can you tell us where the Stevens live. You know, the one with little blind girl?"

We were given the address and directions. After thanking her and getting some bottles of water, we went out and had our group of dragons follow us down the street toward the Stevens. They lived in the direction of Fun's house but back from the water about five blocks. They had a nice little house with a good fence around the yard. Probably so their daughter couldn't accidentally get out in the street. We parked all our critters on the sidewalk then Fun and I went up to the door and knocked.

A little girl came running through the house with her hands stretched out in front of her until she slammed into the screen door. "Who are you?"

Fun said, "I'm Fran and Chuck is with me. Is your Mother at home?"

"Mom! Somebody's here to see you," the little girl yelled at the top of her lungs.

A sweet looking young woman came from the same direction as the little girl wiping her hands on her apron. She said, "I know you two, you're the kids with those silly dragons." When she saw the group outside the fence she exclaimed, "You brought them for Cassie to see. That's so sweet. Cassie, remember I told you about some silly looking animals that were on TV."

Cassie had hold of her mom's dress pulling her toward the door, "Where are they, let me see them, you know let me touch them, can I play with them?"

Mrs. Stevens and Cassie came out onto the porch. Fun turned and said, "Come up to the porch." Pointing at the front of the steps. The yellow one that was chosen to be the little girl's guide dog was in front so Fun held her hand out to it and had it come up on the porch.

The little yellow dragon sat right in front of the little girl. Fun took one of Cassie's hands and put in on the dragons head.

Cassie said, "It's skin feels soft but tough. It feels real thick."

Fun said, "Let me show you something the dragons really like." She took Cassie's hand and let in rub down the rolling ridges on the dragon's neck and back. This dragon actually giggled. When Cassie's hand was all the way down it's tail, the dragon moved her head to be under Cassie's hand so she would pet her again.

Mrs. Stevens laughed at how friendly the dragon was. She asked me, "Are those huge purple one's as gently as this one?"

"Yes ma'am, they are. They're just big. They don't fit in a house very well but they are very useful. They learn fast and can do all forms of chores you don't want to do."

She asked while Cassie was now hugging the yellow dragon, "What's this one's name?"

Fun said, "We haven't named it yet. We thought Cassie would want to name it. We want you to experiment with it. We want this dragon to become Cassie's seeing-eye dog. In this case it will be a seeing eye dragon."

Mrs. Stevens said, "We can't afford a dog yet or the school. The society for the blind will help us get her a dog when she's out of high school or college if she goes but not before. We'll have to wait, maybe we can try a dragon then."

Fun smiled and continued, "We will sponsor Cassie and the dragon so they can go to the school together. The store will even pick up the cost of ride back and forth to the school in Corpus everyday while they are in school. Would you be willing to try?"

"Oh my yes. Cassie, do you want to go to the seeing-eye school with your new dragon friend?"

There were tears coming out of Mrs. Stevens eyes as she talked to her daughter then kneeled by her also petting the dragon. Suddenly there was a pink blur and pink was snuggled up to Mrs. Stevens trying to make her feel better.

Fun said, "Pink, you weren't supposed to rush up here. I think Mrs. Stevens is happy that Cassie has the chance to go to the school."

Pink looked a little sheepish but didn't move from the hug Mrs. Stevens was giving it. Cassie touched her yellow one then Pink but settled on hugging her own. Cassie asked, "Can I keep this one? Can it be my pet? My cat got run over and I don't have a pet any more. Can I keep it please?"

Fun said, "If your Mom says its okay, yes you may keep this dragon. What are you going to name it? Do you have a special name for it?"

You could see Cassie thinking. She asked, "Is it a boy dragon or girl dragon?"

Fun said, "It's a little girl dragon."

"Then I'm going to call her Sue. Sue used to be my imaginary friend when I was little. We played together all the time because other kids wouldn't play with me." Cassie held the yellow dragon away from her and said, "I'm going to name you Sue. Come on Sue; let me show you our room."

The little girl and the dragon were gone instantly. Mrs. Stevens looked apprehensive so Fun began explaining that the dragons went outside to take care of business never doing anything inside. We talked about food and that the dragon loved the water. So any chance they had for it to play in the gulf would be good but if Mrs. Stevens didn't mind the splashing, the dragon would enjoy a bath with Cassie as well. The food part was different but we told Mrs. Stevens that the grocery store was carrying lots of greens now just for our critters.

Fun said, "If you forget to get something for Sue you can always take her down to the water and tell her to go eat. She'll eat and come back. You'll find the dragons become very affectionate and very protective. I'm sure the dragon will do well in the seeing-eye dog school."

