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002 - My Father Runs Away · My Fathers Dragon

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  Speaker 1: Chapter two of My Father's Dragon. This labor Vox recording
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  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Recording by Gregory Holdsworth. My
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  Speaker 1: Father's Dragon by Rude Styles Gannett, Chapter two, My Father
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  Speaker 1: runs away. Wild Island is practically cut in two by
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  Speaker 1: a very wide and muddy river, continued the cat. This
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  Speaker 1: river begins near one end of the island and flows
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  Speaker 1: into the ocean at the other. Now, the animals there
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  Speaker 1: are very lazy, and they used to hate having to
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  Speaker 1: go all the way around the beginning of this river
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  Speaker 1: to get to the other side of the island. The
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  Speaker 1: maid visiting inconvenient, and mail delivery is slow, particularly during
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  Speaker 1: the Christmas rush. Crocodiles could have carried passengers a mail
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  Speaker 1: across the river, but crocodiles are very moody and not
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  Speaker 1: the least bit dependable, and are always looking for something
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  Speaker 1: to eat. They don't care if the animals have to
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  Speaker 1: walk around the river. So that's just what the animals
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  Speaker 1: did for many years. But what does all this have
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  Speaker 1: to do with airplanes, asked my father, who thought the
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  Speaker 1: cat was taking an awfully long time to explain. Be patient, Elmer,
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  Speaker 1: said the cat, and she went on with the story.
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  Speaker 1: One day about four months before I arrived on Wild Island,
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  Speaker 1: a baby dragon fell from a low flying cloud and
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  Speaker 1: onto the bank of the river. He was too young
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  Speaker 1: to fly very well, and besides he had bruised one
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  Speaker 1: wing quite badly, so he couldn't get back to his cloud.
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  Speaker 1: The animals found him soon afterwards, and everybody said, why,
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  Speaker 1: this is just exactly what we've needed all these years.
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  Speaker 1: They tied a big rope around his neck and waited
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  Speaker 1: for the wind to get well. This was going to
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  Speaker 1: end there crossing the river troubles. I've never seen a dragon,
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  Speaker 1: said my father. Did you see him? How big is he? Yes?
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  Speaker 1: Indeed I saw the dragon. In fact, we became great friends,
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  Speaker 1: said the cat. I used to hide in the bushes
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  Speaker 1: and talk to him when nobody was around. He's not
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  Speaker 1: a very big dragon, about the size of a large
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  Speaker 1: black bear, although I imagine he's grown quite a bit
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  Speaker 1: since I left. He's got a long tail and yellow
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  Speaker 1: and blue stripes his horn and eyes, and the bottoms
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  Speaker 1: of his feet are bright red. He has gold colored wings. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: how wonderful, said my father. What does the animals do
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  Speaker 1: with him? When his wing got well, they started training
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  Speaker 1: him to carry passengers and even though he's just a
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  Speaker 1: baby dragon. They work him all day and all night too.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes they make him carry loads that are much too heavy,
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  Speaker 1: and if he complains, they'd twist his wings and beat him.
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  Speaker 1: He's always tied to a steak on a rope just
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  Speaker 1: long enough to go across the river. His only friends
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  Speaker 1: are the crocodile, who say hello to him once a
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  Speaker 1: week if they don't forget. Really, he's the most miserable
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  Speaker 1: animal I've ever come across. When I left, I promised
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  Speaker 1: i'd tried to help him someday, although I couldn't see how.
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  Speaker 1: The rope around his neck is about the biggest toughest
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  Speaker 1: rope you can imagine, with so many knots it could
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  Speaker 1: take days to untie them all. Anyway, when you were
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  Speaker 1: talking about aeroplanes, he gave me a good idea. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I'm quite sure that if you were able to rescue
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  Speaker 1: the dragon, which wouldn't be the least bit easy, he'd
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  Speaker 1: let you ride him most anywhere, provided you were nice
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  Speaker 1: to him. Of course, how about trying it, Oh, I'd
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  Speaker 1: love to, said my father, And he was so angry
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  Speaker 1: at his mother for being so rude to the cat
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  Speaker 1: that he didn't feel the least bit sad about running
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  Speaker 1: away from home for a while. Lah That very afternoon,
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  Speaker 1: my father and the cat went down to the docks
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  Speaker 1: to see about ships going to the island of Tangerina.
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  Speaker 1: They found out that a ship would be sailing the
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  Speaker 1: next week, so right away they started planning for the
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  Speaker 1: rescue of the dragon. The cat was a great help
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  Speaker 1: in suggesting things for my father to take with him,
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  Speaker 1: and she told him everything she knew about Wild Island.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, she was too old to go along. Everything
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  Speaker 1: had to be kept very secret, so when they found
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  Speaker 1: or brought anything to take on the trip, they hid
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  Speaker 1: it behind a rock in the park. The night before
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  Speaker 1: my father sailed, he borrowed his father's knapsack and he
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  Speaker 1: and the cat pecked everything very carefully. He took chewing gum,
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  Speaker 1: two dozen pink lollipops, a package of rubber bands, black
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  Speaker 1: rubber boots, a compass, a toothbrush and a tube of
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  Speaker 1: tooth paste, six magnifying glasses, a very sharp jackknife, a
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  Speaker 1: comb and hair brush, seven hair ribbons of different colors,
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  Speaker 1: and an empty grain bag with the label saying Cranberry,
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  Speaker 1: some clean clothes and enough food to last. My father
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  Speaker 1: while he was on the ship. He couldn't live on mice,
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  Speaker 1: so he took twenty five peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
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  Speaker 1: and six apples because that's all the apples he could
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  Speaker 1: find in the pantry. When everything was packed, my father
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  Speaker 1: and the cat went down to the docks to the ship.
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  Speaker 1: A night watchman was on duty, so while the cat
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  Speaker 1: made loud queer noises to distract his attention, my father
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  Speaker 1: ran over the gangplank and onto the ship. He went
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  Speaker 1: down into the hold and hit among some bags of wheat.
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  Speaker 1: The ship sailed early the next morning. End of Chapter two.