The College Drag, Part 19

I was hoping for a good morning, sadly then other dragons had come up with another idea. I was just sleeping peacefully when I was forcibly awoken by them grabbing my arms, legs and tail. My eyes shot open to see Scales had a grip on both my legs and Ian had my tail in a stranglehold. I looked at my right side to find Arcade there with that arm locked tight and Jake was on my left and he had my left arm locked tight in his arms.

“Sorry Farm,” Scales said, “but we had to lie to you so you’d fall asleep thinking that we were done punishing you.”

“You can consider this the end in it,” Jake said, “We swear it.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked, fearing what this ending punishment was.

“You’ll see.” Arcade said with a twisted smile on his muzzle.

They carried me out of bed, up the stairs and outside.

“That looks like it should hold him.” Ian said, pointing at the big locust tree in the front yard.

“Hold me?” I asked, this didn’t sound good.

They dragged me to the front yard and over to the tree. Ian climbed it a little ways up as the rest held me down on the ground.

“This branch will do.” He said as he stood on thick tree branch, “Hand me his tail.”

Scales put a foot on my on each of my legs and handed Ian my tail. In one swift move, the turned my upside down and Ian tied my tail around the branch.

“I got the rope.” Sam yelled as she came running to the front yard, she had her messenger bag with her.

“Sam?!” I shouted, “You’re helping them?”

“You put me through hell,” she said back, her voice was just filled with anger, “The least I could do was put you through some.”

Arcade and Jake tied my legs up behind my tail so they wouldn’t fall down and Scales tied my hand together.

“Okay guys,” Jake said, “Break out your Sharpies”

“What?!” I yelled, this was a shock.

They just started doodling on me, on my face, neck, arms, legs and tail.

“What are you guys writing?” I said while they just doodled, “I can’t see.”

“You’ll see when we let you down.” Scales said as he scribbled something on my muzzle.

They did that for about five minutes and they covered me with scribbles, every exposed scale had something on it.

“And now for the final punishment.” Sam said, “I swear that this will be the last of it.”

“What are you talking about?” Scales asked, “We we’re just going to hang him from a tree by his tail and draw on him.”

“This is a more personal touch and don’t you guys ever do anything like this to him.” she shot back as she reached into messenger bag, “This is a family punishment.”

Fear crawled up, or rather, down my spine. Sam knows some of my deepest, darkest fears. She was more than capable of getting bringing me to my knees. I had a sinking feeling of what she was going to do and I prayed it wasn’t what I thought it was. When she pulled out a jar and in it was something I’ve feared my entire life. She had snagged a big wood spider.

“A spider?” Arcade asked, “That’s it?”

I couldn’t help but cringe, I don’t like spiders. I wouldn’t say I have arachnophobia. I fully understand that spiders are necessary part of the eco system; I just don’t like them to touch me. I see many outside and I leave them alone in high hopes they do the same. If they’re in my house or my truck then they die, but that’s about it. But Sam had found a nice, big hairy wood spider and when she started to unscrew the lid, I couldn’t help but start thrashing around like a piñata having a seizure.

“Hold him still!” she ordered.

They restrained me and she tossed the spider onto my chest and I went stiff.

“Okay, he’s petrified with fear.” Sam told them, “You can let go.”

I get scared stiff when I’m terrified beyond any rational thought. I was hung upside down, drawn on and then a spider tossed on me and now it was crawling on my shirt. The other stuff I could handle, but the spider pushed me to my limit. I held my face as stiff as I could, but I could feel the ends of my mouth flexing uncontrollably as I fought back the screams. Then the spider started heading towards the ground.

“Get it off.” I said quickly, I feared that too much movement would agitate the spider and it would bite.

“A little longer.” Sam said as she watched the spider travel down my chest.

I began to lose it when I felt its legs start crawling on my neck.

“Please get it off.” I said even faster this time.

“Not yet.” she replied.

I could feel every one of its hairy legs on me as it crawled towards my head. Then I felt it start going to the side of my neck.

“Uh oh,” Sam said as she watched it, “I think it’ll find his ear, quick kill it or get it off him!”

I lost it and started screaming over and over again,

“GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!”

They started to slap me as they went after the spider.

“Damn.” Arcade said, “It keeps moving.”

