I
The winter was really dragging on and Cosmo was getting cabin fever. So was I, for that matter. No matter how much I love winter and the excuse to curl up with a book or my knitting or spinning, by spring, I’m ready for spring. I wanted to head out into the woods around our house, with Cosmo in tow, and enjoy the great outdoors – at least as much as I could with Cosmo scaring off all the local wildlife. Not that Cosmo would scare them off on purpose. It’s just that a young dragon racketing around, flying into the trees, and smelling of fire tends to send the wild critters running for cover. We mostly admired the flora on our walks, rather than the fauna.
Anyway, Cosmo and I were both ready to get out and about but we were still getting one cold snap after another, along with snow that tended to melt into mud with a day or two. In short, it was nasty out, so we stayed in.
Cosmo argued that he could simply fly over the snow and mud. It was a good point, but I reminded him that I couldn’t and he wasn’t going out there without me. He whined and begged me to ask Felix, our friend the blue dragon and Cosmo’s sometimes tutor, to come for another visit – Felix could fly with him, so he wouldn’t be out alone. I pointed out that Felix had other things to attend to than staying here to amuse Cosmo. Besides, a fully grown dragon flying around would tend to attract unwanted attention from the local people, none of whom had any idea that they had real, live dragons – from another dimension, yet – living in their midst.
“Felix said he’d be back in a few weeks, Cosmo,” I told the little dragon for what seemed like the forty-third time that cold, snowy day. “Anyway, he’s not going to fly around with you. He almost got caught last fall, and that would just be awkward.”
Cosmo hung bat-like, upside down, from the door frame of one of our extra-large dragon sized doors, his back claws digging deeply into the wood. “But I’m bo-ored,” he whined again. “I want someone to play with me-ee.”
It didn’t matter that he was a dragon-child. Children all whine in the same annoying, irritating tone. And Cosmo’s whine was getting on my last nerve. I rummaged around in my head for some sort of idea to keep him amused.
“Do you want to use that Kool-aid to dye some more wool for me to spin?” I asked brightly. “You liked when we did that before. I’ve got some green, and then I can spin it and knit you that green scarf you wanted.”
At Cosmo’s sullen silence, I continued. ” Bake cookies? Make play-dough? Read books? Finger paint? Play dress-up?” The last was usually very popular. Cosmo loved to drape himself with all sorts of costumes and then zoom through the air in the cavernous front room of the huge old house we occupied. But today, all of my suggestions met with the same sulky expression.
“Fine then. You can help me clean your room,” I snapped in every parent’s last response to a bored and grumpy child. “If you’re that bored, you can just help me clean.” I turned by back on him.
Before I even finished the sentence, Cosmo had let go of the door frame and was skittering down the hall to his playroom. At least he was out of my hair for a while. I returned to my chores with a sigh.
A short while later, I heard the Door bell ring. The Door isn’t just a door, it’s a portal between worlds. Since some of the beings that want to come through it are less than nice, my boss, the wizard who created the Door in the first place, had set an alarm in place to warn us when someone wanted in through the Door. If what was on the other side wasn’t friendly, it didn’t get to come in.
I checked the alarm system and saw that it was Felix on the other side of the Door. I unlocked the several locks (put in place after Cosmo had let some rather unpleasant characters in at Christmas because they looked like Santa’s elves) and greeted him with a huge hug. “Boy, am I glad to see you!” I said, pulling him into the house. “Cosmo is bored silly and driving me nuts. Maybe you can come up with something new for him to do!”
“In fact, that is precisely why I came,” said Felix. “Well, not precisely. I have a little problem myself, but I think that you helping me solve my problem will help me solve your problem…” he trailed off, looking at me hopefully.
Somehow I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be that simple. “Come on, let’s go and get a snack and talk about this,” I sighed and gestured towards my apartment at the back of the house.
“Excellent! Do you have any of those pumpkin-seed cookies?” Felix followed me back to my rather small kitchen.
Felix barely fit the place, but I moved the table out of the way and we soon sat companionably on either side of the breakfast bar with a huge plate full of pumpkin seed cookies for him and peanut butter cookies for me and an enormous pot of tea for both of us. The amenities taken care of, I got down to business.
“So what is this problem you need me to help solve?” I asked. “And how is it going to help with Cosmo?”
