by Matthew Gallagher

Part 3

            "Doh!  Doh doh doh doh!"

            The Dodo Bird flapped its wings clumsily as it hopped around in circles on the beach.

            There were so many things to tell the Dragon today.  The Puffins to the North had collectively caught five hundred forty eight fish since dawn.  The Penguins to the south had vowed to beat that and catch no fewer than seven hundred by dusk.  The Ostrich Races were being postponed because the Cassowaries had protested, not having been invited to participate. The Ostriches hosted a series of distance runs, relays, and sprints each year on their savannah and invited most of the large, long-legged flightless birds on the island.  Though the Cassowaries were not the fastest runners, they claimed that they were just as fast as the Moas (which we all know is simply not true at all).  Nevertheless, they were a very feisty lot, and would take offence at the smallest perceived slight.  They threatened to show up anyway and cause a ruckus.  So the Races were postponed until the matter could be resolved.

            The Dodo liked working for the Dragon, even though it did not get paid.  It felt it had the Dragon's ear, more than any other bird on the island.  Until recently, the Dodo had been the most rare bird on the island, being the last one of its kind.  Yes, there were other birds on the island that were thought to be extinct, such as the Honeycreepers and the Great Auks.  But there were several of those species.  They all had families, and little communities.  Don (though it wasn't really supposed to call the Dragon that, the Dodo was confident that the Dragon would invite him to use the familiar name sometime soon) had seemed to proud of him at first, until... the day he had brought that bird and put it in the cage on the side of the mountain.  Not that the Dodo had anything against the Wish-Bird itself.  It seemed nice enough.... It was just that the Dodo had felt special, which, when one is a Dodo, is really hard to do.  But now all the Dragon could think about was the Wish-Bird and its eggs.

            There was a rumble, followed by the sound like the hissing of a geyser just before it's about to blow.  The Dodo looked up and watched the Dragon stretch as he poked his head out of a lava tube. Don had just woken up from his daily nap.  The Dodo hopped up and down three times, then ran up the hill to meet the Dragon, its little useless wings flapping rapidly.

            "Doh!  Doh doh, doh doh!" it cried as it approached the Dragon, who did not seem to notice the fat little bird awkwardly loping toward him.  "Dragon! O, Dragon!  I have news for you today!  News today"

            The Dragon picked his teeth with one of his talons.

            The Dodo cleared its throat before making its announcements of the day.  "The Puffins and the Penguins--"

            "The Wish-Bird," the Dragon interrupted.  "Has it laid my egg yet?"

            "I know, I know how much you were looking forward to the Ostrich Races next week, but you see, you see--"

            The Dragon spat the piece of magma that had cooled and gotten caught in his teeth.  It landed a couple of feet from the Dodo, which made him jump backwards and land clumsily on its tail.

            "My egg.  Has it laid it yet?"

            "No, no no, no no no, O Dragon.  It has not come to the front of its cage all morning, but it sits, it sits far in the back, away from the sunlight."

            "I suppose that I should have a little talk with it."  The Dragon rose and stretched some more, covering the sky with the shadow from its great wings.

            "But, but I have so much, soooo much to tell you, Dragon! Doh! Doh Doh!"

            "That can all wait until later."

            "But the Ostriches want to know what to do about the Races!  The Races!"

            "Tell the Ostriches to let the Cassowaries judge the races," the Dragon said as he slowly crawled down the side of the volcano.  "If they do not like that suggestion, then tell them I shall pay them a visit... at my convenience."

            The blonde girl blinked her eyes at the colours that swirled in front of her.  Something cool and wet was pressed against her lips, and her mouth was flooded with fresh, sweet water.  She blinked hard once, and when she opened them a short bald man in a brightly coloured jacket stood in front of her.  An earring dangled from his left ear and he had a look on his face as if he were trying to say something but stopping himself at the same time.  Behind him stood a taller swarthy man with a long black moustache that had been waxed and straightened.  His eyes were big and sparkled with concern.

            The two men were surrounded by an assorted group of men.  They wore striped shirts and mumbled and pointed at her.

            "Where...?" she muttered as she tried to sit up.

            "My dear, do not attempt to rrrrrise yit, por favor," said the swarthy man with the moustache.

            "Who are you?" the small bald man sputtered.  We wagged a finger.  "Both of you??"

            The blonde looked over to see a girl with mousy brown hair sleeping curled up.  She was sucking her thumb.

            "I... we... I..." the blonde began.

            "Well??" said the bald man.

            "I... I don't know who we are...."

            Cap'n. Curly stared at her.  What did she mean she didn't know who she was?  Everyone always knows who he is, right?

            Doody said from behind his shoulder, "Eet appears that our lovely LASses is soofering from amneeezeeyah, Capteen."

            Curly scoffed.  "Amnesia?  A fine thing, to pick up two LASses and them to have amnesia and not even be able to tell us who they are, so we can get a little something from their families for our troubles."

            The blonde smiled at him.  "We'd be happy to repay you for your kindness, if only we had the means."

            Curly hadn't realized that his thoughts had been outside of his head that time.  He spoke out of the side of his mouth as he walked away from her, toward his cabin, "Oh, you have the means all right.  No doubt about that... you have the means...."

            The blonde nudged the girl with the mousy brown hair on the shoulder.  "Wake up.  We're safe.  I think."

            Doody held out his hand to the golden-haired young lady.  "Come, my lady, lit us git you cleaned up, after your terrrrrrible ordeal."

            "Thank you," she said, blinking her B.B.E. (Big Blue Eyes)

            The one with the brown hair stretched and yawned.  "No, no, Mr. Squab, no more champagne for me..."

            The blonde pushed the brown haired girl's shoulder not all that gently.  "We've been rescued... by a band of gallant men...sister."

            The brown haired girl opened her eyes wide.  "Oh!  How do you do, I'm sure.  I'm --"

            "She doesn't even know that she's forgotten her memory, too.  All we remember is that we're sisters.  That's all.  Sisters.  Right, sister?"

            The brown-eyed girl blinked her root beer-coloured eyes twice.  "We're nuns?"

            The blond sighed heavily.  "Yes.  That's right.  Nuns.  And that's all we remember."

            Doody clapped loudly.  "Oh, seesters! What an honourrrr eet ees to hev you on our sheep.  Come!  We must get you some refrishmints for the devotees of la Madre Immaculata!  Surely la Madonna weel smile on our quest!"

            The young ladies stood warily and followed Doody into the cabin below deck while all thirty-nine eyes of the Pirates -- and odd number, as one had an eye-patch -- followed them.