I said, "I'll go see them tomorrow and demonstrate what my yellow one can do. Flower will follow directions and do just about anything I ask her to. You'll see, they are very affectionate and will help you constantly. Just talk them in a normal tone of voice. They do get their feelings hurt easily so if you're mad at them for being too rambunctious, please just scold them in a firm voice. They learn quick."

"How can I thank you. I've heard you're charging hundreds of dollars for them at your store. This is really special to Cassie. Like she said, her little kitten was just run over by some crazy kid driving too fast. The dragon will be a great friend for her."

At that moment Cassie and Sue came running to the door with Sue jumping in front of Cassie before she hit the door. Cassie held onto the dragon and said, "You didn't let me hit the screen. That's how I know I'm at the door. Mom will like you Sue. So will Dad so he doesn't have to put a new screen in all the time."

Mrs. Stevens said, "I see what you mean. They're already bonding."

She went inside picked up her purse and came back out. "Come on Cassie, let's walk to the grocery to get some greens for Sue to eat. We'll see if Sue can help you stay on the sidewalk."

We watched as Mrs. Stevens, Cassie and Sue went down the side walk. Sue was flying, staying under Cassie's hand so it was easy to guide her. The little dragon seemed to instinctively know the little girl needed her. Fun and I were standing together with our arms around each other watching.

Pink and Flower were sitting in front of us while the two giant purple guys were behind us. We watched until they turned to go up to main street then we walked up toward our house on Gulf Blvd.

Fun said, "We're doing the good things now. This is the kind of thing we need to do instead of trying to make all kinds of money. This is the first thing, we'll keep looking till we find lots of ways to use these dragons to help people."

I showed the two big purple dragons the trailer in behind the house. They were excited as there were several dragons already inside the trailer. Mom sure was giving us a constant supply.

Fun and I rested a few minutes then walked up to the store to help out Jill and Mindy. The customer traffic was constant. We could probably have set appointments to have people look at the dragons but it was actually more fun to just have the crowd.

Jill told us, "These little guys are so smart. They know if they have been purchased or not. A guy was taking one of the little pink guys out of the store and it just jumped out of his arms and waited until the door opened and came back in. They tried again trying to hold the dragon down and the little guy knocked the man down and flew away again. The man came in yelling that our dragon had attacked him but we had seen him try to take it without paying."

Mindy then said, "Henry came up and latched on to the guy saying he was under arrest for attempted robbery and handcuffed the guy. Apparently Henry has been hanging out around here to watch traffic and ticket parking violations. For once, Henry was in the right place at the right time."

"The little guys are so friendly that I guess people think they just might leave with them but they don't. If someone is just looking, when the person is ready to leave the little guy just goes back to the display or play area."

Mindy asked, "Are you going to run out of dragons soon? Is there enough for us to keep selling them? Jill and I are making a good living and not having to hide from Henry or anything. Look at us. We went into to Corpus and bought some good clothes so we can look nice. Both of us have bought our own dragon. Jill has a yellow one and I have that orange one by the register. We wanted to have friends at home too."

Fun said, "You two don't have to buy one, we'll give your money back. You'll be good advertisement for the store. Do you take them to the bar with you? Do they let them come in?"

"So far so good," Mindy said, "Since we have the orange one walking with us, no one bothers us anymore either. These guys are good protection. Hey watch what he'll do."

Mindy went over to her dragon and said, "It's closing time, get everyone to clean up and take out the trash."

Jill's Pink dragon and Mindy's orange one seemed to be directing the others as the store was put into order. All of the sand was swept up and put into the play area and even the windows were washed inside and out. Mindy's orange dragon had hold of a big trash bag and carried it out the back door.

Fun said, "I'm impressed. Chuck and I were worried about the safety of you two but seeing this, there is nothing to worry about. You really did good."

Jill said, "No, they really do good. They are so smart. They help us constantly. They even know when we are to close. Just like tonight, they all went into the display area and sat there. They knew it was time. Come on, let's get a beer."

We all went to the bar with our four friends. The place was pretty full of customers. We didn't recognize many of them so they must have mostly been tourists. The bartender came over with four long necks and said, "Just keep it up Chuck. These two girls are making more people happy than when they were working the street. Your little store has my traffic way up. Keep it up guy, and I'll keep feeding you beer. These are on me."

Jill said, "And to think he used to chase Mindy and I out of here all the time. I like this a lot better. We're eating better too."

"All our bills are paid and I'm thinking about buying a car," Mindy said. "Jill's old car is on its last legs so it's my turn to buy one. We can afford it now that we're making good money. That's why you have to keep getting more of these guys to sell."