Felix shifted uncomfortably. He looked at his dragon-sized mug of tea and reached for another cookie.
“Ah-ah.” I said, pulling the plate to me. “First you talk. Then you get more cookies. Maybe.” It was becoming clearer and clearer to me that this was probably not going to be to my benefit, as much as Felix claimed it would be.
He sighed, and the temperature in the room dropped about ten degrees – being a blue dragon, he breathed an icy-cold blast rather than a fiery one. That he was doing it inadvertently told me how nervous he was.
“Hey, I like my tea warm, and I’m not ready for the air-conditioning to be on yet. In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s blowing snow outside today,” I grumbled.
“Sorry. Um, yes. Well,” Felix hedged. “Right. I would like to ask you if you’d be willing to have a visitor for a few weeks. It’s another young dragon, a cousin of Cosmo’s actually.” He finished in a rush and looked up at me brightly.
“I’ve had dragon-child visitors before, and it’s never been a big deal,” I said warily. “What’s the catch this time? There has to be a catch, or you wouldn’t be so nervous about it. Is he some sort of juvenile delinquent?”
“No, no, nothing of the sort. He just needs a bit of supervision, that’s all,” Felix replied, too cheerfully.
“Right. You’re asking me to ride herd on the dragon version of Dennis the Menace. No thanks. Cosmo bored is bad enough. I don’t need what you’re offering.” I said bluntly.
“Murgatroyd is simply precocious,” said Felix.
“So is Cosmo. You told me he’s talking and using his fine-motor skills long before most dragons do. That’s never been a problem of any sort. In fact, it’s made it a lot easier for me to foster him.”
“Yes, well, that’s one thing. This is another. Murgatroyd came into his magical abilities early. That’s a whole other sort of problem,” Felix sighed. “Let me explain.” He shifted again, trying to get comfortable in the small space of my kitchen. “Murgatroyd’s family called me a few months ago. It seems that he began to do some magic, oh, about a year ago. Most dragons won’t mature into that ability until they are well into adulthood. And there’s a reason most dragons don’t get their magical abilities until adulthood. Or rather, that the only dragons that survive are the ones who don’t get their magical abilities until they are adults, and Murgatroyd is only a few years older than Cosmo. We’re not just talking about getting an ability early, we’re talking about the equivalent of a small child who suddenly is able to build a nuclear reactor.”
“Oh my.”
“Yes. Those abilities shouldn’t develop until the dragon in question has the judgment to go with them. Even then, sometimes that isn’t enough. You’ve seen the results of that already, with the red dragon who made himself huge to take over his world and any others he could find. Imagine what it’s like in the hands of a rather curious, impatient child who doesn’t understand safety and limits.” Felix sighed and put his head in his front claws.
“So where do I come in?”
“I want you to let Murgatroyd come visit for a while.”
“And that will solve the problem how, exactly?” I was very, very skeptical.
“Someone near his home seems to be helping him, supplying him with spell books and lessons of a sort. We don’t know who it is, or why they would do this, but we need to get him out of there for a while so we can investigate this and put a stop to it before he does himself any more damage.”
“Does himself any more damage? What happened? Is he badly hurt?” I was more concerned about him now than I was about what he might do here.
“He’s not injured, but he does have a little problem.” Felix snorted a small laugh. “He wanted to see what it would be like to be a green dragon, so he tried to turn himself into one. Now, as you know, green dragons evolved in a forest environment. They are, in addition to having the obvious attribute of being green, without wings and rather long and sinuous in shape so as to fit between the trees more easily. They breathe poison gas instead of fire – something very useful if you live in combustible places like forests. It will still take down prey but not ignite the entire area.
“Murgatroyd managed to get some of that right. He turned most of himself, with the exception of his belly, green and then he made his wings disappear. He even managed to take away his fire to the point that he can only breathe smoke. But that was a far as he went. When he realized that it wasn’t going well, he tried to reverse the spell but instead managed to make it permanent. So now he is a red-dragon shaped green dragon child with a red belly and no wings who breathes smoke rather than fire. And needless to say, he is very, very unhappy about it all.”
I was torn between laughing and feeling sorry for the little fellow. What a hard lesson to learn! “So is he stuck like that forever then, since he made it permanent?” I finally asked.
