He just grunted again and muttered something about someone stealing the blankets. I staged a tactical retreat to let that first cup of caffeine do its work. I wandered over to Dragon-pig and crouched in front of it.
Bruises on my legs throbbed with the movement, and my ribs didn’t like it much either. Walking might end up being my favored pace today, too, but I’d at least try to get Ryder into a jog, just to see how grumpy he was going to be about it.
“Morning, Ruler of the Stuffies,” I said to Dragon-pig.
It didn’t move, its snoring soft and even and fake. It was not sleeping.
“You want to come jogging with me and Spud?”
Still no response.
I tugged on the flipper of the tie-dyed manatee toy I didn’t remember either of us getting. It was about six toys down in the dragon princess-and-the-pea stacked bedding. I got it almost halfway out before it disturbed the toys and made them shift slightly.
“Morning, Dragon-pig,” I said, tugging on a monkey tail. The monkey slithered free, and I set it next to me on the floor.
“Are you awake?” I Jenga’d out a stuffed hammer and a partially beheaded broccoli.
The dragon-pig’s snoring became pointedly louder, annoyed.
“Because if you were awake, I might have a little snack for you.” I pulled on what was either a zombie, or the weirdest looking squirrel I’d ever seen.
The zombie squirrel was the linchpin. I yanked, and the entire mountain of toys avalanched, burying the dragon-pig.
“Oops.”
The dragon growled.
“Uh-oh. Did I wake you? Did I disturb your slumber, oh, great one?”
The growl turned into a snarl.
“Would you like a treat? A little breakfast goodie?”
The half-buried dragon pushed its snout out, eyes and ears followed. It squinted at me, and I bit my bottom lip to keep from laughing. It looked an awful lot like Ryder.
“See what I have?” I produced the set of old keys I’d picked up at the junk shop and jingled them. “Delicious bunch of old, gross metal things. Mmmm. Look good?”
Itoinked begrudgingly and opened its mouth. I could feel the furnace heat coming out of its maw. I shuffled the keys so that only one was sticking out.
“Here you go, buddy. And you don’t even have to go on the jog with us. You can stay behind and be grumpy with Ryder.”
“Oh, no,” Ryder said. “You made me get out of bed. I am going on this walk, no matter what.”
“That’s just the coffee talking,” I teased.
“Yep. Coffee might be in a good mood, but I plan on complaining the entire time.”
“Did you hear that, Spud? Is this what we signed up for? Grumpy-pants creatures all around us?”
Spud finished wolfing down his kibble and looked between Ryder and me, trying to figure out who was going to feed him again or take him on a walk.
The dragon-pig lipped at the key, and I let go of the chain.
It slurped the keys into its mouth in small munching motions, then chewed and rumbled a happy rumble.
“Okay, that’s one dragon sorted. How about you? Are you going to bite my head off?”
Ryder finished the last of his coffee. I could tell he was, if not in a better mood, at least more awake.