At home Fun and I had our standby supper, frozen dinners, then walked all the dragons down by the water. They were instantly skipping across the water and splashing, having a good time. Fun hollered, "Go eat, we're going to bed early tonight."

All of them dove beneath the water and were gone. About twenty minutes later, they surfaced and skimmed across the water to come to stand in front of us. Fun said, "Guess its bed time."

At home most of the dragons went to the trailer while our two came inside with us. Fun noted that her answering machine had a couple of messages. The first was from our new famous friend Sally Forth. She wanted us to come to her place soon to let the dragons play together plus she thought she might want a couple of the purple dragons to help on her estate.

The other message was from Mrs. Stevens. She said she couldn't get the dragon to leave Cassie so it could go outside to take care of business. She didn't know what to do and wanted us to call her anytime we got home.

Fun called to assure Mrs. Stevens that when Sue needed to go out, she would let her know. Sue apparently had become so attached to Cassie she didn't want to be away from her. Fun told her that Sue would lighten up as she found that Cassie could take care of herself. It was obvious that Sue knew Cassie had special needs. Fun promised to come by tomorrow to see how they were doing.

Fun said to me, "These little critters are pretty possessive. So far it's been amazing how they take to someone so fast and become a partner instantly. We're lucky to be offering friendly, helpful pets."

That night, Fun and I demonstrated our love for each other for a long while. The whole time, Pink and Flower were watching cartoons on the TV.

Editing by BarneyR



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Chapter 7


Fun and I were up early to dress in some casual business clothes so we could see the dog school people. First we needed to go by the Stevens to check on Cassie and Sue.

As we walked up to the Stevens' home, Mrs. Stevens, Cassie and Sue were walking back from the beach. When we were together, Sue remained right with Cassie instead of frolicking with Pink and Flower.

Mrs. Stevens said, "This morning when I woke up I looked in on Cassie and Sue. I asked quietly if she needed to go outside. The little critter beat me to the door. She was out and back so fast the door hardly had a chance to close. She went right back to be with Cassie, resting her head on the bed next to her."

Cassie was excited, "When I ate my breakfast this morning, Sue ate with me. She eats funny tasting things almost like lettuce but it isn't. We were just out on the beach. Sun went swimming and Momma says she was going way up and high then diving into the water. Thank you for bringing Sue to me. I really love her."

We told them we were on our way to the seeing eye dog school to demonstrate what Flower can do and to get acceptance of Sue and Cassie for their next class.

Fun and I drove into Corpus to the location in the phone book. It was a small building with several large fields behind it. There was also a kennel building on one side.

We walked into the reception area which had a frosted sliding window at waist height with a bell in front of it.

I rang the bell and half the window slid open. "What can I do for you young man?"

I explained that we wanted to sponsor a girl and a pet to go through the school. We were willing to put up the money for the regular school or a special school to make sure the training can be done quickly.

The lady asked us to wait a minute then shut the window. A few minutes later an older lady opened a door and asked up to come in. When she saw Pink and Flower she stopped, "You can't bring animals in here without a leash or a handling harness. You'll have to leave right now."

Fun said, "We're sorry, we didn't know of your requirements but we want you to meet ae type of dragon that we wish for you to train."

The lady did stop to take a longer look at the two dragons sitting quietly at our feet. "I've seen your dragons on TV a couple of times already but so far they haven't shown me any special intellect or ability to be trained."

I asked, "Would you come out to one of your training fields and go through a couple of commands. The yellow dragon, Flower, is used to taking commands and can be told what to do in advance of doing it."

"Well, I would really like to see if they are as intelligent as you imply. Come with me, I'll get one of our trainers and well go out to the street scene."

We all went through the building then out into an area that looked like several small city blocks. There were traffic lights as well as just stop signs. The lady had asked a trainer to come out with us and told the trainer that the yellow dragon would take direction from her and would act accordingly.

The trainer walked Flower to an intersection and then was talking to Flower while pointing at the light. She pointed to the pedestrian walking sign and to the pedestrian stop signal.

The trainer said it was awkward without having a harness but I told her to just lay her hand on Flower's head. The trainer walked toward the intersection and the light began changing the pedestrian sign flashing red. Flower stopped but trainer continued. Flower jumped in from of the trainer and held her in place until the light changed again then flower went back to the trainers side with her hand on Flower's head.

"That was very good," the trainer said. "It usually takes a dog a week or so to begin to stop people who aren't paying attention to what the dog is telling them to do."

Fun asked, "Can you do another task so you know how easily they are to train?"

