Epilog

It was a late summer's night. Morning stood on top of the hill looking down the street that led to the beach. His eyes came to rest on the tattoo shop, the one that looked like it had bee tattooed all over the outside. That was the shop where he had gotten his dragon tattoo. And Morning remembered the Dragon Boy and all the trouble he had gotten into. The memories weren’t as sharp as they used to be, but he still remembered. Gaffer was true to his promise. Everyone else seemed to have forgotten. When they did remember they though it was a dream, or maybe a game they had played.
Eric took very good care of Dawn. He had married her and they were talking about having a baby. They had both forgiven Morning. They had to, they couldn’t remember why they were angry.
Morning was going to have to do something about Poppy. He just wasn’t sure what. The thought of marriage scared him more than the thought of dragons, although he’d never admit that he was afraid.
As he stood there waiting he felt two arms circle his waist and Poppy’s voice saying gently in his ear, “Hey you.” He never could figure out how she could make those two words sound so sexy.
Morning took Poppy’s hand and headed down the hill. He picked two strands of sweet grass as he passed the tattoo shop. He handed one to Poppy and stuck the other in his mouth. Kate and Chico had a bonfire going when they got to the beach. Now those were two who knew how to keep a friendship going. The full moon was sinking into the ocean, the last of its light dancing across the water. The lady and her dragon looked down upon the scene and knew their duty had ended.