“I am currently researching ways to counteract first the permanence spell and then the other spells. The biggest challenge is that since he is inexperienced, the spells were done in a non-traditional manner. To use your terms, they are jury-rigged. And unsnarling them is proving to be a major pain in my long, scaly tail,” Felix finished dryly.
“So you want Murgatroyd here, away from further temptation and potential danger to himself while you try to find out how he’s learning the magic and reverse what he’s done so far.”
“In a word, yes.”
“How do I know he won’t do something here that he shouldn’t?” I asked. “I don’t want anything to happen to Cosmo. And is he likely to be a bad influence on Cosmo?”
“First, I have personally put a spell on Murgatroyd to limit the amount of magic he can work, so he shouldn’t be able to do anything more magical that a few parlor tricks. Second, I hope Cosmo and you will be a good influence on him.”
I didn’t like the sound of the last, and I said so.
“But he’ll be a companion for Cosmo, and really, he isn’t a bad-hearted little fellow. He just hasn’t grown the judgment to accompany his powers yet. His mischief shouldn’t be any worse that Cosmo’s – like that of any small child. And he needs to be someplace safe for a while.”
Felix really knew how to play me, and he knew it. He was sitting there with a pleading look on his big blue face. Only the puffs of icy air coming out of his nostrils betrayed his nerves.
I sat there, thinking.
“If he is really a problem, you have only to call me and I will take him somewhere else immediately,” Felix said.
I decided, nodding. “All right, I’ll do it. But this had better not turn out badly,” I warned Felix.
“Oh, it won’t!” Felix bubbled happily.
I just hoped these wouldn’t be famous last words.
-She Wolf ©2009
II
I told Cosmo about his cousin’s impending visit and he proceeded to bounce around the house for the rest of the day. Cosmo remembered his cousin vaguely and was really excited about the visit. At least the bouncing was a change from the sulking and boredom. Cosmo brought out all of this things to see what I thought Murgatroyd would like best to play with and asked me to help him tidy up his playroom.
Then he insisted that the bedroom next to his be readied for Murgatroyd, which meant that the regular human bed in there had to be moved out so that a dragon-bed – with flame-proof coverings – could be put in. Jon and Rob got the call for that one. Then, being the good friends that they are, they took Cosmo out for an extended romp in the snow so that I could have some peace and quiet. All they got in return was dinner, but that seemed to satisfy them. Rob left and Jon stayed to spend the evening with me and a very tired but still wound up Cosmo.
“Are you sure about this?” Jon asked me after we finally got Cosmo settled for the night. “I met Master Murgatroyd when I was working with your employer and our friend Thomas last fall, and he’s, well…..he’s a bit different.”
“Different? Different how? I deal with Cosmo’s curiosity and bounciness and impulsiveness daily. How could Murgatroyd be worse? I mean, aside from the magic, which Felix says he’s put a damper on.”
Jon sighed. “This is true. Well, maybe it’ll all work out. At least he’ll occupy Cosmo.”
Felix brought Murgatroyd the following afternoon. Cosmo haunted the Door all morning, waiting for them to come, and had to be dragged away for lunch. When the Door bell finally rang, Cosmo swooped from one end of the big hall to the other in excitement and then got underneath my feet as I tried to unlock the Door.
I dragged him back with me as I stepped out of the way so that Felix and his charge could come in.
Murgatroyd wasn’t much larger than Cosmo, but there the resemblance ended. It was easy to see the trouble his experiments with magic had caused. His particular melding of red and green dragon traits was awkward at best. At worst, it would cause him problems in the dragon world in the future.
As I smiled and leaned forward to say hello and welcome Murgatroyd to our home, he turned to Felix and said rather imperiously in Dragon, “The interdiminsional Doorway is very interesting. I would like to study it more closely.”
I was startled, but I saved Felix the trouble of replying and responded to Murgatroyd in Dragon, “The Door is the property of the wizard Thomas, who has employed me to act as the Door’s guardian. Any requests will need to be directed to him.”
Murgatroyd turned around and stared at me. “I did not realize you spoke Dragon – or any language for that matter. Although with that accent, you could hardly be considered to be speaking it. Lesser species should not attempt things that are beyond them. You will relay my request to your employer NOW, so that I can begin my studies.”