“I thought spiders are supposed to have bad eyesight.” Jake said, “This one sees the hand coming and dodges.”

“KILL IT!” I yelled, I was in a panic.

Finally came a hard slap and the creepy feeling of hairy legs moving on me came to an end.

“I got it.” Ian said, he sound quite happy, “he was going for your ear, but I got him right at your jaw.”

I didn’t say anything, I was scared out of my mind and I was also hyperventilating.

“Get him down,” Scales said, “I think the spider may have been too much Sam.”

“Maybe, but he deserved to get the s*** scared out of him, it’ll make him think twice next time he tries something stupid.” she shot back.

“Damn,” Arcade breathed, “No wonder Farm is like he is.”

“Yeah,” Scales replied, “The consequences are pretty steep when he screws up here.”

They let me down and all I could do was sit there and try to calm down. I just slowed my breathing and tried to force myself to relax. It wasn’t easy, I hate spiders. The thought of on me is bad enough, but one in my ear scared me out of my mind.

“You gonna be alright Farm?” Jake asked, he looked deeply concerned.

“He’ll be fine; he’s just emotionally shut down right now.” Sam said, “He’ll pop out of it in an hour or two. He needs to sort out all the stress he just went through.”

I was in a petrified state for about two minutes before I felt that same feeling on my back. I jumped up and slapped the area I felt it to find that a small spider was trying to crawl up me. I just stood there with shivers running up and down my body. They all just stood there and stared at me.

“Farm, I think you have arachnophobia.” Jake said.

“I do not.” I said to him, I was being very defensive, “I just don’t like them.”

“You were scared stiff that second that spider touched you.” Ian said, “You have to realize that those scales of yours are too tough for a spider to bite you. You don’t have to be scared of them anymore.”

“I’m not scared of them!” I shouted, I was lying not only to them, but to myself as well.

“Farm,” Scales said, very calmly, “you have a fear. Everyone does, you don’t have to be ashamed of it. Fear controls you only if you let it.”

I just hung my head. I had carried this fear all my life and I never like to admit it. I’m still scared of spiders to this day, they just creep me out. I’ve had to face my fears many times over the years and each time I’ve fought through it. I guess that’s why I say I don’t have arachnophobia; it’s not a debilitating fear for the most part. I can still function when a spider is around, but it’s when it gets on me that I really get scared and panic. Think what you want, but I just can’t get over my fear of spiders and I probably never will.

“I think he’s paid his dues,” Jake said, “I’m counting the debt paid.”

“Me too.” said Scales, he looked a little worried; “I think he’s suffered enough.”

“So we cool?” Arcade asked, he looked a bit nervous.

The spider seemed to scare them. I guess they didn’t think I’d crack like that over a little bitty bug. I can’t help it, it’s my fear.

“Yeah, we’re cool.” I answered; I couldn’t fault them or Sam for that matter.

I had screwed up and I had suffered as they had suffered so we were all even. They all breathed a sigh of relief.

“Good,” Scales said as he left out a breath he had been holding, “I was hoping we didn’t go too far.”

“I went farther,” I replied, “You have a right to be angry with me.”

“Let’s good inside and get breakfast,” Jake said, “We’re all settled up and so we can be friends again with no worries.”

“That’s good.” I told them, I was hoping we could all still remain friends and it looked like we could.

They all went to the kitchen to rustle up some breakfast while I went to the basement to clean off all the sharpie marks. It the mirror I could see what they had drawn on me. I had to read it in reverse, but I made it out. ‘Loser, a**hat, dickhead, A-hole,’ were among them alone with several doodles of a certain organ on the male human body. It was hard, but I got it all off with some bathroom cleaner and I scrub brush. It took some hard scrubbing to get it off. I searched my entire body for any marks with a mirror; I found a few on the back of my neck and a few more on the backs of my arms. They didn’t miss much real-estate on me, I think my arm and wing pits was the only spots they didn’t get to. My wing membranes had things on them as well, both sides. They were not really safe for print. They were a pain to get clean; it took a solid hour and a half to scrub off all the marker. The water was ice cold when I got done and I had started with hot water. As soon as that was over, I went back upstairs to get breakfast. Everyone was scattered around the house. Mom, Sam, Arcade, Ian, Scales and Jake were in the upstairs living room watching a movie and Wyraach had gotten up and just seemed to walking around looking for something to do.

