Not for the first time, I was impressed by Nunzio’s total devotion to his work. For a moment I was tempted to let him do what he wanted. At the last minute, though, an image flashed through my mind of my outsized bodyguard and my dragon going at it hammer and tongs in the middle of the garden.
“Umm . . . thanks, but I think I’ll pass, Nunzio. Gleep can be a pain sometimes, but I kind of like him jumping all over me once in a while. It makes me feel loved. Besides, I wouldn’t want to see him get hurt. . . or you either, for that matter.”
“Jumpin’ up on you is one thing. Doin’ it when you don’t want him to is sompin’ else. Besides, I wouldn’t hurt him. I’d just… here, let me show you!”
Before I could stop him, he was on his feet, taking a straddle-legged stance facing my dragon.
“C’mere, Gleep. C’mon. fella.”
My pet’s head snapped around, then he went bounding toward what he thought was a new playmate.
“Nunzio. I…”
Just as the dragon reached him, my bodyguard held out a hand, palm outward.
“Stop, Gleep! Sit! I said SIT!!”
What happened next I had to reconstruct later from replaying my memory, it happened so fast.
Nunzio’s hand snaked out and closed over Gleep’s snout. With a jerk he pulled the nose down until it was under my pet’s head, then pushed up sharply.
In mid-stride the dragon’s haunches dropped into a sitting position and he stopped, all the while batting his eyelashes in bewilderment.
“Now stay. Stay!!”
My bodyguard carefully opened his hand and stepped back, holding his palm flat in front of my pet’s face.