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This was a gift story I did for a friend named Stampy. This is one of my rare "feel good" stories that has NO paw action of any type in it. It's about a plant manager that discovers a local legend in the new town he's moved to.
****************************************************************
The Day I Met Stampy
Johnman 2002
It was a cold fall morning when I met him. In all honestly I really wanted nothing to do with him. However before the day was over, I learned why the locals called him “The lucky red dragon.” My name is John Lexington and this is the story of the day I met Stampy.
October 7th, a day I remember well. It was only my second week on the job as plant manager at the Finleyville furniture plant. The company had transferred me there in hope of increasing the plant’s efficiency so it could stay competitive.
The plant’s employees, all locals, seemed to be having mixed feelings about my presence there. Some welcomed me warmly, while others did everything they could to avoid me.
I was driving the long country road that led to the plant. I always left my apartment early enough to get to the plant, about an hour before the rest of its workers. The familiar road was almost always deserted when I drove it, but once it came close for the plant to open it got very busy. This long stretch of county was the only way to the plant from the local town were the employees were from. So everyone took it.
My Lexus sedan was confidently negotiating the curves of the flat road when suddenly something appeared around the corner. I slammed on my brakes and my car came screeching to a dead stop. All I could see was a large red rock in front of me, so I got out.
Nothing I have ever experienced in my life had prepared me for what I saw that morning. Before my eyes was a giant animal. It was almost totally red, about 40 feet tall and 120 feet long, with long black horns protruding from the back of its head. Although I didn’t believe in such creatures at the time, all my senses were telling me this animal was a dragon!
However the shock of what it was couldn’t compare to what it was doing. This dragon was asleep! It was the most amazing, and confusing, site I have ever seen in my whole life. And of all the places to take a nap, IN WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAMN ROAD!
Somehow I managed to build up the courage to approach and investigate the creature. The hard scaly skin that covered most of his body seemed harder than rock. Yet it was pliable and the creature seemed to move around easily in it. From what I could tell, the scaly skin covered his entire body with only three exceptions. His horns seemed to be pure bone. However the huge wet nose and soles of his feet were made of soft leather.
After what seemed like an eternity of investigating the creature I walked back to my car. Unbeknownst to me, while I was checking out this dragon 20-30 cars had lined up behind mine. Most were plant works, although a few seemed to be just passing through.
“Mr. Lexington, what are you doing?” One of the motorist asked me.
I recognized the motorist as Kathleen Susee, one of the plant’s safety inspectors. She had gotten out of her car and was walking toward me.
“Just checking out our little road block here. He doesn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry.” I replied.
“Well that’s just Stampy. He has a habit of napping in the most peculiar places. Although this is the first time I’ve seen him in person, legend has it he’s very lucky.” Kathleen explained cheerfully.
“LUCKY?! Kathleen this thing is blocking traffic for miles. Not to mention the fact that if we don’t get this road cleared up soon the plant may not get opened today. This is the only way to get there you know.”
“Well the last time there was a sighting like this was during a search for a missing boy. The boy had run away from home and got lost in the woods. The police searched for three day until Stampy showed up sleeping on a stretch of Highway 64. When the police got there, they found the boy unconscious in the woods about a mile from the exact spot where Stampy was sleeping.”
“Well I’m sure that was just a coincidence.” I replied smugly, not want to believe the tall tale she was telling me.
“But Mr. Lexington, there are dozens of stories just like that one. Every time Stampy is spotted, something good seems to come out of it.”
“Enough Kathleen! I don’t want to hear any fairytales about this thing!” I shouted.
“Mr. Lexington, please don’t get too excited over this. Besides… Mr. Lexington BEHIND YOU!”
That’s when I turned around and saw the dragon’s head moving. He lifted it off the ground, yawned, and turned to look at me.
I froze up solid, that monster was just 20 feet in front of me. My heart started beating uncontrollably and I wanted to run but couldn’t move. So I did the only thing I could think of, close my eyes. If that thing was going to eat or crush me, I didn’t want to see it coming.
My life suddenly flashed before my now slammed-shut eyes. Then something happened. It felt like a large, very warm and wet, blanket was brushed against my body.
I opened my eyes to find my cloths soaked in saliva. In front of me was Stampy, smiling down warmly at me. Looking into his eyes, I saw a complete look of innocence. That’s when I realized he wasn’t going to hurt me. As a matter of a fact, I think he just licked me.