“There’s scrambled eggs and sausage in there for you.” Dad said as he walked out the door.

“Thanks Dad.” I replied as I opened the fridge.

“No problem.” He said as he closed the door.

“Werrrre’sss yourrr Dad off to?” Wyraach asked.

“He’s working on a guy’s house over in Bunker Hill, a remodeling job.” I replied while putting my plate of food in the microwave.

“Oh, you told me he wassss a carrrrpenterrrr.” he told me as he sat down in at the kitchen table, “Lissssten man, I’m sssorrrrry. I jusssst thought you’d want rrrrevenge on that guy.”

“I did want revenge.” I answered, still just looking at the microwave while my food spun inside, “I’m just not the kind of person for cold blooded killing.”

“You have to be a cerrrtain sssort I guesssss.” Wyraach said as he thought it over, “Why did you turrrrn yourrrr back, you had to have known what I’d do to that guy?”

“I turned my back because I couldn’t be the one to do it.” I said truthfully, “He wouldn’t have suffered enough with me. Only you could do that.”

“Ssso,” he said with a wry smile, “you knew I would make him ssssufferrrr, you werrrre counting on it.”

“I was.” I replied, then the microwave dinged, “I don’t think I could have killed him myself, I just don’t have it in me I guess. But I couldn’t let him go and you were right there. It made sense to let a dragon with a passion for torture do the torturing when it was clear I didn’t.”

I just took out my plate and calmly sat down at the table.

“You let me do what you couldn’t do huh?” He said and then he let out a small chuckle, “I guesssss it’ssss trrrrue then, you rrrreally arrrre jusssst a big sssofty.”

“Wyraach,” I told him as I held a fork full of scrambled eggs in my claw, “you know what I’m like when the chips are down in a fight.”

“I’ve sssseen you pisssssed beyond rrrreasssson, I know you’rrrre not ssssoft therrrre.” He said with his head cocked back, “But to go out and look forrrr yourrrr prrrrey issss ssssomething elsssse entirrrrely. You have to have a cerrrrtain amount of cold ssssteel in yourrrrr blood to do it and you jusssst don’t have it Farrrrm. You’rrrre jusssst a carrrring drrrragon and that issss what you sssshould sssstick to.”

“What brought this on?” I asked him, wonder where all this, ‘be yourself’ stuff came from as I continued to eat.

“I’ve jusssst been thinking issss all.” Wyraach said with a sigh, “That wassss the firrrrssst time I’ve everrrr killed a human. I even put that rrrrecorderrr in my sssshirrrrt sssso I could lissssten to hissss dying ssscrrrreamssss overrrr and overrr again. It wasss everrry bit asss much fun asss I drrrreamed it would be. The sssoundssss of popping bonesss, the sssloppy sssoundsss of the musssclesss tearrrring aparrrt, it wasss all ssso much fun, but it wassssn’t what you wanted. I got you mixed up in a fight that I sssshouldn’t have. I sssshould have jusssst killed that monssssterrr and taken the blame all by mysssself, but I drrrrug you in on it too. I’m glad it worrrrked out and if thingssss didn’t go like they did, I’d prrrrobably be on the rrrrun. It’ssss not that would be a prrrrroblem, but it would get annoying with people coming afterrrr me all the time. I think I’m fine with the way thingssss arrrre rrrright now. I mean look at ussss, all ssssix of ussss drrrragonsss having fun togetherrrr. I wouldn’t trrrrade thissss for anything.”

“It really sounds like you’ve come a realization there man.” I replied as I finished the last of my breakfast.

“I have,” he said, “I think we sssshould be who we arrrre; I’ll jusssst have to trrrry to rrressstrrrrain mysssself frrrrom trrrrying to corrrrrupt people. It ssssoundssss like fun, but it doessssn’t ssseem to have the sssame end rrrresult I thought it would have.”

“The world it a complicated place,” I told him as I got up out of my chair to put my plate on the counter, “It rarely plays out like you think it will.”

“You’rrre telling me.” he said in a huff, “I had it all planned out to.”

“Oh really?” I asked, I was wondering if he had a master plan.