The trainer took a white walking cane, had an extensive conversation with Flower then they began walking toward an open intersection. There were automatic cars going back and forth in the intersection so Flower stopped the trainer then watched the intersection for a couple of minutes then when there was plenty of room, Flower pushed gently at the trainer and the two walked quickly across the street. They did this through the other two intersections going around square but then as they crossed the last street, the instructor intentionally dropped her cane and stopped to stoop to get it. Flower pushed the instructor up, pushing her toward the curb. When they were at the curb, Flower leaned against her to make sure she would stay still then checked traffic and darted out to get the can bringing it back to the trainer.

"This is a smart little animal. It sure is different looking. Nothing like a dog."

The administrative lady asked the trainer, "Would you have any problem training a dragon like this and a young girl?"

The trainer was enthusiastic, "I'd love to work with one of these dragons. I still think a harness with a handle would be better but I would like to train one. These little dragons could be very good for a blind person."

"When can your student start?" The administrator asked. "If she can start right away, this instructor has completed her class and has a two week break before her next scheduled class."

I held up my hand and said, "Let me call right now."

Mrs. Stevens answered on the first ring. I asked her if Cassie and Sue could start right away, Mrs. Stevens said the faster the better. I told her that I would call her for what time the driver would pick her up in the morning.

The administrator, the trainer, Fun and I all went into the administrator office where we filled out several sponsorship forms and I wrote what I thought was an exorbitant check for the classes. I promised that Cassie would be here at nine and that her Mother would probably come along at first.

When we left feeling pretty smug about what we had accomplished, Sue reminded me we had to find either a limo or car service to haul Cassie back and forth. Knowing one person who knew about limo's I called our new friend, Sally Forth.

She was happy to hear from me, "Hi Chuck. I was just thinking of coming over to let my guys play with yours. What can I do for you?"

I explained what Fun and I were doing and we needed a limo service and thought she might be able to direct us to one. She asked all the details including the addresses of the Stevens home and the school and said, "Don't worry about a thing. A car will be there to take them to the school at eight in the morning. That's a wonderful thing you're doing Chuck. I'm glad to be a part of helping."

"If this works our Sally, we'll donate dragons all over the USA to help blind people. I think we can use orange ones for this as well. The purple guys are just too big so we're going to try a yellow one first."

"Chuck, I'll help you and Fun to sponsor as many blind kids as we can find to have seeing eye dragons. We'll have to think of some other ways these dragons can help people."

I called Mrs. Stevens to tell her a car would be there before for the first day of school. I also told her that there was plenty of room for her to ride along if she wanted to and the school said it would be fine if she wished to attend Cassie and Sue's classes.

Fun and I went by the store to note the usual crowd with people playing with the dragons then went home for a few minutes. The home answering machine showed a message.

Mr. Sleezeman's voice said, "I've begun looking for locations in ten cities just like you asked me to. They are all prime locations and are easily accessed with adequate parking. None are in a walking only environment. When do you want to look at them."

Fun and I looked at each other questioning our sanity. Fun smiled and called, "Mom, we need to talk?"

We heard the booming voice in our heads, "What can I help you two with today?"

Fun asked, "Who told the agent we wanted locations in ten cities?"

Mom looked a little sheepish and she said that she had Flower call Sleezeman and to use Fun's voice. "This is the next step. If we can open the next ten stores and do some good will in each of the areas, we'll get ten times as many dragons out into people's lives."

Fun angrily said, "So Flower can imitate my voice. What else can she imitate that I do. Perhaps we're letting Pink and Flower get to close to us. Perhaps we should put them into the store so they can go imitate someone else's voice."

"Mom, that was not good. If you had talked to us about it, we might have just gone along with you and even let Flower do the talking. But for you to do something this important without even telling us is wrong. The move can't be undone but we're going to have to operate considerable more open between us."

Fun told Flower and Pink to go back with Mom for right now. She was too mad at them for them to be around.

Fun and I took a walk down to the beach and walked until we got to the marina where we went to sit on my boat. We pulled a couple of beers from the cooler that was hooked up to shore power and talked about all of the plans that were being worked on.

There was the building of the island, the ten stores, possibly more children than just Cassie to get a seeing eye dragon, and several personal appearances on TV, that were planned. We talked for a long while then Fun called, "Mom, talk to me."

In our heads Mom said, "Make yourself invisible so we can talk eye to eye."

As we became invisible, Mom appeared right behind our boat. We could see what looked like thousands of various colors of dragons all line up in rows far enough away that what we were saying was private.

Mom said, "I'm sorry to have had Flower use your voice to begin the search for new stores. I did help out your agent by putting the right places right in front of him while he was looking. I can't take back what I started but I will promise not to do something like that again without asking you first."

