“Good for you.”They finished their sandwiches and cleaned up the mess.Every time he thought of Washington and the way that he spoke to him, he got even more upset.“Don’t get upset about him when you have to go and fill out the paperwork at the courthouse.You don’t want to burn the building down with your heat just because some old man—wait, you’re an old man too.Oh well, there’s no help for it.You’re going to have to be the bigger man and—I don’t think you can be the bigger man either.He’s really gotten huge in the last year or so.”
“What’s your point?”She laughed and said that she didn’t remember anymore.But she was having fun.“You sounded like it.I’m glad that I can be the better man, how about that?I can too.He’s been in office for far too long to be able to do his job anymore.I think he must be about eighty-something years old.”
“No one has ever run against him before in a long time.I guess no one cared to do the job that he says is too hard.I wonder what would have happened if someone younger had come to town and taken over his job?He’d have a fit, I think.”Sammy smiled up at him.“You’d do a great job if you can get in.I don’t know about deadlines or anything, but you have to get your name out there, too.I wonder where he gets his signage from?”
They talked about that for nearly an hour.Sammy started taking notes on the things that he’d remembered Washington saying that he was going to get done and hadn’t.There were quite a few of them, too.The first thing he was going to do was clean up some of the yards in town.They were a mess because no one had cared enough to get them cleaned up anymore.There were buildings that needed to be taken down, too.That had been on his platform for the last five or so years, taking down dangerous buildings that needed to be taken down before they fell over on someone.
“Remember when he said that he’d get the new ball fields taken care of?I don’t think anything has been done to them since he had that little shed put down there for them to sell snacks from.And it’s even named after him.What did that cost, but about five hundred dollars?The fields are still in poor shape, and they need to be cleaned up.That’ll have to be my first project simply because they will be using them in the spring again, and that’s not that far off.”
“Don’t forget the football fields.They were supposed to be redone ten years ago.”He said that he remembered that.“The seating isn’t so bad, but they’re not going to last another ten years.Not the way they’re out in the weather or anything.Not to mention the shed that they sell snacks from on football Friday nights.It needs to be expanded by a great deal if they’re ever going to get enough money for another band bus.”
There were many things that he could run on that were Washington’s.Mostly, it was things around town.She asked too about the taxes that people had to pay out for things that weren’t done, and he said he’d have to look into that.But he thought that one of the things that had been on the higher taxes was the yards being cleaned up along Main Street.
They had a long list of things that Washington had promised and a list, too, of things that needed to be taken care of soon.Mostly, it was what benefited the kids around town, but there was the senior living building that had been in need of an air conditioner for some time now.They had the funds for it, but no one to go in and do the job of getting it set up.He thought that he could do that in his spare time and get it done.
“Why not get Olivia to do it?That’s what she does, doesn’t she?”He said he’d forgotten aboutthat.“I’ll ask her about it after you get your paperwork filed.There is no point in his getting credit for something that he had nothing to do with.”
They discovered there were a couple of more things that Olivia could help them out with, and it was the football snack shack that would benefit the most.They not only needed a bigger building but also more power for it too.He was going to have Sammy take the list to her and see if she could help out the town by doing a few extra jobs around the town.Getting the football shed fixed up would make a great many people happy.
By the time they were ready for bed, they’d already figured out an ad campaign that Melbourne could run on.Mostly, it was to get the things done that Washington said, but it would be worded differently.She liked ‘whatever Washington told you, I’ll actually do’ but he thought that was just a little too harsh.But they did have fun at what they were doing, and he couldn’t wait to see what Washington had to say about his campaign slogans.
“I still think you can do a better job than him sitting from your office.”He said he didn’t want to get his hopes up too soon as he might jinx the job.“I don’t see how.I’ll see if the faeries can vote.They’d vote for you even if you weren’t a dragon.They just love you guys to pieces.”
“Good lord, we can’t get them involved.They’ll be putting up signs everywhere, and I’ll have to take out a large loan against the house to be able to pay for them all.You know what they’ll do?They’ll be carrying them around with them everywhere they go, and I’m going to have to explain to people why the little creatures are making signs of their own.”