“I’m not telling you,” he told me, sticking his snout in the air, “It’sss my sssecrrret plan.”

“Okay then, if you want to keep it to yourself.” I said with a smile.

I walked into the living room to see which movie they were watching only to have Mom start making noises at me.

“No TV and that includes movies.” she scolded.

I let out a depressed huff and walked back out of the room.

“Sssso, what do you want to do?” Wyraach ask, still in that chair.

“We could go for a flight?” I offered.

“Good enough for me.” He said, standing up out of his chair.

“Let me go change into my jeans and stuff.” I said, making my way to the stairs.

“You could jusssst take off yourrrr pajama pantssss and shirrrrt and fly in yourrrr ssscalesss,” he said with a smirk on that beaked muzzle of his, “It’ssss not like you haven’t done it beforrrre.”

“That was a onetime deal.” I shot back, “And it was embarrassing.”

“You seemed to enjoy the flight back here.” Wyraach said as the smirk got bigger.

“I admit, it did feel nice.” I told him, “But I’m not doing that again. Baths feel nice, but you don’t take baths in the middle of a park.”

“I’m jusssst teassssing you,” he said with a stiffened giggle, “rrrrelax, I know you’rrrre that sssame ssstick in the mud, wet blanket you alwaysss werrre. It’ssss what you’rrrre good at.”

“Thanks.” I said as went down stairs, “I guess.”

I wasn’t long before I was ready to go. It had been a long time since I had my good outfit on so I grabbed my black jeans, black T-shirt, red trench coat and red wide brimmed hat. A quick lacing up of my boots and I was done. When I stepped into my backyard and Wyraach was standing there with his black jeans with silver D-rings all down the sides and long wallet chain. He had a red T-shirt on that said ‘Stay back 100 yards or you will be roasted’ in orange block letters. He didn’t have his boots; they were still back in Edwardsville.

“So, first stop will be to collect your boots?” I asked, looking at his bare feet.

“I would guesssss sssso,” he answered, “I did like thosssse bootssss.”

“So we have a plan.” I said and spread my wings, “Let’s go.”

We both jumped into the air and headed for Edwardsville to collect Wyraach’s boots. We were just over Woodburn when I heard a roar coming from behind us. It was Ian and he was coming up on us fast.

“Hey!” he shouted, “I’m coming with you two.”

“Why?” I asked as we continued on.

“You have to ask?” I said as he flew in between us, “The last time you guys when out together is didn’t end well so I’m coming along to make sure you guys don’t screw up again.”

“I guess he’s right.” I sighed, “It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a third anyway.”

“What are you taking about!” shouted Scales as he too flew up from behind, “We’re tagging along.”

“Yeah!” Jake yelled as he took his place next to Scales, “We’re sticking with you guys.”

“It’ll be fun!” Arcade roared as he did a loop-de-loop over all of us, “We dragons have to stick together you know.”

“Grrrreat.” growled Wyraach, “I thought you guyssss werrrre watching a movie?”

“We were, but then we heard you guys were going flying and thought we’d come too and maybe show Farm here how to some stunts.” Arcade said as he barrel rolled in the air.

He was twisting and turning through the air at crazy speeds. He had to talk to us by fly by.

“I think I’ll stick with just casual flight, thank you.” I replied, not really thrilled with the idea of risky stunts.

“Oh, I think you’ll have some fun.” Scales said as he maneuvered over the top of me, “Here we go!”

“What are you doing…AHHH?!” I told him, but he latched his lower legs like a vice on my body and hooked them in such a way they held my wings out. His head was just ahead of mine so I could see the bottom of his jaw the whole time. It looked like I was latched onto some larger plane and being carried and I guess I was in a sense, I just didn’t like that it was my body that I had lost control over.

He began to force me into a dive almost straight down into a bean field. I fought to pull up, but he had his hands on my wings long parts and angled them anyway he wanted to. I just yelled,

“Pull up! PULL UP!”

All I got was a laugh as less than twenty feet from the ground he pulled up and we glided two feet off the top of the beans. I just saw them whizzing by under me and got such a sense of speed. But I was still upset at the manner I had been treated.

“Why did you do that?” I asked, anger was making my voice deeper and grittier.

“You never would have done it on your own so I…helped.” he said with a slight smile.