Fun looked around then said to Mom, "I forgive you but please don't do that again. I miss our two little friends so can you tell them to come back?"

There were two "Poofs." Pink and Flower appeared sitting right in front of us. Both had worried looks on their faces. We held our arms out to them and both were on our laps quickly smiling their warmest friendliest smiles.

Mom said, "Okay you two, no more flames from your mouths. Just because you were mad at me didn't mean you should shoot fire at me. Next time be sure I have permission before I do something like that."

Fun said, "Tomorrow we have to go to New York again to talk on the Fox morning show. Then later we will do a short interview with CNBC. On the way back home we're supposed to stop in Atlanta to do an interview on CNN. So Mom, are going to help Sleezeman to pick out honest workers for our stores? They need to be remodeled quickly so we can open."

I suggested, "How about we begin bringing in the dragons we want to sell at the other stores. We won't charge any more for them than we do now and if the community causes problems we'll just move to another. If you figure we're selling about thirty to forty dragons a day now, that will be almost five hundred a day with ten stores. We'll have to bring over thirty-five hundred dragons a week. Mom? Maybe that's too many stores."

Mom sat in the water with a confused look on her face.

Fun asked, "Do you know how many dragons you have that will want to be pets?"

Mom still had a funny look on her face. She finally said, "I'll be right back, we will have to count."

An orange dragon popped up behind the boat and shrilled something to Pink and Flower. Our two friends looked at us and we heard in our heads, "Mom wants us to help." The dove over the side of the boat and were gone.

I said to Fun, let's cast off and go out a ways. That way we can talk to Mom better. I don't like being invisible when we're near everyone.

Fun and I materialized inside the cabin then came out to disconnect shore connections and prepare to start the engines. It took us fifteen minutes to go through the necessary steps to cast of the last line and engage the props in reverse to ease away from the dock.

Soon we were cruising out into the gulf at our near maximum twenty-nine knots, moving along at a rapid clip. We lost sight of shore soon and were heading east south east sort of toward where the secret island was being created. Fun decided to make up some rice and beans for us in the galley. I was trying to think of any good locations right through this area that would be good to catch a fish. There was an old schooner wreck in this direction that should yield a grouper so as soon as we neared the GPS numbers, I cut the power back and tried to sit on top of the wreck. Fun used a piece of fish bait with some heavy line on a weighted hook and dropped it straight down letting out line until the bait was down about three hundred feet.

She bobbed the line around hoping to attract an unsuspecting hungry grouper. It would have been better to have some live bait but we didn't so it was going to be this thawed bait or a piece of Spam.

I kept the boat in a tight circle for about ten minutes when Fun's rod bent way down then began moving sideways. She said, "This doesn't feel like a grouper, more like a shark or barracuda. I didn't think there were any barracuda in this part of the gulf right now."

I kept Fun's line behind the boat maneuvering around to make it easier on

her. She exclaimed, "This is too big for us to eat in a month if I can land it. Whatever it is, it's huge, way over a hundred pounds."

We kept up the fight for almost forty-five minutes and then you could tell the fish or shark or whatever it was, was tiring. Fun began reeling it in. I grabbed the big gaff and was read to bring in up quickly.

Son of a gun, it was a hug gag grouper. This fish was probably fifty years old, maybe even more but it was huge. We didn't bring it up from so deep that the depth change would kill it so I hung on to the side of the boat on the diving platform and reached down with my pliers and pulled the big hook free. After handing the pliers up to Fun, I rubbed the fish's side hoping it would realize it could leave. The big old fish seemed to turn and look at me then began sinking. As soon as it was about a foot so down, it flipped it's tail and was gone.

Fun was standing there with the movie camera. I had not noticed that she had gotten it out. She said, "At least we have proof that I landed one of the biggest grouper I've ever seen."

I laughed as I said, "All that and we still only have rice and beans to eat."

Fun pointed, "Here, take the cast net and I'll get over by all those bait fish on top there."

The water was teaming with small fish with dolphins jumping up and down feeding on them. Fun guided the boat right to the edge of the milling bait fish. I tossed the cast net spinning in an arch to watch it settle over hundreds of fingerling up to two to three inch bait fish. While I pulled the net closed back toward the dive platform Fun brought me a bucket and put some water in it. The net was so full I couldn't pull it out of the water so we sorted through the fish to get a few dozen good bait fish then we were about to dump the net when there was lots of splashing inside the net. We kept pulling handfuls of baitfish out of the net until we found the cause of the splashing. There was a real nice sea trout about six or seven pounds that had been feeding on the bait fish and was caught in the net.

