Boo was writing valentine cards. ‘I’ve decided to send cards to Steven and Harry this year’, she announced. ‘Also I am sending one to Mommy and one to Daddy, just in case they do not get any from anyone else.’
Dragon was snoozing on the floor as usual, he looked up, ‘Oh, I was hoping you might send me one too’.
Boo smiled, ‘Don’t be silly Dragon, if I told you that I was sending you one, you would know who it was from when you got it.’
Dragon smiled, there seemed to be a certain logic to that he had to admit, but somehow it seemed odd to him that a nine-year-old girl was able to put it so succinctly.
‘Dragon, can you deliver a couple of cards for me please ?’ Boo looked quizzically at her dragon, ‘I spent all of my money on the five cards I got and forgot that I needed stamps’.
‘Oh, so there is five cards, I will be getting one then !’
Boo shook her head, no so fast Mr. Dragon, I have not decided who to send the remaining card to yet, I still might send one to James’.
‘I thought that you hated James after he was holding Emma’s hand almost constantly since, oh, this time last year.’
‘True, I do not like him at all, but I dislike Emma even more and if James was to get a card that she had not sent, she would go utterly crazy, and that would be hilarious’.
Boo thought about it for a moment, she was very conflicted, on the one hand it would drive Emma crazy, on the other hand, she had indeed planned on giving the remaining card to her dragon.
Boo looked out of her bedroom window, Daddy’s garden below still looked rather a lot like a disaster zone, there was a deep crater where the shed once lived and at least six fence panels were missing. The lawn was half brown and half green and there was still rather a lot of muddy sections where the various Police, Fire brigade and Bomb Squad had trampled to and from the crater.
‘Dragon, you promised to get Daddy a new shed and also a new lawnmower to replace the ones that got destroyed at Christmas.’
‘Oh yes, I’ve been meaning to do that, I’ll be back in a bit’.
With that, Dragon dived out of the window and took flight. Boo watched as he disappeared into the distance, worrying a little about what he might come back with. She thought about it a little more, she worried too about where he might get replacements from. The last time he replaced the lawn mower, it was with a small flock of sheep after all.
Boo decided not to worry too much, she finished off writing her cards, Mommy, Daddy, Harry, Steven and Dragon all got cards, each one was hand decorated with things that she thought appropriate, in Dragons case she drew pictures of sheep.
She placed three of the cards in her school bag and skipped down the stairs with the card addressed to Daddy.
Daddy was in the kitchen, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper, so she snuck into the lounge and placed the card on the fireplace, noting that there was a similar card addressed to her daddy ‘to be opened on valentines day’.
Boo smiled, she was glad that his girlfriend had remembered.
‘Are you nearly ready for dinner ?’
Boo jumped, she did not realise how late it was, she looked at the clock, it was almost seven o’clock in the evening.
Boo grabbed her coat and her boots, she had a feeling that she would not need her backpack later, but just to be on the safe side she packed a couple of granola bars in her pocket. ‘It is a good idea to be prepared’ she thought to her self.
The Italian restaurant was Boo’s favourite. As they arrived, so did Daddies girlfriend, ‘it looks like it is dinner for three, thought Boo.’ Boo was not really too happy about this, she was a little too condescending towards Boo and kept calling her ‘Little Girl’. But, Daddy seemed to like her, so Boo made an effort to make her feel welcome.
‘You really need to try the meatballs, they are extra delicious’.
She wrinkled her nose up.
‘Oh, didn’t I tell you Boo, she is a vegetarian’.
‘You mean she fixes cats and dogs ?’ Boo looked a little bit confused.
‘No, she does not eat meat’, Daddy explained.
Boo thought for a moment, nearly all of her favourite foods were meat based, ham wraps, meatballs, gammon, bacon, roast lamb, the list was endless. She also thought that Dragons reaction to the idea would be hilarious.
Boo composed her self and scanned the menu, ‘You should try the Spaghetti in Tomato and Basil sauce’ Mommies boyfriend quite likes it when he is not feeling well ?’.
Daddy bristled a little, then blustered, ‘well, he would wouldn’t he, harrumph, the tomato and fungus looks good.
‘Tagliatelle al fungi,’ corrected Boo, ‘its pasta with mushrooms, he likes that one too’.
‘Hmmm, yes, well, ok, yes, I suppose that does look good, I think I’ll try that please’.
Daddy ordered a bottle of water, Tagliatelle al fungi, Spaghetti and Meatballs and a small Pizza Rustica.
‘So, little girl, how is school, have you started your alphabet yet, A, B, C….’
Boo rolled her eyes, ‘I am nine and have a name – Boo – and I just completed a very complicated project on the Vikings, that required several weekends of work and some pretty extensive googling’, she thought to her self.
‘Oh I know my alphabet backwards as well as forwards ZYX WVU TSR QPON MLK JIHG FED CBA’.
Boo smiled, ‘I also know how to pronounce it in French, German and Mandarin too and…..’
‘Now, now Boo, what had I told you about showing off ?’ Daddy had his stern face on.
Luckily the water arrived and distracted everyone. Along with the water came some lovely fresh bread.
An hour later they pulled into the driveway back at Daddies house, Boo grabbed Daddies keys and ran ahead, opened the door and went inside, flicking lights on. It was only once she reached the kitchen that she realised that there might be a problem, Someone, or something, had raided the fridge. The door of the fridge was laying on the worktop and their was milk and salad all over the floor. The back door was open and it looked like it would probably no longer fit in the frame too well.
‘Dragon’ thought Boo to her self. She crossed the room and flicked on the patio light, wondering what she would see.
At first glance it seemed that Dragon had found a shed from somewhere. Daddy came into the kitchen and saw the devastation.’Boo, what did you do to the fridge’.
‘Not guilty’. She pointed to the door, ‘It looks like someone might have broken in and helped themselves to a snack.’ She glanced in the fridge, ‘A cheese-heavy snack’.
Daddy picked up the phone to call the police, then stopped as the patio light finally showed that there was a new shed in the garden.
Boo giggled, to describe it as a shed was inappropriate, what appeared to have appeared in the garden was a bit of an understatement, the shed was almost exactly the same size and shape as the garden, it was utterly huge. Forgetting for a moment that the fridge had been raided and that the back door was not really door shaped any more, oh and forgetting that Daddies girlfriend was standing in the kitchen wondering why nobody was making her a half-soy, half-cow, low-fat, gluten-free, de-caffinated coffee, they ran into the garden, well, they ran onto the patio, it was impossible to get onto the lawn due to the shed.
The shed was huge, it appeared to be made of concrete too and must have weighed hundreds of tons. They spotted a door, which they opened and despite it being rather dark, they could see a rather spectacular ride-on lawnmower sitting inside. Boo wondered for a moment how the mower could possibly go through the rather narrow door, then realised that as the shed was pretty much the same size as the garden, there was no lawn to mow now.
Boo held Daddies hand, ‘You did not tell me that you had ordered a new shed’.
‘I do not remember ordering one, and if I did, I certainly do not remember ordering an XXXXL one.
The went back inside the house, the back door completely fell off its hinges when Daddy tried to close it, but it did not seem to bother him too much. He made two cups of coffee and also a glass of juice for Boo.
The next morning, Boo’s dragon was once more missing. She had not seen him before bed time either. Once more Boo reassured herself that he is a big dragon and more than capable of looking after himself.
to be continued……..