“You call almost killing me help?” I shot back.

“Oh don’t be so dramatic.” he laughed, “I had control the whole time. He’s all yours Arcade!”

“Wait what?” I asked, now really scared and confused.

I didn’t have to wait long. Scales let go and Arcade latched on and he pulled up and he forced me to go with him.

“Okay, this is a pop in pop out dive trick. Uber fun.” he said with his head right next to mine as we climbed higher and higher.

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” I said with fear, I didn’t like where this was going in the slightest.

We got to high that the houses were just dots on a sea of different shades of green all in big squares.

“Here we go!” he shouted, still right next to my head.

He shoved my wings closed and we began to plummet to earth like a rock. I tried to scream, but I couldn’t like always. I felt like I had a lump in my neck that I blocked my voice. I saw that dirt screaming up at me and I began to feel like a meteor. I couldn’t force my eyes shut, they were wide with fear and I couldn’t do a thing about it.

“And open!” Arcade yelled and he pulled my wings open again and we pulled out of that steep dive.

The ground wasn’t as close as it was when Scales did that, but it was still enough to make me afraid of what the next lesson I would learn was.

“Okay Jake, you’re up!” Arcade shouted as he let go.

I expected Jake to latch onto my back like Scales and Arcade did so I braced myself for the feeling of claws latching onto me, but he just flew up next to me.

“Okay Farm, I want you to breathe and calm down.” he said very calmly, “I’m going to show you how to glide. You’re still pumping those wings too much. Slow down and allow the wind to carry you along.”

“Okay.” I said, relieve at a nice gliding lesson.

I watched his wings and tried to duplicate his movements. It was weird because I could feel the ups and downs as I bounced through the air.

“There you go, that’ll stretch out the distance you can fly and conserve energy as you go.” he said as he follow along, “Pump, glide, pump, glide, pump, glide and repeat till you’re there.”

“Thanks man.” I replied with a big draconic smile, it did feel better to fly like that. The old way made flight a chore, this way made it fun.

“Okay Ian, all you.” Jake said as he peeled off.

“Okay Farm, we’re going to cover how to turn sharply in mid flight.” Ian said as he banked in and got right next to me, “First, you have to be able to independently move your wings. You’ll naturally want to move them together, but to pull this off you’ll need to do two different movements at the same time. First, you have to angle one wing down and the other up. This will slam on the brakes on one side and you’ll whip around. Watch.”

I followed his movements up until he did the move. One second he was flying straight and then the next he had veered off and was heading right then he turned left, then right and then he was straight again.

“Remember to pump your wings right after you come out of the turn or you’ll lose elevation and begin to stall out.” He shouted from a good distance away.

“Okay.” I said to myself, “I can do this.”

I just tried to remember what he told me and then did it, but I screwed up and angled both wings down and stalled out. Down I went into a corn field. I crashed head long and cut a swath into the corn as I planted my boots into the dirt to slow myself down and put my arms up in front of me to shield myself. I skidded to a halt and saw nothing but corn in my face when I put my arms down.

“Don’t feel bad Farm.” Ian said as he landed behind me in the gouge I had just cut, “I crashed a lot when I was learning that trick.”

“But who taught you?” I asked, “Who taught all of you?”

All the other dragons were just landing in the strip of cleared field as I asked that.

“We had a lot of time on our claws and nothing better to do.” Scales said, “We’re self taught.”

“So you just are making this up?” I said, puzzled on how they could come up with these trick on their own.

“We see something on YouTube or just think it would be cool to do it and so we spend about a week perfecting it till we have it down.” Ian said honestly, “It’s not like we had busy social lives to get to.”

“I think that’ll change.” Wyraach said from the back of the group, “We’rrrre out in the public eye jussst like Farrrm and ssso we will get back to ourrrr old lives again herrrre prrretty ssssoon, which issss good for me ssssince therrrre is a tourrrrnament back in England that I haven’t won ssssince I changed. Itssss playerrrrssss haven’t had to fight my deck for farrrr too long and itssss time they faced me again.”

The look on Wyraach’s face just twisted into a grin as he thought it over. It looked like those duelists over in England were in trouble.

“I guess you’re right.” Arcade said with a sigh, “I would like to go to Oklahoma State here pretty soon, so I guess I can now.”