Fun shoved her hand into the gill and mouth and lifted it out of the net saying "Supper." I was able to dump all the rest of the bait fish back into the water while watching dolphins continue to charge through the masses of bait fish. While I was messing with the net and bait fish, Fun had gone up to get a knife to clean the trout. It only took a couple of minutes for her to reduce the fish into some big fillets.

While she took the fresh fillets to the galley, I washed off the platform and climbed back up deck, pulling up the platform as I came up.

Sun and I took quick showers as this boat didn't carry a lot of fresh water. It was good to get clean though so we began fixing supper. I went back up to the helm and set course for the islands off Mexico where we were supposed to have found our dragons. I left the engines at an efficient fifty percent so we were doing about eleven to twelve knots but hardly burning any fuel.

Our rice and canned beans was now a meal with the addition of the fish. We gorged ourselves followed by sitting out on the rear deck enjoying the sunset. I checked our GPS and told Fun that I was going to idle down to about six knots so we could sleep but be awake for when we reached the outer islands that were about a hundred miles off the coast of Mexico.

We slept good considering the low drone of the engine along with good breezes coming through the portholes. I woke about five, went up to check our position, started the generator and went down to the galley to start some coffee.

Fun got up and came to me before putting on her clothes. It's always nice to get a hug from the girl of your dreams went she's as bare as could be.

While we were drinking coffee Fun asked, "I wonder when Pink and Flower are going to get back. They've been gone a long time."

"I think I asked the wrong question when I asked if there were enough dragons to sell over three thousand a week. I'm still wondering what Mom has up her sleeve or in her case, up her tail to ship dragons all over the place."

Fun made a breakfast hash of some bacon, sausage, fish, onions, beans, rice and eggs. You know, the typical type of food a couple of dive bums will eat. Whatever is left over from the night before, goes into breakfast.

We were just finishing when a little pink dragon popped out of the water to sit on the rail of the boat. Another splash and a larger yellow one came flying out. Both of them were grinning from ear to ear. We heard in our heads, "Did you miss us? We were gone a long time and you moved."

Fun said while holding her hands out, "Yes we missed you and yes you were gone a long time. We wanted to see how the island was coming."

A giant head appeared right at the stern. First it was the head followed by the eyes to keep raising until Mom's head was looking over the aft railing. In a booming voice heard in our heads Mom said, "We counted them all and there are right at forty two million three hundred fifteen thousand and four dragons. That will change as a lot of babies are about to be born. The pink and yellow ones reproduce fastest but the orange and purple ones reproduce too."

"Well Mom," I said. "There are only about three hundred million people in the United States and if you were to figure out those capable of taking care of a dragon, We will need between fifty and seventy-five million. Do you think we can convince people this little island supports seventy-five million dragons?"

"You're right. That is too many. I think we will let you sell from here then later you can discover other locations that you can get dragons to sell in Europe and Asia. It's very important that we get dragons spread all over the world so people can begin to have fun like the dragons. When someone begins to be bad, the dragon will just sit on them until they become nicer. There is a calming affect that the dragons have on people, especially bad people. My plan is to eliminate bad people. We just give them a ride down to the anti-arctic or perhaps drop them off in the Southern Pacific. I could even put them all on some big islands off the coast of Africa and let them figure out how to live together."

Fun said, "I think we need to use dragons to help handicapped people first along with them becoming pets. Older people could really benefit by having a dragon friend to love and as entertainment."

"I like the way Sue is going to help Cassie. We need to find as many little blind kids as we can find and get them a seeing eye dragon. Sue acted like she really enjoyed being Cassie's friend. I want lots of kids to have a dragon for a friend."

We were approaching the islands so Mom said for us to follow her as she led us through the pass to get to the special island.

Mom led us right up to the land saying there was a natural rock formation that stuck out that we could pull up against using all of fenders to protect the hull. Fun jumped off and tied us up to a couple of big palm trees. There were coconut palms and banana palms all over. The one thing that was evident was the many fresh water springs that bubbled up from the middle of what looked like mini-volcanoes and ran down to join other streams to empty into the lagoon where we were. The island appeared to be about a hundred acres. The outlying islands surrounding this one were all about the same size but mostly just rock and sand.

I asked Mom, "As nice as this island is, how come no has ever found it? I'm sure it can be seen from the air."

"There is only one pass to get to the island and if you don't know the way, you will wreck for sure," Mom said with a smile. "Come, both of you and let me show you what it looks like from the air."

Fun and I climbed up on Mom's neck to be flown high above the group of islands. It looked as if the island that was uninhabitable surrounded by a maze of small and large islands. From up high, you really didn't notice that one island was lush with growth, it looked like just another uninhabitable piece of rock and sand.

