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