Chapter Eleven Drop Down Dead

The girls were in the backyard between the main house and the chapel. Carol was flat on the ground. Mary, Kay, and Olivia laid on their stomachs partially on top of Carol. They used her as a makeshift hill.

They stared at the window of St. Michael and strained to see if anything was going on. They had covered themselves with a brand new white percale sheet they had swiped from the linen closet, so they could quickly cover their faces in case the dragon peered out at them. They didn’t want to drop down dead.

“How are we going to catch this thing if we can’t look at it?” asked Kay.

“Yeah,” added Olivia.

“I’m working on it,” said Mary.

The duck had long been abandoned and it waddled around the back lawn as it reluctantly dragged the string of yarn. A playful calico kitten followed behind. It swatted at the string. It stopped. Wiggled it‘s hips. Pounced and swatted again.

“Maybe if we us a mirror,“ said Mary.

“Oh, no. Looking at the reflection of a dragon in a mirror will turn you to stone,” said Olivia.

“Who says?” asked Kay.

“They say,” Olivia answered.

“Who‘s they?” Kay pressed.

“They,” said Olivia. She thought it was a good enough explanation. All the experts were referred to as they. What did Kay not get?

“They?” laughed Kay.

“The they they,” said Olivia in a huff.

“SShhh!“ Mary strained her eyes as she tried to get a better look. “If I only knew what that dragon was up to.”

Peter appeared in front of Mary. He bent down, handed her his binoculars, got back up and walked away. He had almost finished his book.

They looked at Peter, then looked at each other and shook their heads.

“The real Peter has to be dragon poop by now,” said Olivia.

They all nodded in agreement.

Mary moved the binoculars to her eyes. She peered through them at the window.

“What do you see?” asked Olivia as she leaned up against Mary.

“Give me a minute,” Mary said. She shoved Olivia aside.

“Don’t crowd me when I’m thinking,“ she complained.

She examined the window carefully. She looked up. She looked down. She looked all around. She looked to the side and caught a glimpse of something down the driveway. She adjusted the binoculars to get a better focus. What she saw caused her to drop the binoculars and drop her jaw.

“LOOK,” she yelled.

“At what?” they yelled back.

“The dragon,” she yelled.

“Where?” they yelled back.

“There,” and Mary pointed to the great beast that followed Miss Ida down the drive.

It had a large square body, a lumpy stubby tail, and what looked like two square horns on top of it’s head. It was big, black and it lumbered from side to side. Miss Ida obviously pulled it so it obviously had to be Miss Ida’s pet dragon.

Carol still pinned to the ground blurted out, “I want to see, I want to see.”

Kay and Olivia raced for the binoculars.

Kay got to them first, picked them up, placed them against her eyes. What she saw terrified her. She dropped the binoculars.

Olivia quickly retrieved them and after she looked through them, she too dropped them to the ground.

Carol still pinned to the ground again blurted out, “I want to see, I want to see.”

They all jumped up releasing Carol from their hold. She looked in the direction of the driveway and squinted her eyes.

“Kay, grab the sheet,” ordered Mary.

“Why?” asked Kay.

“We’ll rush the beast and throw the sheet over the top of it,” replied Mary.

“We!” Kay said.

“Carol, you tackle Miss Ida.”

Mary had just spoken the words every girl wanted to hear. Tackle Miss Ida. They had all thought it. They had just never heard it spoken out loud much less been instructed to do so.

This just might work thought Kay. Even if she dropped down dead, it would be worth it to see Miss Ida tackled to the ground.

“Okay. On the count of three,” said Mary.

“One…”

“Two…”

“Three…”

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