Back on the island I went to the boat to dig out some of my oldest charts to see if the island were even marked. It took a while but I finally found them at the longitude and latitude where we were. They were marked as the little Louisiana Purchase and all had a US in parenthesis. I wondered if they were property of Louisiana or the U.S. government. That would be something to find out.

While Fun and I were exploring the island, more and more dragons were flying around watching us and accompanying us along with Pink and Flower. We found a high area with a little hill that would be a perfect home site. The elevation would give us a view over most of the other islands out to the gulf and back toward Mexico. Fun and I thought we might want to build a hide-a-way here one day. This would be a perfect place for us to come to get away from people and to just enjoy each other and our dragon friends.

Back at the boat Mom had thought about the proliferation of dragons and how we could manage it. She said we should set up an area that we would call a breeding kennel and raise baby dragons. She said it really was difficult because dragons were born with the ability to find food and grew to become full size quickly although they were not mature enough to be dependable until they were at least nine months to a year old.

Mom and I made a agreement that in the beginning, we would allocate only one hundred total dragons to each store then increase the quantities gradually so we were flooding the market. We would continue to sell as many dragons as possible from our original island store.

We heard Pink tell Mom, "Fun and Chuck want to build a house up on the hill. Why don't you have the purple dragons build it for them so they have a place to come to?"

Mom was all in favor of it but I said, "Let me see if Fun and I might be able to buy or lease the islands first so we have the right to build on the islands."

Mom said, "I'll just make them all invisible and let the idiots in the big speed boats crash into the invisible island when they race toward Houston or Galveston."

"I think it would be better to try to lease or buy them first. If they won't let us have them, then we'll make them invisible."

That evening we enjoyed fresh coconut flavoring on some fish we easily caught off the island. We had some bananas and even a pineapple. When we came back we wanted to bring lots of garden seeds to begin growing lots of foods.

The next day we made our way out of the maze of islands by following Mom again but this time I recorded the trip on the GPS so I could navigate back to it easier.

When we were almost back to land, Mom stashed over a hundred dragons on the boat so I could split up the dragons for four stores. She said she would have more for me in two days for the next four stores.

The first store to open was on Hollywood blvd in a small store that had been a large newsstand. It was about the size of our store on the island so we decorated it the same. It took us several interviews before we found the right people to run the store for us. There was a young couple that appeared perfect and was well liked by Pink and Flower.

It took a couple of days to teach them how to sell dragons only to good people. I promised them they would have plenty of good people to be customers. They would actually have more customers than dragons for a while.

We brought twenty-five dragons to the store knowing we could probably sell at least a hundred a day. We thought long and hard before doing it put we raised the prices way up so people wouldn't buy them without thinking. The pink dragons were now twenty-nine ninety-five, the Yellow were thirty-nine ninety-five, the orange another thousand and the purple another two thousand at sixty-nine ninety-five. These prices were thought to slow down the purchases and would make up for the shipping to the store.

We didn't plan on how nutty Californians were. We sold fifteen pink, nine yellow, four orange and two purple the first half day we were open. The rest of the day was spent taking orders.

That night Fun and I talked to Mom while in our hotel room. "What do we do Mom? We made the prices way too high and we've sold out plus we have orders for twice as many as we sold. What should we do?"

Mom said, "Tomorrow morning there will be fifty dragons in the store plus the dragons for all of the orders. Let's see what happens then."

The next day was a terrible mad house. The couple who were employees were calling the customers who had ordered dragons plus new customers were jamming the doorway. Once again we were sold out by noon and took orders for the rest of the afternoon.

This went on for two weeks until we finally told the couple that we would make sure the store had at least a hundred dragons delivered each night plus all of their orders. Fun and I were near crazy from dealing with people we knew were just plain nuts. It was a welcome relief to go home for a day before heading to the next store opening.

This time it was in Orlando, Florida. The store was actually outside of Orlando between the Disney Complex and Universal Studios park. The store was in a small strip center but fairly large. It didn't take us long to decorate using the dragons ability to sneak out and bring stuff back.

Our plan was to open with fifty dragons but to be on morning television on our opening day. We were able to get a location truck so a newslady could be in the shop and play with our little friends. The show had a segment at six, six-thirty, seven, and seven-thirty. By eight the newspaper people were there along with some representatives from Disney. Disney wanted at least one of each size of dragon. When they complained about the price we told them to go to Texas and buy one but this was our price here. They paid. So did everyone else and we were sold out a little past noon. Once again we took orders then had overnight deliveries to the store.