“Alright Stampy, you had your fun. Do you think you could get out of the way now?” I demanded.
Honestly, I don’t know where the courage came from to demand he move. But he just smiled at me again and went back to sleep. Just when I was about to give up though, his gigantic tail moved.
When I first arrived his tail was stretched out behind him blocking off one of the entrances to a small maintenance road. The maintenance road ran off to the side of the main road and was used by emergency vehicles. Now there was a clear way around the large red speed bump and I was going to take it.
Turning around, I shouted to the trapped cars behind mine “FOLLOW ME!”
I jumped in my car and made a sharp right turn. After some careful maneuvering around Stampy, I was on the maintenance road and on the way to the plant.
During the journey to the plant I checked the clock in my car it read 7:32. Two hours waiting for that damn dragon to move! I really hated to waste time like that.
Within twenty minutes I was approaching the entrance to the plant. A circus of blue and red flashing light filled the sky. The sound of sirens was becoming all too audible. I quickly pulled up to the first police car in sight. A large man in a dark blue uniform walked up to my driver’s side window.
“Can I help you?” The policeman asked me in an authoritative tone.
“Yeah, my name is John Lexington, I’m the plant manager here. What is going on?”
“Ah Mr. Lexington, they’re expecting you. Just pull right up to that truck and the fire chief will be right with you.”
As I pulled my car up the factory came into sight. The whole front of the building was blackened and smoking. It looked like all hell broke loose. Once in place I got out of my car and was greeted by Fire Chief Thomas.
“What in the hell happened here?”
“It looks like a gas main in the building ruptured. The explosion destroyed almost half of the building.”
“My god, was anyone hurt?” I asked in total shock.
“No Mr. Lexington, that’s the strange part. It seems that no one was at the factory when it went up about a hour ago. I thought it was suppose to open at 6:30 on weekdays.”
“Well it does but the main road was…”
“Was what Mr. Lexington?”
“We had a little roadblock this morning Chief. The road the plant’s employees take was blocked by The Lucky Red Dragon.”
Then the chief let a one of the loudest belly laughs I ever heard and told me, “I see you met Stampy.”
****************************************************************
The Day I Met Stampy
Johnman 2002
It was a cold fall morning when I met him. In all honestly I really wanted nothing to do with him. However before the day was over, I learned why the locals called him “The lucky red dragon.” My name is John Lexington and this is the story of the day I met Stampy.
October 7th, a day I remember well. It was only my second week on the job as plant manager at the Finleyville furniture plant. The company had transferred me there in hope of increasing the plant’s efficiency so it could stay competitive.
The plant’s employees, all locals, seemed to be having mixed feelings about my presence there. Some welcomed me warmly, while others did everything they could to avoid me.
I was driving the long country road that led to the plant. I always left my apartment early enough to get to the plant, about an hour before the rest of its workers. The familiar road was almost always deserted when I drove it, but once it came close for the plant to open it got very busy. This long stretch of county was the only way to the plant from the local town were the employees were from. So everyone took it.
My Lexus sedan was confidently negotiating the curves of the flat road when suddenly something appeared around the corner. I slammed on my brakes and my car came screeching to a dead stop. All I could see was a large red rock in front of me, so I got out.
Nothing I have ever experienced in my life had prepared me for what I saw that morning. Before my eyes was a giant animal. It was almost totally red, about 40 feet tall and 120 feet long, with long black horns protruding from the back of its head. Although I didn’t believe in such creatures at the time, all my senses were telling me this animal was a dragon!
However the shock of what it was couldn’t compare to what it was doing. This dragon was asleep! It was the most amazing, and confusing, site I have ever seen in my whole life. And of all the places to take a nap, IN WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAMN ROAD!
Somehow I managed to build up the courage to approach and investigate the creature. The hard scaly skin that covered most of his body seemed harder than rock. Yet it was pliable and the creature seemed to move around easily in it. From what I could tell, the scaly skin covered his entire body with only three exceptions. His horns seemed to be pure bone. However the huge wet nose and soles of his feet were made of soft leather.
After what seemed like an eternity of investigating the creature I walked back to my car. Unbeknownst to me, while I was checking out this dragon 20-30 cars had lined up behind mine. Most were plant works, although a few seemed to be just passing through.