That got them both laughing hard.Not only that, but they were making up their own versions of signs that the faeries would make and that had them rolling on the floor.He was going to be sore tomorrow, he knew it, but couldn’t help but laugh at some of the sayings that Sammy was coming up with.
“Vote for Melbourne or your flowers will never grow” was one of his favorites.Then she started getting silly and talking about them beating people over the head with their signs to make a point.He could almost see them now, beating people in the head with their tiny signs so that he’d be mayor.People would vote for him simply to stop the mayhem that was going to go on.
Long after Sammy went to sleep, he caught himself giggling about how much fun they’d had.He really wanted to do the job and thought that he’d be good at it.But he’d have to get the votes, and that was a big deal.After willing himself to rest, he thought of the look on Washington’s face when he was going to tell him that he was running and figured that would be worth its weight in gold.The man thought that he’d had himself set up forever, and that wasn’t going to happen.There was too much at stake right now for the man to be running against no one.Even if he didn’t win, he was going to get a few things on their list finished up for the town.
He’d been lazy about that, he’d admit, but no more.He needed to get things going soon, too, as football season was about to begin, and he wanted them to be able to sell things like giant pickles to the kids without any trouble.He might even purchase them a new popcorn machine, as the first one they had was starting to show its age.He loved popcorn too.
~*~
Dinner was fun, but he was glad to be home.They’d gotten their fill on everything, and he was happy that Thatcher had suggested that they go and get food tonight.He was also happy that he’d been able to have a few good laughs, too.It was funny to see other couples out for dinner when the weather had turned cold again.He loved cloudy days and was going to see if his brothers wanted to go flying later tonight.
Then he thought of Olivia.She wanted him, and he wasn’t going to go flying if he could help it.Maybe later in the week, he’d go, but not tonight.She looked at him as if she were reading his mind.
“Don’t you fly on nights like tonight?”He told her not tonight.“I’d love to see you fly.I would love to be able to see your dragon.And the rest of them.I’ve never seen their dragons either.”
“I thought that the two of us had plans.”He wiggled his brows at her, and she laughed.“I don’t want to mess with our plans when there will be other nights that are cloudy.”
“There will be other nights.Period.Go and have fun with your brothers.Thatcher and I will watch from the ground and marvel at the beauty and wonder of dragons flying above us.Just don’t take a crap on us.I’ll be surely pissed off if you do.”He promised her that he wouldn’t.“Good.Then you have fun.I’ll be around for the rest of our lives together.This is important to everyone.”
Sidney contacted his brothers to find out if they wanted to go flying with him.Even Fowler wanted to come to this realm and fly with them.They didn’t get the opportunity to fly together that often, and she was glad that she’d made him do it.The women joined her and Thatcher in the yard a little while after they all gathered around and set off to the sky.
“I’ve only seen them fly once before.It’s been a long time.”Amy smiled at him.“I know that Fowler can fly in the other realm, but it’s not the same to be able to do it here with his brothers.I’m glad that you thought of this.”
“It has been a while since all of us have been together.I just wish Mom could come with you guys.She would have loved this, too.”Amy said that she was busy with meetings and couldn’t break away.“I’ve often wondered if Grandma could fly.I should ask her sometime.She might not be a dragon like us, but perhaps something that would be able to make it so that she could fly with us.Even if it’s just as herself.”
“I bet when she hears that you’re all flying, she’ll be here.The meeting will just have to wait.”No more than ten minutes past, and there Storm was.She shifted to her dragon first and took to the sky.Sidney was the last to take to the sky as he wanted to make sure that Olivia and Thatcher could see his dragon.After that, he was running toward the opening in the backyard and soaring upward.
The wind felt good on his body.He couldn’t believe that he was flying and his mate and son were watching him.Sidney flew with his brothers for what seemed like hours when it had only been thirty minutes.Still, they flew and had fun.Flying with his mom brought back so many memories that he couldn’t help but smile at them.The one he liked the most was her teaching him how to soar.
He could fly all right, but he couldn’t soar upwards.Downwards was easy, it was just gravity that brought him down, but getting to go higher in the sky was something that he had to work on for months before it finally came to him.
She taught him to find a point in the sky and to close his eyes and go to it.It was the best advice he’d ever gotten about flying.To this day, when he was soaring, he would close his eyes and feel the wind as he blew over his scales and face.
