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"