“You guys and your colleges” Scales said in a huff, crossing his arms over his chest, “I don’t have to worry about that for a while, but it would be nice to go to camp again.”

“Just going to the movies is good enough for me.” said Jake, “Opening night of a good movie is always fun.”

“Walking in the park during the day,” Ian said, lost in thought, “that would be great.”

“Well we can do a lot of that stuff right now.” I said to them, “You want to go?”

“Sure, let’s go.” Ian said with glee.

“Movie, I want to see a movie.” Jake said, slightly hopping up and down.

“Well lets go get Wyraach’s boots and then we’ll decide where to go next.” I said, trying to keep things on track.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Scales said as he jumped into the air.

We all followed suit and headed towards Edwardsville yet again. It was a nice long flight, but it wasn’t long before Edwardsville laid sprawled out beneath us. The police station was our first stop. We all just waited outside while Wyraach went in to get his boots. He was in there for only ten minutes before he emerged with his boots on.

“Got them.” he said with a smile, “I rrreally don’t like it went other people have my ssstuff.”

“What happened to your pants and shirt?” asked Scales, I was wondering too.

“They were rrruined, I don’t carrre about them anymorrre,” he replied with a shrrrug, “Besssides, they werrre Farrrm’sss anyway.”

I just gave him a sour look, but I didn’t say anything. I could always get new clothes and I didn’t want them back either.

“So, now what?” Arcade asked.

“Movie.” said Jake very quickly.

“Ssssoundsss good to me.” Wyraach said, “I could go for a nice movie rrright about now.”

“Well, I think my parents wouldn’t like it if I went to a movie.” I said with a sigh, I was still under punishment, “I’d better not go.”

“Sorry Farm, we can do something else.” Jake said, he looked concerned, but disappointed that he wasn’t going to see a movie.

“No, you guys can go.” I told them, I wasn’t going to be the one to spoil their fun, “I’ll come up with something to do on my own.”

“You know what? I don’t feel like a movie,” Ian said, “I’ll go with Farm.”

“Me too,” Scales said, “I don’t think they’ll like me sitting in the isle anyway.”

“Suit yourselves then,” Jake replied as he turned around, “I’m watching a movie.”

“I’ll go with you Jake,” Arcade said as he walked towards the movie group, “I want to see a movie, its been far too long.”

“Enough yakking.” Wyraach said as he flew off, “Movie time.”

Jake and Arcade both took off after him towards the theater. Its kind of hard to miss Showplace 12, it’s huge so I didn‘t worry that they wouldn’t find it. That left Scales, Ian and me standing in front of the police department wondering what to do.

“I’m all for going to the park.” Ian said, “I want to go on a hike.”

“Well, it’s a hop, but Pere Marquette State Park has some really good hiking trails.” I told him, “I spent a long time hiking their when I was little.”

“Sounds good to me.” Ian said with glee, “Lead the way.”

We took flight and headed to Grafton. Flying over the mighty Mississippi River was a blast. We startled some jet skiers and an old couple on a boat as we flew over head. I think what made me the most uncomfortable was the fact that if I fell, I’d land in the water, but that made me even more cautious and alert to any potential problems. I felt a bit tired by the time we cross over to the Illinois River on our way to Grafton, but nothing to bad, I got to practice gliding a lot on the way there. It really did help, I was still in pretty good shape when we landed at the Pere Marquette Lodge.

“Wow!” they both said, “This place is beautiful.”

“Yep it is.” I said as I took in the scenery myself.

Pere Marquette State Park is one of the most picturesque parks I know of. The mighty oaks, big elms and many maple trees are all part of a wonderful shaded cabin area right next to the lodge. The lodge itself is old stone and log cabin style and fit perfectly with the surrounding beauty of nature. The green leaves and grass with the gentle breeze coming in off the Illinois River is just glorious. Birds singing in the trees, the leaves rustling in the wind and the sunlight poking through the canopy over head made for one heck of a wonderful sight.

“Lets hit the snack bar and get some drinks for the trail.” I said as I walked towards the door.

“Wow, this old sign looks amazing.” Scales said as he looked at the old style sign that’s made out of hard wood with the parks name craved into it with black letters that hangs next to the lodges main entrance door.