While I stood there with my mouth hanging open and Cosmo was frozen in shock, Felix cleared his throat. “This is your guardian, Murgatroyd. Humans are not lesser species – they are our equals in every way. You will be polite, and you will NOT be studying the Door or any other magical device for the foreseeable future. Please remember what got you into your current dilemma. And drop the attitude, NOW.”
Murgatroyd dropped his head and muttered, “Sry,” in Dragon.
“I beg your pardon? I couldn’t hear you,” said Felix. “And you can speak English. Be polite and use it.”
Murgatroyd looked up at me, “I’m sorry, and I thought you were one of the great apes. That is why I was surprised you could talk. I’ve studied them but never actually seen one.” he said in passable English.
Felix turned Murgatroyd around and looked him in the eyes. “You will behave here at all times. You will set a good example for your cousin Cosmo, and you will be a thoughtful guest. I know you know how to behave; we’ve gone over it enough times in the past few days. See that you remember. And remember what happens if you don’t.”
The silence was palpable. Finally Murgatroyd nodded and Felix released him. “I don’t want to go to Mt. Elmot’s. I’ll be good.”
Felix sighed and turned to Cosmo. “Cosmo, would you please show your cousin around?”
Cosmo was still a bit stunned at Murgatroyd’s behavior, but he nodded reluctantly and said quietly, “Come on, Murgatroyd. I’ll show you where your room is.”
When the two of them were off, I crossed my arms and stared at Felix. “What was that about? The whole thing, I mean. The behavior, the attitude, the Mt. Elmot’s thing. Tell me now, or you can take Murgatroyd right back with you.”
Felix had the good grace to look ashamed. He slumped and the gestured towards the front room. “Come on then. I DO owe you an explanation. Several of them, in fact.”
When we were settled in front of the fire place (I started the fire since, as a blue dragon, Felix couldn’t), Felix began with no prompting. “Murgatroyd has always been quite precocious, very bright. His parents, though well intentioned, have not been very wise in raising him, and have encouraged him to barge ahead and do whatever he liked in pursuit of knowledge. Manners, too, have never been at the top of their list for him, which is very unfortunate, as you can see. Really, they are the root of the entire problem that we are having now with him.” Felix shook his head.
“They have let him learn anything and everything he wished, and let him feel that this was all that mattered. They have not encouraged friends for him, nor have they encouraged normal play and games – there is nothing in his world except learning. And there, he is denied nothing. When he started to develop his magical abilities, they were ecstatic and immediately began to look for someone to teach him. Of course, no one would, although several wizards and dragons offered to put a damper on his burgeoning abilities until he was old enough to use them wisely.”
Felix stopped now and stared into the fire. “His parents wouldn’t let anyone do this to their precious little one, of course. They accepted the fact that no one would teach him, and they now swear that they have no idea how he’s been learning. I’ve got my work cut out for me, finding the source of his rather inadequate lessoning.”
“Why you, Felix? How did you get roped into this? I mean, I know you are more than passable at magic, but you’re a researcher. You study other cultures. You aren’t a draconic policeman. Or are you?”
“No, I’m simply an old friend of both the little fellow’s parents. As you can imagine, they are both heavily involved in intellectual fields, and we have know each other for years. They know that I have connections that they don’t - you, for instance, and Thomas. And I like to think that they realize that I have a heavy streak of practicality which they both seem to be lacking.”
“All right, that seems reasonable. Now what’s this Mt. Elmot’s thing?”
“It’s a very, very strict dragon school. The young dragons there tend to be a bit out of control, or a bit hard to control, and there are all sorts of restrictions and dampers in place. Really, it’s rather like what a military boarding school for borderline delinquents would be here. And if Murgatroyd went there, he’d easily be the youngest dragon in the place. He doesn’t want that, and really, neither does anyone else. I want him here, learning to play like any young dragon should, and learning to get along with others, like Cosmo.” He looked over at me.
I nodded. I could see that this would be a last resort.
Then I asked bluntly, ” How am I supposed to control him. I don’t have magic.”
“I think that he’ll be all right with you. The first was an honest, if rude, mistake on his part. He has studied this world somewhat, but has never met anyone from here. Most of his books have been rather lacking in the visual graphics, so he really thought that you were one of the great apes. The incident was regrettable, but understandable if you consider this.”
I didn’t like it, but I nodded.