“Mr. Lexington, what are you doing?” One of the motorist asked me.
I recognized the motorist as Kathleen Susee, one of the plant’s safety inspectors. She had gotten out of her car and was walking toward me.
“Just checking out our little road block here. He doesn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry.” I replied.
“Well that’s just Stampy. He has a habit of napping in the most peculiar places. Although this is the first time I’ve seen him in person, legend has it he’s very lucky.” Kathleen explained cheerfully.
“LUCKY?! Kathleen this thing is blocking traffic for miles. Not to mention the fact that if we don’t get this road cleared up soon the plant may not get opened today. This is the only way to get there you know.”
“Well the last time there was a sighting like this was during a search for a missing boy. The boy had run away from home and got lost in the woods. The police searched for three day until Stampy showed up sleeping on a stretch of Highway 64. When the police got there, they found the boy unconscious in the woods about a mile from the exact spot where Stampy was sleeping.”
“Well I’m sure that was just a coincidence.” I replied smugly, not want to believe the tall tale she was telling me.
“But Mr. Lexington, there are dozens of stories just like that one. Every time Stampy is spotted, something good seems to come out of it.”
“Enough Kathleen! I don’t want to hear any fairytales about this thing!” I shouted.
“Mr. Lexington, please don’t get too excited over this. Besides… Mr. Lexington BEHIND YOU!”
That’s when I turned around and saw the dragon’s head moving. He lifted it off the ground, yawned, and turned to look at me.
I froze up solid, that monster was just 20 feet in front of me. My heart started beating uncontrollably and I wanted to run but couldn’t move. So I did the only thing I could think of, close my eyes. If that thing was going to eat or crush me, I didn’t want to see it coming.
My life suddenly flashed before my now slammed-shut eyes. Then something happened. It felt like a large, very warm and wet, blanket was brushed against my body.
I opened my eyes to find my cloths soaked in saliva. In front of me was Stampy, smiling down warmly at me. Looking into his eyes, I saw a complete look of innocence. That’s when I realized he wasn’t going to hurt me. As a matter of a fact, I think he just licked me.
“Alright Stampy, you had your fun. Do you think you could get out of the way now?” I demanded.
Honestly, I don’t know where the courage came from to demand he move. But he just smiled at me again and went back to sleep. Just when I was about to give up though, his gigantic tail moved.
When I first arrived his tail was stretched out behind him blocking off one of the entrances to a small maintenance road. The maintenance road ran off to the side of the main road and was used by emergency vehicles. Now there was a clear way around the large red speed bump and I was going to take it.
Turning around, I shouted to the trapped cars behind mine “FOLLOW ME!”
I jumped in my car and made a sharp right turn. After some careful maneuvering around Stampy, I was on the maintenance road and on the way to the plant.
During the journey to the plant I checked the clock in my car it read 7:32. Two hours waiting for that damn dragon to move! I really hated to waste time like that.
Within twenty minutes I was approaching the entrance to the plant. A circus of blue and red flashing light filled the sky. The sound of sirens was becoming all too audible. I quickly pulled up to the first police car in sight. A large man in a dark blue uniform walked up to my driver’s side window.
“Can I help you?” The policeman asked me in an authoritative tone.
“Yeah, my name is John Lexington, I’m the plant manager here. What is going on?”
“Ah Mr. Lexington, they’re expecting you. Just pull right up to that truck and the fire chief will be right with you.”
As I pulled my car up the factory came into sight. The whole front of the building was blackened and smoking. It looked like all hell broke loose. Once in place I got out of my car and was greeted by Fire Chief Thomas.
“What in the hell happened here?”
“It looks like a gas main in the building ruptured. The explosion destroyed almost half of the building.”
“My god, was anyone hurt?” I asked in total shock.
“No Mr. Lexington, that’s the strange part. It seems that no one was at the factory when it went up about a hour ago. I thought it was suppose to open at 6:30 on weekdays.”
“Well it does but the main road was…”
“Was what Mr. Lexington?”
“We had a little roadblock this morning Chief. The road the plant’s employees take was blocked by The Lucky Red Dragon.”
Then the chief let a one of the loudest belly laughs I ever heard and told me, “I see you met Stampy.”
Category Story / Macro / Micro
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 50 x 50px
File Size 28.5 kB
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