It ’s a adorable twenty-four hours for a walk , specially if your walk companions happen to be of the ardour - breathing sort . countenance ’s get a line the tale you have in memory board for this endearing lady and her unusual entourage .
This workweek ’s slice is“Afternoon Walk”by Julie Dillon ( via The Art of Animation ) . I highly recommend look into out more of Dillon ’s work in herdeviantART picture gallery ; Simon & Schuster recently constrict her to make the natural covering forthe new boxed set of Susan Cooper ’s The Dark Is Rising succession , due out this June .
A lot of firedrake walkers complained about their jobs : What variety of person , they ’d inquire , spends all that money on a dragon and ca n’t be rile to walk it ? But Amanda - Lynn liked her job . She liked spending her afternoons in the fresh air ( even when crowded with sulfurous breather ) . She enjoyed the company of her grunt , snort companions . And the karmic rewards of flying lizard - walking could n’t be beat .
Of course , she wished she could have given her charges a bite more exercise , but until the city ’s declaration wizards finished placing the wards around Briarcliff Park , the dragon would have to stay on - leash . She did enjoy the stares she and her menagerie receive from passing nannies and joggers .
She and the pack rounded the route , head toward the boulders in the heart of the park . Some of the heavy beasts care to sun themselves there while she work on training the kangaroo bats , tempt them into obeisance with handfuls of almonds and drive on their lean baseball diamond chains . But the smell of brimstone greeted her nostrils , and she turned to see which of her charges was scrunch up .
But it was n’t one of her dragons that had loose the foul feel . Just off the route , she spotted a feather - winged lizard fecundate the green grass . As she scraped her talon against the grass , as if proud of her faecal feat , her proprietor turned to take the air aside .
“ Hey ! ” Amanda - Lynn called out , and the dragons pick up the yard half a minute before she did . She guess they were quite a sight , that galloping mess of scales and wings . “ You ’ve pay off to plunk that up , you know ! ”
The proprietor turned , and Amanda - Lynn meet that he was chattering away on a Bluetooth . Their eyes lock for just a moment before he shrug and turned aside .
Amanda - Lynn yanked a poop base from her rap . “ You ca n’t just leave behind it there ! ” The dragons continue to match her gait as she waved the bag at him . “ There ’s all kinds of errant magic in dragon shit ! ” And she hated to think what low - level chow this cat was fertilize his dragon . The ground beneath the turd was probably sprouting polar bear fur as they speak .
The proprietor looked down at her leather proscenium and the tattoo spread across her all-encompassing , nude shoulders and smoothen out a line in his suit . “ you could plunk it up , ” he said , nodding at the bag in her hand .
Amanda - Lynn laughed , startled . “ That ’s really high-risk karma , get down someone else to do it . ”
The owner just turned aside again , yanking his dragon ’s leash and resting a fingerbreadth on his Bluetooth . “ God , ” he said , “ do n’t let me rick into one of these crazy firedrake people ! ”
Amanda - Lynn did clean up the dragon low-down . She drop the bag straight into her Satchel of Holding and march to the nearest magic waste bin . And the next morning , when her local newsfeed posted a fib about a kingpin law firm partner whose sext to a summer associate go out to the whole business firm , Amanda - Lynn just smile over her coffee and set about plot a raw walking route .
Fiction
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