“Very well, I’ll call it whatever you prefer.” Pandora grinned at her. “But the result is the same.”
After her appointment at the clinic had concluded, Pandora walked next door to Winterborne’s, with Dragon following close behind her. It was Nicholas Day, when the store traditionally unveiled its annual Christmas tree under the soaring stained-glass dome over the central hall. People had traveled for miles to see the sixty-foot evergreen, every branch trimmed with magnificent figures and ornaments and swathed in glittering ribbons.
Cork Street was filled with throngs of Christmas shoppers laden with huge parcels and bags, and sticky children clutching cones of sugar-plums, macaroons, and other sweetmeats. Crowds massed around the department store’s lavish display windows, one of them featuring an artist painting Christmas cards that were sold inside, another decorated with toy trains chugging around miniature tracks. One of the more popular windows featured delicacies and confections from the store’s famed food hall, including a huge gingerbread carousel with a candy-paved roof, and gingerbread riders on gingerbread horses.
After they entered the store, Dragon took Pandora’s cloak and gloves from her and retreated to a position near the corner. He had worn his livery, as he did whenever he felt a particular occasion called for the prestige of a liveried footman. Today, a week after Pandora’s board game had been stocked in the department store, he had judged it necessary to don the hated blue and gold garments while she obtained her sales information from the toy department manager.
Feeling nervous pangs in her stomach, Pandora browsed among the displays. There was an eye-catching grocery store sized just for children, with drawers, counters, and cabinets, a real working scale, and artificial fruits and vegetables. Her gaze moved over china tea sets, doll houses, books, toy wagons, pop-guns, and dolls. A smile came to her lips as she watched a pair of little girls playing with a toy stove complete with miniature pots, pans, and utensils.
By next Christmas, Pandora had already planned to publish two new board games, a set of alphabet blocks painted with animals as well as letters, and a children’s card game with a fairy tale theme. What she hadn’t confided to anyone except Gabriel was her desire to try writing a children’s book. Just a simple story, something lively and entertaining. Since she wasn’t accomplished enough at sketching and painting to do the illustrations, she would have to find an artist—
Her attention was caught by the sight of a few uneasy children hovering near Dragon, clearly wanting access to a display of books behind him. He didn’t move. Dragon knew next to nothing about children and seemed to regard them as nothing more than short, slovenly adults with poor depth perception. A small group had accumulated around him, three boys and two girls, none taller than his waist. They craned their necks, puzzled by the somewhat outlandish figure of the muscular footman garbed in blue velvet, with a beard, a scar, and a scowl on his face.
Pressing back a smile, Pandora approached the children, crouched beside them, and asked in a stagey whisper, “Do you know who that is?” They turned to face her with round-eyed curiosity. “He’s Captain Dragon—the bravest, fiercest pirate who ever sailed the seven seas.” As she saw the ripple of interest that ran through the group, she ignored Dragon’s incredulous glare and added with relish, “He’s been serenaded by mermaids, and he’s battled a giant squid. He also had a pet whale who used to follow in the wake of his ship and beg for sea biscuits.”
A boy glanced at Dragon’s dark face with awe before asking Pandora, “Why is he dressed like a footman?”
“Seasick,” Pandora confided regretfully. “All the time. He couldn’t bear it any longer. So now he’s a footman, and on his days off, he’s a land pirate.”
The children gathered cautiously around the stone-faced giant. “Do you have a wooden leg?” one of them asked.
“No,” Dragon growled.
“Do you make people walk the plank?”
“No.”
“What’s your whale’s name?”
Dragon looked exasperated. Before he could say a word, Pandora replied hastily, “Her name is Bubbles.”
“His name,” Dragon corrected, “is Splasher.”