Dragon Cave

Cedric wriggled his toes inside his slippers and then looked nervously at his wife Florence, he always liked to wriggle his toes but Florence had forbidden him doing it inside his slippers as his talons made holes.
‘I was thinking,’ he said.
‘Don’t’, said Florence, ‘Just sit quietly, and stop wriggling your toes.’
Cedric thought for a moment trying to work out how she had seen him wriggling his toes. Then he went back to his more serious thinking. The Green Man had been explaining to him about the economy, and now Cedric was trying to work out why people, humans that is, wanted to put a tax on important things like crystallized fruits, and then use the money to spend on building bigger roads. Surely Cedric thought it would be easier to make fewer cars, and then spend the money saved from not buying more cars on buying important things, like crystallized fruits and doughnuts.
At this point he started thinking about doughnuts and for a little while he concentrated on doughnuts. Which was unusual for a dragon, but not for a dragon like Cedric, he was a dragon who loved doughnuts, all sorts of doughnuts. And also he was not impressed by cars, as he always flew everywhere, and couldn’t get into a car even if he couldn’t fly.
‘Shall we invite Marmaduke and Gerald over this afternoon, just for a chat, about important things that the humans are doing?’ He looked at his wife waiting for an answer.
Turning carefully to face him, dragons always had to turn carefully otherwise their tail would knock things over, she said. ‘I suppose you are thinking about what the Green Man said. I don’t know why you worry about such things. Still if you must then invite them over. I shall take Boop out for a walk in the forest.’
Now Boop, who was a very young dragon, on hearing his name mentioned, look up from where he was playing with his friend a young wood sprite. ‘Can we go to the waterfall?’ Moonbeam said there are some goldfish in the pond just below the fall.’
‘I didn’t,’ said Moonbeam, ‘I said wouldn’t it be nice IF there were goldfish there.’ The wood sprite looked at Boop in an annoyed way. ‘You didn’t understand me as usual.’
‘Be quiet, your fathers thinking,' said Florence. 'And as usual is concerned about the silly things grown up humans are doing. Pity he doesn’t think about eating less doughnuts, and not making holes in his slippers.’ She turned back to the sink where she was making some apple turnovers and carefully peeling the apples.
‘Right that’s decided it, if you’re going out then I shall invite them,’ said Cedric, and he promptly spoke to the tree just outside the entrance to the cave, just to tell him to pass a message to his friends Marmaduke and Gerald.

‘Well I’m not sure that it will make much difference if you send a message to the people who decide on things like taxes,’ Gerald looked at his friend. ‘Can you imagine what they would say; Just had a message from a dragon called Cedric, said we should spend the money we get on taxes on doughnuts, and please to send him some.’ Gerald was pleased to come and talk with his friend, and there was nothing dragons liked doing more than chatting while eating doughnuts but he was not sure Cedric understood that it wouldn’t be wise to let people actually know dragons existed. ‘Remember they don’t believe dragons exist and it’s better that way. ‘Just because some witches and warlocks know about us; and the wood sprites and elves are our friends does not mean humans would be nice to us.’ With that Gerald took another doughnut from the plate and popped it whole into his mouth carefully brushing the sugar that fell on his chest onto the floor.
‘Yesss, maybe your right, anyway I asked the Green Man what he thought and he said he wasn’t going to waste his time writing and who exactly did I wish him to write to?’
‘There that settles it, err are there any more doughnuts in the cupboard, we seem to have eaten all those on the plate,’ Marmaduke having listened to his friends talking had not been paying attention to the number of doughnuts that Gerald had been eating. Gerald had been talking with his mouth full of doughnuts and had consumed more than was polite. But then Florence made exceptionally good doughnuts.
At that moment Florence returned from her walk to the waterfall. ‘I see you have eaten all the doughnuts, and no there are no more in the cupboard, at least none for today. Instead you can listen to what I have to say!’

But what Florence had to say is for the next blog about Cedric and his friends......