“My Dad made that.” I said while I opened that door.

“He did?” Scales said as he looked at me in surprise.

“Yeah,” I replied just causally, “He did a lot of work here a while back.”

“That’s cool.” he said as he tore his gaze from that sign.

As soon as we were in, they both gasped at the size of the place. The lodge is huge. The main floor of the lodge to the top of the roof is three stories high and it is all old fashion timber construction. Its basically a massive log cabin.

“Is that a giant chess set?” Ian said as he spotted one of my favorite features of this park.

“Yes it is.” I said with a smile, “I’ve lost many a game on that board.”

“Want to play?” he said with a grin, “I bet I can add another loss to that pile.”

“No, I think its best we hit the trial,” I told him, I really didn’t want to play at the time, my pride was hurt enough as it was, “Let’s get our drinks and be off.”

“Okay,” said Ian, “maybe when we get back.”

“We’ll see.” I replied, hoping that he would be too tired to play later.

All the campers and visitors in the lodge seemed to just stare at us as we wondered around. The people on the couches just about jumped up when we walked in. I think it was all the talking we were doing that kept them in their seats, but I could feel their eyes on me as I went down the hall to the pool room where I knew vending machines were. I just shrugged it off and kept going.

“Oh cool, a pool table.” Ian said as he ran up to it the second we came into view of it, “Man, this place is awesome.”

“Sam and I played on this table a lot when we were here for Katie’s wedding.” I said while sticking a dollar bill in a soda machine, “We were mostly tied, but she won in the end.”

“Katie’s your older sister right?” Scales asked.

“Yeah, she is.” I told him while my Dr. Pepper rolled out.

“Does she know us your little scale problem?” Ian said as he played with a pool cue.

“Yes, she’s pretty okay with it.” I replied, opening my bottle with one quick twist, “Not thrilled that her little brother is a winged reptile that breathes fire, but I’m still her brother and that’s what matters.”

“Well, I hope that lucky streak holds up Farm.” Ian said, putting the cue back and getting a soda of his own.

“I wouldn’t call myself lucky.” I admitted, “I’d call myself fortunate.”

“Same difference.” Scales said as he got his drink, “You still have a family that loves you for who you are and not what you are.”

“I guess you’re right man.” I said after a took a swig, “I just wonder what my next family reunion is going to be like.”

“Interesting.” they both said

“That’s a given,” I said as I thought it over, “I’ll have to play it by ear I guess.”

“I wish you luck.” Ian said, taking a drink from his soda, “Let’s hit the trail shall we?”

“Yep, let’s head out.” Scales said as he made his way to the door.

I just followed along. We used a side door that was right next to the game room that we were in and we started up the little hill, through the cabin area and too the park itself. A nice little trail head began not too far from the lodge and it ran deep into the woods. Ian was right at home as he lead us down the trail and into the thick woods.

“You know,” he said as we rounded a bend about a half an hour of hiking on the trail, “as dragons, we fly a lot and we miss all the beauty of nature that is hidden among the trees down here on the ground.”

“But we get to see a view that is spectacular when ever we want to?” Scales said as we continued on our hike.

“Sometimes its good to slow down and see things from ground then have your head up in the clouds all the time.” Ian said back, he wasn’t breaking stride, “It’s been far too long since I’ve gone hiking. I really miss this.”

He took a long breath of fresh air and let out a contented sigh. I must admit, I missed it too. I haven’t been hiking in a long time and him in his blue jeans and blue T-shirt and flannel shirt made him look all the more like a wilderness hiking. His boots were just the thing on this hike, I’m glad I made mine like I did. Those heavy trends help on long walks.  

“Smell that air, wild and free.” he said with a loud and proud voice, “Its good to get out and walk every once in a while. Just because you have wings on your back doesn’t mean you can neglect your legs.”

“Yeah, I know.” said Scales with a huff, “I have four of them to keep in shape. You lucky pricks have only two.”

Scales didn’t have any boots or pants for that matter. The only thing he had between him that the elements was a blue T-shirt. I guess it to be expected when you’re a dragontaur, pants and shoes don’t seem to fit with the profile.

“Well, I guess that’s the brakes.” Ian replied with a smirk.