Atlanta was about as bad but then we had a store opening in New York City. Because the rent was so high there, we raised our prices an extra thousand each. No problem, there were some disappointed children but we sold out of two hundred dragons by eleven in the morning. The small store had so much foot traffic that we had to hire an off duty policeman to allow only a limited amount of people in the store.

Every night a tractor trailer rig with a fancy comfortable trailer pulled up to each of our stores and unloaded around one hundred dragons plus the ordered ones. The trailers went to Texas to fill up then returned. Each route had two trailers, one delivering, one returning for the next day's load.

The total of eleven stores were now selling about fifteen hundred dragons a day. Mom had come up with a bunch of covered barges that she had going back and forth to our islands bringing more and more dragons.

I had hired a lawyer to look into buying or leasing the abandoned islands and found out that I could file a homestead claim on all of them and the only thing I had to prove was that I was using them to produce some form of food. We filed all the papers for the homestead claim and invited a government agent to come inspect each of the islands to see they were being used to grow some form of food.

Mom had worked her magic and had some level areas on each of the islands where we were growing various vegetables and fruits. Two islands had orange and lemon trees, another two had grapefruit and limes. One island was a wonderful twenty-five acre truck garden full of green beans, carrots, and onions. Then there was Fun's favorite, an island devoted to strawberries.

The government man was very impressed and signed off on our islands. He did ask where our labor came from and we said, "Our dragons help us. We train them to help and they perform the work willingly."

Soon we were shipping our produce back to the Texas and Louisiana produce markets.

Fun and I asked Mom if we could just supply the stores with dragons. What we wanted to do was to sell the stores to a retail operation that would take over the day to day operations. We would supply the dragons and spend our time finding blind people and other disabled folks that could use the help of one of our dragons. Mom agreed that it would be good for us to get away from the craziness of the retail operation. We did keep our little store on our home island in Texas. Jill and Windy soon hired additional help so they could enjoy some of the money they made. The store was very successful as we still sold our dragons for our original price even though they sold for thousands more at other locations.

We kept our small house on the island and still had dragons staying in the trailer behind the house but Pink and Yellow were still our everyday companions and enjoyed being with us doing whatever we did.

As time passed, more and more people realized how useful the dragons were and how efficient they were to use within business. The way you could earn a living was to direct a dragon as your helper. The purple guys were very loving and enjoyed helping do just about anything. The ability to move heavy objects lessened the use of forklifts in business.

Some people finally figured out that the orange dragons were a hell of a bargain. The dragon could help in the house, do all of the yard work, care for kids, run errands to the store, and even give you a ride to work. Almost every family had a dragon. Many had pink ones for pets but learned they could help out at home as well as entertain. Almost every small business man has at least two orange and a purple dragon to do heavy work and other jobs that were too monotonous for them to do. It became a practice to have two dragons for every employee within manufacturing.

The U.S. was recapturing it's manufacturing edge with products made to perfection. Some of the European countries that welcomed the dragons were being successful but China rejected the dragons as being to difficult to feed and wanted to use them to make some kind of soup. The dragons didn't think they would like to be eaten so they left. Since the Chinese were losing their manufacturing edge they were relegated to making small plastic toys for the rest of time.

The mideast countries figured the dragons were from the devil so tried to kill them every time they saw one. Since that was how they felt, the dragons stayed away as far as possible. When one of the pink and one of the yellow dragons were injured Mom took offense and it seems one night almost all of the underground nuclear facilities blew up creating a large glass monument where Iran used to be.

The army finally accepted the fact that the orange dragons and the purple dragons were perfect for border security. Several thousand were stationed at the northern and southern borders to keep infiltrators on their side of the border. A fence jumper or wetback would make a run for it but would be scooped up by a dragon and dropped back on their side of the border. The more times they tried, the higher the dragon was when they were dropped.

Homeland security began renting dragons from me to man inspection of incoming and outgoing sea, land and air cargo. Smuggling became a thing of the past. Some secret army that seemed invisible somehow eliminated the big drug lords that kept trying to send large quantities of coke or marijuana into the country.

Fun and I along with our two original dragon friends and their mates and offspring, traveled back and forth on my original boat to our island paradise. The hardest thing to remember was that we had enough money to buy things. We did remember whenever we needed to help someone but when it was money to pay for a boat repair or money for clothes shopping, we kept fretting over whether we would need to do another welding job.

Fun and I were still a couple of gulf diving bums that enjoyed each other, our friends, our dragon friends, and our island hideaway.


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The End
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Posted:  2009-04-13
Last Modified: 2009-04-30 / 10:04:13 am
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