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.