Felix continued, “I’ll leave an emergency contact spell for me. You can trigger it just by reading it, even without magic. You know the sort of spell. You’ve used them before. If you use it, I’ll come right away, no matter what. And,” he patted a bag he had brought with him, “I have a surprise for both of our young dragons, and you as well. It may keep them occupied for a while.”
“What is it?” I asked, my eyes narrowing with suspicion.
Felix dug into the bag and dug out a hugely oversized computer keyboard. “It’s a dragon sized computer set-up. This keyboard will easily accommodate their claws. It will hook up to the big TV moniter out here. And I have programs, too, both with games and with information about this world. Next time, Murgatroyd won’t mistake you for a great ape.” Felix beamed.
“But no Internet.” I said. “I can’t even begin to imagine the trouble they could get into on the Internet.”
Felix winced. “Neither can I. Never fear, that was never part of the plan. That would be the last thing I’d want at this point in time.”
Felix bustled off to set up the computer, and I went to check on the young dragons.
They were in Cosmo’s playroom, and Cosmo was zooming through the air around a series of obstacles set down the middle of his very large, dragon-sized playroom – a favorite game of his. “Now we can play chase with the obstacle course!” he was shouting gleefully as I came into the room.
Murgatroyd looked on sourly. “No we can’t. I don’t have wings.” He turned away, acting annoyed, but I could see that he was dejected. No matter how difficult he was, he was still a child, and I felt sorry for him.
“Cosmo, come here,” I called. Cosmo came right away, having realized his mistake.
“I’m sorry, Murgatroyd. I forgot,” he said without prompting. He was a soft-hearted, observant little fellow. Maybe Murgatroyd could learn something from him. “Let’s play something else, okay?”
Murgatroyd shrugged. I spoke up, “I have a suggestion. Murgatroyd, you read English, don’t you?”
He nodded slowly.
“Well, Cosmo hasn’t learned to read yet, and he loves stories. There are all sorts of books in this closet here (the closet was fireproof, so Cosmo wouldn’t accidently incinerate his books) and if you read some to him, he’d like it and you’d learn some more about our culture.”
Murgatroyd perked up at this, although he did comment, “He can’t read yet? I could read three languages by the time I was his age!” and soon was working his way through a large stack of Cosmo’s favorite picture books with Cosmo sitting delightedly beside him.
Hurdle number one, done. I went to see about dinner.
-She Wolf © 2009
III
Cosmo generally slept in a little bit in the mornings, and I liked to use this dragon-free time to indulge myself with dyeing wool and spinning yarn. The activity centered me and focused me for the day, and I always looked forward to my hour or so first thing in the morning.
This morning was no exception. I had planned to dye some wool a nice, bright red for some socks for Jon, who was a Boston Red Socks baseball fan. This dye was not kid-friendly, so I couldn’t use it when Cosmo was around wanting to help. I hummed as I pulled out my dye-pot and smiled as I prepped my wool in a vinegar solution. And then Murgatroyd came into the room.
“What are you doing?” were the first words he said. Not “Good morning,” or even “I’m hungry,” which was usually what Cosmo said when he first woke up. Murgatroyd wanted to know what I was doing, why I was doing it, and if he could do it, too.So I explained. And since it was Murgatroyd, who had an insatiable thirst for knowledge and no experience in our world, I started at the beginning, with idea of fibers.
I had met very few dragons who much experience with fibers. Granted, if I were covered in a bunch of tough and beautifully colored scales, I might choose not to clothe myself either. Textiles were something that other species wore and used, and that was all that most dragons knew about them. More dragons were learning as they traded in other dimensions, but cloth was still a rarity in the dragon world. As a result, most of my draconic visitors had been fascinated by my fiber interests, and Murgatroyd was no exception.
Murgatroyd and I explored the idea of fiber, of fiber plants and fiber animals. Then we focused on sheep since I was dyeing wool. We talked about dyeing, spinning, weaving and knitting, all in the space of about half an hour. Then, since I had some wool ready to dye and Murgatroyd was curious, I pulled out some kid-friendly dye, a powered soft drink mix with really bright colors, and asked him if he’d like to dye some wool for me to spin and knit into a scarf for him, just like Cosmo had.
