The Dragon MEGAPACK ®. Kenneth Grahame

badges to prove it.

      Dapple wasn’t all that confident about the appearance of these three strange beings but he watched them carefully as he held on tightly to the dragon’s nose hair—ever watchful that a sudden and disastrous sneeze by the large beast might be in the process of arriving any moment and dislodge him with calamitous circumstances.

      The dragon also watched these newcomers with great interest, his bright orange eyes narrowed down to curious blood-red slits. Just in case there would be trouble the enormous reptile stoked his fire and brimstone apparatus. Should the occasion warrant, he’d be ready to do battle, or at least to seriously scorch a few butts.

      “Step no closer upon pain of roasting!” the dragon demanded when the trio of newcomers was some hundred feet distant. “State your business or be away from here in a heartbeat!”

      The dragon then shot a spurt of fiery brimstone into the air to emphasize his words.

      The gesture was not lost on the newcomers as they quickly jumped back a few steps in evident alarm. They got the message but quickly regained their equilibrium.

      The feline finally just laughed and said, “Well, look at that, it looks like the old sourpuss finally has got his fire-breathing facilities working again.”

      “About time too, they’ll come in handy, for sure,” the old walrus muttered as he gathered his composure and walked closer towards the dragon. He finally stopped a dozen yards from the reptilian monstrosity, looking into the large scaly face, which was staring down at him in obvious curiosity and some concern. The walrus also now noticed that the dragon had—of all the most incredible things—a tiny rodent of some kind perched upon it’s nose—however he thought better of mentioning that for the moment. He had more important things on his mind. He gathered his thoughts.

      “Now look, Charlie,” the walrus told the dragon with obvious familiarity, while his feline and canine deputies nodded meaningfully and walked forward to take up positions on either side of him. The three intruders all wore weapons—side arms in waist holsters, but as yet had not drawn them. “You gotta come back with us. Right now. We need you.”

      “Charlie?” Dapple asked looking from the walrus, then back at the creature upon whose nose he now stood and finally back to the walrus. “You mean the dragon’s name is Charlie?”

      “Yep, Charlie is his name,” the walrus offered having to squint a bit to see the miniscule rodent who stood upon the dragon’s ponderous nose. “Ah, Sir Mouse, well you see…”

      “Dapple, sir, if you please.”

      “Quite right. Well then,. Mr. Dapple, you see, Charlie, better known to us all at the constabulary as Charlie Richfield, just happens to be a very important and unique creature. He’s an interbred or hybrid of man and dragon. Mostly dragon, as you can plainly see, though he is capable of speech and rather obtuse thought…”

      “Hey, I think I resemble that remark!” the dragon, now identified as Charlie said in a bit of a huff.

      The walrus and his two companions took a careful step backwards in concern and conferred quickly. Good judgment dictated never angering a dragon. The walrus continued, “No offense intended, Charlie. It’s just the facts, only the facts. You have these human characteristics to a limited degree.”

      Dapple looked at the walrus carefully asking, “And what of you and the two beings with you?”

      “Ah, good question, Sir Mouse. Myself and my companions are also interbreeds, commingled biological species artificially constructed for various specified functions. In the case of myself and my two companions, law enforcement happens to be our forte—in the case of Charlie, well, he’s our transportation. And a darn good transport he is—usually. Truth is, we just couldn’t work as well without him. You see, dragons have the power and ability to travel not only through space and time, but within the full spectrum of trans-dimensional realities. I think its got something to do with those big floppy wings of their’s and that kooky fire-breathing ability. Or maybe it’s just that long barbed tail? Whatever the case, they are highly prized as valuable transportation mediums where we come from.”

      “I see,” Dapple replied, not really seeing at all but interested nevertheless. “And just where do you come from?”

      “Oh, a place far away and very different from here, I can assure you,” the walrus said with an indulgent smile.

      Dapple nodded. It certainly seemed likely.

      “The problem we have is…” the walrus added giving a quick nod of his head towards Charlie, “is that they aren’t very bright in the gray matter department…”

      “Hey, I heard that!” Charlie growled, snorting in annoyance.

      “No offense intended, Charlie. Anyway, Sir Mouse, if dragons are left alone they often mistakenly go off on their own—somewhere—and not only forget where they are, but where they have come from as well. They have to be rounded up and shown the way home. I tell you, it has caused me and my companions quite a lot of trouble at times, as I am sure you can understand.”

      Dapple didn’t really understand, but the walrus continued regardless. “You see, Charlie has this dreamwalking problem…”

      “Dreamwalking?” Dapple scratched his head in thought. This was all moving a bit too fast for him.

      “When dragons dream they allow their subconscious mind to roam far afield, and sometimes their thoughts can become trapped in a loop of conflicting resonances—dreamwalking—which can cause them to accidentally flit into another dimensional reality. Hence Charlie is now here—in your reality, err, your world. Once in that new world without a rider for guidance, dragons forget all about who they are and where they come from. It’s a bit awkward at times as my companions, Gump and Tump, and I have to go out searching for Charlie when he’s in that dreamwalking state and bring him back home. But old Charlie is worth it, so that’s why we’re here.”

      “To bring him home?” Dapple asked.

      “Correct.” the walrus smiled at the mouse

      “Well, I sure don’t unnerstand much of this, guys,” the dragon named Charlie told the three strangers. “I don’t unnerstand it at all, but it seems to sound right, somehow. I mean, I know I came from somewhere else than here, I don’t belong here in this little mouse world, and I wanna get back to wherever I came from.”

      “Right you are, Charlie,” the large feline creature called Tump responded, “and we’re here to take you back.”

      “Ah, yeah, well…then there‘s a question I have in mind to ask you,” Charlie interjected with a sly wink. “Are there other dragons back where you come from? I mean…girl dragons?”

      “Oh, Charlie, don’t tell me you already forgot about your paramour, the lovely seductress Classiddia MaRoo?” the canine creature named Gump barked in gravelly words and toothy grimaces. “She’ll be mightily disappointed to hear that news.”

      “Classiddia MaRoo?” Charlie said thoughtfully, then smiled, it was obvious he had lodged lose a bit of frozen memory. “Ah, yeah, right you are! I remember now. Alright fellas, I remember my sweetie, and what you say sounds good to me. So when do we go back? And where exactly is ‘back’?”

      “‘Back’ is home, Charlie,” the walrus replied as he brought forth a tiny clocklike device from out of his vest pocket. “You’ve forgotten all about it for now, but you’ll remember it all soon enough once we’ve arrived back where we belong.”

      Then the old walrus, with Tump and Gump, approached the lumbering form of the dragon called Charlie Richfield. With utmost care, they removed the tiny mouse from the creature’s nose to a nearby rock where he watched with amazement as the walrus manipulated buttons on his tiny time device.

      Soon Charlie and all his fifteen heavy tons of scaly reptilian dragoness instantly disappeared in a blinding bright light as completely as if he’d never existed at all. The walrus and his two companions