I stayed out of that conversation, I was just admiring that scenery. Nature is amazing. All the wonders that mankind has made over the years can’t compare to the wonders of nature herself. The squirrels would bark at us when we passed by, by they weren’t too bad. A few times some other hikers would come down the trail in the opposite direction we were going. Those were fun. They ranged from one couple running off screaming, “monsters” to a family of five clustered around us asking us what we were doing there.

“We’re just on a hike like you.” Ian said to a small boy, about eleven.

“Really, dragons take hikes too?” he asked back, all eager and excited.

“Yeah, I love hiking.” Ian replied with a smile.

The two little girls sat on Scales back as he just stood there looking pitiful.

“I’m not a pony.” he groaned.

“We know that.” the older one said, she had to be about nine, “But you can let us ride you and so we will say giddy up.”

“Off.” Scales said sternly, “I’m not letting you ride me.”

“Awwwe.” they both moaned, but they climbed off when Scales stared to stare them down with a stone faced look.

I just talked to the parents as those two dealt with the children.

“So, you’re that dragon that pops up on the new all the time.” the father said to me, “I have to be honest, I thought you were a monster after that whole deal, but when all the things came to light about that guy I was convinced you two were innocent.”

“I’m sorry too,” said the mother, “I’ve always thought something would happen when letting you dragons run free. I think you creatures should be more careful, people may not be so forgiving next time.”

“I’ll remember that,” I said to them, “I’ll keep my nose clean from here on out.”

“That’ll be for the best.” the father said with a slight smile.

We continued on our way and they did as well. It was about another half hour till we reached McAdams Peak. There is a small gazebo there and the view from there is nothing short of spectacular.

“This is amazing.” Ian breathed, “Look, a bald eagle.”

He pointed at it and we all watched it fly out of sight, it was quite a sight.

“Look at all these names.” Scales said as he looked at the names carved into the posts of the gazebo.

“Yep, they’ve been here for a very long time.” I told them, “I think Mom’s name is here somewhere.”

“You have quite a history here Farm.” Scales said, “This place holds a special place in that draconic heart of yours doesn’t it?”

“It does.” I replied with a smirk on my muzzle, “I’ve always liked this place.”

“Well, I’m glad that you shared it with us man.” Ian said with a big smile on his draconic face, “It’s really something.”

“I’m glad I could be of service.” I said in return.

Then my cell phone went off, I fished it out of my coat pocket and pressed the ‘answer’ button very carefully.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Ethan.” Sam said on the other end, “John just called, the Ford is all painted up and is waiting for you to pick it up. You own him for the paint and he said that comes to two hundred dollars.”

“Great,” I said with joy in my voice, “I’ll stop by the bank and get the money and then I’ll head straight there. Thanks Sam.”

“No problem man,” she said, “See you when you get back.”

“You too Sam, take it easy.” I replied and pushed the ‘end call’ button.

“Fordinator all painted?” Scales asked.

“Yep, let’s head to the bank and I’ll pick up the money to pay John for the paint.” I said, excitement building in me every second, “You guys can head straight there if you want.”

“I think we’ll head there on our own.” Ian said, “No sense following you if all you’re going to do is pick up money.”

“Well, see you there then.” I replied.

We all took off from the top of McAdams Peak and I flew off to my bank in Alton. I hadn’t been to Laclede since I was changed, so the tellers all looked at me when I strolled in the door.

“Look, its that dragon on the news.” Rita said.

“Not only that,” Donna said, “It’s Ethan, how’ve you been? We haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Decent enough.” I replied as I filled out my withdrawal card, “You?”

“Can’t complain.” she replied, “Your father was in here a while ago and made mention of you, its hard to believe you’re still that nice young man under all those scales.”

“I’m still me,” I said with a smile, handing here my card, “You can bet on that.”

“I’m sure I can,” she said with a smile of her own, “This all for today?”

“Yep, I need it for my truck.” I explained, “She’s got a new paint job.”

“Well that’s good.” Donna said handing me my money, “It’s always nice when your vehicle looks all shiny and clean.”

“Thank you,” I said, tipping my hat, “You have a nice day and take it easy.”

“You too, Ethan.” Donna said as walked out the door.

They always were nice people. I just put the money in my wallet and took off for John’s house. I couldn’t wait to see how the Ford looked in her shiny new paint job.