He was instantly hooked. It took him ten minutes to decide which color to use – I had red, pink, green and blue available and you’d have thought that this was a life or death decision. Finally he chose green – “like my scales now,” he said, and we set to work.
He was fascinated with the entire process, and when the green color was finally all absorbed by the white wool, he was charmed. “We made the white wool green,” he said over and over. “And you didn’t use any magic at all!”
We hung the wool up in the mud room to dry just as Cosmo got up. Cosmo was philosophical about missing the wool-dyeing session and just wanted his breakfast. Then I sent the pair off to investigate the computer that Felix had set up for them while I cleaned up the kitchen.
A little while later, I found Murgatroyd deeply involved in a computer encyclopedia article about sheep while Cosmo soared around the big front room, playing chicken with the chandelier.
“Hit the chandelier once and you’re meat, Cosmo!” I called to him.
He swooped down and landed at my side as I tried to get Murgatroyd’s attention. “Hey, how about a walk in the woods?” I coaxed. “It’s not too bad out there today. At least it’s not snowing sideways.” I finally pried Murgatroyd away from the computer and out into the woods with the idea that he could see lots and lots of new flora and fauna outside and then he could look them up later in the day. He was cramming in facts about our world as fast as he could.
The walk went well. Since Murgatroyd couldn’t fly, Cosmo elected not to as well, which was a relief for me. He was far easier to keep track of when he was safely on the ground. I took a pad and pen with me, and Murgatroyd had me list grey squirrels, pine trees, snow, cardinals, cottontail rabbits, crocuses, sparrows and about fifty more things for him to look up later. All in all it was a successful walk, and when we got back it was lunch time.
Cosmo was ready. “Can we have UN-roasted beef? Please?” he begged. This was a favorite treat of his. I bought packages of stew meat, already cubed, and set them out uncooked in a bowl. I gave Cosmo a skewer, and he would stab the meat, roast it with his own flames, and then eat it. It kept him happily occupied for quite a while and got him fed at the same time.
I pulled him aside. “Cosmo, I don’t think that would be polite. Remember, Murgatroyd can’t…”
But Murgatroyd was listening, and he interrupted. “I don’t mind, really I don’t. As long as Cosmo doesn’t mind roasting my meat, too.” He looked a little bit sad, but seemed quite sincere.
By the time I had them settled, they had come up with a compromise – and a game. Murgatroyd would toss up a piece of meat, Cosmo would sear it in mid-air, and then they would take turns catching it in their mouths. Missed catches, bits that were burned or undercooked, and bad tosses by Murgatroyd had them laughing with delight and I decided that it was worth it, even if they weren’t exactly learning good table manners. At least they were cooperating with each other, and even having fun.
After that they went to play in Cosmo’s playroom. When I looked in a little bit later, I found Murgatroyd determinedly trying to teach Cosmo his ABC’S in both dragon and English at the same time. Cosmo looked a little bit confused but was trying valiantly to keep up with the lesson.
“Cosmo, why don’t you take a turn on the computer. I put an alphabet game on there for you,” I said. Cosmo looked relieved and ran off to see what the game was like. I sat down with Murgatroyd. “Go just a little slower, okay? He’ll catch on. He just isn’t as quick as you are.” Murgatroyd nodded, and then requested that I help him find some books about this world to read. I left him happily perusing a set of nature guides.
Later that afternoon, I had finally sat down with my knitting for a while when I realized that I hadn’t seen Isadore the cat all afternoon. Usually he was right there when I sat down, ready to curl up in my lap for a nice nap. Sometimes he hid when we had someone new around, but he had met Murgatroyd the day before and seemed to like him. Murgatroyd, in turn, had been fascinated by the soft, furry cat. Perhaps Isadore had decided enough was enough and had hidden himself away for some peace and quiet. Sure enough, a little bit later I heard the familiar sound of Isadore hacking up a hair ball. I sighed and made a mental note to go looking for it when I got back up.
A short time later, my peace was shattered by the sounds of a dragonly altercation. I ran towards the playroom, where the noise originated, and stepped squarely on the hairball with my sock-clad feet. Of course, it squished unpleasantly, and I automatically stopped to look at the bottom of my now wet-and-icky sock. Then I froze in shock. The hairball was purple. Isadore wasn’t.
