The Valley of Dragons

There is a serious side of me but I figure life isn’t any fun if I don’t goof off sometimes. Well, okay, so I do it most of the time. I was trying to drink a glass of water to stop choking and act like I was getting serious. “I’m sorry John. I just can’t resist getting you once in a while. You turn different colors so beautifully when you get mad at me. Anyway, you go right ahead and tell me what it is that you want me to do. I promise I’ll be good.” Here I go laughing again. 

    John looked at me with a deep scowl. He leaned over my chair and looked directly into my eyes without a hint of a smile, reached over and flicked my nose, and said. “You are such a grade ‘A’ ass. But such as it is, this is exactly what I want you to do. I want you to go to this planet and talk to a dragon for me.”

      I choked on the water I was about to swallow. I couldn’t believe this. There had to be a catch. Then it dawned on me that he was actually serious. I started busting a gut from laughter. This had to be a joke. He knew I had a deep interest in mythological creatures. How they came around to being in a human’s imagination. I saw that John was not smiling. He was actually serious.

   “Come on John, you can’t be serious. There is no actual proof that these creatures are real or ever was real. They are just figments of peoples imaginations intended to scare children.” I couldn’t believe John called me in (with force and blackmail) to pull a joke on me.

   John went over and sat down and started telling me something I had waited all my life to hear. I just couldn’t believe it. “Go ahead and laugh. Get it all out of your system. Kevin, I know it sounds outrageous but I have proof. I called you in because I had already sent a crew to investigate this planet and only one of them came back. All this person could tell me was something about a fire breathing dragon and gold. I want you to go out there and investigate on what is going on.”

   I started laughing so hard tears were rolling down my cheeks. Then I heard fists come down on the desk so loud that I almost choked on my laughter.

    I could not get over John falling for this. He was not one to fall for magic or mysticism of any kind. John believed only if you could touch it, then it was real. He had always made fun of my interest in mythology and now he tells me he wants me to go find this dragon and talk to it.

My eyes got wide and I started laughing so hard my sides were beginning to hurt. “John, have you lost your mind? In all my research with mythology of dragons and such creatures I have yet to prove or disprove any theory or tale, let alone have a talking dragon. Okay John, okay. But (trying not to bust a gut laughing) do you see this dragon often?” I couldn’t hold it back any longer. I was starting to choke because I was laughing so hard.

   “I’m sorry John, really I am. But you of all people John? I wouldn’t have expected this from a man who has always been so skeptical and which by the way has always made fun of my interest in dragons. Come on, get real.”

    John stared at me with intent to kill if he thought he could get away with it. “Go ahead, have your laugh. Just get on with giving m