“MURGATROYD!!!!” My shout was loud and angry enough to stop the fight cold. First Cosmo and then Murgatroyd peeked around the corner of the playroom door at me as I stood there seething.
“WHAT’S THIS?” I roared.
“I have no idea,” replied Murgatroyd, who had never seen a hairball before.
“A hairball,” answered a puzzled Cosmo, who didn’t understand why I was asking what a hairball was. They were common occurrences in our house.
“Yes, but what’s wrong with this hairball?” I hissed.
Murgatroyd and Cosmo just stared at me.
“What color is our cat?” I asked.
“He’s grey and brown and stripey…” answered Cosmo, who sounded like he thought I might be losing my mind.
“But not purple.” I stated this very firmly.
Murgatroyd looked a little bit worried.
“No….” said Cosmo.
“Please come and look at this hairball,” I commanded.
The two young dragons came over and looked.
“It’s purple,” said Cosmo.
“Yes. And do you know why that would be?” I asked, looking directly at Murgatroyd.
Cosmo looked at Murgatroyd too, as the latter shifted uncomfortably.
“Because you like purple and I wanted to see what he would look like if I dyed him?” Murgatroyd squeaked. “But I knew he couldn’t breathe if I put him in the dye pot like we did the wool, so I used magic. I thought since he has nice, soft fiber all over him, it would be interesting to change his color, just like we did with the wool this morning,” he continued.
“And what did Isadore think about this?” I asked him.
“He hissed and ran away, which I really don’t understand. The information I read about him this morning said that cats don’t perceive color as you and I do. He shouldn’t have noticed the change. I know it didn’t hurt,” Murgatroyd the scientist was puzzled. Then he added thoughtfully, “Perhaps it was because I made his coat longer and thicker and faster-growing too, so that it would be easier for you to harvest and spin, since he’s not very large.”
Great. So now I had a cat who was desperately trying to groom his newly longer, thicker, and fast-growing fur off so that he could feel like himself again. He would be hacking up hairballs from here to eternity if we didn’t get this settled quickly.
I sighed. “In the first place, Murgatroyd, cats know. I don’t know how, but they KNOW when something changes with their fur, even without the longer and faster growing part. In the second place, I thought there was a damper on your magic?”
“Oh, well, there is. I really can’t do much at all – the cat was about as large a thing as I can affect now. Even that was some work. But don’t you like it?” he added wistfully. “Since you like to change the colors of your fibers and like to spin soft ones, I thought this would be really nice for you. You can get some really nice fiber from Isadore now.” He sounded like he wanted to cry.
I sat down in the hall, put my arms around him, and we had a talk. We talked about how it was better to ask permission before he changed something that belonged to someone else, how living creatures needed to be off-limits for his scientific and magical experiments, and how I liked the fact that he tried to do something nice, even if it did backfire.
Then we went off in search of Isadore, who was hiding in shame, so that a penitent Murgatroyd could change him back to normal.
Later that evening, Felix came to see how things were going. I met him at the Door.
“Oh good. I’m glad you’re here. I need your help,” I said.
“If it was an emergency, you should have summoned me,” Felix said nervously.
“No, not an emergency, but Isadore needs some help.” I explained what happened.
“But if Murgatroyd took off the spells, Isadore should be all right now,” Felix said in a worried tone.
“Well, he couldn’t exactly get the ones for the longer, faster-growing fur off. And he had a little trouble with the one that made Isadore purple. We decided he should quit while he was ahead, before he made the spells permanent or something.”
As we walked down the hall, I added, “Mind the hairballs. I’ve been cleaning them up as soon I’ve found them, but all Isadore has done all day is groom and hack up hairballs. This different fur is really disagreeing with him.”
“So I see,” said Felix as he stepped square in the middle of one. He lifted his foot to look at it. “Green?” Murgatroyd turned Isadore green this time?”
“Not exactly,” I said and pointed to another hairball a short distance away. This one was yellow. “When he tried to take off the color changing spell, all he did was shorten its duration and take away the part that kept the color stable.” I paused for effect. “Now Isadore changes color about every ten minutes. He has been every shade in the rainbow and a few that surprised even me.”
Felix sighed. “I guess we’d better find the cat and fix him before he has a nervous breakdown,” he said.
I smiled brightly and replied, “That would be nice.”
We went to look for Isadore.
-She Wolf © 2009
